Well, hello there winter, ice and general freezing my knickers weather!

I haven't blogged in a bit but I just looked at my last post and it was all about the winter we're supposed to be getting this year. As in, the winter we're already experiencing today. It's FREEZING!!!!!! Really chilly and windy just to add a bit of excitement... ?

It's just cold.

And to top off the joys of really cold weather, I'm sort of stuck at home. As I've mentioned many times before, our house is on a steep hill and my husband forgot to drive his truck down before the snow/ice became an issue so he's driving my car to work. Thus, I am stuck. However, I don't really imagine myself carrying Hudson up and down my driveway in this weather anyway. So we're at home. And we're warm so I'm glad!

A positive of my predicament is that my house is VERY tidy right now! No little piles to be seen, laundry all done and I actually think I'm going to do something "fun" today. (fun in quotations because this is relative and the fact that I'm stuck really limits what I can actually do for fun. ha ha!) Maybe bake with loads of butter or watch a movie while Hudson naps this afternoon. We'll see. I wish I had a good book right now... I'd be reading all day. Oh well.

In other news, I just watched a 17 minute Youtube video interview with Prince William and the future Mrs. Kate Middleton. I don't know how much you really care about this and in the grand scheme, I don't care TOO much but it's kind of fun to see them get engaged. Since I'm Canadian, I was raised with some awareness of the British royal family... and I had the Princess Diana paper doll set... yeah, I know, big deal!! ;-) I was a big fan of the wedding dress with poofy sleeves for my paper princess. And that blue gown that matched her saphire ring. And then my brothers wrecked it all. At least I imagine they did because it's not in my life anymore and I can't imagine that I would've voluntarily gotten rid of this stuff.

So I'm going to plan on watching the wedding on April 29th because it'll be on tv and it'll be beautiful, I'm sure! But I must say that I'm really glad that I'm married to a really regular guy with a totally non-public life... who wants to be scrutinized that much?? Not I. Nope. And for those of you who know me well, I'm sure if I had a "public" life, I'd say something terrible that'd be criticized for generations so it's just better this way.

It's something we can all be thankful for. (roll of the eyes... yes, you may as well!)

Okay, enough ramble. I'm thinking banana bread with chocolate chips to start of this day off right. Then maybe a spoonful of Nutella to keep my spirits up before moving onto some kind of cookie.

A Winter Weather Preview

(Or just a prediction from other people.)

Check this out!

Hmmmmm.

I've read a few different resources regarding this prediction and they're all saying it. Below normal temperatures for the Pacific Northwest.

Have you seen my drive-way? Have you seen my dog?

Both are reasons for me to tremble in my boots. Because my drive-way is a "blue" ski run and my dog is a wimp.

Even more concerning, I have this baby... you know, the one born last March? When it's snowy or icy or even threatening either of these conditions, we park at the bottom of the driveway. The thought of climbing up and down with Hudson sounds so perfectly awful to me... I can imagine a lot of "at home" days where we slowly go crazy from cabin fever and I succumb to the television. And food.

After I typed that, I got a craving for brownies. I think I'm gonna go make some!

Such a Lovely Book

Before Hudson was born I received this wonderful book from my friend Sarah. It was such a thoughtful gift and made me cry the first time (and many times since...) I read it. It's called "You are My Miracle" and is so sweet plus it has the best illustrations. Who loves good drawings in kid's books? Me!!!

Here's the cover of the book. Beautiful.

See those little animals? They're on every page!!

The story is sweet... sigh.

After Hudson was born, I would read this to him and sob. Over and over again.

Because although ALL children truly are a miracle... Hudson really sort of was and because of this, I love this story for special reasons.

So thanks Sarah for being so thoughtful to buy this book for us before Hudson was even on the horizon. It will always be my favorite, no matter what other books I love over the years.

Uncle Steve!

Before I start writing about Uncle Steve, I have to say I was playing around with blog settings and it's just messed up right now. Sorry. And for the life of me, I cannot get my photos any bigger than they are which is really, REALLY annoying.

Okay, here I go!

My brother Steve has been gone since September 12 to the other side of the pond... aka: Europe. He went for a semester of Art History to build his portfolio to get into a Graduate program in Architecture. Blah, blah, blah. Yes, I'm jealous. Yes, I'm sure it was amazing. Yes, he bought me something. Okay, I don't know if that last statement is true yet... but it'd better be true.

Something FABULOUS. Tres chic. EUROTRASH awesome. YES!

Pardon my momentary lapse in decorum. Ahem. Let's continue.

So Steve has returned to his ultra lame and drab un-european art history educated family and we're going to my mom's house for dinner today to see him. (disclaimer: I took 4 classes in art history, we've all been to europe at some point but not for as long as him... just saying...) Anyway, I'm excited! He hasn't seen Hudson since the crawling and the baby-shouting and the eating solids and a whole of other other things have happened! I know it'll be great to re-unite Uncle to Nephew today!

And my mom is making her chocolate custard pie which is amazing. And totally non-fat, zero calorie. You wish. Okay, I wish...

So with that, I need to go. Time to grab passports, shoes, baby and go!

Have a nice day!

What to do...

I'm in this kind of weird spot today.

Well, first of all, I'm on day 5.5 of feeling like a bucket full of poop so it's a miracle I'm even on the computer. I think the fact that I've been holed up inside my house for days is excuse enough to want to blog... to feel like I'm actually communicating with the "outside" world. So I'm listening to Anthony Skinner, playing peek-a-boo with my little guy and blogging. For now, at least.

It's amazing how much cold/flu season totally isolates Moms. We stay home to keep our sicknesses away from our friends and their kids and in the process, we lose the very vital and valuable time to socialize and "normalize" away from the never-ending lists of "to dos" in our homes. I think on this Friday, 3 of my friends or their kids are sick and at home. Good times abound.

This has nothing to do with what I was planning to blog about.

Here's what I was really going to blog about: Christmas.

It's November 5th. I know some of you are already dragging out the rubbermaid containers of Christmas junk/treasures and getting into HOLIDAY MODE! I always wait until after Thanksgiving for a couple of reasons.

1. Thanksgiving is such a great holiday in and of itself and I don't want to take away from it with all the focus on the holidays that come after it. And this holiday is pretty novel for me still, since I've only moved the USA in 2002 and thus, began to celebrate "American" Thanksgiving. In case you didn't know, Canadians have a Thanksgiving in October. (My husband strongly recommends marrying a Canadian to cash in on another turkey dinner each year... ha!) And I love Thanksgiving for the fact that it's really a totally non-materialistic holiday. The entire celebration is focused on food, which is one of the BEST parts of life. Is it not?

