The Thing I Dislike the Most About Mondays September 29, 2008

It’s not the start of the work week. It’s not that I have to do things besides relax or attend to the things I want to do. The thing that bugs me the most about Mondays is being away from the people I love after spending the better part of 3 days together. That is the hardest thing for me on Monday morning.

daddy’s little boy September 28, 2008

Seriously. I laugh on a daily basis over this baby. We are watching the live New Kids on the Block footage after the Behind the Music. And much like his daddy, Colin knows all the moves. He is a dancing fool in my belly. I don’t know if it’s becuase I’m excited, or he likes the music or if it’s just in his genes, but I love it.

Yes, at this point I am about as excited as Corey is for this show on Friday. Finally. I loved the songs they just did and want more. It is going to be along wait until Friday. And now I gotta figure out what I am gonna wear. Because my husband is awesome. And we are going to the meet and greet. Yeah.

So I have 2 questions. What is up with Jordan’s hair? Why didn’t someone make him get a good haircut like the other guys? The other question is – was Joey wearing pink shoes?

proof September 26, 2008

On vacation in North Carolina I began to suspect that Colin likes Guns N Roses. Even if I can’t remember where the apostophe goes, I like the band. Not as much as Corey does, obviously, but I’m  a fan.

At karaoke on vacation, Corey sang New Kids as usual. Colin was just minding his own business, sleeping or growing or whatever. Then Beth insisted Corey sing GNR. A song came on and Corey sang along, since it wasn’t a karaoke track. Colin started kicking and going crazy. So I joked that even the unborn baby likes rock better than pop.

Since then I’ve noticed that he often responds if Welcome to the Jungle comes on. But I was mostly joking. Well, today I was listening to some upbeat stuff trying to chase away my nerves before a doctor’s appointment. After we found out everythign was fine I decided to treat Colin to Appetite for Destruction. He hadn’t been moving much at all this morning. Literally as soon as the song started he went wild. He was moving for pretty much the entire song. And for the rest of the record, everytime a new song would start he would get really crazy. So it’s true. This kid loves Guns N Roses. He hears it alot, due to Corey’s obsessive nature and the giant pinball machine in our basement.

There was a day last April when much of my family was visiting. I felt pretty run down, like I was getting a cold, so I stayed home. I didn’t want to get anyone sick, so I sulked in the basement and played pinball by myself. Turns out Colin’s cells were busy dividing, making this little guy – hence the symptoms.  So this little guy has been listening to this music since pretty much day 1. Long before he has ears, but you know what I mean.

I still refuse to name him Axl, but there is no denying it’s a pretty good nickname. Although, Duff was always my favorite. Something about bass players…

a fun game September 19, 2008

Kathryn posted this and it sounds like fun!

Here’s how you play:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It’s actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I’ll assume you’re playing the game and I’ll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don’t want to play on your blog, or if you don’t have a blog, I’ll leave my memory of you in my comments.

SO PLEASE leave me a memory……..PLEASE

panic mode September 17, 2008

I am flipping out this week. Nothing is wrong, the baby is fine. I’m just losing my marbles.

The worst thing 2 pack rats can do is move in with a third pack rat. This continues to be an issue. I am guessing that the fourth person we are bringing into this is probably going to be a pack rat too. Its not his fault, poor little guy.

I am so overwhelmed at all the stuff that needs to get done still, and all the junk that needs to get moved around. For example, books. Our bedroom has 2 built in books shelves. We have a small book case in the hallway. Colin’s room-to-be had 5 book cases of varying sizes, plus a built-in bookshelf. 1 is now trash and 2 are in the hallway also. There is a bookshelf in the office/guest/Oliver’s room. But at the apartment I have 1 small book case, 1 large book case, books on a shelf in the scraproom,  and a cabinet thing filled with scrapbooks and scrap supplies. Oh, and 2 underbed storage boxes with books. And a storage tote half filled with books. There is absolutely no pace for this stuff to go! So, I am trying to go through all the books for what is probably the 4th time and getting rid of them. Some I kept around because I will re-read. Others I kept because my mom might read them. Those are going. I will keep the children’s books – Colin will probably like those. And if you are looking for a copy of a particular book, let me know. I probably have it.

Unfortunately, books are just one of the problems. I have been throwing stuff away left and right this week, but I only have so much energy. And I can only get rid of my own stuff. Corey has gone through some of his. But I can’t do much about my mom. Except try to guilt her into getting rid of stuff. Like the dog toys that got put into the closet becuase they had holes chewed in them. WTF? WE took them away from the dogs but didn’t throw them out? Weird. I think Duncan may be forced to go through is toybox while I watch Bones tonight….

It’s beginning to taste a lot like fall September 15, 2008

As soon as I noticed that the leaves started changing (is it me, or does this happen earlier each year? I think they started changing at the bginning of August) I was on the lookout for the return of the pumpkin spice latte to Starbucks. This is one of my favorite treats. I was overjoyed when Kim told me it had shown up at my local Starbucks. I got my first taste of 2008 when we met up there on Saturday. Oh man, it was as yummy as I remembered. If you are the sort of person who ever wants to bring me one, I like a Grande DECAF 3 pump pumpkin spice latte. You can leave off the whipped cream, though I couldn’t resist this weekend.

