Christmas wrap-up

Howdy kids!
How was everyone's Christmas?

The Cakes family had a very nice Christmas. Honestly. It all went swimmingly. There were no gift disasters. No meltdowns. No laughing during the Gospel reading. (He handed off the more delicate passage to a more mature individual.) Not really any drama at all. *sigh* It was really quite nice. Doesn't leave much to blog about. And I spent too much time actually being there Christmas morning so I didn't take any pictures. I do have some awesome video of Meatball and his big Santa gift, a real electric guitar. Skaterboy will be giving him lessons which will be great because Jellybean wants to take piano lessons. Porkchop is already begging for drums for next Christmas. All I can envision when I think of that is

Peek-In-Monday

My Biggest Fan...

Merry Christmas from the Cakes Family

Here's the annual Cakes family Christmas photo shoot. My family and friends just ask for this instead of the cards which really cracks me up. So here it is.
Adding an uncooperative 10 month old St. Bernard to the photo shoot may have been ill advised...

and sadly this is the best we could do for a retake...ah well. Some years are better than others.


May your Christmas be filled with laughter, singing, dancing, happy chaos, and lots and lots of thanksgivings...

Tonight I finally felt the inner stirrings of Christmas

This song has been filling with me happiness all night. I just love the idea of the Incarnation being God's Winter Song. I don't know if that is what the songwriter meant and I don't care. It is the first song to put me really into the Christmas spirit this year.

Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum
Bum bum bum bum bum bum
Bum bum bum bum bum bum

This is my winter song to you.
The storm is coming soon,
It rolls in from the sea

My voice; a beacon in the night.
My words will be your light,
To carry you to me.

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love

They say that things just cannot grow
Beneath the winter snow,
Or so i have been told.

They say we're buried far,
Just like a distant star
I simply cannot hold.

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?

This is my winter song.
December never felt so wrong,
Cause you're not where you belong;
Inside my arms.

Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum
Bum bum bum bum bum bum
Bum bum bum bum bum bum

I still believe in summer days.
The seasons always change
And life will find a way.

I'll be your harvester of light
And send it out tonight
So we can start again.

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?

This is my winter song.
December never felt so wrong,
Cause you're not where you belong;
Inside my arms.

This is my winter song to you.
The storm is coming soon
It rolls in from the sea.

My love a beacon in the night.
My words will be your light
To carry you to me.

Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?
Is love alive?

about the dog and the cat...

People have asked about how Humphrey gets along with the cats. I think this sums it up pretty well...

My favorite photos this week...

Porkchop's birthday was this weekend. He shares his birthday with my Granny who we are lucky enough to have in town with us for a few weeks. Porkchop loves that he shares his birthday with Granny. And he loved getting to share his party with her.



We were also lucky to have my Great Aunt Pat down to visit. She hasn't seen my Granny in two years. They used to live in the same two-family in Chicago when they were first having kids. Aunt Pat and Granny were two of eight kids. My Aunt Pat went on to have eleven. Three sets of twins in seven years! I can't imagine! But the blessing is that nine of her eleven children still live in Chicago and she has 36 grandchildren! Two of her sons came down with her and they were talking about how fun Christmas Eve is with everyone around. What a lucky family.

Even though my Granny did not have eleven children. She still has Aunt Pat beat on great grandchildren, thanks to your truly! HA! I'm still laughing remembering when I tried to high-five Granny and she just looked at me blankly! Here's Granny with her newest Great Grandchild. I wish the lighting was better on this picture.

Peek-In-Monday

This speaks for itself...
(the beautiful quilt was a gift to Sweeting from the Nicest Lady on the Internet.)

Tagged...

I was tagged by Rachel and her ridiculously adorable kids. Here's the rules:

The Rules: go to Your Pictures file go to the 5th folder open up the 5th picture and post it then tag 5 people when you are done.

So this is Jellybean at 3yrs old. She had been sent up for a nap and obviously did not stay in bed...


