Floyd Landis brings the yellow jersey back to the U.S.

Stage 17 of this year's Tour de France is going to show up in all of those "Best nn Tour moments in history" highlight reels. When this year's Tour is about and there is talk of the bouncing of the top contenders before the start, other contenders being taken away from the race in ambulances because of some spectacular crashes, THIS stage will also be discussed. Floyd Landis's name has gotten much bigger.

In a stage with 5 categorized climbs through the Alps, "Floyd Landis splintered the field on the day's first climb" and never stopped (quote from tdfblog.com.) The climbs were as follows:

(1) 14.9 km climb averaging 6.4 % - Category 1

(2) 5.9 km climb averaging 7.1 % - Category 2

(3) 11.8 km climb averaging 5.8 % - Category 1

(4) 5.1 km climb averaging 4.9 % - Category 3

(5) 11.7 km climb averaging 8.5 % - 'Hors' Category = "beyond category"

Eurosport calls it

"a performance that will go down as one of the greatest in the history of the Tour de France."

ProCycling:

"an exploit worthy of Eddy Merckx."

Bob Roll says it's

"the greatest single day ride in the history of the Tour de France."

TDFBlog.com

"What Floyd Landis did today is all that even if you completely ignore his ride yesterday [in which he couldn't hang with the other riders and he lost over 10 minutes to the race leader]. Throw that in, and it's just incomparable.

TDFBlog.com

Landis versus 142 riders today just wasn't a fair fight; the peloton needed more guys.

Frank Schleck:

"We didn't let him go, he was just so strong at the beginning and we didn't think he would make it to the end."

Carlos Sastre, CSC's GC man [the CSC team's rider going for the win] said he expected Landis to attack today:

"I saw him this morning and I thought he would attack, but he just split the peloton in thirty pieces. He went like an eagle on the first climb and against that you can't do anything."

What Landis did on the road to Morzine was unthinkable. It was astonishing and it will never be questioned as heroic. Nobody (that I've read, anyway) has mentioned of this epic ride, "Would this have happened were Basso and Ullrich in the race?" because as good as this ride was, there's no doubt in our minds that it would've happened had it needed to.

And with that ride, he brought himself close enough to the top of the heap that his time trial yesterday clinched his title as Winner of the 2006 Tour de France. Congratulations, Floyd. You made us all believers.

Lady in the Water

We saw Lady in the Water today because we love most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies ("Signs" and "The Village" are AWESOME, in my opinion.) I was letdown by this one, although I admit to not having high expectations given the previews I'd seen. Andy really enjoyed it, so whether or not we recommend seeing it depends on which one of us you ask.

So that's what you think of me?

Andy: If you went to a costume party, what kind of costume would you wear?

Dianne: I don't know, I don't like wearing costumes. I guess something mild.

Andy: Mild?

Dianne: Yeah, so I wouldn't have to wear something very different than what is usual for me - I'd be someone or something similar to who I am and what I already have.

Andy: Barbara Bush?

Both usages are correct

Scene: Andy and I discussing the amount of clothes in his dresser that he never wears.



Me: Can I help you by pulling stuff out of the drawers and asking, "Do you ever wear this?"

Andy: That might not help because I keep some of those things for their sentimental value.

Me: That's fine, but can't we archive those items in a place that isn't in the way on a daily basis?

Andy: My clothes don't belong in a museum!

Dianne: What?? [pause...] Ohhhh - you mean like archiving important papers?

Andy: Yeah, like the National Archives.

Dianne: I mean archive them like taking them off the file server and putting them on tape to store offsite and out of the way yet accessible in case of emergency.

The last straw?

I walked out to the truck to drive to the mall in the searing heat to find this...




My first thought was, "This is it - Andy is going shopping for a new car tonight."

A friend was expecting us at the mall and I was going there to get something specific so I drove with the mirror dangling like this. I felt more hickville-ish than usual, which is saying a lot. Fortunately I didn't get pulled over for this surprisingly-obvious-to-other-drivers situation because we also have a crack a third of the way across the windshield.

Can you see the family resemblance?

The excitement - it's really here!

I admit that even though I'm not a Lance Armstrong fan to the max, I enjoyed watching him steamroll the competition in 7 Tours de France. He was/is a machine and I have the utmost respect for the level to which he took his gifts and abilities.

This Tour was going to be exciting because without Lance racing, so many riders had a chance to wear the yellow jersey into Paris. Then came the doping scandal and a number of top contenders were ousted before even coasting up to the starting line. I was bummed not to see some particular face-offs (Ivan Basso vs. Jan Ullrich, specifically) but I knew that I'd still enjoy watching the race because no matter who rides it, it's an amazing thing.

A few more top contenders are out now due to crashes and that's never good. It's hard to see people who have worked so hard to be in The Race get beat down by what seems like a cruel twist of fate rather than some other rider being better than them. But that's all part of Le Tour - hard work, conditioning, mental toughness, and luck/fortune/fate/whatever you want to call it.

The first week of the tour is all about the sprinters, those guys who go fast and hard like rockets only to be left behind (usually) when the race moves into the mountains. Yesterday was the first day of "real" climbing in the Pyrenees and it was a surpisingly "boring" event. I could only guess that the contenders were playing it safe to get a feel for their own legs and a look at the condition of their competition.

Then came Day 2 of the Pyrenees.

And what a day it was! I had a hard time containing myself at my desk at work while reading the live updates at www.letour.fr as a group broke away from the peloton only to be reeled back in while some more people broke away and then a bunch of people got dropped off the back when they couldn't hang with the large group pedaling up the mountains. On the screaming downhills, the groups would meld back together and then smaller groups would take off up the hills trying to leave the rest of the riders behind to get their names in lights, try for the stage win and pick up some climbing points. And then... then came the breakaway of contenders that I'd been waiting for! Leipheimer, Landis, Evans... But wait! There was only one Discovery Team rider in the bunch and it wasn't Hincapie! Oh, Big George, you dropped my heart like the lanterne rouge on an HC climb. You didn't hang with the leaders and I don't understand why! Why, George, why? Azevedo was there but I just don't have any heart left for him. Landis and Leipheimer and Kloden were there, but they aren't you, George. They aren't due to shine in yellow after playing a perfect lieutenant role for Lance Armstrong all those years. It's your turn, George! I fear that you're out of contention now but there are more days of climbing ahead so I'll keep some hope alive for you.

American Floyd Landis, who rides for Phonak, is now wearing the yellow jersey and I'm proud of him but I just can't find a soft spot in my heart for him no matter how hard I try. If he wins it all, and at this point it is his race to lose, I will be proud of him and American cycling.

No matter who won today, they were exciting times and I look forward to the next week and a half of watching these amazing men dance on their pedals.

At the Independence Day parade

I'm sorry, Kevin, that your mother had no idea of the proper way to put a liberty headpiece on until after this picture was taken.

Beets are cool

I don't eat a lot of vegetables but beets are one of my favorites. There isn't much that tops pulling beets out of the garden, cooking them and eating them fresh with a dab of butter. Yummm! So this time of year, people visiting our home for a meal are likely to be offered beets. Now I know that beets aren't high on many peoples' lists of yummy foods, but I love them so I serve them.

Jeff and Elesa came over for dinner tonight and I offered beets. Elesa ate one (I'm very proud of her because she's done that before even though she knows she doesn't like them) and Jeff ate a piece smaller than a square centimeter but it was more than he intended to eat. I tried to get them to find beets intellectually stimulating if not delicious.

Dianne: Do you know what is cool about beets?

Others: No, what?

Dianne: The red pigment in them is water-soluble and most people can't digest it so when you go to the bathroom, it comes out red.

Andy: Ugh, our son is so going to get beat up when he gets older.

Conversation

Me: Kevin, I'll be home after you go to sleep. Well, that is, assuming we win our first match.

Andy: Which you should, right?

Me: Yes, definitely; we've been in first place all season. Then we'll wait while the other match plays before playing in the finals so I'll be home after 10:00.

Andy: If not, then just don't come home at all.

8:30 pm, I walk in the door

Andy: Why are you home?

Me: We lost.

Andy: What, did you play with 4 people?

Me: No, six.

Andy: (blank stare)

Me: But not our usual six.

Andy: Please tell me you lost in 3 games.

Me: Yes.

Andy: Ok, you can stay home.

Nostalgia

I just sold my copy of Aural Ecstasy, a techno CD, on Half.com. I was surprised to see that I'd offered it up for sale and a little saddened by that. What if my kids want to listen to it someday to hear how cool I am?

Before shipping it, I decided to listen to it one more time. Andy was in the room when I put it on and he asked, "Isn't this the kind of music they play to torture hostages and make them talk?"

I'm very lucky...

...to have time like this every day.

Kevin is very lucky...

....to have time like this every day.

An unbelievable shakeup in the Tour

I'm currently shocked, jaw-dropped, stunned and saddened to read which riders won't start this year's Tour because of Operacion Puerto, the Spanish-based drug and doping scandal that is currently rocking the cycling world. Am I surprised that high-level cyclists dope? No. Am I surprised that they're getting caught? No. Am I sad that they dope? Yes. Am I sad that they're getting caught? Yes, except selfishly to the extent that my Tour dream for this year of seeing Ivan Basso in the yellow jersey in Paris and Jan Ullrich scraping together whatever he could to try to win is now crushed. There are other great cyclists and the Tour will always be the best race ever but I can't hide my disappointment on so many levels. I am rocked.

