Christmas pics

E and Sable.

E posing for Christmas pictures.

E opening her first present.

E and Oompa playing baseball (note the princess glove Oompa is wearing.)

Ho Ho Ho!

For those of you concerned for my well-being due to my lack of posting... I'm okay. Just very busy preparing for the upcoming Christmas events. E and I are making ornaments as well as presents. And I'm trying (and failing) to keep my house clean because Christmas is at my house this year - HOORAY!

I will do my best to take lots of pictures. I hope you all will do the same. All my love...

Happy Belated Turkey Day!!

**So I have a couple of pictures I could post but for some reason I don't even get the icon that allows me to post pictures. 'Tis life! I will post them as soon as Blogger allows me.**

Edit: Here's a picture...

We had a really great Thanksgiving weekend. Thursday the whole family was at my parents house. The food was amazing as usual. We had an apple pie cookoff. I made my first apple pie all by myself. It turned out pretty well. It was a Rum Raisin Apple Pie from Epicurious.com.

Friday morning I got up at an ungodly hour to do a little holiday shopping.. went to Kohl's and spent an ungodly amount of money, then went to Michaels and spent even more. But I have very nearly completed all of my Christmas shopping (however, I have yet to make a dent in E's Christmas shopping.) I ended up getting back to my parents house around 9:30am. Then spent the day playing games, working on a puzzle, and eating. Why can't every day be like that?!

The rest of the weekend was fairly normal. Picked up Nat from the airport on Saturday. Then Sunday we raked leaves. Exciting stuff, I know!

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving as well!

Things I'm thankful for:
-E, obviously
-my family
-amazing friends
-basketball season
-a roof over my head
-good food in my belly
-chocolate (I second that, T)
-the holiday season
-music (my dad got me the Dean Martin Christmas cd... I love it)

I asked E what she was thankful for... she said "Turkey".

Then I asked her what a turkey says and she said "Cock-a-doodle-doo." What a goof!

Veterans Day Weekend 2007

So much happened this weekend and it just feels like a blur.

Friday E and I went to Shelley's to help prepare for Saturday's cook-off. We made name-cards and place-mats for everyone. We used fingerpaints and fingerpaint paper to make the place-mats. It was really fun. I don't remember the last time I got to fingerpaint.

Saturday evening we had the cook-off at Roy and Shelley's cabin. Mom & Dad, Roy & Shelley, Sarah & Kevin, and Nat & myself competed in the cook-off. Nat's friend Jessie, Sarah's son Nathan, and John & Robin were judges. Our theme was German food. Roy and Shelley won the overall competition and they cooked Schwenkbraten (sp?). It was amazing. Nat and I made Sauteed Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage and it was pretty good. We won the title of most authentic... not too shabby. We'll be holding our next cook-off in January. The theme hasn't been chosen yet, but I'm already excited.

Sunday E and I slept in and then went over to Dan & Kristi's. I designed my next quilt. Then Monday I went and got the fabric at Joann's and went back to Dan & Kristi's and got to work. The design I picked looks something like this...

The colors aren't the same, and there will be 25 of these blocks, but you get the idea.

This week I'm off to Boston. My flight leaves today at 4. And then when I get back basketball season will be starting up (try-outs are this week while I'm gone.) I'm going to be assisting the girls team at the local high school. I'm really excited.

Change

I finally got a picture to upload!! It took a ridiculous amount of time!!

Last night E dressed up as Cinderella from her dress-up box that she got for her birthday. She makes a pretty cute princess.

In the midst of getting E dressed up, making dinner, and doing laundry I decided I wanted to re-arrange the living room and my bedroom. So I had TL come over to help me move a couch I had in the basement up to the living room. So now we have 2 couches in there. I did this because I'm going to have at least 7 people in my house Christmas morning and the way the living room was set up before was not conducive to that number of people & a Christmas tree & presents. So there we go.

As for my bedroom, I just needed a change. The 11x10 room (if that) I call my own has very little room for my bed and dresser, and there are only so many places you can put them. My bed is overlapping my closet by about an inch, but doesn't hinder access, so no biggie. I like the new layout, but I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I was confused about where I was. It will take me a little while to get used to -- I now have to get out on the right side instead of the left. Is that TMI? I don't know.