So, I am tagging

• Jenny
• Niki
• Jennifer
• Ashley
• Bridgett

Now, what should I do? I don't do the tagging game very often...

Up on the housetop...

hmmmmm...


Wait a minute...
it would appear that our gifts are delivered to our house by that Jolly Old Abolitionist, Abraham Lincoln.

GAAAAHHH! I bought an American Girl Doll!

*pant pant*
I can't believe I just spent that kind of money on a doll! But, I know the quality is worth it. Jellybean wanted one of those My Twinn dolls that are like $175! All she asked Santa for was a doll, but there was no way I was doing that. I checked out the Target versions, but all the reviews I read said the hair was awful and the arms snap off. I'm so tired of everything being made to be disposable!

So, I bit the bullet and bought the American Girl Just Like You doll. It was $90 but I figure she has two little sisters that also have straight blonde hair and blue eyes so they can always play with it if she loses interest. The worst part was I had to pay for rush delivery. They can't guarantee delivery on standard shipping anymore. That was $32! But, I had a code for $10 off.

I figured it was worth paying the money for the quality doll and I can always get the accessories at Target. So, Santa is done with her! My kids get one big gift from Santa, one from us, and one from their Secret Santa Sibling. Then we have a Santa bag that we fill with gifts for the whole family. Board games and whatnot. We don't keep track of money at this point. Some years we spend more on one than another and it all works out in the end.

Once a year I get my revenge...

Chowder is a lovely dear man that I adore, as you have been able to tell if you read my blog. There is one thing about him, though. He is ridiculously annoying. He TALKS... a lot. about nothing. I am a woman of few words with a love for efficiency. Especially, in words. I tell my husband frequently that he is wasting words. And when he insists that I respond to his nonsense, it pains me because it causes me to also waste words. It's annoying.

He will turn anything I say into a dirty euphemism. For example...

Me: Honey will you wash the dishes?
Him: Oh. I'll wash your dishes.

I don't even know what that means? But, I know what he means. And it's annoying.

He also likes really bad music. And he likes to sing and dance to really bad music. The worst is The Safety Dance. I don't just dislike this song. I can't explain it, but when I hear this song it invokes a white hot rage in the center of my very being. But, he loves to sing it. And it's annoying.

He's constantly doing stupid things and asking me to "Check this out." And then he'll do "the wave" and ask me if he's "blowing my mind." He doesn't just do this once, he does it all. the. time. Over and over. And it's annoying.

He never quite matured past 6th grade, so there are a series of words that I cannot use without him collapsing into a fit of giggles. They include but are not limited to, "package" and "unit." He has to make a huge effort to remain composed during the reading of the Gospel on Christmas Eve because he has to read the word, "ass." And some years he doesn't make it. And it's annoying.

So, every Christmas I get my turn. I get these every year and we now have 5 of them. They are superbly annoying on their own, but oh no, the children must ratchet it up and play them all at once. Here is this year's edition.

Peek-In-Monday

Ladybug helps...
You don't have to watch the whole thing, I just didn't feel like going through the bother of clipping it. Although towards the end you get see Humphrey and Boy Cat and their relationship wrought with peril.

Living Life Ridiculously Large...

As Chowder and I were snuggling under the Christmas tree we started laughing at the sheer size of it. He said he told his friend, "We have a ridiculously large Christmas Tree, a ridiculously large dog, a ridiculously large van and a ridiculously large family."

goes along with our ridiculously large love.
(and my ridiculously sappy self)


this picture doesn't do it justice. Remember we have 10 foot ceilings.

Peek-In-Monday

I was in the kitchen and thought someone was breaking into the house. Instead it was this. It comes around 30 seconds.

My daughter is sarcastic. I wonder where she gets that from...

So at the Christmas Tree farm we were getting hot cocoa and the children (except Skaterboy who turned down the hour drive in the car. Scrooge.) were all standing there patiently waiting and Sweeting was slung on me. The lady at the counter said to me, "Oh my God! Are those all your kids?!" To which Jellybean looked right at her and said, "No. It's not even all of us!"

atta girl.

