Thursday, August 31, 2006

Lounge Lizard

When I notice that a bar or restaurant has live entertainment, I frequently pass it by. This is especially odd considering I used to want to BE an entertainer. But the problem I have with live performance is that it is usually too loud, too amateurish, or just too uninteresting.

In the last week, I've been to two eating/drinking establishments where live entertainment was provided. The first was on a weeknight, when the family trekked up to the local pizza joint for a quick meal. Unbeknownst to us, they had a live vocalist, and as he set up, I imagined that soon we would be unable to hear a darn thing, including our own screams as we ran from the place.

However, we were really pleasantly surprised. His vocals to music ratio was wonderful, and he had a smooth, easy voice that leant itself very well to the Sinatra covers he was doing. All in all, a big thumbs up for the live entertainment!

With this experience, I decided not to flee when Jen and I met at the Peak City Grill and Bar for our "every-four-weeks-on-the-Friday-night-we-used-to-work-together" post-work drinks rendez-vous. There was a live singer -- a woman this time -- with her karaoke machine, and although she was a bit loud, I wasn't scared. I decided to stick it out. Besides, I got free beer last time. You don't just abandon a joint like that because some chick is warbling out a tune or two.

For the most part, we were able to ignore her, but as it got later, she got bolder. No... not bolder... weirder. I was terrified to realize that she was singing Out Here On My Own from the musical movie sensation of the seventies, Fame. Anyone who has ever auditioned for a high school or community theater production has heard this song at least five times. It has to be one of the most popular audition songs ever, along with Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. This is because every girl between the ages of 9 and 18 thinks she sounds good singing these songs. I was one of those girls. And now I know WHY we all think we sound good singing them. They have about five notes between them, and they are all within our vocal range. In fact, I think 50% of MEN could sing both those songs and stay on key. They are comparable to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, only more annoying.

And there she was... the live entertainment in a bar in downtown Apex, singing that horrid audition song. And guess what. She was flat. She sang other stuff okay, but she was FLAT singing the seventies' equivalent to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. So it was annoying and flat. Like a bad tire.

But wait, there's more. She followed it with Get Down, Boogie Oogie Oogie. And then she had to round out her seventies set with a song from the Broadway Musical (and now a major Motion Picture) Chicago. I love this show. I directed it in college. I know every line and every number. The show has some great songs that lend themselves well to lounge acts. All That Jazz, Mr. Cellophane, and even My Own Best Friend. However, she chose none of these songs. She chose When You're Good To Mama. If you've seen the movie, it's Queen Latifah's number.

Let me see if I can come up with a good analogy here. Picking this song from this musical to perform in a bar is akin to picking, say, The Lonely Goatherder from The Sound of Music. Sure, it's a catchy little fun tune... but take it out of its context, and it's just downright odd.

I'm going back to avoiding live music.

Friday, August 25, 2006

And They All Rolled Over and One Fell Out

This morning, I took my children into daycare, late for a chiropractor's appointment (which I never got to, incidentally) only to be accosted by "Mr. Gary." Mr. Gary seemed out of place the moment I walked in. He was dressed in a suit and tie (no jacket, but here in NC where it is averaging eight billion degrees a day, that's still considered a full suit) and he was talking to the two Center's birds, Sunny (who is yellow) and Share (who is blue... which I just find funny).

Anyway, when we entered... me waddling with the weight of Mr. Man in his car seat, "Mr. Gary" said, "Hi! I'm Mr. Gary! What's your name?" to my daughter... who immediately looked at me and said "I'm scared!" I smiled at Mr. Gary, who I suddenly realized must be new to the center, either as a dad or as an employee, and I explained that Athena is shy. (HAHAHAHahahaha) He smiled, nodded, and then FOLLOWED US to the infant room. I was getting a wee bit creeped out. Fortunately, Miss Monica, the Assistant Director for the center, was in the infant room, and she seemed okay with the presence of Mr. Gary. However, I noticed SHE was also quite dressed up for your average Friday. WTF? Did someone die?! My heartbeat sped up.

Athena and I shed our shoes as is required by some sort of state ordinance for infant rooms, and we all trooped into the classroom. Soon, Miss Monica handed me a memo. Aha! So something IS going on.