2. Because of my Canadian roots, in my family we never considered it really "appropriate" to decorate for Christmas until December 1st. I'm sure that's changed for a lot of people but growing up, people waited. December was the beginning of that season, with the advent calendar to count down with us! And in our family, we always had a fresh tree so getting it too early would just mean a dried out fire hazard by Christmas morning. So, because I live in the states now where it's much more acceptable for me to decorate earlier than December 1st, I start the day after Thanksgiving! YAY!

So with this in mind, I'm looking forward to Christmas but I'm waiting until after Thanksgiving to drag out my (11??) boxes of Christmas decor. Or rather, Luke will drag them out while rolling his eyes and exclaiming about how ridiculous it is that we have all of this stuff. But he quickly stops complaining when our home is all festive and beautifully decorated... which is usually days later, as it takes me some time. Probably weeks later, now that Hudson is in our home!

Anyway, Christmas has some interesting implications for our family this year. Some special, and some... not so special. The most exciting this is that it's Hudson's first Christmas! I am so excited to see his face when we light and decorate our tree! He's so observant so I'm sure it'll be great fun!!

The less exciting part will be that we're really dedicated to getting out of debt, even during the Christmas season, which means... we're not really doing gifts. Or maybe not a lot... I think? Luke and I haven't talked about it yet. But it's just the way it is this year. Purely by choice so it's not completely depressing but still... I have a big list of things I would love to buy for Luke and Hudson this year.

But whatever. Life is good, regardless of "stuff" and focusing on relationship during the holidays is meaningful enough for me this year! However, I do LOVE giving good things to people that I LOVE so if you're doing the gift thing, have fun!!!! Give them with joy! Give, give, give!!! But also, give love and thankfulness and thoughtfulness, and time and yummy baked treats and hugs and kisses and romance (just to one person... lol) and deep heart things too! And those are probably the things we'll be giving a lot more of this year! And I'm okay with that! Because next year we'll not owe a cent to anyone except our dear mortgage company (ha ha!) and I will be fully embracing my shopping list! With both hands and probably even a big kiss!

I'll probably blog a lot about the holidays during the holidays... if you like, read! Here are a few photos from Christmas 3 years ago in our home. I'll post other years on other days.

Oh, how I love a lighted tree!

I decorated our tree mainly in red and black. It changes every year...

This ornament was a gift from Luke's mom when we were engaged because we were "counting down the days/hours/minutes" until our wedding day!

In case you were wondering, Grandiflora in Lynden is THE BEST PLACE EVER to buy Christmas tree ornaments. I buy a few new ones every year. They're just gorgeous! Happy Friday.

Important Light Update

Well, I guess maybe it's not that important.

Last night the lights worked! The sun was out and shining all day long and we had lights! But today it's cloudy again. It was nice while it lasted.

:-)

Where I Live.

Our house is situated on a hill and our driveway is like a "blue" rated ski slope. It's steep to back down in a car. Or walk up. Pregnant. Let's forget I ever mentioned that. Anyway, it's steep.

The previous owners had installed these lights in the yard down the driveway to make it easier to see when backing down. But because it is so difficult to do if you're not used to it, those lights ended up getting demolished by cars wandering into our garden on the way down. (funny story, my friend who ran over the first light actually tried to correct her car and ran over a second one. And they are LOUD when they crack into a hundred pieces...) Anyway, the lights were also electric so once the first light was broken, the entire line stopped working. Needless to say, our driveway has been VERY dark for about awhile.

Right after my son was born, Costco had this great deal on some solar powered lights so I carried my new 10 day young baby and my poor postpartum body to Costco to take advantage of the coupon. They were out of the lights that day. I tried to be polite in the middle of my hormonal roller coaster and sleep deprived self. Rain check please!

This is sorta what they look like...

Costco finally got a new shipment in and I picked up 2 boxes, which is enough to light our driveway and keep a few extras just in case we have another car/crushed lights mishap. These beautiful new lights stayed up on the shelf in our garage just until a couple of weeks ago. But they are now up. I was really excited about these lights and they look great!

The first night, they went on beautifully and I practically wanted to get in my car just to back down with the lights shining next to my car. I didn't though. I just looked out the window a hundred times.

Now, one thing I didn't consider is this: I live in the Northwest. We don't necessarily get lot of this:

This happens to be the sun. It looks hot. Temperature hot, not hot hot, in case you were wondering.

Where I live is a lot more like this:

Cloudy and rainy, sometimes just cloudy, not rainy.

I say all of this because I have noticed that as October has been progressing, the lights have stopped lighting up. At first it was a few that didn't turn on and then about 95% of them and last night... zip. Totally dark. So, I think that the lack of light is affecting my lights. Or, the neighbor's kids turned off all the switches... I will get back to you on this. But I'm pretty sure it's the sunshine.

I'm gonna test it tonight though because wonder of ALL wonders, it's sunny today. Blue sky, few clouds and I can just feel it... the lights are excited. And they should be. Tonight they will be able to do their job and I will be glad to see them light my driveway once again. Unless it's a prank. Then I'll be pissed.

And with that, have a happy day!

The tree that was and other stories

This will be short and sweet. Or maybe just short! ha! Or maybe not.

1. We hired a tree service to come and trim all of our trees. They trimmed all of our trees. Except for the one they cut down and chipped and took away. But they're planting a new one. The only thing that bugs me about this is that you really can't "replace" a tree that was 8 years old. It doesn't really work. Other than that, I'm not seething about this anymore.

2. The other day, I went to the dentist and they froze my entire mouth just to clean my teeth. Thank-you Jesus! ha! Sometime in the last couple of years, something has happened to my teeth and they've become super, extremely sensitive. One touch of that metal scraper thingy (I think it's a scaler... I like my name better) and I will go through the roof. So my mouth was totally frozen. And it stayed that way almost all day. Lovely.

3. Today we were out of coffee and I finally picked some up around noon. Practically an emergency. I went back to bed this morning because I was so sluggy from the lack of sweet, pure caffeine in my body. And I bought a coffee at a drive-thru Woods Coffee (love!) and then re-stocked my home stash.

4. At Trader Joes today this girl with 2 adorable kids (1 was really a NEW baby) asked me about Hudson and we started to talk. She was really nice. As I was walking away, I thought... I should invite her to the play group I'm going to tomorrow. And then I didn't. I kept walking. Lame huh. I'm like this double personality of shy and not shy. Oh well.