Birthday Weekend

For some reason blogger.com isn't allowing me to post pictures in my post, but I can post pictures to the side. I'll be posting a picture of E at her party and a picture of the cake Nat made. (Updated: 11.07.07 - Finally got to post these pics).









We had a really great weekend. E's party was fun and she got a ton of presents. Her favorite is a baby doll that laughs and cries and sings and talks. Luckily she keeps the thing turned off most of the time. But we've taken it everywhere with us. To bed, to church, out to lunch, to daycare… good times.

Cut and paste the following link… then hit the link above the picture. This is a link to the photo montage I put together for E's birthday. We showed it at the party and it was a big hit.
http://www.logcabinstudios.tv/biographies.htm
Enjoy!

Oops... I forgot

I meant to congratulate one of my best friends. My good friend Lu is set to finish her PhD in Statistics next year. And she just got a job offer from Elon University!

I'm so proud of you, Lu! You're my hero!

Cinderella and a new door

This week has been interesting. E kind of understood what Halloween was. She dressed up as Cinderella and we walked around my parents neighborhood. We took it way easier this year because we still have candy left over from last year. E was supposed to be Tinker Bell, but her friend Dot wanted to be Cinderella so E wanted to be Cinderella too. I ended up wearing her Tinker Bell wings. It was awesome.

Last night E told me she wanted to go over to Miss Lori's house and say "Trick or Treat." I told her we had to wait until next year.

I got my new front door yesterday. Hooray! It looks so good. When I remember to get my camera back from Shelley's I'll take a picture of it so you can see. It totally changes the way the house looks.

Well, E's birthday party is tomorrow. It will be nice to hang out with family and friends. I hope everything goes ok. Hosting things like this always makes me nervous and I don't know why.

Nat is making a cake for the party. She made E's cake last year too. Here's a link to what we'll be going for... http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50345
I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Birthdays

Well. My birthday was last week and it was quite enjoyable. I turned 26. No biggee. Thursday night I went with Tricia and my mom to see Titanic at Toby's dinner theater. It was awesome. Brought me near tears. Friday night friends of mine took me out to dinner. That was nice. Dad made an awesome dinner Saturday night. Then I went with Shelley to a log & timber home show and that was really cool. Good birthday weekend.

Next weekend is E's birthday. I hope her party on Saturday turns out ok. Nat and I went this weekend to Michael's to pick up crafts and party favors. E will be getting some pretty cool presents, but you'll have to wait to find out what they are. I can't believe she's going to be 3!!!

A little of this and that

As for the past couple of weeks, I have nothing to say for myself. I apologize for my lack of posting, but I have been "out of the office" for a while, so I guess that's how it goes sometimes.

Lately when people have asked me what's going on in my life, I tend to say not much... and then blabber on for 10 minutes explaining how not much is going on. So now it's your turn to listen (read: read).

Well, not much has gone on over the past couple of weeks. My washer started leaking water the other day, so I stopped using it. I'm too afraid to call GE to have them come out and fix it (because I'm afraid of how much it will cost), so I asked my friend Dan to take a look at it. He goes online and does a little research. Apparently my washer has a filter that needs to be cleaned out once a month or so (I've owned it for over a year now). You have to unscrew some stuff and take off the face plate and then untwist this thing and pull out the filter. Well, my friend Dan did this and he pulled out a balloon (deflated), some change, and a TON of dog hair. It was really gross and fowl smelling. That seems to have fixed the problem. What's funny is the instruction manual for my washer says nothing about this.

I went to Lowe's and bought a new front door and a storm door for my house. It's getting installed next week. Happy birthday to me!!! It turned out that I head to SPECIAL ORDER the front door because my exterior front wall is 6 9/16" deep instead of the standard 4 and change. That was pretty frustrating.

I've been working on a quilt for my nephew. I'll post pictures of it as soon as I can. It turned out so good. I'm actually kind of proud of myself. He's being baptized this weekend, so I'm hoping to give it to him then. I'm going to try to get the finishing touches done tonight because E and I are headed down to Virginia tomorrow.

E is doing well. She had a fight with a cold earlier in the week, but seems to be doing better now. She has a little bit of a residual cough still, but she's pretty much back to her old self. That kid is going to be something else. The other day we were in JC Penney buying her some new shoes, and as we were about to leave she runs back to the shoe lady who helped us and said "Thanks for helping us buy my shoes." It was adorable. She does stuff like that all the time and it blows my mind.