Out with the old, in with the new

I've mentioned before Kevin's aversion to bare- or even socked-feet. When he first came home he'd scream without his shoes on so he even wore them to bed. We tried to get him to wear slippers but it took a lonnnnnng time for that to work out. Once it did, we created a slipper monster. It's hard to find replacement slippers during warm weather when you don't want to spend more than $10 (mail-order surely works but we were hoping not to go that route.) As you can see, the time came when it was necessary to suck it up and hand over the cash.

Kevin ceremoniously slam-dunked the old slippers in the trash after trying on and determining that he loves the new slippers he picked out.

Tomorrow the Tour teams will be presented

I have a scrapbook in which I create a page for each of our wedding anniversaries. It's fun because really only one picture of us, to see how time and living with each other damage us, is all that is necessary, so I get to really whack out on the creativity. (If you know me well, feel free to chuckle now.) Anyway, I did years 1 and 2 but haven't done any since then. This year's anniversary passed a couple of weeks ago amid a flurry of photographic activity because I was determined not to let another anniversary pass without a page in our anniversary album for it. At this point, we can't even remember what we did for our anniversary the past two years - neither of us can remember, and that's saying a lot for Mr. "I Remember The Date We First Did 'X' Activity Together" for every single activity we've ever done together. See how important a special anniversary scrapbook is? It'll help you remember all of those fancy dinners at restaurants you never otherwise visit. Or at least that's our life.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Le Tour, according to the title. So Andy was searching through my old blog posts to find out what we did the past two June 16ths. Alas, I mentioned it was our anniversary but said nothing else. He told me to get with the program and write what we did because he is getting old and can't remember much. Maybe he didn't say that.

In searching through previous summers' blog entries, Andy was heard to exclaim, "Sheesh, you really ARE obsessed with the Tour - every year!" My excuse is hey, it happens every year, how much more often do you want me to obsess??

Tomorrow is the presentation of the teams. It's the official start of the Tour although they don't ride until the Prologue on Sat, July 1st. It'll be a fun and crazy tour by my estimate. Not only is the winners podium pretty wide-open this year without Lance Armstrong, but there has been a way huge doping scandal that is ramping up in the press as more information leaks out before the case goes to court. If it goes to court during the Tour, who knows what might happen? If it stays only in the press, it will definitely get top billing among news of who attacked, who was dropped and who won each day.

My picks for this years podium? Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich and Floyd Landis. I was going to say that they're in no particular order but the more I think about it, the more I realize that's how I think it will shake out when everyone rides into Paris at the end of the show.

This year I will miss the Team Time Trial which provides some of the most spectacular bicycle racing viewing around and the photos the professionals take of the TTT are pure artistry in photography and subject matter.

Vive le Tour and may you all find yourselves inexplicably glued to the TV whenever you click by Outdoor Life Network's coverage of this year's 3-week ride across the plains, bridges and mountains of Europe.

The best bike race starts in THREE DAYS!

Tour de France Fans (and those of you who will soon see the light, no doubt), we have 3 days to prepare for the amazing 3-week spectacle! I hope you've got your DVR ready to record every precious minute of racing (if so, send me a copy because we don't have cable ;-)

I splurged $8 on the VeloNews Tour de France Official Guide yesterday. Andy said it didn't count as a splurge until he found out that I went to the bike shop specifically to get it instead of just finding it somewhere that I already was. Oh well, it's not like he's not reading it, too :-)

I was afraid that I'd not get any reading done of the 2 books I'm in the middle of (The Secret Message of Jesus and The Grail Bird) while poring over the VeloNews TdF guide, but when I went to bed last night I decided that it wouldn't help me sleep to read that because it would be too exciting. Andy agreed, mostly because he didn't want me to keep him awake talking about it.

THREE DAYS, people. That is all.

More pictures more of the time

Look out for changes ahead. Andy and I ordered a digital camera last night. *gasp*

We decided it was worth it to get a point-n-shoot type for now instead of waiting for years until digital SLRs drop in price enough. We'll see how well it works. If the pictures come out well (will probably print them at Snapfish) then I'm sure I'll carry the new camera around much more than the film camera we use, which is quite big and heavy.

Despite the valid warnings from our friend-in-the-know, we ordered a Canon A620. If we end up with the dreaded E18 error, Kirsten is free to laugh at us.

Father's Day Interview

Click here to read the 2005 interview.

June 2006

Is Papá tall or short? Tall
What color are Papá’s eyes? Black and white
What color is Papá’s hair? Black

What does Papá like to eat? Scrambled eggs
What does Papá love to eat? Watermelon
What does Papá like to drink? Milk. Does he like milk?
What does Papá take with him to drink every day? Soda

What is Papá’s favorite color? I don’t know, I need to ask him.

What does Papá do at work? He works!
What kind of work does Papá do at work? Puts books in a truck

What do you like to do with Papá? Play tumble on the old couch and with the pillows that we land on; you don’t want to use your shoes, you should wear slippers

Where do you like to go with Papá? To the zoo
What do you like to help Papá do at home? I like to help him make dinner
When Papá wears a yellow shirt, what do you like to wear? A yellow shirt

What does Papá do to make you laugh? He makes jokes
What does Papá do that is funny? Tumble with you

Is Papá a good singer? Yup, he’s a great singer
Is Papá a good dancer? Yup

How old is Papá? I don’t know - is he fourteen?

Does Papá love Kevin? Yup!
Does Kevin love Papá? Yes!

He's pretty cute

If I were his age, I'd totally have a crush on him.

Canning terminology

Andy: Do you put the paraffin in the lid?

Dianne: No, you put it right on the jelly.

Andy: How do you get the paraffin out - is there a string or a ripcord or something?

Note: Never fear, I don't use paraffin for canning, I use a hot water bath canner.

Weekly Roundup

Our hot water heater was supposed to be delivered to our local Sears store on Friday, June 2nd. It arrived yesterday. It will be installed on Friday morning, hopefully. We decided not to do it ourselves.

We went to the MOS Annual Conference this weekend at Rocky Gap State Park near Cumberland, MD. It was gorgeous out there with beautiful weather. Kevin was a champ on all of our field trips and the amount of compliments that we got about his behavior has made me consider a lot about him and our family with new perspectives. More on this maybe later.

I started a new work schedule this week - in the office Monday and Thursday plus a half day at home on Wednesday mornings. Kevin is in school all of that time, instead of being with a sitter for just the 2 days. This makes sure I can "easily" get my extra work hours in each week but it is a definite change and it will take some getting used to.

I picked 25 pounds of strawberries today. I plan to eat lots of them plain, freeze some in sugar syrup, make ice cream and make some jam. I've not canned jam before myself so that should be fun. I think that another friend will join me to learn as well. She's never canned anything before and at least I've done that part with other fruits and I've made freezer jam.

The House Finches in our front bushes should be hatching any day now. I keep expecting to hear the little buggers begging for food everytime I go outside. I guess they haven't hatched yet, but the parents are definitely still around (last year their nest was predated by a neighbhorhood cat and they didn't re-nest here.) Gray Catbirds nested in our front bushes, too, but were dumped on by a Brown-headed Cowbird so they packed up and moved to the bush closest to our front door (and right next to the House Finches' bush) and they have 4 eggs incubating. The catbird parents are highly visible and fun to watch.

Incredulous

Me: I emailed the group about... The only person who responded was Will.


Andy: Who?


Me: Will.


Andy: Will?


Me: Yes, Will.


Andy: Will.


Me: Yes.


Andy: Huh.

Future stars?

Just try to tell me I won't be bringing these out when they go to Kevin's senior prom together.

He's an introvert!

This week marks Kevin's last week with the babysitter that he's had since I went back to work (part-time) a few months after he came home. There he has had 1-on-2 attention with 1-on-1 when the babysitter's husband was home. The other boy is younger than him and pretty much worships the ground on which Kevin walks.

Next week, Kevin will go to his preschool/daycare when I'm at work as our babysitter is moving away. It is a good time to transition as he'll be going to preschool in the fall to prepare for kindergarten and by going through their summer program, he'll get used to working and playing with other kids, learning not to be distracted by everyone else, learning to listen to the teacher, learning how to stand in a line, etc.

Today was Kevin's practice day at the preschool. We were there for 4 hours during which time I tried not to interact with him at all except when we first arrived. He slowly warmed up a bit. He wasn't more or less shy than I expected, which was good.

On the (bike) ride home, he dozed off in the trailer and I was sure he was hot, thirsty and hungry (he had one piece of pizza and a juice box for lunch - obviously, I'll need to pack him some extra sustenance.) When we got home, he sat in a chair in the kitchen while I unpacked our stuff and decided what to make myself for lunch. I offered him lots of things but all he had was a sip of water, all the while lumped in his chair like a rag doll. I asked if he wanted to lay down and rest on his bed (ha ha) and he said - *gasp* - "Yes." Off he went to his room, he got up on the bed, took off his shoes AND socks (my friends, never have his feet seen the light of day) and got under the covers. He seemed ok so I left the room and about 5 minutes later, I heard him rustling around. I thought he was coming back out but when I peeked into his room, I saw him getting books off of his shelf. He took them back to the bed with him and he laid there, looking at books ALL BY HIMSELF for 30 minutes! Never did he come out of his room or even ask me to come in and read to him. He was in a SEPARATE ROOM ALL BY HIMSELF.

I was stunned. And happy. And relieved to know that he needed some alone time to refresh after a day of over-peopling. Now he knows how we feel when we say we need a break. Ok, so he doesn't really get it at all, but someday he'll realize that's what we're talking about - how good it feels to lay in bed with a pile of books all alone for a few minutes.