5. I'm sure you're riveted by my blog today.

6. On this Tuesday: I will make Lentil Soup, fold laundry, plan my music for Sunday, maybe make some egg salad for lunch this week (thanks Delayne and Angie for the inspiration, bahahaaaaa), eat, and maybe some other things. Oh, send out rent increase letters to our tenants... it sounds cruel but we haven't increased rent in 2 years so really, it isn't. I need to call the tree people back so they can buy us a new tree. And other stuff. Yes, my life is awesome. That was sarcastic but I really do like my life. It's good.

Okay, that's enough. Enough typing for me and enough reading for you. I don't know how much the average person can handle of my ramblings but my inner rambling sensory gland says that I am about at the limit.

Except for a couple of random photos of Hudson on the move...

Look at his fuzzy hair. I can't get enough of it!

Or that face! Even in a blurry shot!

Have a nice day!

Against My Better Judgement

To complete the sentence above... against my better judgement, I'm typing this sentence right now instead of going to bed. It's 10:37pm. Baby is fed, house is clean, my teeth are not brushed but it's coming, I promise.

I had a quick email to shoot off before heading upstairs and I remembered this blog. The place I'm supposed to be writing stuff regularly. Well, "supposed to" as in, I want to do it. I don't really even have anything to say right now. I could tell you about my horrible trip to the dentist today. But I want to write and WRITE about that so it's going to have to wait. I could write about my newly founded cleaning schedule for my house. But that's really a side of my life I'd rather not go into... the crazy, nerdy, boring side.

Yup. Nope.

Nothing to talk about.

So I will head upstairs as previously planned and go to sleep. Tomorrow's a big day. Lots of baking to get done and planning to do for a baby shower on Saturday morning!

Good Night!

Puh

Little pet peeve for a Monday morning.

Who hates electrical cords, camera cords, computer cords... all of this connecting stuff that collects. We have A LOT of cords at our house. And no matter how often I organize, wind up and tape or just plain hide them, they end up coming out of their little hovels and cluttering up my life.

Even wound up, this looks messy.

And here's my big bag of homeless cords in the closet.

We can't seem to get rid of them because they do have a home somewhere and what if we "need" one of these someday???? Yes, I know, valid question. I don't have any answers. Sorry.

But I don't think technology is leaving our lives anytime soon and "cordless" only goes so far so I guess I just have to deal with this. Life is so hard.

I'm out of words for now. Time to wash the floor. Yes, I know, so awesome!

Jack Johnson - The bliss of it all!

Last night Luke and I went to the Jack Johnson concert in Vancouver at Roger's Arena (formerly GM Place). Let's just say it was EPIC!!!!

Zee Avi played first.

She was great and quite the voice... but I was about ready for her to stop playing when she did. It was good but not what we came to listen to.

Then up was a band called G Love.

Their music was cool, their lead's voice was not my style at all. AT ALL! And by the time they were done, I was like... Enough already! And where's Jack?

We had to wait (gasp!) for the stage crew to switch out all the instruments, reconfigure the stage, etc. (side note: I always wonder the pressure the guitar tuner must feel to make sure he does his job right. There's nothing worse than an out of tune guitar and there's a guy that's in charge of making sure this doesn't happen and runs in and out with new ones for the musicians. I wonder if he or she has nightmares of an angry musician starting to play out of tune... probably not.)

Eventually they were ready to play. Pandemonium! Sold out! And yes, we're WAY up there!

And it was beautiful. They could've played all night. It was SO good. I guess it's extra special to me to hear really super, duper good musicians play because I'm a musician and I have so much appreciation for what it takes to be THAT good but I think it was just so good last night that it would've been amazing had I only played the pots and pans as a toddler.

What I liked about last night in point form:

• Jack Johnson is really BETTER live and his albums are already so great! It's lame when a band is a total disappointment in concert. Then you know the real artist is the producer.
• Jack, the person, is obviously in love with his wife and kids, made pretty clear in his music and the stories he told. That always adds to my appreciation of the music... knowing that the guy singing is also just a good guy. Jerks can be good too but they're also just jerks. You know?
• The upright piano was an AMAZING piano. It was cool!
• Zack Gill, who played it, was cooler! He could play that thing like... well, I don't know what but it was so awesome! Blues off the charts! And he could sing. That deserves another point.
• The piano player could SING. He harmonized mostly with Jack but there was with one song where he just dished up some serious vocals. It was a meal in, and of itself. It was one of my favorite parts of the whole concert!
• The stage was really basic, big curved screen behind... nothing to take away from the musicians.
• The bass player was extremely good, nothing sloppy, very layed back. Cool.
• The guy sitting next to me... he had an odd habit of shouting out f-bombs with all sorts of interesting twists to them. I finally laughed out loud, it was so ludicrous and he apologized to me. I just told him it was fine and that he sounded like he had tourette's syndrome. Ha!
• The drummer was totally the opposite of what you always get at a concert. He didn't do a single showy number or anything. He was very steady. He also had good posture. I'm fairly sure he's a really nice person. He had that look. And his name was Adam. Even God liked that name for his human. ;-)
• We danced silly and had a great time!
• Earl, the guy who scanned my ticket at the door was very nice! He was probably in his 70's, was very nice and had sympathy when I forgot my glasses in the car. Policy is that once you're in, you're in. No leaving. But he re-entered my ticket into the system so I could go to my car. Thanks Earl! I was able to see individual people on the stage because of you.

I must say though, it was my first time being away from Hudson for more than a few hours. And we were not just away from him in time but also distance. That was weird to me but my mom and her husband Jan watched him, had a great time and offered to watch him again soon!

The best part of this whole night was having a REALLY good date night with Luke. I love him! We have so much fun together and this time was no exception. We stopped at Tim Hortons to grab dinner on the go plus 6 donuts. And yes, we ate them all. We talked and pre-funk'd to Jack's music in the car. We bought over-priced snacks and gave our own reviews of the bands before the headliner. We danced. We laughed and then danced some more. And then we went to pick up Hudson and that was just as sweet as the entire night.

Thanks Jack Johnson for coming to Vancouver and giving us the chance to go out and have a really good time!

Books - contrast

I've read a couple of books in the past month and I figured, why not tell you about them!

1. Promises To Keep by Jane Green

This book started out okay. I was at least drawn in to turn the page and see what happens next. The characters were good and well thought out. The problem for me was that I hit this point where I knew exactly what was going to happen. I was reading in bed, turned to Luke and said... "blank is going to happen and here's why." The author built her case way too clearly and it just got too predictable for me. I was so irritated with this that by the time I was supposed to feel emotion for certain events, I just wasn't there. So, overall, not a bad book, but not the best book either. If you've got a limited amount of time to read, pass.