Sure enough, the center's director had quickly and unexpectedly (to me, anyway) resigned yesterday, and Mr. Gary was her boss and was here to answer questions and work on filling her position. In the meantime, Ms. Monica would assume temporary Center Director responsibilities.

I've been in the workforce a long time. For those of you who haven't... let me translate the above. Ms. Linda (the previous center director) f**ked up majorly, but because she was usually pretty good, they allowed her to resign before they fired her ass.

So questions started forming in my mind. I planned to talk to Mr. Gary as soon as the kids were squared away. Athena and I reshod ourselves and headed to her Twos classroom. While I was filling out the daily paperwork, I saw a REALLY big kid (he must be older than three) start a fight with Aiden over some playdough. He had Aiden by the collar and was sort of pulling him around. (K, I forgot to tell John about this earlier... sorry... I can tell you more later. No one was hurt). The teacher quickly stepped in to stop the tussle and we put away the offending playdough. Then another girl across the room started to cry. All our attention shifted to her. Before I knew it, Aiden came up to me with some sort of brown goo on his hands.

"Aiden, what's this?" I asked, pointed to the goo.

"I don't know." He was frowning and clearly distraught.

"Is that poo?!"

He shook his head.

"It looks like poo!"

Then I saw it. One of the little girls had poo all over her hands half way up to her elbows. And poo was visible at the top of her diaper. She was walking around touching toys and countertops and children and all sorts of things after she had stuck her hands down INTO HER DIAPER and collected the poo from her own butt.

First priority... wash Aiden's hands. (I've got your back, sistah!) Second, stop the child who is spreading poo around the classroom. The teacher was calling for backup and putting on the rubber gloves. It wasn't until I had collected as many poo-infected toys as I could find before I realized I hadn't put on gloves. By now, the teacher is changing the offender (never has that word been used more appropriately!) and surfaces have been cleaned. After a good old-fashioned pre-op quality hand-scrub, I made a hasty exit. I recalled Jessey's tales of poo-smeared carpet and realized it could be worse. Barely.

I found Mr. Gary talking to the birds again. He led me to his office... um... well, Linda's old office, and we had a good old chat about how Linda had to resign, etc. Bottom line, some policies weren't being followed, there was a high turnover of teachers at the center (no kidding) and therefore, she had to go. I asked questions about how they were choosing a replacement and how morale was being addressed, and I got only the vaguest possible answers.

As I walked out of there, I couldn't help but wonder why we are paying these people such an assload of money (thanks, Chris, for the catchy phrase). I am seriously considering calling some nanny services on Monday to get price quotes. I'm not big on the unsupervised caretaker idea, but I'm starting to think that the center isn't the best place for them either.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Strong, Like Bull

Chris often uses the phrase: (*start cheesy Native American accent*) "Strong, Like Bull" regarding our little man, Marcus. He has been using this phrase ever since Marcus was a zygote, nearly two weeks into gestation, when he (Marcus) was making me so ill that I knew I could take the pregnancy test five days early, absolutely sure that if it didn't show a little plus sign... I needed to go to the emergency room.

Other times it has been used... when he drained his first 2oz. bottle of formula at approximately 20 minutes old... when he first started lifting his head on his own at about 2 days old... when he first started doing baby push ups during tummy time at about 2 weeks old... when he punched the doctor hard enough that she was impressed at about 4 months old... and when he kicked a fever after approximately two hours of having it just a week or so ago.

But now, we have total proof that we have birthed a man of steel. Over the past four days, Athena has not once, but TWICE delivered a pretty impressive blow to Marcus' noggin. The first was over the weekend when she accidentally headbutted him with her teeth (covered by her lips) while trying to climb into my lap... a lap he was currently occupying. The second time was tonight, when Marcus was lounging on our bed and Athena STEPPED on his head as she awkwardly tried to move to the edge and scootchie off. Here is a script of both events.

The Headbutt
Athena: *WHAM!*
Marcus: *blink*
Athena: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... My MOWF... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Marcus: *grin*

The Stomping
Athena: *Step, step, STOMP, step* I get a book!
Marcus: *blink*
Athena: *scootchie*
Marcus: *grin* *barf*

My boy is strong, like bull. Head of stone. Brave warrior. Boo yah.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

It's Only TUESDAY?!