Now that's more like it!

So, you may remember my dissatisfaction with my Christmas tree last year...

Yesterday when the children were sent out into the field to pick out this year's Cakes family tree they knew what they were looking for. To quote last year's blog entry, "What our usual tree lacks in beauty and form it makes up for in sheer size and girth. We buy the big dumb ox of the Christmas tree world. If our trees had legs they would be galumphing around like giant dumb cyclopses."

So they were thrilled when they found what they were sure was the perfect Cakes family tree.


And their hearts dropped when I had to explain that that was maybe a little too big. Then as we searched fruitlessly through the firs, there was nothing like what we were looking for so we headed over to the spruces. There were some spruces like we were looking for. For $72! yikes! Not a Cakes family tree, for sure. We headed over to the pines and that's when the Cakes family tree was discovered.





We have never had a White pine, I mean a big hairy tree, before, so this year will be a brand new Christmas tree experience. But, one thing is for sure. It is the perfect tree for the Cakes family.


Welcome to the Christmas Season...toot toot!

Nothing says Thanksgiving...

like a little trespassing.



the football field for the annual Battle of the Bagel Boys' kids was locked up. But nothing can stand in the way of tradition!

or dignity, apparently.

8 weeks and all that...

For Erika...thanks for keeping my booty dry!

Update on Skaterboy's elbow

His cast is off but he is unable to move his elbow at all. (That is to be expected) He has some pretty harsh physical restrictions but at least he can shower again! In 3 weeks he starts physical therapy. Poor feller.

before


after


before


after

Peek-In-Monday

What to do with a big ole dog...

For the record...This is not how Porkchop ended up with 3 staples in the back of his head.

Where have I been? or do they have a frequent flyer card for Children's emergency room

• 11/5- Hand-me-down Hand-me-down Hand-me-down washing machine finally gives up the ghost in the middle of a dirty diaper cycle with a very sad whining sound followed by an ominous whirring sound followed by a loud thunk followed by very loud silence.
• 11/6- Meatball pukes in his bad at 2am.
• 11/7- Porkchop pukes in his bed at 3:30am
• 11/8- Cakes transports 8 loads of laundry to the laundromat where it costs $17 to wash only.
• 11/9-Cakes spends day drying and folding the 8 loads of wet laundry. Ladybug pukes in her bed.
• 11/10-Chowder pukes in the bathroom but all over the bathroom.
• 11/11-Cakes transports 9 loads of laundry to the laundromat where it costs $16.50 to wash only.
• 11/12-Cakes spends day drying and folding the 9 loads of wet laundry. Sweeting pukes all over Cakes. Cakes pukes back.
  
• 11/13-First puke-free day. Chowder gets call from Skaterboy's high school asking us which hospital the ambulance should deliver him to. Chowder goes to school to pick him up. He was horsing around with buddies and managed to dislocate his elbow. At Children's Hospital they discover Skaterboy has also shattered his growth plate and broken another bone in the joint. Goes in for surgery where they put two pins in his elbow. Stays night at Children's.
• 11/14-Skaterboy comes home from hospital at 1:00p. He goes with me to Sam's and Target to do some shopping. At 2:30 Chowder calls to tell me to return immediately because Porkchop has split his head open. Chowder takes Porkchop to Children's emergency room where it takes 5 hours to get 3 staples put in the back of Porkchop's head. (My mother scolds me for allowing my children to roughhouse too much. I explain that Porkchop split his head open while sitting at the dining room table coloring when he reached for another crayon slipped off one chair and hit his head on another. But I promised from now on I will make him wear a helmet while coloring.)
• 11/15-Cakes transports 12 loads of laundry to the laundromat where it costs $23 to wash only. Spends rest of day and evening drying and folding.
  