2. With Friends Like These by Sally Koslow

Yes, yes, yes!!! I haven't read a book in awhile that really kept me guessing and wanting to turn the page. I found myself reading for Hudson's entire nap while my house lay in shambles around me. The book had 4 distinct characters who are friends and really goes into the intricacies of friendship. I loved the characters and was so thankful that I couldn't identify with the problems they all faced. It was SUCH a good book.

And just when I'd like to type more, my boy is waking from his nap so I gotta go. But #2 was by far the better book!

Coupons

We bought the Entertainment Book last year and I realized that it's about to expire and there's plenty of good coupons still in it. I obviously can't use them all before November 1 so here's what I got. FB me or leave a message here if you want any of these.

Bowling: 2 for 1

20th century bowl

Park Bowl

Mt Baker Lanes

Golf: 2 for 1

Homestead Farms

Sudden Valley

North Bellingham

Food:

Neiner Neiner Weiner 2 for 1

Dairy Queen (various 2 for 1)

Baskin Robbins (various 2 for 1)

Orange Julius (various 2 for 1)

Big Foot Java (2 for 1)

Cruisin' Coffee (2 for 1)

Bostons (various)

Dominos (various)

Cold Stone Creamery (various)

Arby's (various)

McDonalds (various)

Clothes/Services:

Petsmart ($10 off groom/train/board)

Aeropostale ($10 off $50 purchase)

Hollywood Video (2 for 1)

Blockbuster (2 for 1)

Lane Bryant ($10 off $50 purchase)

True Value (20% off purchase <$100)

Sherwin Williams (various)

Little Conversations

As Hudson has been growing and developing his little (or big, whichever you prefer) personality, I've been laughing more and more! He is just so surprising to me... it's wonderful to watch him express how he feels about life. And yesterday holds one of my favorite Hudson moments EVER so far.

Just so you have some background, this is Hudson with his friend Teagan. I met Teagan's Mom, Hailey in birth class and we swam together a few times a week in the last miserable months of pregnancy. So these two have been acquainted for quite a long time... practically their whole lives! Anyway, so we walk together now that the little bubs are on the outside!

For the most part, it's just been those two minding their sweet business in their own strollers, napping or looking around as we walked over the past months. But yesterday something new and so cute happened!!!

Hailey and I were talking and holding our babies and all of a sudden we noticed that they were having their own little conversation. They noticed each other! And they were relating... I can't even begin to do justice to this with words. It was so amazing, hilarious, precious, lovely, sweet, funny... pick a good word and yes, it was that too! Teagan did a little cough and Hudson burst into giggles... apparently this is funny. Then they'd get so excited and both look away shyly. Hudson hasn't really been around other babies his age other than Teagan so this is brand new and WONDERFUL! I loved every second of it!

Needless to say, I can't wait for them to play together again. I'm sure I'll be blathering about it again on my blog!

Short Stories

Once upon a time... Oh, nevermind. Let's just start with this.

1. Hudson is moving like a little locomotive around my house now. Today I pulled out my outlet covers and hid as many cords and wires as I could. Deeter added some additional charm to his routine to attract Hudson his way. Let's just say it's working. And I need to give Deeter a bath.

2. My house is in decline. Or rather, it's not very clean. I don't mind messy because that's an easy fix. People can understand that or forgive it. But dirty is... it's just dirty. This is a problem for 2 reasons. I don't like a dirty house. I also don't feel like cleaning it. Two problems. I am one of them. And I guess maybe I'm the other one too. I do make part of the mess. But so does Luke. He's a really great one to blame for things like this so I'll be one problem. He can be the other one. That's more like it!

3. Did I mention I'm going to see Jack Johnson on Friday night? Oh, yup. I did just the other day. It's just very exciting for me!

4. Who loves fall? Or Autumn or whatever you like to call it? I LOVE FALL!!!! I love the apple orchards and pumpkins and soups and stews and cookies and whatever else sounds super good for fall! Apple crisp! Let's give a shout out to the desserts of fall! Yum! Falling leaves! Sigh. Weather changing, good books, hot drinks and cozy blankets. Sweaters!!! I love sweaters, hence, another reason to love fall. I could go on for another 200-300 words. It might get boring though so I'll stop now.

5. Luke just drove up our driveway so I'm going to end this and eat lunch with him!

Have a nice day.

Focus

On this Saturday...

It is SO deliciously gorgeous outside. The wind is blowing, the sun is shining and I just finished sitting in the backyard with Hudson for a bit. I could sit out there all day. I might when Hudson is down for another nap!

I ate pumpkin pancakes this morning. They were good.

And despite these really good things and how good life is... Really, it is. I mean that for all of us who live in North America. I'll explain below. Despite all of this, I'm in such a funk today. Like, a really big one. I can usually get myself out of these things but today I'm totally stuck and it's frustrating me. I'm not a nice person to be around right now. Luke has just discovered this. On the phone. I bet he's turning around and heading back to wherever he just was!

Anyway, back to what I was complaining about... I know the key to getting out of this is thankfulness. I think that when you focus on what there is to be thankful for, it's difficult to focus on anything else because to focus means to direct your attention at something. You can't really "focus" on two things at the same time. So thankfulness is a good place to start.

And personally I have so much to be thankful for. But as a population of people, we have SO much to be thankful for. I've been thinking about this a lot lately since we had a guest speaker at our church named Harold Eberle a couple of weeks ago. He spends A LOT of time in Africa and the Middle East and shared with our church about what's going on in those areas of the world. It's sort of like... we know it's bad but we really don't know. Really.

Like, 1 in 6 people sleep on dirt, in the ENTIRE world. No blanket, no mattress. Or... Harold goes into churches where there are SO many widows and orphans due to war, barely surviving... it's completely normal to have large amounts of people missing limbs from war. Whole countries of women who have been ravaged by untold horrors I won't even go into... it's heartbreaking. Did you know that if you live in North America, even if you are the poorest person in this area of the world, you're quite rich compared to 98% of the ENTIRE world. Welfare? Social Security? Food Banks? Not even on the spectrum of most people's existence.

Again, thankfulness.

For safety, for my mattress, my fridge with good food in it. Ha, my fridge. And beyond those very basic things, my husband, my son, my wonderful family and friends... focus, focus, focus.

