Brother & Sister

2010

It looks like 2010 is shaping up to be a BUSY year. 2009 was strange as both of my big (as in require far travel) work conferences were in DC. So I only traveled a little for work. Vancouver for a site visit for the 2010 meeting and um...I think that was it for work!

2010 is another story.

January - San Francisco for a work conference

March - Miami for a site visit for work
St. John for a girls only non kid trip (yes, I realize I married a keeper!)

April - Virginia Beach for Easter
Las Vegas for a wedding

May - Reboboth for a long weekend

August - Vancouver for work and then the family is joining me for an extended trip

Holidays - Looking at a possible week somewhere warm, but nothing has been finalized yet!

Good thing I LOVE to travel! Bring it on 2010!

We have TREE

Holidaze Preparations

Holiday prep is in full swing. We have decorations up (except the minor detail of the tree).

We have gone to see Santa. Max marched right up there, sat on his lap, chatted him up, got down, gave him a big hug and waved byebye. In his words, "I wasn't scared at all, Mama. Not even a little bit." Max is a man of few words. Ella talks. There is little mystery with her. If she's happy you know it. If she's scared, you know it. Max is a little more elusive. He seemed into the whole "go see Santa" thing but I thought he would flinch once we got there. Nope. Not for a second. He said he asked for "a prize", Ella asked for a nutcracker.

We have started the shopping. I would say I am 50% there.

We are getting the tree tonight. All that is left is cookie baking, present wrapping and making yummy food. What could possibly go wrong!

Two Thanksgivings Ago

It is hard to believe that two Thanksgivings ago we spent the day (week, 10 days, who's counting?) in St. John! We won't have this view this time but as long as we are with family and friends that we love I won't be complaining.

Wise Words

I loved this so much I had to post it here.

From 500 Pieces of Prudent Advice for my baby daughter

#213 Create a sense of family wherever you are.
Find people to love, and love them unconditionally.

It is such a wonderful sentiment and such a difficult thing to actually do or at least to do consistently. I find true unconditional love comes easy for me with my children. It proves a bit harder with others. But it is something I work on every single day of my life.

Feeling Much Better, thank you

Two days post-op and I feel like a new woman. The procedure went well and the healing is going smoothly. Tuesday was rough, Wednesday was better, today I remained home just to be sure all was well. I ended up sleeping most of the day. I think it took more out of me then I thought it did but I feel pretty good right now. I am, however, glad I didn't kill myself to get back to work and in the full swing of things too fast. The rest did me well.

I am so thankful for a great doctor and her great staff. They could not have been better. I am also so glad my mama came. I actually discouraged her because I didn't want her to take the time off and it really wasn't that big of a deal but she refused to hear it. She came anyway. And I am SO glad. There is no substitute for your mama. Hubbys are awesome. Mine is one of the best but they just don't think like a mama.

Mama's know that you need fluids and bring you water. They know your tummy might be upset and bring you gingerale and saltines. They know exactly what time you need to take your next dose of medicine. They just know. Thanks mama.

Nerves

For some reason I have a bad case of the nerves, as my grandma would say. Back in the day. Tomorrow I am having a relatively minor (so the doctor says) procedure to deal with what has become a pretty major annoyance and source of discomfort and pain in my life. It is bad and getting worse and of the 4 options presented to me the one I have chosen, while invasive, is minimally so. Doing nothing, aka option 1, is no longer an option. Option 4 is too extreme, at least for me, to consider at this point. While not ruled out entirely, it is ruled out for the near term. Option 2 is to go on medication indefinitely. I am not a fan. So option 3 it is.

Now, about 3 years ago this time I had been through one thorococentesis and was facing a second one. Though some could argue those were optional, I don't see it that way. They were for Max, I didn't hesitate. I got a bit nervous sure, but not in a "should I cancel this thing" way.