Work has been crazy this week. I missed two deadlines already and it's only Tuesday. I had to get a survey online for the staff, and due to some privacy concerns, ended up doing several things twice. I also have to absorb some staff (some willingly and some not so much) into my department this week so we can begin to move forward... something I'm REALLY anxious to do. I also have been working regular desk hours, which is fun, but eats out a chunk of the day that could otherwise be spent... I dunno... getting a survey online.

It's all coming together, though. Hopefully after tomorrow, I'll have no more working late episodes and I can actually spend time with my family. Hopefully.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

It's Gettin' Hot In Here

Don't come visit us today. We won't be wearing much clothing. It's over 85 degrees in our upstairs area due to the A/C not working. Fortunately, our house was built with two systems, one for downstairs and one for up. The one downstairs is working beautifully. The one upstairs... not so much. And it's probably our fault. We always forget to change those filters. Gah! Hopefully with our newly decluttered house, we will be more organized about getting that done.

In the meantime, we are camping out downstairs. Well, first we're going to the pool. Hooray!

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Get R Done

Marcus is taking fewer and shorter naps. This doesn't suck so much because he is awfully cute and smiley and lots of fun. However, this morning, Chris and I woke up in a true mood to clean out the clutter that is our residence. This happens oh, about once a year for each of us. But it has NEVER occured at the SAME TIME for both of us.

We've done most of downstairs and you can actually see the floor of my office (which, I believe, is about to become OUR office, unfortunately. But such is life...) It's terribly exciting.

Problem... when Marcus is awake, it's hard for both of us to work on cleaning up. Athena is okay... she's sometimes underfoot, but she is able to entertain herself. Marcus... not so much.

So Chris is now off to the airport with Athena to pick up my mother in law, and I am attempting to drug my baby with a combination of our too-warm upstairs (I think we've blown the A/C motor again because we never remember to change our filters), his bouncy seat, and Baby Einstein. I think it's working. I feel a little guilty doing this, but if I can get some stuff cleaned up... it will all be worth it.

Okay, he's out... and I'm off to straighten up.

Friday, August 18, 2006

My Crank Has Been Yanked... Sort Of

We got a professional crank call today at the library. I know it was a professional because... well... I don't know how I know. There were signs. Perhaps the most obvious was how organized he was... how he never laughed, but always sounded light. Then there was the obvious recording device that was recording the call. Anyone who has called in to a radio station knows what that sounds like.

Anyway, I'm not going into details, because I have no idea if this was a local radio station or some sort of national yahoo (Comedy Central... if it's you, it's not funny). I've never really understood the joy of crank calls. They have never been funny to me. Am I alone in this? It doesn't matter if they are calling the most evil person on Earth... I just don't think it's funny.

Basically, this guy had several bogus book titles that he wanted me to search for. Of course, he didn't start with me. When he first called the main number, he demanded reference. Then, he yelled at both people on the reference desk (one at a time of course) until he got transferred to me. Oddly, he didn't just ask for a manager... instead, he sort of forced it to happen. One point for his creativity.

Anyway, I searched his book titles, no matter how outlandish. I listened to him natter on about really stupid things. I wish I could give you the whole dialogue, but I'm sure this dude is the sort to Google himself, and I certainly don't want him to get to know me.

I never gave him anything but professional answers. He got bored with me in about three book titles.

So even if it was good old Comedy Central, I don't believe they'll be airing the conversation. They probably called another library somewhere in the country and got what they were looking for. I only hope that I pissed them off a little for wasting their time... as they certainly pissed me off for wasting mine.

Monday, August 14, 2006

More About Jilli

I mentioned that Jilli came to visit us about a month ago. Jilli is Chris' Uncle Rick's dog. (Follow that? If not, think of it this way... Chris and Jilli are cousins.) Jilli has also done something that I have only dreamed of. She has become a star.

Recently, she did an Internet game for a large veterenary medicine company. Here's the link. You can type in standard doggie commands and she will do them.

After you have tried a few basics, I recommend trying "Jump," "Dance," and "Achoo!"

Too cute!

Sunday, August 13, 2006

My Granola Side

Before I had children, I always wandered through that aisle in the grocery store marveling at all the cute little jars of baby food. They were just so CUTE! I looked forward to the day I would be adding them to my cart, stocking my cupboard with tiny little jars, and then popping one open to feed to my little precious one while zooming like an airplane.