The Tour de France for Business-types

So, you hear/read me talk about the Tour de France every year and you're like, "Seriously, Dudette, that's enough - a bunch of tiny guys with shaved legs wearing lycra don't really float my boat, 'k?" And I'm all, "But you just don't get it! Here, let me explain. Vhcde asdlkfjlkj OIUP! Lsdiouaklj sfkloui sdflkj... ousdn werhadf lkj. Uer oafd wevf!"

If you're a business-type, your time has come to "get" the Tour de France. Fortune magazine has a fun article called "Pack Mentality" about the Tour which describes the race in business terms - "commodities exchange on wheels," "complex web of shifting alliances," "energy traders," "polyglot group," "high-rent district" and "the market needs liquidity" all while explaining classic Tour terms - peloton, patron, rouleurs, domestiques, grimpeurs and "urological faux-pas". That last item isn't a classic Tour term but it is used in the article and didn't it make you laugh when you read it?

Enjoy the article and I hope that it helps you feel more in-touch with the amazing artistry and endurance captured in the Tour de France (it's only 31 days away, you know.)

The Da Vinci Code

I read the book. I saw the movie. You can't wait for my review, right? Well, here it is, in somebody else's words.

The Da Vinci Code...is as well-crafted and engaging a movie as can be expected from its dense and sometimes convoluted source material. It's not great, but it's about as good as it can be.


-Jack Garner of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

I loved the book more than I expected to. I had moderate expectations for the film because I enjoyed the book so much but I knew that the style in which the story was doled out wouldn't work for a movie, especially one that needed a reasonable running time for showing in a movie theater. "Dense" is a mild word for the book, if you ask me. There's no way that can translate into a 2+/- hour movie. The detailed narratives in the book don't lend well to the screen, either - rare is the blockbuster film that employs a narrator as the main character.

After reading the book, I felt the urge to see the movie. Do I think it was worth it? Eh... maybe so.

Andy did not read the book so his opinion is important. As a movie alone, he enjoyed it. Granted, he can figure out what's going on in a movie no matter how quickly the clues are glossed over. If I'd not read the book beforehand, I would've been stymied by the movie. There were parts where I knew to watch for a clue to the action and I still missed it but when talking to Andy afterward, he was all like, "They spent a whole minute showing how that part was going to work out." Okay, then.

You can imagine the fun he has watching movies like "The Bourne Identity" and "The Thomas Crown Affair" with me.

If I wasn't a procrastinator...

...you'd also be reading a really cool post about how we should work toward both saving the environment and saving people from poverty at the same time rather than the two missions working against one another.

But I'm not sure when that will be coming and, if it does, how cool it will end up being.

"Meet the Neighbors" cookout, Take 1

We're really going to do it. I mean it. This year, we are going to have that neighborhood picnic that we've wanted to have since we moved in. Honestly, we've always been really excited to host a cookout out our house for everyone on our street, but the inviting stage has kept us from doing it. I know that in order to get a good turnout (not for our the sake of our egos but so that people can actually meet each other) people need to be personally invited. So I feel that I need to go door to door inviting everyone. Now, if someone isn't home, I'm ok with putting a note on their door because at least I tried. But I wouldn't see the point in planning the whole thing if nobody was going to show up and that's what I imagine will happen anyway but at least this way it won't be my fault for not properly inviting them.

I'm working on the flyer now but I still don't have a date. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about this as the plans move forward.

Collateral damage when replacing a sink faucet cartridge

Our kitchen sink has been dripping so we bought a new cartridge a few weeks ago to put in it. We only just did the replacement this weekend but at least it eventually got done. When Andy turned the hot water valve on under the sink after we were done, we had no hot water. The cold was fine and all of the water was fine elsewhere in the house so we determined that the valve wasn't working. When Andy replaced that yesterday (with no sweat connections!) all was well until we looked in the old valve and saw the plastic pieces inside that are inevitably from our hot water heater, which we've been meaning to replace for a few months now. Even if the heater went out entirely, I wonder how long we'd wait to get a new one. We have become even bigger procrastinators than we used to be, although I never thought that was possible.

Change? No, please don't make me!

I took my new bike for a ride today. I hitched up the trailer, put Kevin in with his snacks, drink, books and toys (wait a minute, who does he think is hauling all that extra weight??) and headed to the playground.

*cue Dorothy's neighbor/witch riding her bike theme song*

The ride was smooth thanks to the cushy seat and suspension seat post but I'm still not sure what the suspension fork is for when 110% of my weight is carried on the back of the bike and not an ounce is on the front. Anyway, I learned a few things:

• Sitting straight up on a bicycle with ones' feet directly below works nothing in the body except for the quadriceps - and maybe the glutes. I'm banking on some seriously buff legs by the end of the summer.


• A kickstand can be really handy (I know! I'm as embarassed as you are about the kickstand.)


• When turning one's body around on a bike without drop handlebars, one should not expect to continue traveling in a straight line if said body's hand pushes down on the handlebar to maintain balance.


• Seven-speed rear cogsets have a whopping tooth differential between the first and second cogs.


• Standing up on a bike with the handlebars nestled in one's abdomen provides surprisingly little positive leverage.

I believe I can get used to everything except for the seatpost falling, which happened twice today. That's a bit of a jolt. I also want to angle the brake levers farther down, just as my preference.

I am probably imagining this, but it seemed that more people smiled and waved back at me todaythan they used to when I'd ride by on my road bike. I am either intimidating in my bike shorts and fancy bike shoes or maybe just scary.

I'm a self-centered bike snob

This is my new bike that I just picked up from the bike shop tonight. I am very excited to have a new bike that should function better than my others with the trailer that I cart Kevin around in. However, I can't help but notice the low-end components, the reflectors and the external cable routing. But really, what can I expect when I own 2 righteous bikes already? There's no reason to buy another righteous bike, right? So I had nowhere to go but here - and hopefully "here" will take me even farther because right now, my riding is pretty much limited to trips to the playground and grocery store. But that's ok, because at least I'm not sitting at a desk everyday.

A Statement I Never Expected to Make

"Andy, I can't hear the movie; please stop talking."

Conversation I never expected to have

Kevin: Where does chicken [meat] come from?

Me: From chickens.

Kevin: But how do they make it?

Me: They don't make it, they just... um... are it.

Pop Culture Diva

I'm quite out of touch with most of the pop culture these days but I do have a few opinions on some things I've read, seen and heard lately.

1) Survivor Panama: Exile Island - While I did learn to like Aras more at the end of the game, I was bummed that he and Danielle were the Final Two. I realized when Danielle chose Aras that I really wanted Terry or Cirie to win. Between those two, it would be hard to pick but I think I'd pick Terry only because I have a bent toward thinking that the physical part of the game is more important than the social part, although Cirie blasted all of the competition in the social game. Of course, I think Austin should've won but that's obvious because I'm sure his smile won you over as much as it did me. But it's not a contest in looks after the first few tribal councils, right?

2) The Da Vinci Code - I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite the bad reviews I've read this week, I would like to see the movie. And for the record, I don't think there should be a big deal made about this FICTIONAL NOVEL possibly being blasphemous. Do I think people should talk about how the movie story makes them feel if they feel something about it? Sure, conversation is always good.

3) CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Last night we watched our taped copy of the season finale. Oh my gosh, could the ending have been any worse?? I'm so amazingly opposed to the storyline of Sara and Grissom because it's more like a father/daughter relationship than anything else so I don't buy the romantic thing at all and I can't believe that the writers went where they did at the end of the episode. While the camera was panning the bedroom where Grissom was lounging in a Hawaiian shirt and it was obvious that was not his pink bedspread, I gasped in horror at the thought of it being Sara's room and Andy said, "Surely he's with the blonde lady [Sofia]" and then - eww - it was Sara. So disappointing.

A Fine Mother's Day, Indeed

I wanted to write a post about my Mother's Day weekend that spoke of how I had to sleep in the woods, cook breakfast for everyone, take down and pack half our campsite and then endure the shaming by Andy and Kevin when they tried to drive away from the campground without me.

But I can't do it funny-like, so I just won't do it. All of the above did happen, although out of context it sounds worse than it was - well, most of it.

Andy had the great idea of going camping for Mother's Day weekend. We went to Susquehanna State Park which is close to my parents' house and it is also the famed FIRST PLACE I EVER IN MY LIFE CAMPED in 1997 with Andy. This time we chose a campsite only 2 sites away from the FIRST PLACE I EVER IN MY LIFE CAMPED and it brought back some memories.

Can I take a moment to relive the most memorable memory? (is that redundant?)
When we arrived, we needed to buy ice or bait or both, I can't remember, so we had to leave the park and find our way into town, which I think Andy expected to be easier for me to do than it was. I mean, my parents live close to the park but not that close, so I spent my Friday nights cruising the town in my parents' Mercury Grand Marquis 2 towns over, not the town by the park. As we crested a hill about to see the Promised Land that was 7-Eleven, the setting sun shone directly into my eyes and - BAM! - I got a migraine. "Andy, while you're in the store, can you get me a soda? I need to take some medicine."

We returned to the park, set up our campsite and prepared to have a lovely dinner of hot dogs and baked beans (which, by the way, is still our camping food of choice.) Out came the stove and the pan and the can of beans but - oops - we had no can opener. Andy carried a small sort of can opener thing in his pocket most of the time so he decided to use that. No luck, still stuck (got kids? you'll get that reference.) What was it, a good 20 minutes of Andy fighting with that thing and getting seriously perturbed before he gave up? Knowing him as I do now, I'm surprised he didn't spend another hour on it and then just slam the can of beans on the ground until it threw itself open in fear. I think he was trying to impress me so although he was angry and wouldn't listen to my suggestion of how to use his "can opener" to open the can, he didn't slam anything (well, maybe the tailgate.) After he was done, I gingerly approached the can with Andy's "can opener" and performed the surgery I had suggested and voila! We ate beans with our hot dogs that evening, thank you very much.

