I'm loosing my mind

Today Scott has had a terrible headache that started early this morning, and has pretty much debilitated him all afternoon. Once we got home from church, he needed to lay down. This was fine of course, but it left me to deal with Emily the Ornery all afternoon by myself.

Let's just say that out of all the days for her to learn how to open the fridge, this was the one she picked. Great.

Normally Emily will play pretty well, and stay with one toy for a reasonably accurate time for a little one her age. Today, that is not the case. The child is everywhere, and into everything. She watched me sweep the floor, and just when my back was turned to grab the dust pan, she stood in the middle of my pile. I fluffed up and straightened up the couch cushions and pillows, only for her to realize that the cushions do in fact come off the couch, so she took them all off again. And today she remembered how to gargle her milk, only to get it all down her shirt an all over the carpet, and then toss her sippy cup over the fireplace screen. Wow.

I know that she is curious, and I hope she remains curious for her entire life, however, today her curiosity is driving me INSANE! Okay, thanks for the vent. She is now pounding on the bedroom door where Scott is desperately trying to nap to get rid of the headache.

Vagina Rejuvenation Surgery... huh?

Scott and I caught a bit of this on some news station, and I had to look up more about it on the web. Interesting. The news program was fairly vague about the actual procedure, and my curiosity was peeked.
I don't have a penis, so maybe I am out of line thinking that maybe I could understand the need for this, but is there really that big of a deal after the birth of a chid that a husband would subject his wife to this sort of surgery? The woman on the news program had five children, and was getting it done to improve her sex life with her husband. Hmmm.

What do you all think?

I think I planted too many tomatoes!

I am trying to find some information online about canning them, so maybe this fall and winter I won't have to buy stewed tomatoes. Until then, I think that we will be giving more to our neighbors, who I think are just as sick of them as we are going to be.

This picture is from this evening. Emily and I picked them all tonight, and there are many more that will be ready tomorrow and the next day. Emily loves to pick them, and I think that she finally figured out you only picked the red ones.

I know Adam will appreciate this

Yes, that is a lovely tomato. We were in the garden this afternoon and when I turned to find Emily, she had picked a tomato and starting eating it like an apple. So she went back to her lawn chair and enjoyed it, where I took this picture.
And again at dinner she saw the tomatoes and made her "Mmmmmm" sound, so we gave her another whole one. She ate the whole thing. Wouldn't eat her ice cream from Chic Filet at lunch, but will eat an entire tomato. Funny kid.

Scott's going to kill me... mwhahahaha

Scott has put in so much work into our backyard, it is crazy. It really looks like a different backyard. And there are constantly things that need to be fixed around the house. I have these really cute stickers that I bought of power tools, and I have a vellum quote book that contains a page that says, "isn't it nice to have a man around the house?" I thought, wouldn't it be great to do a page for our family album with different pictures of Scott doing work around the house?

That is when I started taking pictures of him doing odd jobs around the house like tightening cabinet screws, building shelves in the garage, or whatever.

I think I really annoyed him Sunday afternoon when I brought the camera out while he was mowing the lawn in the ninety-five degree heat with 90% humidity. The first picture describes that quite well. Then...




Isn't this better? Nothing says, "Get that camera out of here" better than this fat fake smile.

What to do with

So this evening I came home from my small group bible study feeling very frustrated and a little annoyed. I have this problem with not being able to help myself from saying when I disagree with something. This does not work well in my bible study where one member frequently tells the rest of us what is right.

I have a big problem with these absolutes, often because I don't necessarily agree with them, but sometimes even when I do agree, I feel that they AREN'T absolutes, but merely his interpretation of what is being read. At what point does a verse in the bible go from an absolute truth from an interpretation? Yes, the part about Jesus dying to pay for our sins... that would be an absolute. But when he says, "it is finished" before he dies on the cross... I thought that was a phrase of the time used to describe a payment in full, thus his death for our debt. Tonight I was told that this phrase "it is finished" has to do with God's plan for us being laid out in entirety.