• 11/16- Quiet. blessed quiet.
• 11/17- purchase new washing machine and practically wet myself with the excitement of it all.
• 11/19- Washing machine delivered.
  
• 11/20 Cakes washes everything in the house.
• 11/21 Porkchop gets staples removed brings them home proudly in a ziploc container. Jellybean finally succumbs and pukes in her bed at 2:15am.
  
• 11/22- Friend's Thanksgiving. I cook 22lb turkey (it was scrumptious! If I do say so myself.) for 16 adults and their children. Chowder rearranges 3 rooms in house 4 hours before guests are to arrive. But, the changes are good ones.

Sweeting sleeps from midnight to 8am. Cakes cannot accept this gift because Ladybug wakes crying at 3am and then Porkchop comes barging in at 5:30am and Jellybean at 6:45am. Cakes finally gets up at 7:00am and weeps quietly to herself.

• 11/23- Sweeting is baptized at community ecumenical Thanksgiving worship service. Chowder preaches amazing sermon and Sweeting gazes thoughtfully up at Pastor Jackie as she pours water over her head, then coos knowingly as she is introduced to the community. 22 people come back to our house for drinks and snacks.
• 11/24-Skaterboy goes in for cast removal, more x-rays and other tediousness. Sweeting gets check up which means immunizations which means crabby baby.

Astoundingly, this was our family's first trip to the Emergency Room. And Chowder and I were able to giggle and snuggle through it all. I love that man.

Election Day in my neighborhood...

First off...this is not a "You should vote for this person" post nor is it an opening for a debate. I am so weary of those. This is a glimpse into what's happening where I live. I don't care who you vote for (JUST VOTE DAMMIT!) because I know you have excellent reasons for doing so. Please don't turn this into a discussion about the candidates or various policies. This is post about people and where I live.

I have heard a lot from the media and people I know that Hope is not Platform. And I just wanted to give a little peek into what Hope really is this election. At first I walked around my neighborhood and took pictures of the boarded up buildings, of the little kids riding giant sized bikes around the crappy littered playground, the crumbling tarmac playground at the public elementary school, the drug deal, the police breaking up a domestic dispute or interrogating a row of young African-American men lined up on the curb, the line at our food pantry that gets longer every day. I wanted to try and put into pictures what I can't describe in words. The desperation. the hopelessness, the oppression of poverty.

Now please don't get me wrong. I love my neighborhood. My family has never been more happily situated among neighbors who adore my children. Have showered us with love, support, and casseroles. Have given us a complete community to be a part of. I love that my children are growing up among immigrants and gays and nuns. I love that my son said he wanted to vote for Barack Obama because he has a brown face and people with brown faces are really smart. (But, I hate that the same son came home worried from school and told us that his classmate assured him that if John McCain became president he would make all the brown people leave.) But the gap between rich and poor span mere houses. One block then the next. We're all jumbled up together here and its a class/race thing to be sure. The majority of property owners are white. The majority of renters are non-white. The tensions and fears on both sides can be felt very acutely.

But, that is not the way it is today.

Today is election day. After Chowder and I voted my original set of pictures seemed very wrong. The feeling of hope was bouying. You see hope brings about very concrete realities. When people feel that have a fighting chance, that they have the power to change their own lives and realities, well that is when things get better. Having a non-white, son of an immigrant, raised by a single mother man running for president is no small thing. It means there is a possibility for everyone. And when you feel the possibilities are real, you act on it.

Those pictures are still very much a part of my life and neighborhood. But no one is seeing them today. When I went around my neighborhood today and took pictures, my eyes were literally filled with tears. There is no way to describe the feeling that is in the air. I felt it in the churches, the Ethiopian restaurant, the tattoo parlor, the Afghani market, the Vietnamese video store, the halal butcher, the pawn shop, the Uhuru hair salon, the dog park, the coffee shop...

the feeling of hope.

Who's guarding the hen house?