Arguably what I am about to have done could solve my problem 100%. There is a chance, small chance, that it won't help at all and Option 4 will come into play. There is a chance, very small, that it could make my problem worse. Hence the nerves.

Anyway, I am going to be nervous until after all is said and done and I have recovered. 1:30 tomorrow can't come soon enough because at least once I am there I won't be able or inclined to change my mind. I trust my doctor. This very procedure was recommended to me by my old doctor that I loved! When she retired she referred me to this doctor to do the procedure. I have scheduled it twice now, cancelling once. I have been told it is a good option for me 3 times. Why, oh why, am I still nervous and self-doubtful.

I think it is because I have had so much non-elective poking and prodding that it is difficult for me to CHOOSE to be prodded when it seems to truly be an elective choice. I could choose to do nothing. I could just live with my situation. It won't kill me, it just makes my life more uncomfortable. Less enjoyable. Painful at times.

Tell me you are going to stick an 8 inch needle through my abdomen and uterus and into my fetus to drain fluid that is compromising his lungs. No decision. Done. This, this makes me hesitate. When its just for me. I hesitate. I am not sure why. Tomorrow just will not come soon enough.

Dropping Trou

It is spelled "Trou" right? Like dropping trousers. However you spell it, doesn't matter, Max is becoming a master of it. Time to potty train. We have been loosely working on it for a few months and Max is proving himself to be fairly easy. He's great about letting us know he has to go, for the most part. Occasionally he's all "I have to go potty" except well, he already has. But that is becoming rarer.

What is becoming far more common is a little guy wondering around pantless. And pull-up-less. When he decides its time to potty everything from the waste down comes off. Like he's visiting the GYN. Pants off, pull-up off. All he needs is that paper apron thing that doesn't cover half your ass. Everything piled on the floor. He does his business. Stands up and off he goes.

We have to work on putting the drawers back on! We'll get there. Eventually.

And yes, I am fully aware he will use this post at his emancipation hearing when he is 13.

How to Make 2nd Grader Grin from Ear to Ear

Deliver cupcakes to her class fall party.

She really is pretty easy to please.

Halloween Retrospective

Dress Rehearsal

Tomorrow is the big day: Halloween. But today is "Storybook Character" day at Ella's school. Don't get me started on the you can't call it Halloween. Anyway, she decided to go as Tinkerbell (because we had to have the book to go with the costume).

Time will tell whether she wants to reprise Tinkerbell tomorrow or go with her actual costume - a maiden, which she has declared: "Kind of boring, mama!"

Today also marked our first attempt at a bun. Because, well DUH, Tinkerbell had a bun!

124 Sticks of Butter

For some reason, way back in the day, I started the habit of tracking weight loss in sticks of butter. I think it started with thinking that went something like this, "Ugh I have been doing so well and I only lost a 1/4 of a pound!" Then someone, I think it was my godmother, said to me "That's a stick of butter." That visual helps focus me and makes what seems so insignificant actually mean something. Silly, but effective.

Slowly, beginning in college, I started accumulating extra weight. Too much Domino's not enough basketball. I was NEVER overweight as a child or in high school, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me when my metabolism couldn't keep up with me anymore. I was never skinny, but I was athletic and fit. In graduate school I lost a significant amount of weight and then I moved in with my now husband and it started to creep back on. Do you ever wonder why that so often happens to women? Anyway, I know exactly what I weighed at the end of high school, exactly what I weighed the day I got married, what I weighed the day I found out I was pregnant with Ella, at the end of my pregnancy, after I had her, when I got pregnant with Max, at the end of that pregnancy, and after I had him. I suspect this is a woman thing as well. The weight had gone on and off, but was on a steady march upward. After both kids, I got back down to my pre-pregnancy (over) weight status with in a month or two. It probably helped that I only gained about 17 pounds with each. But soon, slowly, within 6 months or so, it would start creeping back up. There was just no excuse for me to see my weight heading to almost where I was at the END of my pregnancies. 2 years later. It was time to stop thinking "oh this is baby weight!" Delusions and denial! At various points I truly just didn't care, or was too tired to deal with it, or too busy focusing on my kids and other priorities.

