Archive for October, 2007
Interested in a Bose home theater system? We have a Bose wave radio in our bonus room, and the sound is just incredible. My husband *loves* home theater stuff and electronics ~ it’s his chief hobby (besides computers!). Anyway, we’re in love with our HD projector TV in our living room ~ it’s fun to watch movies on! If you’re into that type of stuff, too, then definitely check out their website.
One year ago today, on a beautifully clear and amazingly warm Halloween night, we were blessed with a daughter who is infinitely beyond anything that we could have ever possibly hoped for, imagined, or dreamed of.
It seems like I blinked my eyes once and she was six months old. I then blinked again and found myself snapping her nine-month photos by the Hudson River. And when I blinked again, we were putting up the rubber ducky decorations for her first birthday party. I think that I need to stop blinking.
Do flu shots make you sleepy? OMG … I got mine this morning, and ever since I’ve felt like I could just lie down and close my eyes and easily take a nap. I know that flu shots always make the kids feel sleepy, so I guess it’s a common thing. I just never remember feeling this way after a flu shot. I actually got some pretty good rest last night, too. I’m working on a freelance editing project right now, and I feel like I could just close my eyes and start drooling all over the keyboard! LOL! :)
Our power went out last night and didn’t come back on until around 4:30 a.m. I haven’t been able to access my e-mail or the Internet all day long. Not a good time for that to happen, considering that I’ve been chomping at the bit to blog about Meredith’s first birthday party on Saturday! My husband rebooted our servers in the basement and happily got everything to work again. Relief, I tell you!
I dropped off my mom at the airport this morning and said, “Wanna take bets on how long it’ll be before I start crying my eyes out after you leave?” My mom smiled and replied, “You won’t even get out of the airport.” I laughed and said, “Really? You think so?” Well … Mom was right, of course. :) It’s so strange ~ it almost feels like a dream. Was she really just here with us? We sat together in our living room just this morning, talking and playing with the kids. But yet that seems so long ago for some reason. Words can’t express how much I dearly loved hanging out with my mom during these past few days. Unfortunately, she came down with a nasty cold and is pretty congested now. I hope that she was able to enjoy some hot, soothing soup for dinner tonight. And I know that she’ll get some good rest in the comfort of her own familiar bed!
(In case you don’t have time to read this entire blog entry, all of Meredith’s first birthday party photos can be seen here on Flickr.)
This afternoon, Mom and I were busy at work in the kitchen creating some yummy goodies for Meredith’s first birthday party tomorrow. As I was chopping some vegetables for an appetizer, she slipped two small boxes and a card in front of me. “I thought that it was time for you to have this,” she said. I looked up, and to my amazement I saw the beautiful gold jewelry given to me by my family for *my* first birthday in 1976 (pictured above, on the right). The bracelet was given to me by my paternal great-grandmother (who passed away when I was five); the baby ring was given to me by my maternal grandmother (who passed away a few weeks before our wedding in 2000); and the heart pendant was given to me by my paternal grandparents (my grandma passed away in October 2002; my grandpa will be 84 years old in January).
My mom also gave me another card to accompany the second box (pictured at left).
It’s Carol’s birthday! Yay! :) Please visit her blog and send her good wishes today! She’s one of my dearest friends. We met online back when we were both planning our weddings, and we realized that we had a friend in common (just too uncanny!). And then we ended up moving out here to New York ~ I think that destiny brought us together! :) I am *so* proud to call Carol one of my good friends. She’s a sweetie. I can’t say enough great things about her. Enjoy your special day, friend! Thinking of you today and sending lots of love!
My mommy is here! :) She arrived just after lunchtime yesterday ~ a little later than expected, though, because the plane that was supposed to bring her from Baltimore to Albany had mechanical difficulties. She was completely exhausted after getting up at 4:30 a.m. and having a long day of traveling. Last night, I tried a new recipe for dinner ~ polenta with beans and roasted tomatoes, shallots, garlic, and steamed broccoli rabe. (We all discovered that unfortunately, we’re not big fans of broccoli rabe by itself as a side dish! Too bitter!) It’s always fun to try new things, though, and you never know until you try. We watched some TV with the kids and had a relaxing evening. It is *so* wonderful to have her here!
Guess what else arrived yesterday? Our new digital camera! Yay! :) My husband inaugurated it by taking the very first photo. I am *so* very happy with it so far. It’s a tiny bit different from the Canon cameras that we’ve used before, so I need to read the manual and play around with it. We kind of got screwed by the online store where we ordered it, though. (Leave a comment or e-mail me if you’d like to know more about that.) Now, I’ll be able to send back the two digital cameras that we were *so* lucky to borrow ~ along with some thank-you goodies, of course! :)
P.S. My friend Shannon tagged me for a fun blog meme, so here goes.
I am *so* sad for my friend Becca over at Southern Bella. I just don’t know what to say. Please, if you get a chance sometime soon, go visit her site and give her some good wishes. And keep her in your thoughts and prayers if you could. To say that she’s going through a difficult time right now would be a total understatement. :(
Here’s something that I hadn’t considered before: life insurance for kids. If you’d like to learn more, check out their website. It says that adult rates are about $3 something and kids’ rates are about $2 something (per month). The company is called One Dollar Globe Insurance.
Got gas this morning (otherwise, we’d be walking!). Took Lucas and Meredith to the pediatrician’s office so that they could both get their flu shots. They flinched a little bit but didn’t cry in the least ~ what brave souls! They also got special “junior flu fighter” stickers and colorful Band-Aids. By that time, it was lunchtime ~ so I thought that I would splurge and get McDonalds. On the way home, the fries were *totally* calling to me. LOL! :) I looked in the diaper bag for some hand sanitizer, but we didn’t have any. With all of the germs on my hands from being in the pediatrician’s office, I *so* wanted to wash my hands before having lunch. But … those fries just sounded *so* good! So I ate some on the way home. Well, now I’m completely freaked out. What if I caught some awful germs at the pediatrician’s office? I can’t believe that I didn’t wash my hands. Stupid thing to do. See what happens when you have an anxiety disorder? It makes you worry about every little thing. *sigh* I just hope that I escaped any nasty germs that may have been lingering in the doctor’s office this morning.
My mom arrives in town tomorrow morning. Yay! :) I think that we basically have everything ready for her. Her visit ~ and Meredith’s first birthday party ~ have been good excuses to clean house! I’m taking a break from folding laundry. Our clean laundry is just waiting in our bedroom to be folded and put away. I don’t want my mom to walk into our bedroom and say, “OMG … what a mess!” LOL! :) She said, “I’m coming to see you, not your house!” But yeah, I want our house in tip-top shape anyway. :) Just cleaned up Lucas’s room ~ let’s hope that it stays that way at least until tomorrow!
Random note: I bought some Crayola Silly Scents crayons recently because, well … they sounded just *too* cool! Problem is, they smell terrible! And each one of them smells exactly the same. You’d think that there would be yummy fragrances like orange, grape, watermelon, cherry, etc. Nope. I think that they all smell like a musty sweater that’s been hiding in the closet since the 1970s. LOL! :) What a disappointment! Remember those scented markers from when we were kids? Ohhh, I *so* want to buy a package of those ~ for myself! :) I always loved the black marker ~ licorice!