Then I had kids. As I trolled the web bleary-eyed during those first few days when it seems that all Athena wanted to do was nurse, nurse, and nurse, I stumbled across various articles on the benefits and joys of making your own baby food.

WHAT?! As I read about these women who vowed never to give their kids anything that they didn't make themselves, I thought, HOW DO THEY DO IT?! I can barely stand I'm so tired from dealing with this tiny person, and you actually COOK for it?! Holy mama monkey! Not me! No Way! No How!

Then, as Athena grew and started eating cereal, I wandered those old aisles with new eyes. I realized several things I hadn't even considered before.

1- Baby food is expensive
2- Baby food smells weird
3- Baby food costs a lot of money
4- Baby food tastes kinda icky
5- Baby food isn't cheap
6- Baby food contains all sorts of weird stuff sometimes
7- Did I mention the money factor?

So I went back to trolling the web to see how hard it was to make food. I didn't want to buy one of those food mills, which looked to me like a mini-Cuisinart. So I wondered what solutions were out there for me.

And now, I make my own baby food. Here's what sealed the deal. I got this cookbook with covered ice cube trays and various bonus stuff. And the first page of the book says the following:

Preparing your own baby food takes no more than thirty minutes per week.

SOLD!

And it's no lie. Each week, I buy an item of produce -- apples one week, pears the next, peas the following. Then I follow the very simple recipe. Most items cook in the microwave. I fill my trays... freeze them overnight, and pop the frozen cubes-o'-food into freezer bags the next day. PRESTO! The little cubes keep for up to two months. And they defrost quickly and easily. It's like Dream Dinners for babies.

And now when I tell people I make my own food, they look at me as if I sprouted another head. I just shrug and say... "Well, you know... I would do anything to ensure my kids eat healthy, natural food." Bwahahahaha

Saturday, August 12, 2006

I Don't Take the Cake

Wednesday is Kathryn's birthday. (Happy Birthday, woman!) Today, Chris went to a friend's house to geek out. So... I called Kathryn yesterday to see if she and John and Aiden wanted to indulge in a Dream Dinner with me tonight. When she accepted, I also offered to make a cake for her birthday, assuming all went well today. We left the location up in the air (her place or mine) because I am so self-conscious about my messy home (not enough to do anything about it, mind you.)

So this morning, I chose a cake to make and sent Chris to the store for the ingredients. While Chris was gone, John called and asked if we could do this at their place. I was about to protest... as I would have to bring a cake and dinner and two kids without Chris' assistance... but then I thought several things: 1) I'm a whiner, 2) My house is a disaster, 3) Their house is NOT a disaster, 4) I can bake the cake here, but then actually decorate it there, so it wouldn't be as hard to transport, and 5) It IS Kathryn's birthday... so we should do this wherever she wants. I agreed, and planned my attack.

I packed extra clothes/diapers/bottles, etc. for the kids and then I baked the cake. Without getting into huge detail, the cake was a bit unstable as it had not yet been trimmed (baked in a bowl -- it resembled a Weeble), so I tried to Cling Wrap it to the plate. Then I made the tragic decision of the afternoon. I carried the cake out to the car in one hand, and the diaper bag in the other while hoping Athena wouldn't run out into the street. Let me just say that Weebles do, indeed, fall down when balanced on a plate about four feet off the ground. Let me also say that if you have never dropped a cake from such a distance, you should try it. It's pretty explosive. And finally, let me say that I have the happiest squirrels in the neighborhood. Not too many get to sample a Devil's Food cake.

So I showed up at my friend's house without cake, but with a Dream Dinner. Tonight was Pecan Crusted Chicken, and once again, Dream Dinners came through. To quote Kathryn, it was "scrumptious." Plus, their neighbors brought over chocolate chip cookies. So dessert was provided after all. Chris joined us after his game and we had a lovely evening watching the start of the Panthers game amid the delightful screams of two toddlers. Marcus just hung out in the bouncer seat and watched. No cake, but a good time anyway.

Friday, August 11, 2006

Arch-Nemesis Sighting

One of the reasons I wanted to work at the library in my neighborhood is to see all of my own neighbors at my library. There's just something about being a librarian in your own community. But that also means that you get to see people that you... well... don't like as much.