In January I decided to commit myself to being healthier. It all started with the approach of my husband's term life insurance renewal and just a general feeling of UGH. On and off back pain, fatigue, sluggishness. Though weight loss isn't the end all be all it certainly couldn't HURT me and if I was lucky it could make me feel significantly better.

The Hubs has always been a "I'll work out and eat whatever I want" kind of guy. Well, work out all you want but if you are burning 400 calories in the gym and then consuming a 1000 calorie burrito at lunch, guess what? You are gonna gain weight. In his case he had an extra 20 pounds or so. I, on the other hand, well we'll just not go there. I am a pretty straight forward person but not quite that open!

We both started, slowly, to make small changes. Mostly changes related to our diet. He dropped 25 pounds in about 5 months and has maintained that for another few. He's a dude. I swear they think about losing weight and it falls off.

I, on the other hand, between January and March, lost five pounds and then gained ten. What the hell! And then a switch flipped in my brain. It wasn't so much an aha moment as I have known all along the HOW of losing weight, but it was as if my way of thinking when it comes to food completely shifted. Let's face it ... WE all know how to lose weight. I had lost 40 pounds back in grad school 12 years ago. But even then, it wasn't really a lifestyle change for me. The shift had not occurred. I was as obsesssssed with food as ever and not comfortable in my decisions, not confident in my direction. And let's also be honest, I like food too much to ever subsist on a salad and water diet. It just would never work long-term for me.

I am not sure what happened, believe me I have considered that I have some illness causing the weight loss, but I believe that I simply relate to food differently now. I still eat. I still have an appetite. I still LOVE great food, good wine and a dessert every once in a while.

So many people have asked me, "What are you doing?" as if I have some secret mysterious weight loss trick. I don't. Starting in April, when the mental shift occurred I began to believe that I could do this. Just as I am great at gaining weight, I could be great at losing it. If I really wanted to, like everything else in my life, I would make it happen. It just had to be my real priority.

Starting in April I have slowly ... OH SO SLOWLY ... but also steadily trimmed the bod. 31 pounds in 6 months, or an average of a pound a week. Many weeks I lose nothing. Other weeks I lose 2 or even 3 pounds. More often I lose a quarter of a pound one week and a third of a pound the next. Teeny, tiny, baby steps. I am still only about half of the way to where ultimately I would like to be, but I am confident I can get there. I would LOVE to lose another 124 sticks of butter (that's another 31 pounds to those who aren't good with math), but I would be satisfied with 80 sticks or another 20 pounds. I am determined to continue to take it one step at a time and seeing where it goes. Max weighed 38 pounds this past January when he turned two, so I am using that as my next milestone. 7 pounds to go. Imagine that, a pretty big monkey I am no longer carrying around on my back!

Here's what I have learned so far:

1. Less is More. I would rather have less of something I reallllllly love than more of some "diet" option. I like real half&half in my coffee, I don't trust non-fat milk products, I don't like sugar free treats. I'd rather have one real brownie than ten snackwells.

2. Ditch the Soda. I drink a ton of water, I still hit starbucks about 3 times a week, I no longer drink soda or sugary drinks. I might have 2 Coke Zeros a week. This change alone probably accounts for a good ten pounds.

3. Exercise, while helpful, isn't Required. Let's be honest, moving your ass helps. If I exercised routinely I would probably be much further along than I am, but for me, working out in a gym 3-5 times a week isn't realistic and it is not something I think I could maintain long term. I do not want to do this in a way that I won't be able to maintain. I think it would just set me up for furture failure. I don't enjoy it. It takes time away from my family. This doesn't mean I am not active. I am. My activity revolves around dancing in the living room with my kids, helping Max pedal his little police car around the driveway. Things I enjoy that I can easily work into my life.