We've been on lots of camping trips since then but never again have we forgotten to bring a can opener.

Now, back to Mothers Day, 2006... we got to the park later than we planned on Friday evening and Kevin had fallen asleep in the car on the way which pretty much meant that he'd either 1) wake up when we got there and remain awake for 2 extra hours past his bedtime or, 2) stay asleep all evening and wake up at 5:00 am and poke our eyes to wake us up because, "It's time to go fishing!" Don't think I'm not speaking from experience.

He slept through us setting up the tent and bedding and unloading a few things and it was really cool to be back in action with just Andy setting everything up like the dandy team that we are (get it?) without even having to speak. And it was so quick and efficient! Quite unlike the last time we camped when Kevin "helped" with everything.

I'll make this story short at this point but remind me to tell you later about the time mixup with my parents on Saturday. That was a hoot. But anyway, we had a terrific weekend and I got a present besides camping... a Trek bike catalog with a post-it note inside saying, "Happy Mother's Day" on the page of hybrids because I'd mentioned to Andy that I thought it would be easier to ride to the store on my bike if I didn't have to use my current road bike (for various reasons I won't bore you with here.) Yahoo! Now I get to go test ride some bikes at the shop.

Oh, and I almost finished reading The Da Vinci Code this weekend because I had so much "free" time while Andy took care of most things and I was able to finish it on Monday. Quick review: I really enjoyed it.

I hope you all had a nice Mother's Day weekend as well.

Worth the money

Kevin always wears socks. It's been a long time since he's required shoes 24 hours a day, and that's been nice, but we have been unable to break the sock barrier. In the summertime, he gets athlete's foot because his feet are always sweaty and always inside socks (or cozy winter slippers.) Even when we went to the beach last year, he wore socks and shoes.

Since the weather has been getting warmer this spring, we've been talking to him a lot about him trying to have bare feet. Today he proudly said to me, "Mama, I'm going to take off my socks!" I praised him profusely, telling him how proud I was that he was trying something new and I had him go tell Andy so that he could lavish on the praise as well. So he took off his sweaty socks (yes, I do change them multiple times a day but he's a sweaty guy) and then... put his slippers back on. Now, that wasn't what we were hoping for but we had to admit that it was an excellent step. It was brand new territory for the boy so we were proud. But not as proud as tonight, although I might be more proud of myself for this part of the story.

We were at REI and I saw some kids' sandals with lots of foot coverage. I thought they'd be great for Kevin to try because he'd be safe in them what with the toe guards (he scuffs the toes of his shoes the moment he steps out of the shoe store, every time) and lots of webbing. Plus I hoped they'd feel more like shoes and less like sandals to him. The cost was much higher than I ever thought I'd pay for a pair of sandals for anyone in our family, but I gave it a shot anyway.

The next obstacle was to get Kevin to try them on without socks. [If someone reading this is from the Maryland Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene, please know that no REI employee condoned the sockless try-on.] I knew that if Kevin tried them on with socks, he'd never wear them without socks. And I wasn't going to spend that much money on sandals to be worn with socks. I somehow convinced Kevin to even try on the shoes and then I talked his poor ear off while I snuck off a sock and stuffed his foot into the sandal. He kept talking while I did the same to his other foot and then I quickly said, "Hey, they look cool! Go find Papa to show him!" I was so proud of myself for getting his socks off his feet without a meltdown AND knowing how to get him to walk around in them WITHOUT SOCKS (did I mention that already?) to see how they felt and check whether he would trip over the front ends.

He walked around the store for awhile and hiked up and down the test rock a few times. He asked to take them home and it was then that I had to break it to him that he wasn't wearing any socks and that I knew it. I told him that he could have the new shoes if he promised to wear them at home without socks. He solemnly promised me that and promptly returned to the empty shoe box and placed his sneakers inside.

Yes, People, that means what you think it does. He wore the sandals WITH NO SOCKS out of the store! I can only hope that this wonder-child still exists in the morning when it's time to get dressed for church.

Exhale

For the past months, we've been trying to figure out how to go about adopting
our next child. We've always known that we planned to have more than 1 kid,
assuming there weren't mitigating circumstances that popped up.

When Kevin first came home, I wanted to hurry up and start on our second adoption
because parenting sucked so bad I didn't want to spread out the years of torture
any longer than necessary.

Later I felt ready to hurry up and start our second adoption because parenting
had become tolerable and I felt like I could handle the torture as long as I knew
it would get different through time, and probably better.

More recently I have felt ready to hurry up and start our second adoption because
Kevin needs a playmate besides us and we feel even more settled into parenting (not
that we expect a second child to be exactly like the first) and because
the timing is "right" given how far apart we would probably have our children
were we birthing them ourselves.

Has God helped us figure out what we're supposed to be doing for child #2 during
all of this? Not to our knowledge! We've felt no clarity of direction. Granted,
sometimes we make decisions without clarity from God but, hey, this is a biggie and
the fact that we're not hearing anything actually makes us feel like it's telling
us even more clearly that maybe this isn't right.

A few weeks ago the thought hit me, "What if we're not supposed to have any more
kids?" I immediately followed that up with, "But of course we will, that's
always been the plan" and then a handful of valid reasons why we don't want
Kevin to be an only child (to have a playmate, to learn how to live with other
people and negotiate and communicate effectively, to not be as selfish, and not
to have to take care of us on his own when we get older.) However, the thought
hit me again, "Just suppose for a moment that you're not meant to have anymore kids."

What I felt next surprised me and made me feel guilty but it was overwhelmingly
peaceful - I felt relieved. I was relieved not to have to make a decision
about how to adopt our other children, where to find the money to do it, when
to get the ball rolling and, honestly, I was relieved by the thought of
not having to deal with another batch of attachment and grief issues from a
hurting child.

I liked the feeling enough to continue entertaining the thought for awhile. I
realized that it might just mean I can relax for now and wait before pushing
ourselves into the next process and that was equally relieving. I felt that God
was saying, "Hey, stop worrying about this. It's not worth it. Enjoy what
you have right now without feeling pressured to jump into something you're
really not ready for. You'll know when you're supposed to do something
and what it is that you're supposed to do."

So I'm waiting and enjoying not pressuring myself about it anymore. It feels
sweet like the first lick of an ice cream cone on a hot summer day.

I really do know to expect this for the next 20 years

Most of the past year and a half, Kevin has pined for Andy whenever he's not
around and has shadowed him whenever he is. I've never had a problem
with that. Lots of people assume I'd be offended or hurt but I never have been.
Andy is more fun and has more patience than I do. So it never bothered me.

Until now.

This morning, we had a friend over who Kevin likes to think of as his "little
sister." He treats her as such by helping her with things and he is quite patient
with the fact that she doesn't understand sharing as well as kids his age and such.
He even said today that he is like her big brother. And he does really well playing
with her and they both have a good time together. While she was here, I did some
housework but I also played with them and I played with Kevin by himself some
of the time as well. Then she left and I played with Kevin some more and then helped
him clean up his toys and then we had a snack and played some more. Then we
went over to the friend's house to have lunch with her and her real big brother
and then they all played together. I spent time in the playroom with them playing
with Kevin. Then we went to the grocery store and he had a snack when we came
home. I read email and he started to get frustrated. He began the 2-hour long
session of asking, "When is Papa coming home?" I told him how long it would
be and I got him to talk through his feelings about why he wanted Papa home and
it all comes down to wanting to play with him and he doesn't want to play by himself.

Now, did I make him play by himself all day?? I have tried to before, but I
most definitely did not today! And I don't like the playing so I know when I
a lot of it and when I don't.

The last time Kevin said, "I want Papa to come home now. I want to play with him now,"
I stifled the urge to yell, "Have I not played with you today? Have I not made
sure that you had the chance to play with other kids both at home and at
their house? Did I not allow you to pick something out at the grocery store
just for you? Did I not make sure you had a full stomach and clothes on
your back? Tell me - what did Papa do for you yet today???!!"

I know that I didn't used to be worth being around because I wasn't a good mom.
But now? Now I'm a good mom and my son better start to recognize!

Meeting

Before our bible study meeting officially started last night, I made the son of the hosting
family cry. Then during the meeting I yelled at one of my best friends and included some
curse words for good measure.

In all, I'd call it a successful evening.

The sounds of sickness and the sleep of the drugged

I am on antibiotics for bronchitis and a sinus infection. Been on medicine for 5 days and still have plenty wrong. I thought I got sick from Andy, who was sick a couple of weeks ago but it turns out I probably got my germs from my coworkers.

After being on antibiotic and codeine for a sinus infection with coughing a couple of weeks ago, Andy's cough 'came back' and got worse to the point that he coughed up some blood this morning so he went back to the doctor and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. He's on another medication and was instructed to get a chest x-ray if he's still coughing next week.

Speaking of codeine, Andy sleeps like a hibernating bear when he's on that stuff, which is kind of crazy because he usually sleeps terribly. When he's on the codeine, it's as if he melts into the mattress and everything in his throat relaxes into a puddle making him snore like the dickens.