Ughh. Not that I necessarily want to debate what this phrase specifically means, but I am annoyed that my bible study has become this place where somebody feels they understand exactly what these passages all say, and that I must be wrong. (or whoever disagrees with this person, though nobody else voices any disagreement.) This is the bigger issue. The above was simply a "for instance" from this evening. There have also been other "absolutes" about word meaning and other things that I find trivial to the purpose of our bible study.

Also, being the reading teacher that I am (and being married to Scott) I totally believe that there is a transactional process that occurs between any passage and a reader. This occurring with the Bible as well. I think that maybe one of the major disagreements between me and him (other person) is that it doesn't seem that he can entertain the idea of multiple interpretations of the same passage. Though I think there needs to be a point in which some truths are inarguable. But again, what is that point? What is left for the Holy Spirit to intercede and apply as needed? I don't know.

And finally, the big question: What do I do next? I really would like to take the easy road and just excuse myself from attendance, and find one of the many other studies in my church to attend. But I don't think this is exactly the right solution, at least not without some sort of explanation of why I won't be coming anymore. I do know that it isn't a good idea for me to go next week because I don't like the way that I feel about what is said, and I leave feeling frustrated. And I know that it won't work to sit back and absorb, never contributing to the conversation in case it means disagreeing, or simply asking a questions for clarification.

I can't believe how much I am bugged by this.

Suggestions? Ideas about what is an absolute, and what is left for question? Or maybe there is a right and wrong to every passage, and I just need to figure them out one at a time? Thoughts?

Crash and Burn

I'm sure this is the first of many more falls to come. Most kids have skinned or scraped knees to show for their first fall. Not our kid. She used her face. Emily was at a picnic or my softball team and she was coming down a step out of a gazebo onto the sidewalk. She isn't that great with steps in general, but I thought she could handle one step down. She was holding a ball, so when she fell she didn't let go of the ball to brace herself with her hands. Thus, we have the scraped face.

Now I must say that I was quite proud of Emily for how tough she was. She cried that "late reaction" type of cry for a moment, and then she was more concerned with finding her ball than anything else. We took her home and cleaned her all up, and thought about giving her some motrin before bed to make her feel more comfortable. We decided against it because she seemed to be fine.

She still doesn't seem to notice that there is anything wrong, so nobody show her a mirror!

Great Trip

Scott had yesterday off, so we went to Charleston for an overnighter. Yes, the hotel I booked once again confirms that I am cheap, and choose bad hotels. But other than that, we had a good time.

We decided not to go on the ghost tour (too late with Em) but we did go on a 2 hr. Revolutionary War walk around Charleston's Historic District. Awesome! Scott, Emily and I were the only ones signed up, so we had the very knowledgeable guide to ourselves. I learned a lot, and he even gave me his business card so that this year when I teach the Revolutionary war to my fourth graders, they can email him with questions. Fabulous! I think that Scott's love for history is really rubbing off on me. Poor Emily doesn't have a chance.

After some great food and a rest at the hotel, we were back down to Market street to go through the street vendors and wander the streets checking out old churches and graveyards. Another great dinner, some much to rich chocolate, and we went to bed.

This morning we went back to the market, had some coffee, and then went to visit Folly Beach on Folly Island. This is a place I really wanted to check out to see about a possible vacation rental with friends or family next summer. Great place. The houses sit right on the water's edge and are all built on what seem to be stilts, so the house sits a good thirty or more feet above ground, leaving the underneath to be an open garage for cars to park under. Different.

Add a visit to a plantation, and train around some swamp areas to see some alligators, and we had a marvelous trip. Seriously, people need to come visit us soon. I am finding there is a lot of cool stuff to see.

I finally did it

I raised my voice to somebody else's kid. I always knew that this was going to happen. I know that somebody else will one day raise their voice to Emily as well. But for some reason I am okay with that, but I have a hard time doing that with another kid. I guess if my child was misbehaving I would want somebody to stop her. However, some parents don't feel the same way. Sticky situation.