4. Only Make Changes that are Sustainable. I made the decision in April I was going to do this with real food. I would rather take 2 years to get where I want to be by doing things I can maintain for the rest of my life, than to lose 50 pounds in 6 months because I am having a shake for lunch or taking some pill. Yes, a quick rapid visible change is more motivational perhaps, but its not lasting. As soon as you revert to normal eating, the weight comes back. How discouraging is that? No thank you.

5. Do it for Yourself. Don't do it because the wedding is coming up or the reunion. Or because you want to look better for your sigfig. Or because you want to make your ex jealous. Do it for YOU. Its ok if you do it because YOU want to look better for YOU. There is not a cookie in the world worth feeling good in your own skin. I did this for me. All the other stuff will fall into line when you approach it this way.

6. Do not expect Perfection. This is a hard one for me. I like to do stuff perfectly. Life isn't perfect. Sometimes you are going to have a bad week. Sometimes you'll have a great week and it won't show up on the scale. I stopped letting that sabotage me. I kept doing what I was doing and sure enough it would show up a few weeks later.

7. Trader Joe's Is Your friend. I LOVE Trader Joe's. Many of their products have become staples of our diet. Yummy, fresh and truly unique dishes make all the difference and stave off the I can't eat another carrot tantrum. I make their teriyaki BBQ chicken mixed with their schezwan string beans and it tastes just like chinese take out without all the heavy oil and msg.

8. Treat Yourself. I have continued to drink wine. I have had bi-monthly dinners out with my BFF that includes a blooming onion (I KNOW bad) and a ribeye. I have gone to Ray's the Steaks and been to birthday parties where I had a slice of cake and a piece of pizza or two. I have gone on two vacations. Still, I have managed to move in the right direction.

I have found that it is all about trade-offs and doing it in a way that you can keep up for the long term. Again, NOT Rocket Science. Nothing here is earth-shattering news! If it is worth doing it is worth a little bit of work. It is not the two teaspoons of sugar in my coffee or a slice of pizza now or then that put on the weight to begin with, more likely the 1/2 a pizza, the not caring enough to think about what I was putting in my mouth. I eat well and balanced more often than I don't. That has made all the difference in the world.

Parent Teacher Conference Time

Today it was time for the fall parent teacher conference. I had taken the time to sit down one-on-one with her teacher about a month ago to give her the heads up about Ella's, for lack of better words, learning style. Ella is smart. Very smart. This we know. However, she has so much in her brain that I sometimes worry she won't be able to demonstrate her intelligence in traditional ways.

So her teacher, about 2 minutes into the conference says, "I have never had a student quite like Ella." At first I was concerned, by the end I understood exactly what she was trying to say to me. Ella was the only kid she has taught who knew during the standard 2nd grade science experiment that the magnet wouldn't stick to a penny. As her teacher put it, "That's the point of the experiment, they all think the penny will stick." Ella had explained, "A penny is copper and a metal needs iron to stick to a magnet, sort of like a meteorite." Yes, this so comes from her dad.

BUT she needs to work on her focus! REALLY needs to work on it. When the teacher looks at you, points to her head and says "if we could get whats in here on paper, WOW" I take it as a compliment, but also a challenge! I just don't want her to be one of those crazy smart people with zero attention span, but I'll take it over dumb as a post and very focused! I am just glad her teacher gets her and is fascinated instead of annoyed. She kept saying, "I am trying to figure her out." I was thinking....good luck with that!

Last week they had standardized testing. Basically, intelligence testing using spatial relations, games and problems that do not require verbal or written skills. I like that her teacher is interested enough in how her brain works to have watched her closely during the testing. She paid particular attention to some of the tougher, trickier questions and saw that Ella was marking them correctly. We are both very curious to see what her test scores indicate. Her lack of focus could do her in, but she came home everyday of the three day testing saying it was easy stuff.

