Chat Stew

As was clearly evident in a previous post, Anna is quite a computer aficionado, in fact, the keyboard is one of her favorite toys now. She has typed emails to her grandma's and chats occasionally with Ben. Today she started chatting with my friend Marci. Marci knew all the right questions to ask, Anna considered carefully how to answer each.

me: tbg dfs gh;djsj9j.8u

from, anna

Marci: oh hi anna!

how are you?

2:57 PM me: b kdwtn n bgu gnbv n

Marci: oh fascinating. what did you do today?

me: j vmmmmm m

Marci: fun!

2:58 PM so how are things with that boy next door?

me: fxd c zccw

o oo

Marci: ooh scandal!

me: ccws iu

2:59 PM /a,wrs'xc i8zzzcbv dbb

3:00 PM Marci: well just remember who you are and what you stand for

Thanks Aunt Marci.

Consistency

I wouldn't say I'm a perfectionist, I don't have any skills that way, but I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to organization and consistency.
As we've discussed earlier, in Toniland, everything would be on shelves and hooks, only similar things together, no mixing, in order to prevent confusion.

Unfortunately, we do not live in Toniland. yet.

In coloring books, when I was younger, I never liked mixing mediums, like stickers and crayons, or even markers and crayons. I thought it gave it all a very unorganized look. That's why I have such a hard time scrapbooking now. I set off doing a bunch of scrapbooking with the supplies I have, I'm okay with mixing mediums now, but they styles are what I have a hard time with. I can't just go to a craft store and buy some highly stylized chipboards or rub-ons or diecuts (a pretty gruesome term if you think about it) because it would ruin any vibe I might have had with the pages I have already made, and I don't want to go through my scrapbooks later and have an obvious break in which I use super fancy things for awhile until I run out then go back to the plain and precious. It just doesn't work that way. So I either have to stop scrapbooking altogether, or buy everything and try not to forget how everything works together, or just deal with whatever crappy style I have now and abandon all hope for having cute pages.

A Revelation

I have come to believe that mothers, when required, can carry infinite number of miscellaneous items.
the other day I went to the mall (with Anna), I stopped at the food court for a hot dog and Orange Julius. After I paid I figured out how to carry:
Car seat (with sleeping child)
hot dog (in shoddy paper tray)
Orange Julius
napkins
knife and fork
Diaper bag.
and I made it all the way to the table without dropping, spilling or waking.

Last night we went out to sit on the lawn, when we got tired I picked up:
Wiggly baby
toy blocks
giant outside blanket
and was able to keep everything up off the ground.

So, here's to motherhood and my new found appreciation for the "Responsible Woman"

Mac Daddy and Mac Mini

They say you have to start 'em young...

Baby's Busy Day

You think you can trust a baby...
But then they get all mobile on you.

Where I put her:

Where she ended up within 5 minutes:

Also, because she was wearing her Red Sox onesie, when it came time to eat some squash-rice cereal, Ben knew just which bib she should wear.
(Is "bib" short for something?)This was a homemade Christmas present from Aunt Jan.

Delirium

This is why you should get enough sleep, you don't want to end up like this.

Smurfette?

I know some people see it as an abhorrent vice, but I finally figured out that the secret to productivity in my life is having the TV on. I always knew I had this gift, but it wasn't until I had a Relief Society teacher tell us she had the same problem that I felt able to fully accept it.

I spent yesterday morning trying to avoid turning the TV on, but then I realized that I wasn't getting anything done, and that's not for lack of things to do. So I decided to cut my losses and turn the TV on, at least for background noise. I spent the next few hours doing dishes, working on my quilt and tidying the house. Other days I've used the TV to get caught up on scrapbooking. The only thing more inspiring is watching a movie - without commercials I feel infinitely more productive.

Oman, Omen!

I'm a pretty big believer in fate, omens and signs.

It's how I get around making decisions myself.

For instance:
House buying is a HUGE decision. If it turns out that we have to make a final decision between two houses, house A is mostly nice but needs some fixing up and house B that is nearly perfect but the faults we find in it are not at all found in house A, how would we make that decision?

Signs - Anna has cried in the realtors office for every visit EXCEPT when we went to make a final offer on house B.

We couldn't find the ward building for house B - we looked at 3 different buildings in the immediate area and it wasn't any of them.

House A, when we visited it, had a very spacious room dedicated to sewing and almost all the beds in the house had beautiful homemade quilts on them.

The current owners of house A have a potbellied pig. - not really a sign, just cool.
Not that any of these have actually swayed me one way or another, but in a dead heat, I might possibly depend on signs and coincidence to make a decision.

Some People

Some people, when they decide to buy a house, look at dozens of houses over weeks and months to find the perfect house in the perfect location with the perfect lighting.

Other people, when they decide to buy a house, look at one house, offer to buy it, and when they are rejected, look at another house, and offer to buy it, and when they are rejected, look at another house, and offer to buy it, but they are finally serious - it is just right

Would you call this the goldilocks method?

or the gaines method?

The ANNA show!

Tonight an event occurred that I've been waiting for for over 4 months,

dun-dun-dun.

Anna tried rice cereal.

I was really excited, she showed little emotion - then tried to eat her bib.

Let's go to the video.


That pretty much sums it up. Not too exciting, but baby worship is our game around here.

PS. her sleeper is super cute but I only found it last week and she'll only get to wear it twice because it's already too tight.

She might, actually be, a contortionist

This baby is the rollingest thing you ever did see. She has perfected this move, but she needs to work on getting back on to her back, which she used to do, but probably discarded as these new talents emerged.
I finally got her on video for any Grandmas or Aunties who don't usually get to see her.


On the 4th of July we went on a walk with my parents and used the stroller they have for such occasions when Grandbabies need to go on walks but their parents forgot the stroller. She was just barely able to lay down in the bottom so it was like a pram.
On our way home she decided she wanted to look around and so, without being caught in the act, she managed to turn herself over in the stroller so she could poke her head out or at least through the leg holes.

Happy 4th - Artifacts for All

Happy Holiday all -
Independence Day, is probably the only major holiday that is celebrated ALL DAY. This is probably due to the season, but think about it, most Holidays that we celebrate generally focus around one or two events, on the 4th there is a parade in the morning, BBQ's and softball during the day, and fireworks at night. It's ALL DAY.
That's all, no real revelation of truth, just conversation.

In other news, it is being reported that archaeologists have discovered the boyhood home of George Washington in Virginia.

This will undoubtably lead to a new historical theme park for which they will charge $45 per person to look at replicas of slave quarters - the homestead was called Ferry Farm.

When did they lose the location of George Washington's boyhood home? It seems like around 1800, they would have thought - "hey, we should keep that place from being burnt down or something." but they didn't.


Also in the news, members of the FLDS in Texas have launched a website where you can buy some of their homemade clothes. Apparently all the attention they got from the raid has garnered some notice from the fashion world. Either that, or it will be a great Halloween costume.