Two Somewhat Different Epigrams

New Site

2011-09-13T17:05:00.005-07:00

If you click on the title it will take you to the new site. Thought I would mention that since it doesn't always look like a link.

We've Moved

2011-09-13T17:00:00.002-07:00

Well I'm both happy and sad to say that we will no longer be updating the blog from this host. In an effort to actually blog we are moving to wordpress which is much more friendly to mobile updating and well that is much more in tune with our current Internet use. So go here, http://twosomewhatdifferentepigrams.wordpress.com/, and I promise you'll get more updates.

Movie Review

2011-08-16T14:57:00.006-07:00

I am finally going to write a post! About movies! Aren't you excited? And no, I'm probably not going to add in any new Rolo pictures because the iphone still befuddles me on this point. So, our movie watching has increased in the last six months, but most of the watching we do comes from Netflix or Redbox. Rosalind has been to two movies in the theater and we have had sort of mixed results. If she doesn't fall asleep halfway through then she becomes restless about halfway through. The reason we have been able to watch more, I think, comes from the fact that Rosalind no longer sleeps like a baby (the real way babies sleep, up every few hours) and now when she goes to bed at 8:30 we still sometimes have the energy to stay up for a movie. At least on the weekends during the summer. So here are some movie reviews from the last 6-9 months. As far as we can remember we did these out of a possible 4 points. (the last movie is supposed to show 3 clubs not four).

Kung Fu Panda 2 ♣♣ ¾
Fun and action packed. This was Rosalind's second attempt at a movie. We went after her nap so she stayed awake and all the action and colors and noise in the world couldn't keep her still and quiet for that long. The story is super sweet in this one, but then the last scene kind of leaves you wondering about everything you've just seen.

Bridesmaids ♣♣
We both wanted this to be better. It toned down some and got a lot better by the end. I remember thinking the movie seemed confused about what genre it wanted to be.

Rango ♣♣♣
This is a really pretty movie...sort of. The animation is stunning but sometimes it's almost grotesque since the subject matter are lizards and rodents. This was also Rosalind's first movie experience and she was pretty into it and then fell asleep. Perfect. The story is pretty much a basic western so adults can enjoy it and Rosalind enjoyed the cartoony aspect. Win/Win.

Harry Potter 8 ♣♣♣
I thought the movie did as well as it could to be faithful to the books so I really liked that. However, I somehow didn't feel much of the emotion you feel as you read the book. In fact, I found the first part of the last movie to be the better of the two. I have also heard from people who saw this without seeing any others or reading the books that they walked away with some false beliefs about the storyline and I can see how that might have happened with the way this movie plays out.

Wristcutter's: A Love Story ♣♣♣ ¼
This movie was recommended to me by one of my quirkier students last year and I thought it might be interesting. It sounds depressing as it is the story of a group of people who meet and have adventures after they have committed suicide and find that the afterlife for them is pretty much just a cruddier version of earth filled with other suicide victims. It's actually very sweet and kind of funny.

Black Snake Moan ♣♣ ½
I don't really know how to describe this movie. We saw the previews for it years ago and it looked kind of like a comedy. It's not. I liked it a lot and Sergio liked it a little. I think it is worth a watch, but beware that it is not for those squeamish with nudity or sex but that tones way down about 1/3 of the way through. Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci are both very good in this.

Cedar Rapids ♣♣ ½
A comedy about insurance salesmen set in Cedar Rapids. Sergio liked it a little more than me. It was a good way to spend an evening.

Lincoln Lawyer ♣♣♣♣ ¼
I had no idea what this was about and was still confused at the end as to why the title referenced Abraham Lincoln. Sergio finally explained that it was because the lawyer's office was a Lincoln. I felt dumb. I would really recommend this movie. It's very good. I can't say much about the plot without ruining some of it. Sometimes watching lawyer movies with Sergio is bothersome because he gets mad when the movie has the lawyers do things wrong, but that didn't happen much with this one. Yay!

Potty. Trained?