The thing I love most about her is she explains/expresses her intelligence so nonchalantly. Never does she say it with even the slightest indication that she thinks you are a total idiot for not knowing what she knows. She is not a know it all. She just knows stuff. A LOT OF STUFF.

Her teacher also indicated that Ella is her little fact sharer. She routinely shares random facts with her teacher to which her teacher typically responds, "How do you know that? Did you see it on TV or read it in a book?" Ella usually says she doesn't know how she knows she just knows. Again, further evidence in my book for reincarnation!

Today she was line leader so she decided to tell the teacher a joke. Where do sheep like to go for vacation? The Baaaaa-hamas. When asked where she heard that joke, she said, "In my brain!"

I am so pleased with her teacher. Ella is one of those kids that a teacher can make or break. Well not really, cause she's not breakable ... but you know what I mean. A teacher who sees beyond the "did she finish the assignment" and really gets, or tries to anyway, what makes her tick. LOVE her.

Politics Aside...

This just should not happen. It is wrong.

In 2007, nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies in the U.S. were tied to medical debt, and nearly 80% of those who filed for protection were insured at onset of illness.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Cool Shot

Recovery

Today's DOW climb to 10,000+, for the first time in a over a year, gave me the courage to take a peek at my 401K. I had not looked since SEPTEMBER of 2008. I am really good at this denial thing.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised (most likely the result of very low expectations) to see that my account is back to where it was in October of 2007. So I lost a year or two. I can deal with that. Last September its total worth dropped a little more than 20%. Since then it has grown slowly but steadily.

Conversations with Max

It has begun. The transition. I know others have been saying for a while he's not a baby anymore, but I have chosen this lovely status called denial. I knew, even before Max was born, that he was to be my last baby. I knew even more clearly after our ordeal with him that it was to be my last pregnancy. My doctor, my pediatrician, my family, my friends ... they all cut me off. I don't blame them. I cut myself off. I couldn't handle the emotional roller coaster of another pregnancy, no matter what the outcome. He is a miracle and I am not one to tempt fate. Still, it is so bittersweet and I see how couples, especially mothers, say, oh just one more.

He is finally speaking in more than a combination of single words and grunts with a few hand gestures thrown in for good measure!

On the recent transition from baby crib to BIG boy bed.


He looked at me in his old (now crib-less room) and said, "Where my crib go?"

I said, "It is all gone, you are a big boy now."

He said, "I not a big boy. I a LITTLE boy."

So I said, "Where'd my baby go?"

And he turned and looked around and over both shoulders before turning back to me and saying with a shrug of the shoulders, "I don't know."

I miss my baby a little bit, but I love this new little man that is emerging!

Max's Big Boy Room

Long ago I decided when it was time for Max to move into his big boy bed, he would move down the hall to closer to his sister. Upstairs in our house we have 4 bedrooms; our master, two that share a jack and jill bathroom, and one with its own bathroom. The transition began a few weeks ago.

This:



To This:



Finally became this:

Best of the Beach

Best of our week in VA Beach. Though I will reluctantly accept that summer is over, I am still going to wear my flip-flops until my toes threaten to freeze off of my feet!

Why I Read Dooce.com Faithfully

From dooce.com:

Internet, when Leta was five months old, we let her cry herself to sleep. Hello, my name is Heather, and I am a baby killer.

I wrote about it a few times and was told in no uncertain terms that when I die and am standing at the judgment bar of God that he will not bring up all those times I had sex before I was married, or that handful of times I smoked pot and got so paranoid that I locked myself in a closet (the police wouldn't look in there!), or the fact that I find Bill Clinton really sexy, no. God is going to shake his head and ask me why I didn't love my baby. And then I'd be sentenced to share a bunk with John Gotti in a cell next to the public toilets in Hell.

....my philosophy is that you do what you have to do to make you and your family a functional unit. Whatever works.