Well, as I posted yesterday I have a bit of a one track mind these days. Not that the other kids are being neglected, because they would never allow that. And they have just as much of a one track mind as I do. They can't get enough of Sweeting and most days I have to beat the kids off so I can hold the little darling. That said, we have had a few "episodes."

1.) Sweeting survived her first poisoning by a sibling. All the kids were outside playing while Sweeting was napping upstairs. I heard her start to cry so I sent Chowder up to get her. Instead he found Ladybug (how she snuck in and upstairs without us seeing her, I don't know) stuffing Sweeting's mouth full of Almond Body Butter. After scooping as much as I could out of her mouth and calling poison control, Sweeting ended up with the worst side effect being a really runny diaper.

2.) I love Meatball's hair. He has the best hair in the family. It's thick and curly and the prettiest shade of blonde.


Well, it was. Until he gave himself a haircut and I had to hack off the rest in order to fix it.

I keep telling myself it's just hair. And it will grow back.

3.) As fine as the kids are...the dog is a different story. He has eaten an entire bush. He has begun to rip up hunks of grass and throw them up into the air. He is terrorizing the cats. He comes upstairs at night and rams the bedroom door with his head over and over until somebody lets him in or puts him back downstairs.

I know he just needs some attention and we are doing better at that. Before the baby, Chowder would take him for runs in the morning and then I would take him to the dog park in the evenings. So, he has not been getting the exercise he is used to. We did this again most days last week and he was much better.

He really is sweet when he's not eating the shrubbery.

Peek In Monday

I know this is quickly becoming a baby only blog, but this is a blog of my life and this my life right now. When I have a new baby, that is all there is. A new precious life that I am privileged to hold in my arms and feed and care for. And when that life is new, and God so fresh on her skin that I can smell his glory, my mothering becomes my purist form worship.

Here is my sacred ground.

*sighhhhhhhh*

Dear Sweeting,

She is here...

Sorry it took so long, but no internet at the hospital.

I ended up needing pitocin to start labor around 1:30p. Didn't like that at all. Hurt like hell. Got epidural around 4:00p and pushed baby out at 5:44pm. Miss Eleanor Elizabeth weighed 7lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long.
All and all, perfect in every way. As you can see...






God is good.

Forget that last post...

My water broke this morning.
I haven't started labor yet so I took the kids to school and I'm having my breakfast.

Not so obliging

Well, I have no baby in my hot little hands.

We talked about various possibilities and scenarios and decided that we would wait a bit longer. I go back to the doctor on Friday to check things out. We are looking into getting a small portable oxygen tank just in case I need one again and then won't have to go through the hassle of the ER. (Though the ER in the city is quite a trip! I love that walking through the metal detector I was asked by the security guy if I had beer in my jug full of ice tea. He wanted to smell it. An obviously largely pregnant lady in respiratory distress and he thinks I have beer. God only knows what this guys sees every night.)

Here's my plan...

We'll see if Sweeting obliges.

I spent 4 1/2 hours in the emergency room Saturday night. Not in labor. But, right around 36 weeks I start to develop asthma like symptoms that are NOT asthma and do not respond to any asthma treatments. I have had test after test after test performed on my heart and lungs and veins and blah blah blah blah blah. They all show that I cannot breathe but nobody knows why.

So, Saturday I went into the ER because I couldn't breathe and my face was starting to tingle. I knew all I needed was some oxygen, but they wanted to admit me and keep me overnight for further testing. I was already breathing fine again, and I knew that there was no new test that was going to tell them anything and was going to end up costing us a ton of money.

Then they tried to tell me that they wanted to be sure that I wasn't in labor and that's what the problem was. I told them I was NOT in labor. I would know if I was in labor. The resident OB told me that I was contracting. I said I know, but that would mean I have been in labor for 3 1/2 months, now. (The ironic thing about this conversation was that the last time I was in OB triage, I was trying to convince them that I was in labor and they wouldn't admit me. Once my water broke outside the elevator, and I delivered Porkchop 30mins later, they realized maybe I knew what I was talking about.) I finally got them to release me. And was home at 12:30am.

So, tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment. I am hoping that after she checks me, she will tell me it's time to get this show on the road. But, only if Sweeting is ready. I do not want to start down the road of medical intervention. So, no pitocin. I can't have that anyway, since I am having my 3rd VBAC and pitocin and VBACs do not mix. And I certainly want to avoid a c-sec.

Think of us tomorrow and let's hope that I'll have little Sweeting in my hot little hands by bedtime tomorrow. I doubt it. But, hey! Let's hope.

Reason #4567238 why I love my husband...

Right now I am alone.
I will go to bed alone.
I will remain alone all night long.
I will wake up alone, whenever the hell I feel like it.
I will eat my breakfast alone.
I will shower alone.
I will read for awhile alone.
I will do some nesting alone.
I will eat my lunch alone.
I may go for a walk with Humphrey.
I will nap alone.
I will welcome my family home.

So if you got a free pair of shoes...

Would you go for the practical or get something crazy that you would never spend money on?
My aunt works for Born and wants me to pick out a pair of shoes. Yes, I need some shoes. But this pair of silver heels is just singing my name! At first I kept thinking practicality practicality practicality. I mean how often would I really wear them?!

And then I thought about Ladybug in her sparkly shoes. And Jellybean in her ruby slippers and I thought, maybe I would just wear them all the freakin time and be the happiest mom on the block!

ok ok ok...

For those who want to see it, here is a picture of my belly at 37 weeks.

Happy Birthday Little One...

Peek-In-Monday

Argh! I wish Meatball wasn't so shy! But, he was totally stepping out like Fred Estaire with his cousin Grace. Unfortunately as soon as I turned the camera on him he was done. But, you get a taste.

Today, I'm going to be a good mom AND have a clean house.

So, now that I have started my lovely new index card system, my laundry is all done, there is no crap laying around, my kitchen floor has been clean for 4 days, my meals are planned and my grocery list is made, my bills are paid, and the bathrooms (yes, even the children's bathroom) are sparkling. *sigh* loverly.

My kids? Well, let's just say that every night they ask me hopefully if I'm going out. Or when they got home from school yesterday they heard me pull out the shoe crate from under the bench in the hallway and they enthusiastically yelled their good-byes only to discover that I was simply putting away Jellybean's errant shoes that had been left on the floor. Their faces dropped and Jellybean mumbled, "Sorry, Mommy."

I don't know what my deal is. I can't seem to get everything up to the good-enough standard. I have to instead go cyclically from one area of my life to the next cleaning up the chaos and bad feelings I left behind while neglecting the other areas leading to chaos and hurt feelings. I know part of it is ADD and hyperfocus and the typical ADD cycles. But, ugh how I crave that much philosophied and New Age-ified BALANCE. I'm hoping that once I get the index card system up and running I'll be able to relax a bit and focus on the reason why I have the stupid file box in the first place. To give me the space and opportunity to nurture the people I love around me.

Chances are though, the file box will just start to gather dust until I can't stand the state of the house anymore.

The promised update...

I got to spend the day being poked and prodded to try and discover the mystery ailment that causes me to be unable to breathe at the end of my pregnancy. Not regular unable to breathe. Extra-special unable to breathe. Asthma-like. But it refuses to respond to any asthma treatments. (hospital breathing treatments, oral steroids, inhaled steroids, albuterol inhalers, Advair, Claritin, nothing!) I have had my heart explored, my lungs X-rayed, today I got to have my horrific varicose veins scanned for blood clots (very uncomfortable, I do not recommend it) and pulmonary such and such tests. All this time and money to show that...Yes, I cannot breathe. and No, they do not know why.

The only remedy? Deliver this darling little Sweeting of mine. (The delivery part is a little tricky when you can't take a deep breath to push.)