At my old library, all of my patrons were strangers. Only once did someone I used to work with come in. He and his family live there, and although his wife and kids come in all the time, he rarely actually made it in... as his job (at my old job) was in Cary... and that commute is a bear. We've discussed this. Anyway, he is a really nice guy and it was great to see him.

Atmy new library here in Apex, I see people I know MUCH more regularly. Since the library is just down the road from where I used to work BEFORE I entered the public sector, many of my former coworkers still live around there.

And last night... I got the doozy. I am avoiding names of companies and names of the actual person here because she is the type who would Google herself. I think it's safe to use initials, though... so we'll just call her RL. And for those of you who don't have the "pleasure" of her acquaintance, let me sum up.

Lazy, passive-agressive, WAY overpaid, HUGE entitlement issues, negative, lying, cheating, waste of protoplasm. Okay, I take that last bit back... I think she's probably a pretty good mom. She is one of the main reasons I left the old job.

My friends have been gossiping about her... trying to figure out what she has done since she left the old job in not such a graceful way (albeit WAY more graceful than she deserved). So here she was, right in front of me... and I could have just feigned politeness and asked her... "so watcha been doing lately?" But as we stood there, looking at each other, I realized that all I wanted was for her to get out. So I avoided all possible conversation and waved her goodbye with a smile and a sigh of relief.

I'm not much on chi and karma and other "feely" things, but this woman just fills a room with negative energy. She just sucks it dry of any happiness. Gods help us if she ever goes to DisneyWorld. What a dreadful day that would be.

Anyhoo... my apologies to Susan, Jamie, Jaime and any of my other regular readers who I gossip with about RL... I know nothing more than we already do. (She was carrying her books in a bag emblazened with her new employee's logo... so that is confirmed.) I just couldn't stomach the conversation that might give us more fodder for our gossip. We can just make stuff up... :-)

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

The Lone Ranger

Chris is in New York tonight in an effort to deal with The Suck. I'm really happy about that because he tends to want to do anything BUT deal with The Suck. So just going there and getting some progress made in that arena makes me a happy camper. (For those of you who don't keep up with Chris' blog, "The Suck" is basically anything having to do with his father's estate. In this particular case, "The Suck" actually involves his grandmother's estate, which has to be completely resolved before his father's estate can be completely resolved. His father died over two years ago and his grandmother, if my memory serves me correctly, died a year and a half before that. It may have even been two or three and a half years. I've totally lost track. I know it was in January...)

This means I am once again going it alone with the two kids. And I'm finding that I like it just fine. I sprung them from daycare a little early thanks to a fairly flexible schedule today, and Athena requested Aladdin immediately. While we enjoyed the flick, Marcus ate the contents of a big ole bottle and Athena devoured a banana. Then I made some pasta which Athena and I ate enthusiastically while Marcus hung out in his high chair gnawing on a plush toy. We followed up dinner with two pieces of "dandy" each and Athena showed her appreciation by dribbling chocolate down the front of her dress.

After that, we headed upstairs where Athena leisured in an essence de grape bubble bath while I stuffed Marcus into his sleeper de la nuit. We watched Baby Einstein, during which Marcus passed out in his bouncer. It was only about 7:15.

We called Daddy to say hello, and Athena watched a Scholastic DVD that included animated readings of several great picture books including Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. It's not that I don't want to read to her... but it is certainly nice when professionals do it for you. We closed out the night with a little disneychannel.com. I know this will surprise you -- especially Amy -- but my daughter is a musical genius. We played some little games where you match instruments with the sounds they make, and she did really well. Except for the clarinet... which seems like an odd instrument for her to miss, after she nailed the trumpet, french horn, tuba, and flute, but whatever. I don't question genius.

She wanted to lie in our bed for a while rather than go to her own, and I ended up falling asleep curled up with her. I just woke up a few minutes ago at about 11:30, moved her to her own bed and went downstairs to give the dog her medicine and close up shop for the night.

Marcus is still in his bouncer, and I think I'm just going to leave him there. He seems happy, and if he wakes up in the middle of the night, I can move him after he's had a bottle. Or perhaps I'll just let him sleep with me. After all, Chris is out of town, so isn't this when I should spoil the heck out of them so they're impossible for him to deal with when he gets back? FUN!