Kevin was on antibiotics for 2 days when we thought he had an infection that boys don't generally get and he was also scheduled for some more tests, one of which is really nerve-wracking and unpleasant, but now we've learned that although something is/was wrong, it wasn't an infection. So now he has another appointment with his regular doctor before doing any further crazy tests and hopefully we'll figure out what went wrong with him but we might not. If it never happens again, I don't really care if I know why it ever happened. His symptoms have diminished and we're ever so grateful for that.

Andy and I are being great parents these days - all we want to do is sleep and ask the other parent to take care of the kid.

Two Answers

Kevin asks us how God made him. Andy and I answered separately before knowing that the other one had answered as well. Guess which was my answer and which was Andy's?

Answer 1: "God put some cells together and they grew bigger. Some cells turned into legs, some turned into feet, some turned into hair and some turned into fingers. All along, he knew you and loved you."

Answer 2: "God wanted a boy who was funny and charming, who liked to laugh and had a radiant smile, a boy who was good at being polite and who enjoyed playing. So he made you and named you Kevin."

Personal Income Tax Computation Notice

I received a form in the mail from our state comptroller's office notifying me of a calculation error on our tax form. Now we're getting back $1400 less from our state taxes than we thought. Oops.

I once got a form like that back from the federal government. I think the mistake was in their favor so I actually got back more than I had calculated. Ever since then, I've been a little less leery of making mistakes because I know that their computers will find them and fix them for me without sending armed guards to my home or place of business.

The palate of a child? Ok, I give

While I can tolerate a more varied selection of food these days, I'm still fairly picky. However, it was only a few years ago that I was still really, really picky. Someone likened my taste to that of a 5-yr old. I basically agreed what with my severe dislike of vegetables or having my foods touch each other. And I really like ketchup.

This year for Lent I did not eat any meat. As previously mentioned, I had to take more iron supplements while not eating meat so I didn't find myself craving a bacon cheeseburger as I sometimes do. I have never craved steak like lots of other folks do, but I do occasionally crave a burger. Anyway, this no-meat-eating stint was really not difficult at all except for the convenience factor. It's easier to make sure I get complete proteins on a tight schedule by eating meat and it's easier to only plan one dinner instead of 2 (one that is nutritionally complete for me without meat and one for Andy with meat.) Other than that, I didn't really have any cravings, except when I was really hungry and I smelled something yummy.

I was surprised at my cravings when I was really hungry... not that meat smelled good, because that's not surprising at all. But I was surprised by the 2 things that consistently over the 6 weeks provided my biggest temptations.

Hot dogs & fish sticks.

Never did a burger smell all that enticing, never did chicken smell all that enticing, never did hamburger helper smell all that enticing (good, yes, but they weren't difficult not to eat.) The hot dogs and fish sticks were about to send me over the edge most every time I smelled them.

So I guess, without a doubt, I have the palate of a 5-yr old.

Four Years Old

Today is Kevin's 4th birthday! We had a party for him last weekend and he's received some presents and extra Happy Birthday singing since then. Today we went to an Easter party during which he was surprised with another Happy Birthday song which he loved and hated all at one time. He wasn't traumatized, he was just overwhelmed and he quickly got over it.

Amid the birthday parties, Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets, we have more sugar in our house right now than any other food group. I know that sugar isn't a food group in and of itself but it would be if the USDA saw our cupboards.

Also important this month is the anniversary of Kevin being with us for a year and a half. Kevin has now been in our family longer than he has been with any other caregiver in his life. He may have no conscious notion of that, but we can see that he continues to work through his attachment and grief. And he becomes a more amazing person every day.

Happy Birthday, Kevin!

Let my people go

I'm not a great writer. Sometimes when something big happens and I want to write about it, I can't do it justice and therefore I don't write about it at all. But I can't pass up mentioning the experience that our bible study group had over the past weeks so bear with me and assume that it was much more intense in every manner than I'm describing.

We planned, prepared and led a (Messianic) Passover Seder for our church on Thursday night. A Seder is a ritual family meal to celebrate Passover, which is the remembrance of the passover of the Lord when he spared the Israelites from death of the firstborn when they were in Egypt. It also serves to celebrate the exodus of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt into freedom in the Promised Land.

For weeks, we've studied what the scriptures say about passover and planned the logistics of performing a seder to include people who have never heard of one so that they would understand it and serve dinner to a large group of people. Because of some snafus in communication, I expected we'd have about 50-80 people but instead we had 200 people register for the seder. Yikes! I think about 150 showed up but that's only my guess.

The planning was impeded by many of us missing a number of meetings and it left a lot of details to be handled at the last minute. There were too many to list here but one that will stand out in all of our minds forever is how to feed 200 people without a real kitchen on the premises.

We rented warming ovens for the food and despite great intentions and strictly following the instructions for using them, we had a fire. I don't just mean that the sternos were lit in the ovens - I mean that the ovens caught on fire. Thank God they were outside by the time they got really bad and that Kirsten and Amy got out of the kitchen when they did as well (lest they pass out from the searing heat and chemicals in the air.) The fire required the fire extinguisher and one of the ovens was so hot that the aluminum food service tray (I don't mean an aluminum foil pan) melted. According to Andy's research, aluminum melts at 1220 degrees Farenheit. Yikes.

I'm getting tired so I'll wrap up here by saying that although I felt the planning and preparation for the service was extremely stressful and frustrating, I'm already feeling the amnesic effects gained by the passage of time after such a crazy event.

Next year in Jerusalem?

Questions

The "why?", "why?", and "but, why?" conversations are still in full effect in
Kevin's world, but now they've been joined by much easier questions such as,
"How did God make me?" I tried to answer with, "Only God knows," which I
thought was pretty clever, but that wasn't good enough.

The party; it is finished

It seems that I had a reason to be anxious about today's party. Before going to bed last night, I heard a blurb on the news about the tornadoes in the midwest and that the same storm system was headed our way today. Then I read an article in a local family magazine about how to throw a good birthday party and it included doing all sorts of things I didn't plan to such as having good group activites to keep the kids from being bored.

Fortunately, it ended up that I didn't have any reason to be anxious because everyone seemed to have a good time and, most importantly, Kevin really enjoyed himself. He knew what was going on and looked forward to the presents, pinata and cake & ice cream and in between each of those things he played well with his cousins and friends.

After everyone left, the three of us sat on the couch zoned out in front of the TV, which is something we almost never do, especially not all together. We were pretty wiped out from all of the people in such a cramped space (no tornadoes, but the rain kept us inside.) We ate some leftovers for dinner, played with some of Kevin's new toys and games (he loves them all) and then Kevin and I went on a search for new slippers. He doesn't have to wear his shoes all the time, but he always wants slippers on in the house and the ones he has now are getting holes and the velcro doesn't hold them closed very well anymore. Anyway, Kevin fell asleep in the car on the way home and woke up when we were putting his pajamas on so he had a snack and we read his 2 new books and then he fell quickly to sleep again.

If anyone knows where to find boys slippers at this time of year, please let me know. Target, Kohl's and K-Mart were a bust.

Think I'm anxious?

Tomorrow is Kevin's birthday party wherein we will celebrate him turning 4 years old. 4 years old!!! We don't have anything planned for it except for lunch, pinata and cake & ice cream. We were hoping to let the kids just run around in the yard playing with the slide, the soccer goal, sandbox, etc. The forecast is for rain. So... either I quickly plan some inside games for everyone to participate in and then I have to preside over them instead of taking care of party details which is what I prefer or I can just let it ride and say, "Hey kids, it's a free-for-all, do whatever you want" and watch them all stand around looking at each other from different corners of the room. Hmm... I vote for the latter because there will be 14 adults here besides me who can take care of the kids should the gathering turn into a middle school dance.

Last night wasn't our best night of sleep as Kevin was awake for an hour and a half, crying for part of the time and extremely unhappy that I was only giving him the choice to sleep in his bed or on the floor in our room. He clearly wanted to sleep in our bed and nothing else would do. I didn't sleep much from 2:30 on but when I did, I had dreams. Crazy dreams. Weird, more-usual-for-Dianne dreams than I've had in awhile and the "best" one was about tomorrow's party. It went something like this.

I was on my way home from somewhere (maybe a beach crop weekend) before the party and ran out of gas in the car. I had a friend along with me (Hi, Amy!) and we coasted to the shoulder while discussing our options. We got out of the car and looked around to see how far we were from civilization and when we turned back around, the car was rolling back down the hill much too fast for me to catch it. Shoot!

Fast-forward to the party as I'd somehow gotten home and was totally unprepared but nobody showed up until 45 minutes after the official start-time anyway. Then the storm came... not just any storm - there were tornadoes! The kids were freaking out, I was freaking out... We were in a different house and of course, there were plate-glass windows all along the side of the house where the storms were coming from so we could see the twisters coming. I should've been making sure that everyone got into the basement but I didn't seem to pay attention to that as I was trying to finish cleaning the house as if it mattered at that point when everyone was already there and the house was about to be blown to bits and thrown to some other address.

I must've woken up before any twisters hit the house but I surely am not looking as forward to tomorrow as I was before ;-)

Call Me Hammy

I have a pulled hamstring muscle. It's not the whole thing, it's just at the top. I've had this happen before and because I didn't rest then, it took about a year to completely go away. I should probably rest it for 4 weeks this time but I can't imagine that's going to happen. I suppose in my older age I should listen to my body better or else it'll completely stop listening to me. Maybe it already has as I can't get my wrist problem to go away (it faked me out and got somewhat better but then got bad again) and my ankle has been a problem for months and I don't know what's wrong with it. At least the hammy problem should go away eventually. It only gets worse, doesn't it...

Pica

Over the past few weeks my craving to chew ice grew significantly and it started to make me wonder what was going on. I googled ice chewing and found that it is a pica which is

an abnormal desire to eat substances (as chalk or ashes) not normally eaten.