I hope this satisfied all of you who were bugging me to post. I'll try to post more next week. Let me know how you are doing either via comment or email. I miss all of you dearly.

Clothes and Behavior

Nothing really exciting is going on. I'm going to a wedding on Saturday so I've been searching for the right outfit to wear. I decided that I would wear the black skirt that I wore to Dan and Katie's wedding, and then I ordered some tops for "tall people". I got 3 shirts for $150 which is a little terrifying to me, but they're nice shirts so I can't complain too much. When I stretch my arms all the way out the shirt never leaves my wrist. I don't have many shirts that do that.

E had a rough week last week. She was cranky all the time. And whiny beyond belief. I've started mocking her when she whines which has managed to help a little bit. I also talk in the voice I expect her to talk in kind of as an example. We call the whiney voice her "cranky voice", and her normal voice her "big girl voice". She'll start talking and I'll say "Ah, ah. Use your big girl voice please."

I'm also going to start a rewards system for her for when she's good at daycare. I'm not sure how I'm going to implement it yet, or what the reward will be, but I'm working on it. Any suggestions? I was thinking about how to track good days... here are my thoughts on that -- (1) Stickers on poster board; (2) cool magnets on a dry erase board; or (3) quarters/dimes/nickels to go in a "good behavior" jar.

Ok, well, that's it. Have a good day.

Little Song Bird

Do-ah-di-de-di-de-dum-di-de-do. Singing do-ah-di-de-di-de-dum-di-de-do. I'm hoping to find a cd with this song on it so that I can make E listen to it and love it the way that I listen to it and love it. Mostly because she is unbelievably adorable when she sings, and I think this song would be really cute for her to learn.

We've been listening to the Broadway version of The Lion King a lot lately. She LOVES Hakuna Matata. She sings it all the time. Except she sings "Aku Ta" and it's awesome. She also really enjoys the music from Mary Poppins. She likes Spoon Full of Sugar and Let's Go Fly A Kite. She'llsit and watch the entire movie, which she hardly ever does with any other movie.

We got School House Rocks and Donald Duck in Mathmagic this week from the Disney Movie Club. She watched Donald Duck already, so maybe we'll watch School House Rocks tonight. I haven't seen that movie since elementary school. I'm looking for The Lion King. It's been out of the Vault and apparently it went back in already. I guess I could probably find it on eBay.

Being a member of the Disney Movie Club has been beneficial. We have gotten a lot of the movies I loved as a kid and a lot of new movies for pretty great deals. My favorite to date is Swiss Family Robinson. What is your favorite movie from your childhood??

Did I say Mob?... I meant Mulch

So, E tangled with the mob yesterday. Check out her eye. -- You should see the other guy.

She was a really good girl yesterday. Which totally blew me away because the night before was her first night without her pacifier, which she calls Fafi (said "fah-fee") -- we left it at the daycare provider's house and didn't have a spare at home. She did fairly well for her first night without it. AND at daycare yesterday she only had ONE wet diaper and it was after her nap!!! Which is totally awesome since I've been trying and trying to potty train her. Ah... my baby girl is growing up.

Yesterday one of the guys I go to church with came over to look at the downstairs bathroom and laundry room. He says that he'll do my plumbing (or re-plumbing) for me. He says it won' t be too difficult, which totally rocks because it looks really difficult to me. For those of you who have never seen my downstairs bathroom... it's ridiculous. First of all, you have to walk thru the bathroom to get to the laundry room. There's a shower down there that's basically made out of paper. The toilet doesn't work and the water in it smells like doo-doo. And it appears that at one point a previous home-owner kept their dog in there because the molding on the door is chewed through. Gross. So, needless to say, there's a lot of work to be done. But, luckily, that work "won't be too difficult".

Terrible Two

I realize I haven't blogged in a while. A lot has happened over the past 2 weeks, but as I sit to write about it, it doesn't seem like that much.

E is becoming the definitive Terrible Two. I'm trying my best not to use spanking as a threat, but time-out isn't working and neither is taking away benefits. The other day it took her an hour to actually sit in the time-out chair. She only has to sit for 2 minutes, but she kept getting up. Last night we only fought for about 20 minutes before she finally sat down for 2, so she's getting better. Gah! Beyond the fact that she's terrible, she has been doing some pretty cool things lately. She now can write the first 3 letters of her name. The E sometimes has additional horizontal lines in it, but she knows that the ones on top and bottom are longer than the middle.