Tomorrow is my half-day since I worked this past Sunday, so I don't need to be at work until about 1:15 in the afternoon. So I'm not setting an alarm and we'll just take the morning at leisure. Chris will be back tomorrow in time to get the kids at daycare. Then it's back to life as normal. Hooray!

Monday, August 07, 2006

My Life... Doesn't Suck

So I have this great circle of blogging buddies. some I know personally, others only through cyberspace. All of them seem to be hitting some sort of trauma this week. Perhaps it's a job, perhaps it's marriage, perhaps it's keeping their blog a secret for well over a year and finally facing discovery...

So I'm here to say... well... sheesh... nothing really. There is totally nothing wrong with my life right now. I mean, Chris doesn't like his job, but he's still suffering through it for the greater good until he can get something better. But other than that... all is peachy.

Even with our huge financial woes... things are looking up. My biggest stress this week comes from the fact that I am delivering three performance evaluations to three good employees. Um... yeah... can we say, "Totally irrelevant compared to cheating husbands and crappy jobs?!"

So I have to wonder... is an axe about to fall? Do I need to prepare myself? Or am I just the luckiest person in the world right now? For those of you suffering horrible, horrible days and nights... I'm here for you. If nothing else, I can be a shoulder while my world remains intact. :-)

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Yittew Man

Tonight at dinner, Athena started singing. Her mouth was full of pizza, so I really couldn't make anything out. She finished, smiled, and said "Yittew Man!"

"Little Man?" I asked.

"Yep."

"You want me to sing Little Man with you?"

"Yep."

"I don't know Little Man, honey. Sing it for me. Teach me."

"Mawy had a yittew man, yittew man, yittew man,
Mawy had a yittew man iz fleez was wide as shnow..."

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh... Little Lamb!

And so we sang.

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Where?!

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions.
You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.


Oddly, I've never been to Dublin. In fact, I've never been to Ireland. Go figure.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Not Evil Enough

You Are 34% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well.
In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.


Actually, I'm surprised I'm even that evil...

Here Comes the Mommy Librarian

You Are Spider-Man

Quick and agile, you have killer instincts (literally).
And that kind of makes up for the whole creepy spider thing.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

The Blur That Is Work

I've been at the new (to me) library for a month now and it feels like two days. It also feels like two years. Just like a marriage, I suppose.

I still get excited about going in to work every day. I've hired two people now and within two weeks I'll be getting started on recruiting from within the existing staff in order to complete my department. My end-of-year performance evaluations are almost all written and will be delivered to the respective reviewees next week. Not bad for someone who, about two months ago, didn't really want to go back to work.

And with all this stuff to do, my actual TO DO list seems shorter than ever. I am able to plow through TONS of work each day. This may change next week, however, when I begin to take regular desk hours. For those of you not in the biz... that means scheduled time to be either helping at the reference desk, working at the circulation desk, or checking in books in the workroom. However, I don't think it will affect my productivity very much at all. I've been trying to "get out there" at least two or three hours a day, which is all I'm getting scheduled for to start.

At the old library, I was on a desk about four hours per day usually. Sometimes more... rarely less. I have now concluded that it was simply too much time. As much as I love working with people out on the floor, the things I was expected to do as a manager simply couldn't get done. Like meeting with staff, setting goals and direction for the department as a whole, and completing paperwork. And forget the collection management aspect... marketing and cleaning up the books we have.

And let's not downplay how much happier I am with the shorter commute and with the job in my own community. My days seem so much longer and I get to see people I know all the time. The patrons are my peeps! Sweet!

Of course, having said all that, I do really really really want a vacation soon. I've been dreaming of the beach. Somewhere I need to do little more than read. And chase a toddler. And cuddle a snaggle-toothed baby. Sounds like paradise, doesn't it?

A Star Is Born... Late

Hooray! Cathy and Kevin had a baby boy on Sunday... and he was only a few days late. (Typical male behavior, right?!) Labor wasn't really storybook, but it wasn't bad either. (Easy for me to say).

Ian Thomas was close to 8 pounds and he was around 20 inches long. All are home now and resting... as much as one can rest with a newborn.

Congrats to Mommy Cathy and Daddy Kevin! Let us know when you are all adjusted so we can bring our brood up to completely throw you off again!