What would cause such a thing and why would I have it? Many health and doctor sites claim that ice chewing is often a symptom of anemia which, according to Anemia.com is

a medical condition that occurs when a person does not have enough red blood cells. Red blood cells are important because they contain hemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to the body's muscles and organs.

I've been diagnosed with anemia through blood tests before but only once was it at a really dangerous level and thanks to that episode, I learned to deal with having blood drawn at least to the point that I didn't actually faint when I felt like I would because that's what happens when you have to have it done so many times.

Still, I thought the ice-chewing symptom was a stretch because what does ice have to do with iron? I decided to test the theory by taking iron supplements. Lo and behold, I stopped wanting to eat ice! I know it sounds hokey but the change was dramatic and it makes a lot of sense that my iron levels would've decreased now more than usual given that I'm not eating meat during Lent. I still eat iron-rich foods that aren't meat, but the amount of iron absorbed from such non-heme sources can vary greatly depending upon what foods are eaten together.

Interesting stuff but I'll admit that I don't necessarily want to boost my hemoglobin levels too high because then I won't have an excuse not to donate blood more often. Hmm... maybe that's not such a good reason, is it?

Sometimes it's not all about Papa

I'm reading my work email and catching up on the blogs I read while Kevin and Andy are outside playing Blue's Clues. I just heard, "Yoooohooooo!" at the back door a few times and decided I should get up and see what was going on.

I got to the door and Kevin asked, "Mama, do you like dandelions?" "No," I answered. "That's what I told him," said Andy. Then Kevin said, "I told Papa not to pick the flowers that you like. Papa, you can pick the dandelions but not the ones out front because she likes those."

It's nice to be looked out for sometimes, I'm usually the one being told to make sure I leave enough food for Papa, to get him something to drink while I'm up, to not hurt him when we bump into each other, etc. Because, you know, I'm really out to get him.

I wasn't expecting this for another 8 years

• "I'll never be able to do ANYTHING!"


• (trudging out of room, mumbling under breath)"grrr... that's not fair!"

The beginning of the end?

Yesterday while playing in the yard with Kevin, I noticed some drip marks on the driveway where
the truck is usually parked. I wiped my finger through a fresh spot, rubbed my fingers together to feel
it and took a whiff. Seemed like oil but I really wasn't sure.

When Andy arrived home I pointed out the stains and he automatically did the same thing I did -
checked the spots with his finger and determined it was oil. He got under the truck and found the
drips coming from the back of the oil pan but not at the bottom where the plug is. He said there was no
way to know for sure what was leaking without taking things apart, which it wasn't the time to do.

Realizing the possible enormity of the issue, I stated, "Oh no, my truck might be bleeding to death!"
Andy responded, "I'll go get the shotgun."

Double migraine

I woke up in the midst of a migraine aura on my left side which meant I was going to get a headache on the right side of my head. I took my medication and tried to ignore it. Now as I check email and the weather on the computer, I find myself in the midst of a migraine aura on my right side which means that I'm going to get a headache on the left side of my head. I suppose it's safe to drink some caffeine as I don't have any other sides of my head to cause a migraine on.

Quote

Made by Kevin:

The one with lots of hair is my Mama.

Pictures might finally work this time

Kevin enjoys making faces such as this one here, when he was attempting to look mean. His funniest face is when he's mad but something makes him laugh and he tries not to laugh but can't really hold it in.

Kevin and Andy played short-order cook for a few days - one of them would be the cook and the other would order food. It was all imaginary, they didn't even use plastic food.

Kevin still loves slides. This was taken in our yard when we had a few-day spurt of really warm (80's) weather a couple of weeks ago.

Which is worse?

Which is more impolite.... 1) inviting friends over and falling asleep while watching a movie or 2) going to a friend's house to watch a movie and falling asleep over there?

Conversation with God

On my way out of the office this afternoon, I stashed a handful of Hershey Nuggets in my pocket for the ride home. I'd eaten other candy today so it wasn't necessary but I wanted them anyway. On my way down the stairs to leave the building, I had this conversation with God in my head.

God: You don't need those nuggets.

Me: But I want them.

God: You shouldn't eat them.

Me: Are you sure?

God: Yes.

Me: Damn. [pause] Excuse me.

God: You're forgiven.

Me: Thanks. Ok, I won't eat them. *sigh*

By the time I got to my truck, I'd forgotten that the candy was in my pocket. I put them in the cabinet without remorse when I got home.

Lost Prayer

For the past couple of years, I've been trying to find this prayer by Thomas a Kempis that I had on a small card many years ago. I couldn't even find it online because there are too many things by him and I didn't remember enough of the prayer to look for any helpful quotes.

I decided this weekend to loan a book to a friend and when I took it off the bookshelf last night and checked to make sure I didn't leave any papers in it, the card with the prayer fell out. Pretty cool.

So here it is.

"Give us, O Lord, steadfast hearts that cannot be dragged down by false loves; give us courageous hearts that cannot be worn down by trouble; give us righteous hearts that cannot be sidetracked by unholy or unworthy goals. Give to us also, our Lord and God, understanding to know you, diligence to look for you, wisdom to recognize you, and a faithfulness that will bring us to see you face to face."

How to be a good friend

Here are recently heard comments from friends about things I've created. Feel free to use these on your friends when they serve you a homemade dinner, hand you a homemade card or show you their hand-crafted scrapbook pages.

• You never know, <insert spouse's name here> might like it.


• Why couldn't you do it this other way?


• It's certainly interesting.


• That's one way to do it.

Bests of the scrapbook weekend

Best Quote: "Of course it's too big. He's a frog, he's not going to have a hat that fits."

Juiciest gossip: "I heard that Amy is sleeping with a member of the band Forget Reason. And she got pregnant!

Best Quote #2: Someone asked me why bloggers think that other people want to read what they have to write and Beth said to me, "Well, sometimes your blog is funny."

Coincidental passages

This morning's womens' bible study at church (yes, it's a stretch for me to go but I'm *persevering*) was on Job. It was a great message (by John Ortberg, via CD) but I don't have time to go into the details now. I'll just say that the story of Job fits in mighty well with the James verse that keeps rolling through my head and that alone made the message worth hearing.

Perseverance

God gave me this verse from the Bible today:

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that
the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you
may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

As with all of what God gives me, it's fitting for me today. I'm on a renewed journey to fight
a particular cycle of repetitive sin. Important things that I severely lack when it comes to any difficult task
are discipline and perseverance. I often give up instead of fighting. Sometimes that is the right
response but most of the time, for me, it's not.

When I've read and studied this verse in the past, I've never stopped on the word "perseverance." I've
either concentrated on considering it joy to face trials because I can at least know that God is working
in me or I go on to the idea of gaining maturity. What is most important for me now, though,
is perseverance. I hope to gain an ability to persevere farther through my current trials. And it sounds
like I will.

Drama King

We have a Drama King in our house and while many of you who know us would think it's Andy, what with his flamboyant personality, it's not. It's Kevin. And he can turn it on at the drop of a hat and he uses his gift daily.

I often ask him if he wants to take a drama class just to witness his response of, "I don't liiike draaaammmmaaaaa!" This morning he finally asked me, "What's drama?"

I told him that it's when people act like another person or animal or something. It's like pretending to be something else. I said that in a drama class, the teacher might tell him to act like a cat and then he would walk on his hands and knees and say 'meow' and scratch. That would be drama.

I further stretched it based on the description of one of the drama classes I read about and said that maybe he and other kids would act out a favorite story, such as "Robert the Rose Horse." Maybe he'd be Robert and sneeze a lot while other kids would pretend to be the doctor and Robert's parents. It's not like he doesn't do this stuff anyway, but he never knew it was called drama, nor does he do it when someone asks, it's only when he feels like it.

So then Kevin said, "The teacher could say, 'Let's act out the refrigerator story' and then I'd pretend to be the cold and the other kids could pretend to be the food."

Does that tell me something about his personality or is that just the 3/4-yr old in him talking??

He'll probably start shaving for real soon

There is a sale at Kohl's this weekend (when isn't there? I know) so I bought Kevin a few clothes for the summer. Turns out that 3T shorts fit him great, although they're a little long, but 4T shirts are not big enough to last longer than a couple of months from now. I took back the 4T shirts last night and had to go to the *gasp* BOYS department instead of toddlers to get the next size up. I bought him size Small/4. That's a straight 4, note that there's no "T" after it.

I had a stronger emotional response than I expected there at the empty Kohl's at 10:30 pm on Friday night but it wasn't as bad as a few minutes later when I realized that the shirts in the boys department hang on adult-sized hangers. That was just too much.

New Pastor = Huge Wave of Relief

On Wednesday night, our small group had our church's new pastor, Matthew, over for dinner. It was supposed to be entirely social but he opened the floor up to business by asking each of us (yes, every single one of us separately) what we were hoping to see our church as in the future.

Personally, I never think much beyond the end of my nose so I have no picture of what I hope for our church in the future. I do know of many things about the church now and in the past that I want us to escape from and that's actually what all of us talked about. In specific ways, I'm sure that I disagree with what other people are thinking but in general terms, I agreed with what everyone said. Even Matthew added a few points that I agreed with and hadn't thought of on the spot when asked. In fact, he made a comment that hit a really huge nail square on the head and which I hadn't been able to formulate a description for.