This weekend I bought a new stove, a new microwave, and a manual lawn mower at Lowe's. It was fun. I also went to my brother and sister-in-law's house to meet my new nephew. He's adorable!! I'll be heading back out in 2 weeks to spend the day with them and I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for now.

Sorry

Sorry for the lack of posts. I'm in "class" at the Defense Acquisition University taking the last course I need for my Level 3 certification in Business, Cost Estimating, and Financial Management. Awoohoo! I have one more week left - that's wack.

E's at the beach with my parents and having a blast. I will hopefully be able to head out to the beach tomorrow, but we'll see how that goes. It would be totally jive if I can go.

Will be posting more updates again after my class is over. Peace and love to you all.

My Oh My

I’m actually typing this at 6:45 Thursday night, but won’t be able to post until sometime tomorrow. I’m sitting in a meeting I’ve been sitting in since 7:30 this morning. Almost 12 hours of talk about the GE38-1B (will talk more about that later.) I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m the only girl in a room of 65 people. Holy meat factory!

This post was inspired by my meeting and the number of acronyms being used that I have no idea what they mean. UID, RFP, IFM. I have relatively good knowledge about certain acronyms used in the government, but when it comes to helicopter engines, I have no clue. In general, I have a hard time remembering the meanings for acronyms that I don’t use every day. The two I have the hardest with are FMECA and FADEC. I don’t know why, they have absolutely nothing to do with each other, but I can never remember what they mean… I don’t use them every day.

Ok. Now I’m going to get back to the GE38-1B. This is the General Electric engine going on the CH-53K helicopter. It’s a really cool engine – words that I never thought I would say. I would like to take a minute to discuss the GE38-1B. How do you come up with a name like that? And they call it that ALL the time. Find something shorter! Like “really big engine.” Five syllables versus 7. Or “bertha.” That’s even shorter. Let’s discuss the GE38-1 part. Why not GE39? And then GE38-1B? Is there a “-1A”? Why not GE38-2? Whose job is it to name these things? *sigh* I’m getting all worked up.

It’s now 7pm and we are on page 24 of 42. I may well go insane………

Connecticut

I flew up to Connecticut this morning on a government plane. On the way I started reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. It's an interesting writing style. And it's a terrifying book. I can't even put it into words... you'll have to read it yourself.

When I go away on trips like these I miss E. More than words. I watched her sleep this morning so that tomorrow morning I can imagine her sleeping. She is pure joy in my life.

My mom is going to take her out to Assateague on Thursday. I'm jealous. I don't get to go to Assateague this year.

My oldest brother turns 30 on Friday. It just means that I'm getting older too (though not as old as him.) My nephew is supposed to be welcomed into this world this week. It's a big week for our family.

My Personality

I took the same personality test as GrcGrl. The only thing I didn't really like about this personality test was the fact that you only had 2 options for answers to questions. There are times when I like to make a to-do list, but sometimes I just like to wing it. They don't give you that option. It's to-do list OR wing it, no in-between. I'm in-between. So I think my results are a little skewed.

I also find it humorous that I'm only 80% Logical/Mathematical. I think they should have a higher correlation between Mathematical and Musical. Musical at 100%... I don't know about that.

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Any-hoo. E and I went to visit friends of mine this weekend up in NJ. It was very pleasant. Saturday we went to a art/craft show that they had in their town. I found this children's artist that I really like. Check it out www.darhosta.com.

Chenille Sisters

As I am extremely busy at work today, I feel the need to post. About what? I'm not sure yet. But here we go...

I get these weird urges, sometimes, to spend money. Right now I want to buy every album I can of the Chenille Sisters. I have re-kindled an old love of them and I feel I must order as many of their albums as possible. They are very funny and I love their harmonies. Here are some sample lyrics from one of their songs....