If you understand cameras and f-stop, when you have your camera set to a low f-stop like f1.8, your point of focus is very small. The lense is only focused on a very small point instead of being open to take in the whole picture. Like this photo below. I think that I get like that when I'm stuck. I focus on one thing so intensely and forget the rest of the picture. It's blurry. Even the good stuff.

The most amazing thing is that as I've been writing this, my focus has been changing and I'm feeling my feet start to move. Away from where I've been sitting today, in a funk and into thankfulness. I am feeling better already. It doesn't change the things I'm frustrated about but it changes my perspective on those things.

Because what is reality really... but perspective.

If you want to hear Harold Eberle's message, go to the website below and play the message titled "Look at the Birds"

http://houseofbread.podbean.com/

The Conflict

Oh angst.

It's 8:53pm and I really want to be upstairs, taking a bath, starting a new book and I feel this terrible obligation to write a blog post. I have been a lame blogger lately. I even have time these days. But I'll think about writing something and then not. And then think of about 86 different things I could be writing about and then not.

Angst. Blogger angst.

I kind of laugh the guffawing kind when I think of "teenage angst" because we all know what this means and what it looks like but really, I like the word angst too. It has a nice ring to it. Hudson has the baby variety from time to time and I guess we can all get it. Anyway, now that I'm totally off topic... from whatever it is that I'm writing about...

Oh yes, avoiding blogging.

I think today I will write about fruit flies.

If I could invent a product that would instantly KILL all fruit flies within a 20 foot radius, I would. But I'm not really an inventor. I'm more like the brains behind the inventor. I come up with the problem for an inventor to fix. Like killing all the fruit flies in my kitchen. They will even be gone for a couple of days and then I put a SINGLE banana on the counter and they come out in droves. I guess I could just claim it's talent but really this is getting ridiculous. I can't take it anymore.

In other news...

We're going to see Jack Johnson in concert in Vancouver on October 1st. YAY! I haven't been to a BIG concert in a few years (like 20K+ ppl)... guess what the last one was? You'll never guess. Il Divo. Yup, those Italian guys that sing sappy love songs with a live orchestra. I took my Mom! It was actually a really great show and totally entertaining... all these 50-60 year old women swooning and screaming for these tall, dark, handsome men. My mom and I laughed and laughed. I think she was secretly swooning as well but I'm pretty confident she'd never admit it.

Just in case you were wondering what would make all those Moms/Grandmas get all screaming like it's the Backstreet Boys. This is it folks.

Anyway, back to Jack Johnson. It's going to be great! It'll be a really good reason to get dressed up, put some make-up on and go on a good, long date with Luke. And then we'll sing along with thousands of other people we don't know to Jack's music. His concerts apparently turn into sing-a-longs. I like it already! I bought these tickets for Luke's first ever Father's Day and it was probably the best gift I've bought him in years... just because Jack is his favorite musician. Ever. He knows all the lyrics.

And that's it for tonight. Time to go start a good (hopefully) book and look forward to a great weekend with my guys. And maybe I'll blog again. Because after the first paragraph, which feels like pulling teeth to me, I'm actually enjoying myself.

:-)

Cut short

I was going to blog today. And continue every day or almost. But Hudson is crying upstairs and I don't know if I have it in me to blog while I listen to him struggle to fall back to sleep.

So this will count for my blog.

I know, it's so informative and exciting.

But at least I can only move up from here.

Oh, and the reason for the long absence: vacation. But I'm back now.

Little Problem Solvers

I need to recharge my camera battery. I realize this blog is lacking in photos... sorry about that.

That's the problem. Solved. Ha ha! Just kidding.

I was thinking this morning about how babies are the most amazing problem solvers compared to adults. Literally ever single day, Hudson does something new. Nobody is teaching him these things. He just keeps trying to use his body and learns a new sound or movement every single day. I can't help but be impressed.

Before Hudson was born, I was reading this book called "Prenatal Parenting" by Frederick Wirth and it was really interesting. Some of the book was kind of boring and I didn't finish it but all the facts about how amazing babies really are was so great! Luke was trying to read his own book but I kept interrupting him with my "awesome facts" and he started getting a little bit irritated. I can't really blame him. I was pretty pumped, probably a little over-enthusiastic! And I hate it when he does that while I'm reading.

Hmph.

Did you know that what a baby experiences during the birth experience is so traumatic that it would probably kill an adult? But because babies are so resilient, they can go through the extremely difficult experience of being born and within about 30 seconds are totally and completely recovered and staring with awe at their mothers. When I read this, I was still pregnant and felt kind of bad for Hudson but I think it's probably a really good thing because a baby gets their first opportunity to work through a difficult process and see that they can do it... they can weather a storm and that there is joy on the other side of it.

Here's another one. Did you know that babies come out of the womb more intelligent that adults? They have the most amazing ability to problem solve that we lose as we get older. Obviously we can still solve problems but babies have double the amount of brain cells when they are born compared to a 10 year old child. There is so much potential just waiting to happen in their brains and as they get older, whatever isn't used supports the old saying... "you don't use it, you lose it."

So I can't help but be really impressed by Hudson's ability to figure out how to use his body. He must be so fascinated with himself. One day, he finds out that his hands are connected to his body and he can actually control their movement. Another day, he realizes he has feet and another, figures out how to get them into his mouth. What fun! One of my favorites so far is the day that he realized his tongue can change the way he manipulates sound. It started with chewing on his tongue and making little noises and ever since he figured that out, he has turned into a chatter box, talking for as long as he is awake as he experiments with the different sounds he can make. Luke always says he can't wait to hear Hudson's thoughts on the world and what he can learn from our little guy. I can't help but feel the same way!

Sorry about the gushing. Back to the whole learning thing. It's fascinating.

I know this has something do with the fact that I see Hudson every single day. My friend's kids were so cool to watch learn all of this too but there's something about being with a child every single day and watching the slow progression and discovery that leads them to learn how to roll over and then crawl, sit and stand and finally, to walk. I never really thought of the process before having Hudson. I knew a baby would learn to roll over but I didn't know that once they did, there would be some stressful moments because they were stuck... it's not automatic to know how to roll onto their back again. Or when they learn to crawl. My friend told me that her young daughter is crawling now and she had some times where she'd freak out because she'd crawled into a corner and didn't know that she could back up to get out of it. So crazy!

I tried to find an answer to how long, on average, it takes an adult to "relearn" to walk but I couldn't really find a good answer. However, my friend Shereen is an occupational therapist (she helps people learn to live life after accidents, etc) and I know from talking to her about this a bit that it takes some time for sure. I also know that it's way more frustrating and difficult for an adult to relearn to walk than it is for a baby to learn for the first time. They are amazing little people.