... back to today. We were at a play group with a lot of really great moms and kids. Emily was playing, and two different times she started screaming and when I looked she was at tug-of-war with this other child. I couldn't tell who had the toy first (though from prior experiences with the little boy I guessed probably Emily had it first.) but I gave the toy back to the boy, and gave something else to Emily to play with. She was fine with that. The third time I saw him take it away from her and push her to the ground. I sprang out of my chair with my finger pointing and in a raised voice told him " You do NOT get to take other children's toys, and do NOT get to push other children down." Well, he started to cry.

I really don't feel bad about it like I thought I might. I feel like I need Emily to know that it is okay to tell a child to bug off if he is being rude or taking things. If I continue to "be nice" and give the toy to him and give her something else I am sending the message that she should always give in, and I want her to learn how to (politely) stick up for herself.

Now I must also say as I eluded to earlier that this child often has a problem with sharing. And sometimes it seems to me that he is only interested in the toys that others are already playing with. I watched him take things and start arguments with three other children besides Emily.

I just hope that his mom doesn't get angry with me, and the hard part about that is sticking to what I know was the right thing to do by telling him no. Ick. I hate confrontation, and when it involves children it can be especially hairy.

The day ended well

Today started out kind of bad. Apparently there is something called adult on-set seafood allergies. Well, after eating grilled Tillapea last night for dinner, I found out all of the sudden I was allergic. I spent most of last night in the bathtub trying to relax my tense muscles and make the fever go away. So, this morning I am sure I wasn't the most pleasant person to be around.

However, I did have quite the highlight of my day when I sold the extra fridge in our garage. Why do we have a fridge in our garage? Well our realtor wrote it into the deal when we bought the house that they leave the fridge. Of course we brought ours, so we moved this one into the garage, thinking maybe I would use the freezer to store extra meats, and whatever. Scott always said this was a bad idea. He was right. After one month we unplugged it because it was empty, and just wasting electricity. And I have spent the past year trying not to hit it with my car when I pull it into the garage.

That said, I did sell it for $75. Then I went on-line to check out hotels for a possible stay in Charleston this weekend. Behold, I found a great deal with our Entertainment book (thanks to Scott's step-mom for that Christmas gift) for exactly $74.95. I was thrilled. Scott let me book the room, and now we are going for an over-night stay to the beach. We love Charleston. Maybe we can get Emily to sleep in her stroller one night and take one of those midnight tours of the church graveyards. Sounds fun!

I hope that everybody had a good fourth of July. Scott and I took Emily to the annual Lexington county peach festival. We saw the parade, and then we went through this craft booth area, and finally ended up with some wonderful peach ice cream. It was super hot, but a lot of fun. You wouldn't believe how many people came out for it. Emily thought the ice cream was fabulous!

This put a smile on my face

It amazes me how much Emily watches what we do. For instance, while we were at the Portela's a few weeks ago, Emily walked right over to Audrey's play kitchen, pulled out a pan put it on the stove, and then stirred with a spatula. Now that was not something that I had to teach her. She catches on to so much more than we give her credit.

Such an instance tonight. Emily and I always go into her room after bath time and we sit in her rocking chair cuddled under a blanket, and we read a story or two before bed. Well, tonight I guess things were a bit out of sorts since her bath came right after dinner (we gave her a popsicle... BIG MESS!!) so there was some play time after her bath that she normally doesn't have.

Emily decided she is going to rock in her chair with a book by herself. It was quite the system she had down!

She got many of her books and her blanket and put them in her chair.

Then she would climb in... still quite the task.

Then she would read each one, and drop it off the side of the chair each time saying "uh oh."

When all the books were on the floor, she would get down, and start the entire thing over again. This went on for about twenty minutes. The entire time I was snapping pictures from the hallway and giggling.