Keep it REAL girl! Keep it real.

New STJ Countdown

Next up is a solo (semi-solo, no family) trip to STJ. I have managed to swing a virtually free trip by volunteering to puppy sit on island for a friend I have met through my travels & obsession with the island. Place to stay and car included.

Today I put a flight on hold using my Delta Frequent Flier Miles - 35K - for March 11-18.

So 160 days or so to go.

Woooooot.

All I have to cover is taxi fare from the airport to the ferry and the ferry and food and fun. SWEET!

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
- Albert Einstein

Love this and what is says for my girl. I am still constantly amazed by the questions she asks. I used to think her mind just veered randomly, but I notice more how interconnected and probing her inquiries really are. I've always said I will take an imaginative (creative) child any day over one who knows a bunch of stuff or performs well on certain memorized tasks. You can teach reading, writing, and math. Creativity and imagination are unteachable.

This I call Sunday Morning

I love the look on Max's face. It's like "Where am I? Who did this?"

Happy Birthday to Kathykins...

My first very bad influence in life and one of the smartest, most caretaking women I know. Happy birthday to the woman (my godmother and 1st cousin) who introduced me to the concept of all night people's (the drug store), pointed out hookers on Broad St in Richmond, took me to get my ears pierced for the 2nd time (much to my mama's chagrin), showed me how to put on make-up and made sure I knew what a good haircut was. Thanks for the support and influence. I wouldn't be half who I am if it weren't for you!

Yes, that is a beer. Yes, that is me. Yes, I was less than 2. Someone should have been arrested! Explains a lot doesn't it?

Vancouver 2010

Nope, I am not going to the Olympics. We'll miss it by about oh 7 months or so. But I am definitely going back to Vancouver. Work takes me there in August, 2010 and we have decided to fly the family out and tack on an extra week or so in beautiful Brittish Columbia.

Frequent flier miles will get gramma, daddy, ella & max there and work will fly me roundtrip. So now for accommodations and activities. Summer is their in-season so there will be lots to do.

Tentative plans include visiting Victoria, possibly Sidney, a train trip to and an overnight in Whistler.

9/11

I always greet each September with a heart full of mixed emotions. Crisp air, cool nights, the start of school, memories of 9/11, finding out I was pregnant with Ella, finding out Max had serious life-threatening problems (in utero). I feel like I am holding my breath a little until October 1. I know its not rational, its not even conscious most of the time, it just is.

One day this summer, after a day at camp, Ella said to me, "Mama, did you know that one time crazy people took over planes and crashed them into buildings?" It was my "Oh my goodness, 9/11 will not be a reality for her, it will be a history lesson." It is sort of like the way we (my generation) feels about the Kennedy and Martin Luther King assassinations. We are impacted by them but not in the same way as our parents. Kennedy was assassinated on my mother's 13th birthday. The first hand experience shaped her differently than knowledge of it from textbooks shaped me.

Of course, her sweet little protected and nonviolent mind couldn't understand it. Just as on this day, 8 years ago and on this day, today. I still don't understand it. I probably never will understand. However, I do know, I will never forget.

A Little Before & After...HGTV style

First Day of School, First Day of School!!!!

Our Next to Last SUMMER Weekend

... (as long as Summer is defined as before you are in school)

Is it just me or did this summer FLY by? It seems like just yesterday was Ella's last day of 1st grade and here we are already with backpack, ahem, bag (she asked if she could forgo the backpack and get a one strap shoulder bag) packed for school to start in just 1 week, 1 day!

We spent our next to last summer weekend wisely. We started out on Saturday with breakfast and a trip to Lowe's. SO MUCH NICER than Home Depot. People, who worked there, actually walked up to us and ASKED IF WE NEEDED HELP! Seriously. For real. We didn't even have to go hunt them down. They just appeared. A glorious thing called customer service.