I've never felt that Brian was my pastor (he and his wife and a few friends started our church and he was the senior pastor since they first voted him to be until early this year) except that he was the guy usually giving the message on Sunday mornings. When I started going to Cedar Ridge, Bob J was "my pastor." He paid attention to my spiritual development, or at least helped when I asked. He left and there was a gaping hole until Gene M came along about 4 years ago. Again, somebody seemed to care what was going on with my spiritual development. He left abruptly (or at least abruptly to many in the congregation) and I just realized on Wednesday night why it was so devastating to me that Gene left... we had a relationship beyond, "Hey, good to see you" and a hand shake.

I'm not suggesting that the senior pastor or even any pastor has to know everybody in the church and what they're going through. But it is nice if there is at least one pastor who seems to care. About me. Yes, I'm being selfish here and I'm asking what can the church do for me instead of just what can I do for it. But come on, there's got to be something, some little thread I can hold on to at the church besides my small group, don't you think?

Matthew's comment that leadership in our church needs to be relational struck a resounding and melodious tone that I was incredibly happy to hear. Of course, I don't think he's said anything yet that makes me question that he's the perfect senior pastor for our church right now, but as even he said, we'll have to see some changes to know that it's really going to work out.

I asked Matthew that since he's gotten to know the staff, heard stories from most if not all of the ministry leaders and talked to various people like us, how he would rate his level of shock or surprise at our dysfunctionality. I gave him a scale from 1 to 10 with 10 being, "Holy crap, I had no idea it would be like this; get me a plane ticket out of here!" and 1 being "This is exactly what I thought it would be." He answered (and I was stunned to a level of 10) "2." Then he qualified that with little things that he noticed along the process of our search team finding him, interviewing him, etc. that told him that we're fairly dysfunctional. I was amazed at the things he noticed during the short time that he had to get to know Cedar Ridge before deciding whether to accept the position as we offered it to him. A couple things he noticed: 1) we had to go outside the church to find a new senior pastor because there was nobody in the church even remotely qualified to lead us meant to him that we didn't have a relational leadership style going on and there was no sort of mentoring or leadership training in place and 2) the rate of turnover of all levels of staff is extremely high which meant to him that something wasn't right. Add that to comments such as, "When a church or other organization starts with a charismatic leader, that leader is likely to bounce around on different whims [my word]; one expects that the organization will need another leader later on to step in after the charismatic person has found some other niche to fill for a time and the new leader will need to bring the organization to a point where it can determine its identity and how it wants to work in order to be true to that identity.

And Dianne said, "Amen!"

It's a tax credit, not a rebate

I shot Andy and myself in the feet and didn't notice the blood trail until a year later.

When we adopted Kevin, we knew about the federal tax credit for adoptive parents to help recoup some (in our case) of the costs of adoption. I knew that the credit would cover our taxes for the year and we wouldn't have to pay any taxes so I decreased our withholding to increase the amount of cash we get each paycheck.

I completed our federal tax return this weekend and discovered that we don't get the whole tax credit at once - we carry over any remaining balance to the following year(s) after applying the credit amount to what we owe and what we overpaid through the year. That means that we only get back $2800 instead of the $10,000 we expected.

I was furious (and sad and depressed) when I discovered this and realized that they won't give us the credit until we've given them that much money but then I tried to rationalize it and see that it's based on our taxes, it's not just an outright payment.

The problem with the amount we're getting back is not that we don't appreciate that we're getting it, but that we were banking on $10,000 to put toward the fees for our next adoption. We had the cash for the fees during our first adoption but after that first adoption, we don't have any cash for the fees for our next adoption. Now we'll have to get creative.

Where to begin? Where to end?

We've caught a number of mice in our house since last mention and we naturally selected a few that figured out how to get out of the traps so we started using other more "permanent" traps and have had less of a problem. However, we did find a very large mouse named "Tiptoe" in our mailbox the other day and now Kevin keeps it for a pet and is sleeping with it as I type. Thanks, Kirsten.

....................

Kevin has been sick in his digestive tract (see how I didn't use the other "d" word?) for 5 weeks now and we have an official lab-tested diagnosis of "C. Diff Colitis." The problem is that he's got a huge amount of clostridium difficile bacteria in his gut that his body can't get control over so now his intestine is damaged but it can be fixed with medicine. The medicine has to be compounded for pediatric use but I already knew this as he has been on it before (for a different diagnosis.) So, I knew where to get it but something went wrong with the insurance authorization so after waiting a few more extra days of Kevin having to deal with this, I just paid for the dang medication straight up.

....................

The past few days I've spent eating every different kind of meat I like a lot - salmon, steak sandwich, ground beef and chicken, in particular - in preparation for not eating meat during Lent, which begins in 2 days. Andy will sacrifice snack foods (not snacking, just snack foods, which is going to be really, really rough on him) so tomorrow night for dinner I think I'll have a bacon cheeseburger with a side of Taylor pork roll and Andy will have a plate of potato chips, popcorn, fritos and Snickers.

....................

We found a preschool to send Kevin to in the fall. I contacted and visited quite a few places and none of them struck me as close to perfect, yet I never felt inside like it was going to be a problem. Lo and behold, God showed us the perfect place a mile from our house that has everything and more that we're looking for in a preschool for Kevin. Now we are considering whether to also send him there for their summer program.

....................

Was this boring to read? I'm sure. Do I feel that I'm pretty close to caught up with the major goings-on now? Yes. And that's what it's all about... Me.

You know who I mean

I met a man at church a couple of weeks ago who I'd seen a number of times before but had never known his name. I tried to describe him to Andy when I told him that I met him but I couldn't give him enough info to figure out who I was talking about.

The next day in church, the guy was on stage and I pointed him out to Andy. Andy said, "You could've said he's balding." I looked closer and saw that he was, in fact, fairly bald already. "Hm, yeah," I replied, "I hadn't noticed." Andy said, "Well, I guess that's a good thing for me!"

Movie and Dinner Review

My parents came over yesterday and Andy and I went out to a movie and dinner. Watched Steve Martin in "The Pink Panther." It was well-done and true to the originals but not our brand of humor for the most part. I laughed out loud about 4 times. The middle-school kids behind us cracked up the entire time. Will be highly enjoyed by my dad.

Dinner at Don Pablo's was as excellent as ever despite my not having any tortillas with my meal. You see, Don Pablo's has the best flour tortillas I have ever tasted in my life and usually they are the real reason I go there. Last night I branched out, though, and took advantage of their "4-courses for $11.99" deal and I had flautas (chicken taquitos), grilled chicken with rice and beans and fried ice cream. The flautas were delicious, the chicken was delicious, the beans were not up to Don Pablo's usual standards and the rice was fine. I'd never had fried ice cream before so I was glad to try it but it wasn't my thing. "Where's the other course?" you ask. First of all, good counting. The first course was a choice of special salsas for the tortilla chips and I don't eat salsa so I told the server he could just keep his special salsa. In all, the chance to try some new things and not pay more than what I pay for my usual meal (chicken fajitas) was worth it.

Readoption update

As previously posted, we met with the master of the circuit court in our county in December for our readoption hearing for Kevin. We were glad to have the hearing in 2005 so that we could file for our adoption tax credit this year but we still weren't sure whether we'd receive the paperwork in time for that. Lo and behold, we received the official adoption decree dated 2005! We were all set except that Kevin's name change wasn't listed correctly on the decree. This was a big deal as we want to legally change his middle name from his birth middle name to his birth last name (with our last name as his last name.)

I found out that in order to correct the adoption decree from the court, we'd have to file an order to have the paperwork corrected. This meant that the date of the adoption decree would then be 2006. That wasn't good for us considering that we need that tax credit in order to begin considering paying the fees for child #2 at some point.

After a few moments of pure indignation, I realized that I could file our taxes first and THEN file the order to have Kevin's name in the decree changed correctly. So I felt ok about it but was still miffed.

When we filed our readoption petition to the court, we also had to request (and pay for) a Maryland birth certificate to be filed for Kevin and a copy sent to us. Last week we received the copies* and what name was on them? The correct one!

Now I need to figure out whether I still need to get the decree fixed or not. I don't recall what documentation I need to get Kevin's Certificate of Citizenship and to have his Social Security record changed (his name and his citizenship status from permanent resident to citizen) but if I need the decree, I might need the names to match exactly. We'll see.

*Note: If you've wondered, as we did, what would a Maryland birth certificate be doing for a child born in another country and what would it say if such a thing existed, then here's some info for you. It is an official Certificate of Live Birth from the State of Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. It has his current name, DOB, sex, and birth location (Guatemala) and it has our info as his parents. The labels of all other boxes on the form are "X"ed out and their values are blank. This is the birth certificate that we are supposed to be able to use when applying Kevin to school, sports programs, etc.

I only went half-way to being a good aunt

I previously mentioned that this Christmas, Andy and I were a good uncle and aunt to our nephew and niece in Missouri because we actually bought them presents. After sending the box we told them it was on the way. After Christmas, Andy's sister asked if we sent it or had only planned to send it. "Uh, what?" I asked, knowing that I'd mailed it the first or second week of December.

Two weeks ago, we received a large box in the mail with a note from the Post Office attached to it. Inside were a couple of the presents that we mailed to Missouri and those that were there were pretty well damaged. The others were just plain missing. Something drastic happened to our package and it never made it to our relatives.

Although we didn't spend that much money on those presents, it was enough that we were hoping not to have to spend it again on the same presents. We still haven't decided what to do.

Overheard

While Andy gave Kevin a bath tonight, I overheard this:

"If you squeeze this fast, it'll make the person fly up. Ready? One... two...three! *pop* Oh man!!

[lots of laughter from both Kevin and Andy]

Woah, let's not tell Mama about that."