Dieting

After three weeks of eating out, mom's good food, and all that other crap we ate on vacation, we... no really just I have started to diet. Scott is just sort of appeasing me. Anyhow, I have tried a few things in the past with no avail, however this weight watchers "points" thing really seems like it is going to work. No, I don't go to meetings and stand on a scale to be weighed in while people call me a cow in the back of their minds. But I do go on-line to see that I get to eat 22 points of food daily with my weight, and I see how many points different foods are.


I have to say that it really hasn't been that bad. It has really just been a matter of choosing different foods at the grocery store and paying more attention to the foods that I buy. They really don't taste bad at all, maybe I can tell the difference with some, but not all. (Scott by the way will totally disagree with me. He watched me unpack the grocery bags a few nights ago and heaved big sighs every time he say the words "fat-free" on the food labels. )

So far I have lost 3 lbs in a week. That is what will keep me going. That and the "skinny cow" ice cream sandwiches that are only three points each.

The only drag is that after my successful weigh in this morning at home, we had a pizza dinner tonight with the fourth grade staff at the new school. I think I ate way over my 22 pts. Oh well. There is always tomorrow, right?

It's hot, so add water!

Today we came home from church during a rain storm. It wasn't one of those summer southern rain storms that comes in and dumps for twenty minutes, and then heads on. Today was pretty much wet all day. Finally the drizzle went away for a bit, and the sun even came out. I dashed for our shoes so that we could get Emily out of the house and on her tricycle that she points at each time we go in the garage to get in the car.

So, off the three of us go to walk around the neighborhood and push Emily on her tricycle. When we get to the furthest point on our walk, is starts to drizzle a bit. By the time we passed two houses, the flood gates opened from the clouds and we were wet.



You would think by the picture that we might have been pretty cold. Not at all. The rain cooled us down nicely. I'm sure to any neighbor that may have driven by we looked rather ridiculous. But it was one of those times when being ridiculous was kinda fun. I'm sure that Emily loved it, probably Scott loved it, though he may not admit it. I think it will make a fun scrap page.

Three weeks is long enough

It's Sunday night, and we have a little over twenty-four hours before our plane leaves back for SC. I can't wait. I love to see all of our friends and family, and I am grateful that we have fit in as much socializing as we have, but we are all pooped!

So far, we have gone from SC to Fresno, to bakersfield, to fresno, to arroyo grande, to bakersfield to fresno to bakersfield to san berardino to fresno. No, I am seriously not exaggerating. Today when we were coming back from San Berardino we had about an hour drive left and Emily started pumping her legs and screaming in protest of being in the car seat so long. Can't say I blame her. Scott, Emily, and I have really not had a space of our own for going on three weeks, and living out of suit cases is getting old.

This trip has made me realize how much I love my home with my own little family. I can't wait to get to cook dinner for Emily and Scott in our kitchen. I look forward to Sunday morning breakfast with coffee and newspaper around our little kitchen table with Emily in her own high chair. I love that our house will be completely baby-proofed and I will finally be able to sit down on the couch in peace knowing that Emily is safe, and nothing will be broken. I can't wait for some night next week once Emily is in bed so that I can get out all of my scrapbooking stuff and get to work on all of the pictures from this trip, and have everything I need right were it goes in my room, and spend some time alone... just with me.

Our home is sacred to me, I guess like everybody's home is sacred to them. I know that for the rest of the summer I will be more thankful to be home. I think that I will also be thankful to have just the three of us at home... at least for a little while that is! Now if only we survive the plane trip back!

I've always wanted to be a gangsta pimp

I got this from Jay's blog. I thought that it was a bit weird that he should score so high, but then I did as well. I don't think that it takes much!



Prevent (or Cause) Do You Know the Hip-Hop Lingo at LiquidGeneration!

Seven more hours...

... until the taxi comes to pick us all up. 3:45 am in the morning. It should be interesting. What is kind of funny and sad all at the same time is that this will be Emily's fifth time going back and forth from the east to west and west to east. I have to say though, this time I am more nervous than ever. Tonight we went to dinner, and she wasn't "bad" at all, but she was surely loud, and excited to see so many people. She talked, and yelled in a very happy tone, however, Scott and I couldn't help but think that if this was a precursor for tomorrow's flight, we may need to invest in Xanex. But maybe she was just getting it all out of her system. Yeah right.