Disenchanted, Disenchanted
My bubble is burst you weren't what I thought
I knew it the minute we screamed and fought
At first I found you fascinating
Now, ah, my nerves are really grating
Whoa, oh, Whoa oh oh

To know you is to love you
To love you is to hate you
To see you being perfect is not seeing you at all
I thought that by this time
I'd have it all down pat
But I know that I have a long way to go

A part of me just can't let go
I wanted things to be just so
How could we both have been so cruel
Let's stop and I'll forgive if you will
Whoa, oh, Whoa oh oh.

I love it. I was totally jamming out to them in the car this morning. Good times.

Gotta run. Work is calling.

Your Tax $ at Work

As I'm typing, I'm actually wasting tax-payers dollars. And I don't really feel bad about it. Let me explain why...

I work with a guy who is supposed to work from 7:30 til 5:00 - a nine hour day with a 30 min lunch break. This guy comes in MAYBE by 8:30 and leaves for lunch around 11. That's 2 1/2 hrs of work in the morning (which usually consists of him surfing the internet.) He returns from lunch between 1 and 1:30 and then leaves again around 4:30. That's 3 hrs of work in the afternoon. So we have a grand total of 5 1/2 hrs he "works" out of 9. Not to mention that he's been working for the government for 15 years and gets paid almost twice what I do. So the fact that I spend 10 - 15 mins most days typing this blog doesn't make me feel bad.

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Yesterday, I took E to my mom and dad's while I went grocery shopping. When I went to pick her up, she didn't want to come with me. So we stayed for dinner. When I told her it was time to go, she lost it - I mean, seriously. Screaming bloody murder. I wrangled her into the car, and drove home with her screaming in the backseat, saying "I want to go to Grammy's!!" between sobs. I got her out of her clothes and into some pj's (I'm still amazed that I was able to do this with the amount of effort she put out for me not to do it), put her down in the bed, and when I told her it was time for a story she stopped crying and was happy as a clam. Ah, the joys of motherhood!

Ghost Rider

I wanted to tell a funny story about what E said to Lori a few days ago. I think it would be funnier for me to tell you in person as opposed to typing it, but as it goes...



E goes to daycare with 4 boys and the boys are all really big into comics. Well, recently that movie Ghost Rider came out (the one with Nicholas Cage) and so they were talking about the movie. One of the little boys had brought a poster or something from the movie with them one day, and Lori asked of the group "Who is that?" And E piped up "That's my mommy." After a turn of the head and a good laugh, Lori replied "No, that's Ghost Rider." E said, "Nope. That's mommy."



So, apparently my daughter views me as a hell-blazing vigilante. How did I get this image?!



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In other news, the cabin failed it's inspection yesterday. The guy didn't even come in and look around... he didn't talk to anyone, he just put a sticker on the door that said "Not ready". Because of this I have an issue with this man, and - after they pass their inspection next week - I will be giving him a piece of my mind. I was so fired up yesterday when Shelley told me what he did. Apparently, inspectors are God's gift to the planet and "non-inspectors" are scum. I will be informing him otherwise in a few short days. Beware, inspector man... Ghost Rider Mom is coming, BEWARE!



For your entertainment...


Sorry the picture isn't very big, but it was the best I could do in a short amount of time. And, yes, that's me on the right side of the picture.

My Baby Brother

Not much new to report. Still plugging away at the cabin. They were supposed to have their final inspection today, but I don't know the outcome.

My 'rents are in WI visiting my mom's sister, so I have Thomas (because he's not allowed to stay at mom and dad's by himself anymore because he's a stupid boy.) Anyway, I called Thomas when I got home from the cabin last night and - where was he? - he was at mom and dad's. I informed him that the point of him staying with me was for him NOT to be at mom and dad's, so I told him to come over to my house. HE SAID NO! Bwah?! He told me "I'm almost 18, I have a job, I pay for most of my own stuff..." So. He pays for gas. That's pretty much all I can think of. So, let's make a list of things he doesn't pay for, just for fun. Food (though he buys his own food sometimes), rent, electricity, cell phone bill, internet, doctor's bills, car insurance. That list is longer, I'm sure.

What was the point of that exercise? Oh yes. He wants so badly to be an adult (or at least to do grown-up things), but he takes none of the responsibility. I am ALLOWING him to stay at my house, sleep in E's bed, use my electricity, but since he's "almost 18" he doesn't think that him getting home whenever he wants (2 am Tuesday night) is disrespectful. All I asked was for him to be home at a reasonable time during the week because I have to be up at 4:30. Friday and Saturday nights, fine, stay out as long as you'd like, just tell me where you are. Am I being unreasonable?