There's not really a lot else going on in my head right now. Not the most interesting post. It's 9:30am on a Saturday morning, Hudson is already napping, Luke went to work for about an hour and I'm thinking about pumping up our air mattresses to see if they have holes before packing them for our trip next week and I'm also thinking about whether I should put on real clothes today or stay in sweatpants. The big questions of life. I know, you wish you could be doing the same thing. Sometimes I have to pinch myself over how glamorous my life is.

On that note, I'm going to stop typing. I feel like I'm heading in a direction that I don't really want to go this morning.

Happy Saturday.

Vacation

Vacation - it's a beautiful word. Just breathe it in...

I feel better already!

We're leaving for a real (aka, leaving the house) vacation in a bit here. It's nothing fancy or anything like that but it's a big break from life as usual. I can't WAIT!!! I think it's been a good year and a half (March 2009?) since Luke and I got away for more than a few days. And that... is not healthy in my mind. But then again, maybe my mind is not healthy. I just can't relax and feel like it's 'vacation' at home when I know I should be sorting the mail and folding laundry. And I'm not one of those who can just ignore it. That's like telling the sun not to rise in the morning... impossible.

So, back to why we haven't done anything in awhile: I guess I was pregnant and other minor details like that so it's probably okay but there is truly something about putting life on pause for at least a full week and removing yourself from the routines and stresses and details of everyday life. Yes, diapers will follow me on this trip but Luke will be there so we get to "share" this whole routine for 10 glorious days! What a gift. :-) And... and... and we won't be driving in a car at all during this time so Hudson won't be able to poop in his car seat. I'll explain about that another time.

So, this morning while we were drinking our coffee, we planned out what we wanted to eat during this trip. We're going to be in Montana at Luke's great Uncle's cabin and the nearest fully stocked grocery store is about 1.5 hours away. And we cannot run out of whipping cream for coffee or whatever else I may crave while we are there... how do I foresee what I will want?? There is a small mercantile (yes, it's called that) about 15 minutes away but really? I'd rather not. So we made our plan this morning and I'm excited.

Good food is synonymous with good vacation to me. I guess this can be blamed on my parents... and I thank them! My dad was an airline pilot and since he ate in restaurants and stayed in hotels so often for work, he loathes them and our family trips always included the motorhome and home cooked meals. No restaurants. This was a bit disappointing as a child since I was fully aware that we had airline passes and the world was waiting. And we were camping. However, I have so many good memories of our times together as a family, so Mom... Dad... I forgive you. Actually I don't... at least about vacations because there's nothing to forgive here. We had a great time!

This old beast is where many childhood memories were made. My dad just traded it in 2 months ago... we bought it when I was 9 years old.

The best part of all of these memories is the food. Homemade pies, bbq'd chicken, potato salad... just good food. And lots of snacks that mom bought without us knowing and suddenly we'd be eating red licorice (which we never had at home) or brownies or popsicles. Yum! So, with all of that said, food is important for me on vacation. It makes it extra special!

The only conflict is that I haven't lost a single pound in August and here I'm planning how many boxes of brownies to bring and do we have enough whipped cream for coffee and pancakes? Before you say anything, I'm not worried about the baby weight, it's been coming off steadily and it knows it's unwelcome so I will be taking care of all of it. Just after vacation. But there's something contradictory about wanting to lose weight and dreaming of stuffing my face with swedish fish. But whatever. We all have vices. I like gummy, chewy candy and I haven't eaten any since I was pregnant.

So please raise your glass because I'd like to propose a toast.

To vacation and rest and best of all: eating!!!

What I've Learned So Far?

Intriguing question. I'm sure you're already hooked and HAVE to read the rest of this blog. Because based on my previous blogging history, I'm full of wisdom. Right? Right. I'm glad we agree.

If you don't agree, close this window now.

Ahem.

And just a warning... this isn't one of my funnier blogs. Sorry.

About a week or so ago I blogged about the 'Financial Peace University' class that we're hosting with a group of people at our house. My friend Amani posted a good question - "What is one of the most significant things you have learned?"

I can't really answer that in one answer. So let's pick my top 3. Is that okay? #3 will be my top one... I can't give it up right away. It takes away the suspense... you know?

1. Relevance: Literally every couple (or single) in the group is in a totally different place. We have a long married couple in their 50's all the way down to a newly married couple in college with no kids and lots of variation in between. And you know what? We're ALL getting tons of good stuff from the class. So I think the first thing I'm getting from the class is that no matter where you're at in life, this stuff is relevant and can make a BIG, HUGE difference in your life.

2. Budgeting: It's amazing how much a GOOD budget can change your marriage. GASP! I'm not exaggerating. We've had a budget for our whole marriage. By budget, according to how we worked it... was a loose categorization of how we thought we might want to spend our money. And then we'd not really follow it. Except I think for a little while in the first few years of our marriage.

We've kind of taken turns doing our money stuff and just sort of let the other one know what we'd done for the month. Not a very good plan since our lives and our futures are really one and the same. We had to do a VERY detailed budget (it's provided) TOGETHER in this class and STICK TO IT. And it's so much easier to do that when you do it together. And you know what? We had our first real money fight. Don't worry though. It was a good thing!

You know how money is considered "the least" in terms of importance in the Bible? Well, it's not the least, like don't thing about it or be responsible or do anything with it. There are 100's of verses about money... so it must actually be important. But what we're figuring out in our relationship is that when there is order in the financial area of our life, Luke and I have so much more emotional and spiritual room to deal with the more important areas of our marriage and relationship. Does that make sense? There is peace in an area that should be "the least" instead of chaos which can make it front and center in our lives.

And we're not the only ones feeling this way. Every married couple in the group will vouch for this. It's awesome! It's actually changed a few marriages BIG TIME!!! I'm including Luke and I in this statement. Weird that a budget can do this, huh! Usually you think... marriage counseling or a marriage retreat. But money is such an intertwining part of our lives and so many of us have no idea how to actually "do" this part of life... you know what I mean?? And every single person in the class had some kind of negative connotation with the word "budget" but now we're all realizing how freeing it is. I know that when I spend the money I'm spending, I'm allowed to spend it. It's not supposed to be going somewhere else. It's a good feeling.

3. Debt: Believe it or not, Luke and I didn't have any debt other than a very small mortgage and a pithy car payment (which was a bad idea) until we'd been married over 3 years. Then we graduated from college, started making money and did what most "adults" do. We borrowed money because we thought we "deserved" the stuff we were buying, we could "afford" the payments, etc. How wrong we were...