So after my latte I developed a taste for apples. I wanted nothing to do with apples all summer, but when I think the weather is going to cool off I suddenly love them.

I have to say, this weekend was really warm, so I couldn’t wear my cute fall clothes. Oh, and most of them don’t actually fit. I also realize I am going to have to make my own cute fall t-shirts, since I’m pretty sure I own’t find any ready-made ones headed my way. I checked out the jewelled halloween iron ons at Micahel’s and couldn’t find any I like. I did see a cute owl baby-tee on May’s blog - I may have to buy the baby tee, cut off the owl and frankenstein it onto something that will fit me. Whoa, I actually kinda like that idea. Got to find out where the top came from. Corey and his mom did this for me once when he bought an Evanescence t-shirt he didn’t want anymore – he made it into a shirt for me. And let me tell you I got about a million compliments on it at the concert. If he had made more I could have sold them to everyone. My hubby is a total visionary.

Back to things that taste best when fall comes. I made a huge pot of chili yesterday. I was a little sad there were no leftovers, but I figured my father-in-law will be working non-stop to restore power to many many people all week, so he deserved a shot at the warm, spicy goodness. So I sent the last bowl home to him.

Will this be the year I actually make pumpkin bread and pimpkin cookies from my pumpkin cookbook? Or will I just buy them likw I usually do?

energy September 11, 2008

I’ve never been more aware of the correlation between food and energy as I am now. An hour ago I was falling asleep at my desk. Shortly after that I ate a few strawberries and now I feel like a whole new person. It’s crazy. I was so disappointed that I might not get anything done tonight, but all of a sudden I feel like a whole new person. Awesome!

Dinner tonight will be BLTs, so we can enjoy more of our lovely tomatoes from the garden. However, they just aren’t the same without mayonaisse. Does anyone have a delicious alternative?

some of you don’t know September 7, 2008

I love the smell of books September 6, 2008

I’m pretty sure that going to the library is a privilege and not a right. But it FEELS like a right. I have had many libraries with huge collections to choose from for as long as I can remember. My mom just told me she used to take me to story hour before I even started school. (I really look forward to taking Baby Milner for story hour!) I have access to so many books for free. I have no problem paying my fines if I am overdue, and if they had a collection jar on the desk I woul donate money to thelibrary regularly.

But undeserved fines make me crazy.

When I was little I recall 2 instances of losing library books. In both cases I was pretty sure I had returned the book, and I tore the house apart looking for them when I found out they had not been returned. The first one was Betsy Goes to the Doctor, or Gets the Chicken Pox, or something like that. I was in Kindergarten at the time. I never found it so we had to pay for it. The second one was later on, and it was a Snoopy paperback. We paid for that too. I found it in my closet years later. I am pretty sure I still have it.

In high school I returned a paperback by Christoper Pike. I know I returned it and they claimed I didn’t. Every time I went to the library after that I looked for that book. They had about 1200 copies of it, so I never found which copy was the one I had. But I argued until they took it off my card.

Over the last 5 years this has happened with alarming frequency. I would return books, either on the counter or in the night deposit, and they would still show up on my card days later. Sometimes I would wait a little longer and they would drop off. When I worked in Elyria (an hour away from my house) I would frequent the North Olmsted branch (45 minutes from my house). And maybe every other time I would return something it would not get checked in. Since it was so far I would have to call and argue with someone until they would go look for it. One time this was an entire season of CSI on DVD. The fee the library charges when you lose something is much more than you would pay in a store, so I was in a panic that they would charge me $100 for their mistake. This one required numerous phone calls.

I really lost it when I returned a book on tape that I had checked out at my local branch to the North Olmsted branch and it stayed on my card. I marched into my branch, went to the shelf and pulled the tape. There was no question it was the same copy I had – I had not been able to fit the tapes properly into the box and it was still not closed all the way.  So this tape was removed from the return bin, never checked in, shipped to another branch and shelved and the tapes were never fit back into place. A minimum of 4 employees touched this thing, but it was still the mess I left it in. Fine. But I was really angry that it hadn’t been checked in. I took it to the librarian at the counter, explained what happened, watched her check it in, and asked for a printout of everything I had on my card so I could verify that it was returned. And then she started MAKING EXCUSES for the other employees. This really set me off. I tried to let it go, but that night I had to email the branch manager to let him know how irate I was that the employees had no consideration for library patrons. Just because they offer a free service doesn’t mean they shouldn’t do their jobs well, or practice good customer service skills. I also asked that he contact the other branch where this had happened to me repeatedly.

I no longer return books to North Olmsted, and I monitor my card very closely. I have had no problems in the last year or so, until last week. Once again, I returned something that wasn’t checked in. Fortunately it was a book from my own branch, so today I went and found it and asked another librarian to check it i for me. SHE apologized. And I was very nice about it.

My second library pet peeve is when people pronounce it libary. My sister-in-law delights in doing this as often as she can. So when she found the little gem below she did not hesitate to send it to me.

before and after September 4, 2008