But I have to say I don't really blame her. She is only fourteen months old, and to her everything is an exploration. The idea of being restrained in a high chair, shopping cart, or car seat just really aggravates her as it deprives her from "exploring" everything from the stray dog to the chewed piece of bubble gum on the side walk. Maybe she will find the back of the air plane seat in front of her thrilling, and it will make her want to stay seating in our arms the entire way. Or maybe she will "strong arm" us every time she wants to get down and walk on her new walking legs as she waves and "talks" to all the other passengers who are tying to sleep.

Either way, she is not the first baby who has flown at this age, and I guess what we need to really be hoping for is patience. We could use some prayer for patience please.

Tomorrow at this time, we will all be in California visiting family and friends. Woo hoo!

Historical "Stuff"

Last night Scott, Emily and I went out to a great Greek restaurant ( I even had a gift certificate from a student... nice!) After dinner we took one of our random car drives that we do when we don't know an area of town well. We ended up in downtown Columbia, which Scott knows rather well. We drove by the state house, or capitol building, and we decided to stop because we had never really walked around it before.

It was really wonderful. First of all, there were no thunderstorms, and the heat and humidity took an evening off, so the walk itself was great. The gardens around the buildings were immaculate, and that was great to look at in itself.

By the history. Oh, the history. There were so many different statues, and monuments, and plaques to read. Scott was in high-heaven. Eventually as it neared her bed time, Emily went off to sleep, and Scott and I were left to read everything at our leisure. Of course there were the statues that were unveiled in the late 1870's from groups like "women of the South" that spoke of the "tragedy" and the horrific outcome of the civil war. The pride of the south is so evident in those statues and plaques, and of course we all know the confederate flag still flies at the capitol, which is pride as well. And there is also an annoying large statue of Strom Thurman, and plaques all the way around making him out to be the savior of the world.

There were also markers of where the original state building stood before the Yankees burned it down. There is also an old grave of a Revolutionary war hero on the grounds with a fence around it. The original grave marker is there, with a modern marker going around it to explain what the worn marker said. There was also a great african-american bronze monument that went through the various changes for blacks in our history. It was beautiful.

I guess I felt kind of guilty living here almost a year and not ever really paying close attention to the history everywhere. Sure, I noticed the remains of the original bridge that was burned by Sherman, which now is part of the zoo, and I drive by neighborhoods where new houses have been built on old family land where family plots still mark the dead.

I hope that this next year I can find more time to look for more of the history that is everywhere, especially living here in South Carolina. I don't want to move away years from now and look back and think, "Why didn't I take better advantage of learning more of U.S. History while I was living right in the middle of where so many events took place."

Baby no-nap

Today I had planned to get all of the laundry going, most of our things packed, and also the house straightened up. Well, to do this I was COUNTING on Emily taking her normal 1 hr. morning nap, and then her 1.5 hr. afternoon nap. "Hah!" is just about what she said to me. She slept for a whopping forty minutes this morning, and has yet to fall asleep this afternoon.

Normally we read a story, lay her in bed, and she falls asleep in 2-3 minutes. I have been listening to her fuss for the past twenty minutes. I really feel like I am going to pull my hair out. And then there is Scott, who wants to go get her out of bed because "she just isn't tired." Yeah right. If I go get her up without napping, she is going to be MONSTER baby this evening, and trying to keep her up until bedtime is going to be disastrous.

Oh well. As we speak he is in getting her out of the crib. I can't really blame him. After two rounds of trying to put her to sleep this afternoon, it seems as though her screaming will never end. Oh well for the packing. Hopefully we can do it all tomorrow... that is IF she takes a nap.

The Family That Is Liberal Stays Together

Here is my crack at this:

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 35% Conservative, 65% Liberal

Social Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Ethics: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 75% Conservative, 25% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

Scott