And we've been trying to clean up this mess for quite awhile. And we haven't been succeeding.

This class has taught us HOW to clean up our debt mess in a totally simple, but not easy, way. Simple and easy are not the same. It's simple because I can't really get confused on how the process works. It's that simple. But it is SO hard. We've had to change everything that we've been doing in our lives and we're living like we're broke and killing our debt like crazy. Even though we have income every month, we kinda are broke... all that debt puts us in a negative net worth. Huh.

But we're actually making a big dent in our debt and we have such a different view on debt. Dave Ramsey says normal is broke... so who wants to be normal? And you know what? I really don't anymore. And I'm willing to go the distance and do the work to be weird.

And so...

That's just a few things that I've loved about this class. I actually read 'Total Money Makeover' first and I'd recommend that because it's an easy read, really entertaining and kind of gets you on a fast track before the class starts. The class is much more detailed and I've learned so much. Why don't they teach this stuff in high school or college? It's way more relevant than every single thing I learned there... plus, we laugh so hard sometimes over the classes that I'm worried we'll wake up Hudson... so it's fun too!

He never does but isn't it always just the worst when a sleeping baby is woken up by the dog or loud construction or... or... whatever it is... it's just the WORST. And with that, I'm going to go and clean up the mess from last night's group while Hudson is still asleep.

The Fable - My Fable

As I sat down to write this morning, I knew what I wanted to write about. And the word that came to my mind was a fable. But after looking up a definition of "Fable", I don't know if this is going to happen. According to Wikipedia (which is not considered a reliable source for any formal educational papers... just so you know... but reliable enough for my blog),

A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.

I'm not sure if this is going be a real fable but here goes.

Once upon a time, in a land close to the Canadian border, it was Friday night. Luke said he would take the baby after I fed him so I could go back to sleep and enjoy a "sleeping in" Saturday. I was excited.

As Saturday morning approached, Hudson woke up REALLY extra early, which barely ever happens. It was 4:50am. So I got out of bed, fed him and popped him straight back to bed, knowing he would go back to sleep. Around 7:30am, Luke woke me up with Hudson in hand. I fed him again to "start" the day and went back to sleep. This is where I don't know what I was doing. I should've asked for a wake-up call.

So I proceeded to fall back asleep. I dreamed of many things. And almost every scene had apple trees in them, full of apples and my angst over asking permission to pick the apples. (there are lots of trees in our neighborhood with apples that nobody picks and I want them. ALL of them. Not just for myself, but to give away. I just hate the thought of good food rotting on the ground... sorry, sidetracked.) I also dreamed of a pinata that I filled with bottles of cheap bubble bath, that somebody put our house on the market without our permission, something about a spaceship and something about quilts that cost $1700 a piece. That's just what I can remember. I know there was more.

And then I woke up...

This was not that refreshed feeling of being rested and "catching up" but more like, WHERE'S THE COFFEE because I feel like a train wreck. And then I looked at the clock. 11am. Oh, that explains the train wreck part.

In my head, "sleeping in" as I imagined it was more like 9am, getting up and eating breakfast and then getting on with my day, feeling all rested and caught up from a crazy week. Now it's almost noon, the day half wasted and that groggy feeling of sleeping way, WAY too long is not going away. So lame. And I have to live with the fact that I had hours of really weird dreams. I'm not going to try and interpret them or I may need to call a counselor.

The End.

Not that calling a counselor is bad. Just to be clear. Been there, done that. Probably doing that again. Sidetracked again!

So the moral of my story is don't sleep in too late. It wastes half the day, you feel a little bit poopy (trying to keep this "family friendly" folks) and you wonder what you can do to remedy the fact that you were so groggy, and don't make fresh coffee but nuke the slightly warm old coffee because the caffeine headache is on your tail. Another terrible activity that I've never partaken in until this very morning. DO NOT DO IT. That's all I can say about that.

So.

I want to make sure that my story fits into a fable's definition. I think it was a "succinct story" and it did feature plants and inanimate objects AND forces of nature... not necessarily human qualities given to them but I'll just ignore that. But there's definitely a moral to the story and I'm not sure what a "pithy maxim" is but I'll look it up right now.

Okay, it's some sort of forceful saying. Here's mine. DO NOT DO IT.

I think I've succeeded. I hope you learned something this morning. I did. n't.

Faux Pas

So, I'm a dork.

I feel like I should just put that out there first thing because I think it prepares you for a lot of things that I tend to say. But today I'm feeling it.

My friend Diane sent me this super awesome apron for my birthday. It's green and patterned and has a little ruffle and everything. I'm totally gonna use it because I have this bad habit of wiping my kitchen foodie hands all over my clothes while I cook and it just makes a mess. Anyway, so I got this wonderful gift in the mail and I needed to call her and thank her. So I called her this morning.

Guess what time it was?

8:20am.

And after she answered the phone, a little surprised to hear from me, I realized the time. And then I was like, OH MY GOODNESS. I AM SO SORRY! lol. I've been up since 5:50am so by 8am, it feels like the middle of the day. At least she'd been up kinda early too so it wasn't life altering. I think we're still friends. :-)

A couple of weeks ago I did the same thing, calling my mom at 7:30am to ask her a question... actually, I think it was to see if she wanted Deeter (read previous posts). But I quickly hung up when I realized that it was still so early. I don't think she woke up. I hope not. And can you imagine being woken up to be asked if you want someone else's annoying little dog? I'd say no, just out of principle. Even if I wanted to say yes. I'd have to say no.

In my mind, 9am is the best time to start phone calls, unless it's your doctor's office or something like that. They open at 8am and hope you'll call them. It gives the receptionist something to do. At least I'd like to think they're glad to hear from me... (awkward silence).

Well, that's my thought for this morning. Don't call before 9am. I mean, you can call ME before 9am because I'm awake. And totally doing my day already so go for it. I just mean other people and mostly, just me calling other people. I'm really preaching to myself here... I'm part of the problem and I'm trying to not be anymore. :-)

Correction

So, apparently I was wrong about the Pirate Pak. Please forgive me Pirate Pak. I will order you again soon. Because of the gold coin and ice cream for dessert. Thank-you to my commenter (I don't know who you are... it said 'anonymous') for clarifying for me!

For the love of food

A couple of things before any words about food.