So, we decided to spend all of our home improvement money there and picked out a front storm door (I think we settled on the one pictured) and a potential back screen door. Our door to our deck is busy, all of the "simple" screen only doors were also busy. So we are not 100% sold.

Next, it was off to Chick-fil-a. Our kids love Chick-fil-a. The playground, the food, the ice cream!

Feeling brave we continued our busy day by heading to Ikea. We are getting ready to transition Max from his baby room/crib to a big boy room down the hall. Our upstairs currently laid out like so - Master bedroom with a bathroom, Max's room with a bathroom, Ella's Room and the Guest Room sharing a jack-n-jill bathroom. I think a much better arrangement would be to have the kiddos sharing the jack-n-jill, as I see it is it my duty to send them to college prepared to share. Why not start now? Freeing up the room with its own bath as the guest suite.

I have already gotten protests from the girls - aka Ella and Gram. They like sharing little section of the house, but one always ends up in the bed of the other when Gram is visiting so I see no point in weighing their opposition.

Anyway, we rounded out an excellent busy day with dinner out with friends to Mon Ami Gabi in Reston. Very yummy.

Sunday we spent recovering at the pool. All in all, perfection.

I am SO Confused

Is he a communist or a marxist or like Hitler or a Muslim? "I was very ignorant" um...maam, I think you are still pretty ignorant. These folks are pure genius. Much like Michele Bachmann, keep on talking.

Gram's New Digs!

My mama moved from her little cottage by the river to a house by the cove back in early August. Still in Urbanna. I expected the transition to be more painful. Aside from a little hip pain/arthritis from the move itself, everything has been super smooth. We packed up the kids to go visit and help her settle in some more this past weekend. By settle in, I mean, hang pictures, rearrange furniture and make Hung do work.

The usual.

Gram's old place was a-dor-able. Very cute, very sweet, very very small. TINY. Basically two rooms with a kitchen and a bathroom and a small laundry room. It was great for her when it was just her, it was supertight as our family grew. Lately, though not consciously, I found us going less and less to visit because it was just tight. Sweet, pleasant, but tight.

The new place is HUGE in comparison. Two real bedrooms, each bigger than the one in the old place. 1 1/2 baths. A nice living room and proper dining room, a real kitchen and another "bonus" cute as a button room between the two bedrooms. For now it is set up as a reading/playroom. I never realized how much difference a little extra elbow room could make.

We really enjoyed our visit and I expect now that we all have bedspace and room to breathe we'll be visiting more often. Oh, and she still has a lovely little view of the cove that leads to the bay and we can walk to most everything. There's even room for Butter!

Perfection. She loves it. We do too. Feels like the best of both worlds!

How I Feel Today

Max circa 03/2007.

Quote of the Day

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Timeless.

2nd Grade!

Seriously, who did this? My girl is going to start the 2nd grade in about 10 days. She is so excited. All I can think is that I only have 11 years until I will be dropping her off for college! I know 11 years is a long time...but the first 7 have gone so fast. I think I might need a good cry. Just to practice.

And to think I thought she looked all grown up when she started kindergarten.

Nerves of Steel

I am not sure how to crop something from youtube but skip to 2:37 or so. How he maintains his composure is beyond me. Amazing.

I heart Juan ... even if he's in Nascar now and even if he is sometimes a little crazy. In case you don't know, Montoya is also the only driver to have competed in all three major events at Indianapolis, finishing fourth or better in each event. He finished 1st in the Indianapolis 500, 2nd in the Brickyard 400, and 4th in the US Grand Prix.

Wild WVA Weekend

My good friend has a summer house up in the mountains of WVA. Very beautiful place. Relaxing, serene, lovely.

We try to do a girls trip every summer. This year there were 7 of us. We decided to take a side trip to the WVA State Fair.

















This Goat loved me. He wanted to really LOVE me. Its ok to love your pets, just don't LOOOOVE your pets.