***********************************************************

I started the index card system from Side-Tracked Home Executives and I have to say that I love the hands on concreteness of it. FlyLady drove me batty with all her pestering emails. This is completely under my control and I can decide what works best when.

The basic premise is to write down all of your daily jobs on yellow index cards, bi/weekly on blue, bi/monthly and seasonal on white. You indicate how much time each job takes, any job being 10 mins or less is indicated as a "mini." In the index file box you have month cards and 1-31 cards. You then make yourself a little weekly schedule mine is as follows:

Monday: Heavy Cleaning day (4 hours)
Tuesday: Laundry
Wednesday: Quiet Day (pay bills, make menu/grocery lists, make appointments etc)
Thursday: run errands
Friday: Moderate Cleaning (2 hours) and Laundry
Saturday: Baking
Sunday: Family and God

then with the help of my calendar I plug all the index cards into the slots and voila! I have a schedule! Once I'm done with my card I move it to the slot when I will do it next.

It's a bit more in depth then I'm allowing here (They wrote a whole book after all!) but that is the general gist. What I like about this system as well, is that once Sweeting gets here and someone comes over and asks what they can help with, I can just pull the cards from that day's slot and tell them to pick a card! How beautiful is that?!

***********************************************************

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, my darling beloved husband made me a mix CD (Yes, we still make these for each other! Remember we met in high school!) and there was a song on it that I thought was nice and all but couldn't quite place until he told me it reminded him of when he came home from Belfast...and came looking for me again.
luckily, he found me.
Some day I'll tell you that story, because well, it's one of the great love stories.
and the song? It turned me into a big puddle of weepy goo because then the song made all the sense in the world.

Finally, what I've been trying to tell everyone...

It's actually easier...

Peek-In-Monday

I'm still here! I promise to update tomorrow. I had an OB appointment today and have several annoying tests I have to go through tomorrow.

In the meantime to whet your chops, here's my sister and newborn Ada.

Anyone want to give me a little peer pressure...

Ok, I have a baby coming in 4ish weeks and summer took it's toll on our household as did the first trimester. So, clearly before Sweeting gets here, I need to get my act together. I already have an index card system I use for chores, but I need something to help me get my act together as far as getting into a good chore schedule.

I read Sidetracked Home Executives that came out 20 years ago and has proven the test of time. The writing is mediocre and I skimmed a lot of the stories and got down to the nitty gritty with the system itself. I like it. It goes with my ADDness and I like the compactness of the index card box.

One of the things that seems to really help with this system is peer pressure ie. misery loves company. So, does anyone want to join me? We can check in on each other once a week? What do you think?

And the Apple goes to...

Wayfarer and Elizabeth W!!!!

I would have taken pictures of my intricate names in a hat system, but of course, my camera was broken. I have been lent a lovely camera by a friend, but the names had already been drawn.

email me your addys quick(!) so I can get these out to you this week.
sometimeswedo@sbcglobal.net

My day...

"Today my age is Tweedle and Twee
I'm prettier than I used to be..."

My birthday "cake" today consisted of 3 and 7 Wonder Apples with a candle in the middle.
Yay me!

(oh, I would have included a picture but, my oldest daughter broke yet another one of my cameras. So, all my birthday gifts are being returned so I can pool the money together and get a new camera before Sweeting is born)

Happy to report...

My cell phone is covered in sticky caramel fingerprints.

Cool day yesterday

I had such a cool day yesterday. I had three friends, that I haven't seen in 10-15 years, in town from various corners of the world. We got to hang out for the afternoon while our kids played and then go out to dinner at one of Chowder and my favorite pubs (Even if it is Welsh). I can't tell you how much seeing them and being called by my childhood nickname and maiden name sparked something deep inside that somehow has gotten lost over the years. It was something I didn't even know I was missing. Something that I can't begin to describe or put my finger on. But it was something that is so integral to what makes me, "ME."


And I love how I look tall in this picture! (top right)