Pretty in Pink

My Mom: Would it be ok if I put some Dora stickers in Kevin's Valentine's Day card? They have a pink
background.

Me: I think that's fine, especially considering that when Kevin picked out a toy at the store
yesterday to buy with his own money, he picked out a My Little Pony with rainbow hair and
he spent the drive home brushing the pony's hair. And he picked out My Little Pony valentines to
give to his friends. And one of his other My Little Ponies has purple hair with sparkles. And
when his shoelace broke, he wanted lavender Dora shoelaces with pink flowers. I think he'll like
pink-background Dora stickers for Valentine's Day.

Just don't wear new white shoes

This is a quote from an email I received last week from my mom:

Do you think it is OK to wear jeans to the Bon Jovi concert? If we get beer
spilled on us, like Scott thinks could happen, then I certainly want to be
prepared!

My parents have been to other concerts but the most recent few have not
been the same style of music as Jon Bon Jovi. So I can somewhat understand
her question although my response was, "What else would you wear?"

For the record, my mom's hair is spiked.

If it weren't for the people I work with...

A couple of years ago my officemate, S, and I were looking through our coworkers' photos on our company's intranet website and when my picture popped up S said, "And there's Wild-Hair Aguilera."

Fast-forward to now with my new officemate, K.

K: What are you doing?

Me: I thought I saw a piece of my hair sticking out.

K: It looks to me like all of your hair is sticking out.

You're the what company?

The other day was a notice on my phone bill that my last payment request had been denied by my bank which, to me, is a very big deal. So I called the phone company using multiple customer service numbers and I heard the message, "We're sorry, but due to the large volume of calls, we cannot answer your call at this time. *click*"

That's like going to Denny's restaurant and them saying, "Sorry, we're out of food." Oh, wait... I get it.

Enough mice for a volleyball game

We've caught 12 mice now and I'm certain that the number would be higher if we'd put traps out more consistently. Last night and today I heard something rummaging in the kitchen but I couldn't find it. I know that there are more.

When we catch them, we let them go by the wall at the back of our yard and they scurry up it. We always hope that some hungry hawks find them quickly but we really have no idea where they end up. I'm wondering if they're not ending up back in our house. Andy thinks we really have this many different mice living with us. Ick.

Andy suggested that we tag their ears to know whether we get new ones or not but I think it's more reasonable to try spray painting them with that stuff wildlife bioligists use to mark animals. Of course, if they're more noticeable to us, then they'd be more noticeable to the animals farther up in the food chain but I suppose that I'd forsake the scientific method if it means getting less mice in our house.

So, who's up for a slumber party at our house this weekend? We could sleep in the basement :-)

Home Alone

I've been home by myself for 20 minutes now. What have I done? Yelled "Woohoo!" when I walked in the door, danced around singing "I'm home by myself, I'm home by myself", cranked up the kid-unfriendly Nickelback, danced around some more, heated up mashed potatoes for dinner and grabbed a bag of chocolate chip cookies off the counter for dessert. Woohoo!

To my phone friend who I'm sure isn't even reading this... now would not be a good time to call ;-)

Conversation

Kevin: (scowling and pointing his finger at me) You shouldn't say 'No' to people!

Me: (for the umpteenth time) I understand that it makes you upset, but sometimes we have to say 'No' to help people stay safe and healthy and learn to be good people.

Kevin: But you're not good people.

What percentage of a bunch is 7?

We caught 7 mice over a few days in the garage, basement and kitchen. We haven't seen any new evidence for a day or two so I took the chance of bleaching the utensil drawer and tray and washing all of the utensils and putting them back. The mice chewed on our utensil tray so we know they were in that drawer. Until now, we've been washing each utensil as we need it. Tonight's stand on my part should cause all the mice in the neighborhood to come swarming to our utensil drawer. I can hear them now, chattering away to each other like an evil game of telephone. "Meet me by the forks at midnight - tell your friends!" What they don't know is that I hid the oven mitts and washed all the kitchen towels and I DIDN'T PUT THEM BACK. Ha!

Of mice and us

Last week I noticed that Andy burned one of our oven mitts and the fluffy stuffing was coming out. The next day Andy came face to face with a mouse in our garage. The next day, I noticed that Andy had burned one of our oven mitts even worse and made more stuffing come out of it. What was surprising was that he hadn't cooked anything in those intervening days. Hmmm....

We are missing our cat, Flash, who died last year. He was an incredible mouser when we didn't even know we had mice. Now we have no doubt that we have mice, thanks to the droppings all over the place, oven mitt stuffing thievery and in-person mouse encounters. We bought some live traps that are reusable but they get so gross once a mouse has lived in them for a few hours that we throw them out anyway. The first day that Andy put 2 traps out - one in the garage and one under the oven mitt drawer - we caught 3 mice in the garage trap. (!!) The next day we caught one under the kitchen drawer. Last night we bought 3 more traps and we caught just one mouse today in the garage.

Here, mousey, mousey, mousey - you know you want some peanut butter!

Overheard at our house this morning

"Mama, you shouldn't pull peoples' pants down without asking first."

I kept my responses to myself but you can bet we'll have this conversation again someday.

Been a lot going on

Kevin has been sick this week with a cold that brought on his reactive airway disease (sort of a pre-asthmatic condition) and bilateral ear infections. So... I missed some work that I couldn't make up and one of Kevin's Dr. visits was taken care of by my parents so that we could go to a funeral. He's feeling so much better today that I can't count the number of shrieks he's let loose while jumping and prancing around.

A dear friend of ours lost his mother a little over a week ago. It was sudden, unexpected, shocking, devastating,... you name it. This was my first chance to test my new practice of not hiding that I have emotions, particularly those that make me cry. So I have spent a lot of time crying for my friend and trying to accept what it feels like to be sad and grieving without trying to pretend that I don't feel that way, which is what I've always done before. Embracing my sadness wasn't as bad as I expected it would be.

Conversations

Me: These lights are hard to get off the tree. Where is this string coming from?

Kevin: Where dat string coming from?

Me: I don't know yet. Papa is a crazy light man, you know.

Kevin: Haha! Papa is a crazy man.

Me: No, honey, Papa is a crazy LIGHT man.

Kevin: Papa is a crazy man.

Me: Well, maybe sometimes. You're right.

Kevin: Mama, do you know dat dinosaurs lay eggs like chickens?

Me: That's very interesting!

Kevin: Mama, do you know dat dinosaurs lay eggs like chickens?

Me: Yes I do, and I find that very interesting. Thanks for telling me.

Kevin: Mama, do you know dat dinosaurs lay eggs like chickens?

Me: Somehow I do know. Where did you learn that dinosaurs lay eggs like chickens?

Kevin: From a dinosaur book.

Me: Oh, very nice.

Kevin: Mama, do you know dat dinosaurs lay eggs like chickens?

Me: Are you seriously asking me that again?

Kevin: Why did the dinosaurs all die?

Me: We think that a big meteor hit the earth and changed the climate.

[pause]

Kevin: Why he die, Mama?

Me: Why did who die?

Kevin: Jesus.

Me: That's quite a segue. He died to pay for all of the things that we do wrong so that we can have a relationship with God.

Kevin: Oh. "The itsy, bitsy spider went up the water spout! Down came the rain and washed the spider out...."

Me: Kevin, I'm going to take a shower and then we'll go to the playground.

Kevin: I want to play on your computer while you take a shower.

Me: You can play on your own computer now, remember?

Kevin: It has dat web thing?

So I was sick on New Year's Day

I was pretty sick yesterday and it wasn't the first new year's day I've spent throwing up (although it was never from drinking too much.)

Most (if not all) people that I know who I've ever discussed being sick with say that they don't eat for a few hours or days after having a stomach bug. Maybe they eat a few crackers or some broth but that's it. Some people even lose weight from having a 12-24 hour stomach bug because they continue not to eat for real for a few days.

While I need to lose weight, it never happens from being sick. What is wrong with my body that it craves an all-you-can-eat steak and lobster buffet minutes after being disgustingly ill? I will feel like death warmed over one minute and then it's like somebody flips a switch and the nausea is instantly replaced by even worse nausea coupled with hunger pangs. If I don't eat right away, I get worse. If I eat, then I feel better. If I eat only a little, I feel ok for a few minutes but then I feel so hungry again that I feel sick and have to eat. So I'm best off eating a full meal at that point, which doesn't make any sense because hey, my body clearly didn't want any food in it 60 seconds ago.

Once in my life that I can remember, I lost my appetite when I wasn't in the middle of being sick to my stomach. That was when I had mono so bad that I had to crawl into the lab to get my blood drawn for the test (it was my first time having blood drawn so I'd held off awhile) and my liver was infected so my digestion was messed up. That was a pretty extreme case - it sure seems that I should lose my appetite more often than once in my life.

A short, well-put description of something I believe

From Pat Loughery:

Perhaps we need to re-emphasize the fact that “Christian” isn’t an orientation or marketing adjective

Preach on, Brother.

Read the instructions

We used gift cards to purchase a toy organization system yesterday for all of Kevin's little things that end up strewn around the house and drive me crazy. Andy and I assembled it last night (that was our big New Year's Eve plan - it was a rockin' good time!) and the instructions had a special note at the top that said, "For best results, use a power tool." I read that to Andy and he ran out the door saying, "I'll go get my drill from the garage!"

Conversation

Me: I'm sorry that you're sick, Andy.

Andy: Yeah, me too. I think Beth gave it to me.

Me: But we never saw her.

Andy: She called on the phone, didn't she? [pause] Transcendental Osmosis.