Well, all I can say is that he is going to have one rude awakening when he decides to head out on his own. *sigh* Tati, Tati, Tati....

Sorry for that little rant. I feel better now that I have that off my chest.

Oh, I tried to go give blood today, and for the second time in a row I couldn't. The first time (a couple of months ago) my temperature was too high. Now, my hemoglobin (iron) is too low. Ridiculous. I did get a cool t-shirt, some playing cards, a magnet and a glass. I donate my blood to the Armed Services Blood Program. To find a donation site near you go to www.tricare.osd.mil/asbpo. I did a little snooping through the website and found out that only 1% of the US population has my same bloodtype - AB neg. Fascinating.

Holy Hands

I have a thing for sunrises and sunsets. This was the sunset last night. This is a view of Mill Creek from my parents road. *sigh* It's so pretty.



Yesterday at church E got up with my mom and was singing the praise songs. She knew one of the songs and I could actually hear her singing! Then, last night, we laid down for bed and I was holding her hand. She pulled her hand out, put her hands together like a cup, and said "No Mommy, these are HOLY hands." Indeed.



Had another "Log Cabin-ee" weekend this weekend. We did take a break on Saturday afternoon and drove up to Baltimore for Michelle and Ryan's party. It was really good to see everybody and it was a very pleasant day.



I'm a little anxious about the cabin. Final inspection is supposed to be scheduled for Friday and I think there is more work than we can do by Friday. My plan is to spend every spare minute this week out there. This weekend, Sarah and I put in the walls of the spare bedroom dormer. But the ceiling still has to be finished in both dormers. Master bathroom and closet walls still need to go up. Log siding still needs to go up. Gutters and spouts need to go up. A door needs to go up on one of the bedrooms, and about 6 access doors need to be made and hung. That's a lot to be done over the next 4 1/2 days. Not to mention all the stuff I'm forgetting. GAH!



Happy Monday!

Hmm...

I'm looking at a picture of E when she was a baby, and I have to admit that I miss it. Luckily, my Sister-in-Law - the one in the picture - is due in a month!! I'm so excited to meet the little man!





A girl in my office had a baby girl last weekend. I'll probably go out in a couple of weeks to visit.



Hmmm... nothing new to report really. I'll be spending the weekend working on the cabin. Except Saturday I'm heading up to Baltimore for Michelle and Ryan's going away/PhD party. Anyway, I put a link on the right called "Log Cabin Pictures". It's Shelley's website. You can see all the hard work they've been doing over the past 1+ year. I think tomorrow I'll be installing more tongue and groove walls. It looks so amazing!



Oh! I posted a recent picture of E at the bottom of the page. It's from when we went to Tricia's for the week of 4th of July. Tricia lives on a creek, and the bridge that E is sitting on top of is right next to their house. It's a pretty good picture of E, if I do say so myself.

HUMPDAY!

I went and test drove a Hyundai Tuscon yesterday. It was an interesting experience. But I decided that for right now an SUV is a little outside of my price range. Especially considering I still owe more than the trade-in value on my car. I may even wait until after our trip to Italy next year to buy a new car. I think E and I can tough it out for a little while longer.

My mortgage payment went up recently (I "bought down" my first two years, but have a fixed rate mortgage, so it will go up next year and stay fixed after that), and right now we're hurting for money. However, my parents put me on their cell phone family plan, so my cell bill will be more than cut in half. Awesome! I'm also thinking about extending out my Student Loans to a 17 year loan, at least until I get my next promotion - hopefully in January or February. Ah, the life of a home-owner/bill-payer...

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On a happier note... IT'S HUMPDAY!!! And Shelley, Sarah, and I are going out for Pina Colada's tonight. We earned it after all the hard work we put in this weekend. It's gonna be a good day.

Looking Back

This morning I've been thinking a lot about my past. How did I get to where I am today? -- Which was really preceded by... Where is my life going? What is going to be my legacy?

My life before E seems like a different life. I think - Was that really me doing all those things? "Those things" seem so irrelevant, but the truth is they are most relevant because they molded me into who I am.

Defining times...