Deeter's adoption has been finalized but is pending aka, my mom wants to wait until her old Rosie has had enough of this earth. So Deeter will be spending his time split between our house and visits to my Dad's house because he is treated so well there!

My friend Angie had a birthday on July 26th and her present is STILL sitting on my dining room table. In a box. With a Fed/Ex label on it. I know, it's so bad. So I'm going to send it and pretend her birthday was August 26th and that I'm early. I try.

Anyway, now that I've got that out of the way...

Yesterday I brought Hudson to Canada. We met up with my Mom and went to pick up my Grandma to take her out for lunch. We went to a B.C. favorite, White Spot. I never eat there anymore because I don't live anywhere near one. Things have changed since I was younger. It's "prettier" in there and their burgers are not quite as large. Disappointing. But still good! Just not what I remember.

I really wanted to order a Pirate Pak. It's this cardboard ship that comes with fries, burger, drink and a dessert. It used to be a chocolate pudding but now it's some absurdity like cotton candy something or other. What's wrong with kids today? And the parents? I'd demand chocolate pudding. Like, really force the issue. And there used to be a chocolate gold coin, which was my favorite and really emphasized the whole pirate/treasure theme but that's no longer offered. I just found that out online a second ago... so maybe I don't really want the Pirate Pak ever again. The coin sealed the deal for me.

Sidetracked... it happens.

So we take my Grandma (Hudson's Great Grandma) out to eat. She orders a hot turkey sandwich with all the fixings and my Mom is holding Hudson right next to her. My Grandma has always been a slow careful eater but since she is now 89 years old, it's a little bit more pronounced. And with each careful movement of fork to mouth, Hudson was stalking that fork with his eyes. Seriously eyeballing the turkey and stuffing. I'm glad his large motor skills have not developed all the way or Grandma wouldn't have gotten any of her lunch because Hudson was fixin' to grapple that fork out of her hand and tasted his first bites of solid food. Hilarious.

And again this morning, my toast and jam was absolutely mesmerizing to him. Needless to say, I can't wait to give him solids. It's going to be a messy, happy day!

And now I must do something productive. Not that blogging isn't productive, but it doesn't fold my laundry for me.

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT my laundry pile. But I think mine may be bigger. Remember, Jesus said not to judge. Just a reminder.

2 things

thing 1:

Today is the first day of the Northwest Washington Fair. And we're going! Hudson will see all sorts of animals for the first time ever... so we're kind of excited. He won't remember a lick of this but we will and that makes it worth it to us! And after we spend some time with Hudson and the animals, he is going to Grandma's house to sleep so Luke and I can see the "Demolition Derby."

What is this Demolition Derby, you ask?

It's total redneck chaotic mess. And so much fun! This is our 3rd year going to celebrate for our anniversary. Not so romantic but totally hilarious and I'd rather laugh my butt off than anything else for our anniversary! We got married during fair week in Lynden and after the wedding, I was watching the video and there was this AWFUL sound in the background. Like, rip-roaring loud noises. So I called my mom to ask what was happening on the video and she was like... "you didn't hear that???" Apparently not. I was too busy freaking out that I was getting married and saying my wedding vows to Luke to NOT HEAR THE TRACTOR PULL happening 4 blocks away.

What was wrong with me? If I wasn't even totally aware during the ceremony, do the vows count? I'm going to go with a yes for this one... ;-)

Obviously I didn't know about "fair week", not being from Lynden and all, when we picked the wedding date. Oops. But anyway, we now go and celebrate the noise and obnoxious entertainment of the fair every year and we'll probably make this our date until the kids want to join us and then we'll have to go out another night together. I have a feeling Hudson wouldn't appreciate the loud engines and crushing metal and flames everywhere at this point. I think it's my mommy instinct kicking in.

thing 2:

I'm about to unleash the beast on my insurance company. They keep messing up my coverage dates and the hospital has billed them 2 times for my ob/gyn care and they keep sending it back, UNPAID. The hospital has a policy to only send 3 times before requiring us to pay. Wee-hhheeee-heeeeellll. I just got a message from the insurance company that some paperwork that was supposed to be fixed is not fixed yet and that means my claim will be denied again. And we're not paying it. I'm just putting this out there. We pay for very good medical insurance. I shouldn't have to pay for this. And I won't. And thus, I'm about to "communicate" VERY CLEARLY with the 1-800 number.

And that's it for now.

Happy Sunday

Well, I sit here, thinking of what I shall blog about on this super duper HOT Sunday afternoon while I listen to my little boy crying in the monitor. Sundays are always a little bit off with naps because of church in the morning. But I've gotten brave lately and attempted to pretend we're on schedule when we get home and put him to bed.

He doesn't really like it.

And now that he's starting to get more expression (he's mastered the pouty lower lip thing which completely tears me apart), he's really good at telling me he does not approve of this new approach. But I steel my heart and close the door and then he sleeps. And we all breathe a sigh of relief.

So, I know I've ranted plenty of times, probably more than is appropriate about my totally adorable, totally annoying dog, so today I won't. But I will announce that we've made a formal offer of adoption to my mom. Her 2 dogs are aging rapidly, especially Rosie, who we got when I was 14... I'm 30 now. So, she's quite old in dog years. We'll find out in a few days or so if my mom would like to adopt Deeter once Rosie goes to meet her maker. I don't want to be a terrible person and pray that this happens swiftly... in fact, I promise I won't because my mom really loves her. But Deeter will be happier and I won't be yelling at the dog in front of my baby anymore. It's just not nice.

In fact, Deeter calls my mom "grandma hamburger" because he went for a long weekend visit a year ago and enjoyed a small serving of hamburger EVERY SINGLE DAY. I assure you, this doesn't happen at our house. On occasion, I'll give him a few scraps of meat when we're done dinner and it's either his dish or the compost bin. And because of this crazy indulgent weekend with grandma, he goes absolutely berserk when she comes to visit. Every time. He tries to escape and get into her car... like, "get me out of here, Grandma hamburger. Please. This place is not like your house at all." It's actually kind of funny.

But one of these days, I think he will get in her car and he won't be coming back. It makes me really happy for him and for us on the one hand. On the other, I will miss his little personality in our home. And I just can't give him to anyone. I need to know that he will be taken care of VERY well. I would sob if we gave him away and he was being treated badly. He's just too little and cute for that. I'd rather him stay here than be hurt by some other family.

I don't really have much else to say on this subject. That's about it. Yup. And Hudson is still not sleeping. He's half awake, fighting sleep. And we have to be at a bbq very soon so I hope he does sleep or it'll be an interesting afternoon.

The end.