7th grade. My gym teacher, Ms. Holiday, asked me to play on the school basketball team. Result - two years playing at a D1 university. Result of playing - dislocated shoulder, ankle reconstruction, lower back pain, multiple broken fingers,..., the list goes on.

8th grade. My math teacher, MRS. Fulk, told me I couldn't do math because I was a girl. Result - Master of Mathematics, 2004. Operations Research Analyst - Cost Estimator, Department of the Navy.

My whole life I was brought up in the Church. I value Life. I value my life. I valued the life of my daughter the moment I found out I was pregnant with her. What if I hadn't grown up a Christian? Would I have made a different decision when I found out I was pregnant? E's "sperm donor" asked me to have an abortion. It had never even occured to me.. that thought never passed through my mind. And now I have the most beautiful girl on the planet.

...

I read a Muddy Blogging post this morning on how you think people perceive you. I'm not sure, but I hope it's good.

I know my roommate's first perception of me was "tall" and "scary". She's 5' so I can see how she would say that.

I think my co-workers perception is "goofy, but a hard worker".

This thought process reminds me of a stand-up piece by Ellen DeGeneres. It goes something like -
"We spend so much time thinking about what other people are thinking about us, when they're just thinking about what other people are thinking about them."

I think I want people to think that I'm a fun-loving, kind person because that's the perception I have of myself.

One Log Cabin-ee Weekend

E and I had a very nice weekend. Spent the entire weekend at the cabin working. Today they're laying the hardwood floors, so all the tongue-and-groove walls had to be put in this weekend. Saturday I put in the walls of 2 closets with Sarah (Shelley's daughter). Then Sunday I helped Shelley and Sarah stain the Great Room walls. E and I got to put our hands in the concrete where the A/C unit will be going. Then we signed our names and put coins from '06 & '07 in the cement. I also signed the doorway between the Great Room and the Dining Room (which will be covered by molding and french doors.)

E spent her time playing with Robert. Sunday afternoon she woke up from her nap in the RV and came out into the cabin just to fall back asleep on the futon with nail-guns and saws going. When you're tired, you're tired.

Biking through CRE

Yesterday I raced home from work so I could ride my bike to Lori's house to pick up E. I made it to the house by 4:30 and was on my bike by 4:35. I gave myself 25 minutes to get there, but it only took 10. It was a fairly nice ride - more uphill than I had expected.

When I got to Lori's all the kids asked where my car was. "Did it break down? Where is it? Why did you ride your bike? Why don't you have training wheels? Did you know it's dangerous to ride on the road?" Things like that... nonstop.

E and I stopped by the Jones' house on the way back to see how things were going. Kit wasn't there. She was at a her half-brother's funeral in Chicago. Dave and I talked for a while. Things seem to be going well with them. They tried out Olivet UMC last weekend and seemed to like it.

When E and I went to bed last night she had trouble keeping her head down. I had to tell her to put her head down multiple times. I shouldn't laugh, but one time she was "fixing" the sheet and I told her to put her head down, she put her head down with her butt in the air and continued to fix the sheet. She's a tricky little bugger.

A day in the life of E and me

I wake up right around 4:30 am. I sit and watch the news and eat breakfast (usually Life cereal or an english muffin with peanut butter). Then I get myself ready. I try to wake E up around 5:45 to get her ready then we drive to Miss Lori's house. Then off to work. I'm supposed to make it there by 6:30, but those days are few and far between. I get off at 4 and am at the doorstep of Miss Lori's by 4:45. Then home. Make dinner. Eat dinner. Clean up dinner. Clean up E. Put E to bed. Read. Sleep. Then up to do it all over again.

Sounds fun, right? What I wouldn't give to go out on a real date. What I wouldn't give to be able to have time and energy to go out and do something social with friends. I'm not going to lie... I'm tired by 8 o'clock at night. Am I lame?

I talked to my brother, Michael, last night. We talked for a good 1/2 hour. He asked how things were going, and it's pretty much same-old-same-old. I think I need to add a little spice to my schedule. I think I'm going to try to join a twenty-something Bible study. They have one over at the South Point church. It would introduce me to some people my age. And that's pretty much what I crave.

Virgin Blogger

I've never blogged before so I apologize in advance. I think I'm just going to use this as sort of an online journal. I don't want to get too carried away with it, but I can't seem to find the time to keep a regular journal so I figure this will be just as good.