2011-07-20T21:05:00.003-07:00

It's a real question of how to phrase the title of this post. It could maybe be potty? Trained. A definitive answer. I'm just a little unsure yet. Rosalind has been totally out of diapers for two weeks or more. Even at night and nap. There have been a few accidents but ones that make sense. She was out of our care, playing with other kids, just didn't make it in time, etc. Then in the last couple of days she has gone really out if her way to tell us she had to go potty. Like, running to the door while playing in the sprinkler and yelling at us to get her out of the shower. That's dedication. So anyway, she seems to have crossed some sort of mental threshold that makes her know she doesn't want to go in her pants. That seems important. I think I'm going to call it. Trained! It seemed to easy. The pacifier is another story.
So, now seems like as good a time as any to discuss cloth diapers. I might be a little behind. Did we do it? Did we quit? Yes and yes. We cloth diapered for one year. When Sergio spent six months in Helena the system fell apart. He was the washer of the diapers. For the most part it was fine. The downsides were that the diapers eventually lost a bit of absorption and Rolo only produced more all the time. They also took on a bit of staleness after awhile. The positives were that they were not any grosser than any other diaper, they were super cute, reusable and FREE. Between breastfeeding, cloth diapers,and a midwife, Rolo could have been a poster child for the fictional magazine I just made up, My Bargain Baby! For six months, Rosalind was pretty much free. It worked well with our underemployed lifestyle. Pretty much as soon as I was employed she weaned and when Sergio got a job out of town she went to disposables. Oh well.
So, do I recommend the hippie, organic, granola approach to babies? Sure, but mostly because it's cheap as crap.

My 26th birthday...for the 4th time.

2011-07-18T05:48:00.005-07:00

One of Sergio's talents is planning parties/gifts. Now, he only really gives parties and gifts to Rosalind and I now, and my nieces and nephews at Christmas, but I knew him even before we dated and saw what he gave former girlfriends, and he was good even then. It's a little distressing because I am never able to match it for his birthday. In fact, last year I was really proud of myself for arranging for our friends to all go to dinner and ordering a Boston Creme Pie. I honestly don't remember if there were any other parts to his birthday. He makes gift giving really hard, so I can't take the blame for that one. For example, a week before Father's Day he texted me that he had bought some shoes and that would just be his gift. What am I supposed to do with that?

Anyway, the point of all of that is to say that Friday was my birthday. Sergio planned a birthday that was targeted exactly at me. We went to a friends house for drinks and dinner, while watching the first part of the last Harry Potter movie (as none of our friends had seen it). My friend Nikki provided yummy...I can't spell the correct term so we'll go with...appetizers. Sergio had gotten sliders and mac n cheese (the best on the planet) catered from one of our favorite restaurants. Then he brought out the cake he had specially designed for me. It's the tiny details, like the dot in the date, that show just how much he thought about it. Apparently he also considered buying me some Potter gear to wear to the movie that night, but luckily chickened out. I'm not so much for the dressing up.

We arrived at the 10 pm showing of Harry Potter 3D at 9 pm. We were the last people inside the doors in the line that had already formed. That put us in the first third of the line. People are crazy. We got good seats and the movie was great.

So, yeah, I kind of like my birthdays to resemble those of pre-teens, but the fact that others will join me for that shows I have a good husband and good friends.

P.S. I also really appreciated all the texts, e-cards, and Facebook messages. It made cheer camp go by faster to have new stuff to read all day. Have I mentioned I am coaching Jr. High Cheer this year?

Our Last Six Months

2011-07-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Our Last Six Months

A New Bed

2011-06-30T17:23:00.005-07:00

In an effort to ensure that Rolo never sleeps in a structure anyone else has, Dawn and I built this bed. It maintains the visual aesthetic that Dad and I were going for in her crib, mostly modern and entirely hardwood, yet still feels toddlery, though it is a twin bed. It is not done, the rails will be painted white, but I like it.

New Developments

2011-06-29T16:11:00.002-07:00

So, for those of you that had ever expressed interest in one day seeing the little farmhouse that we were fixing up, sorry. We sold it. And moved. We're very quick. Blink and you'll miss us!
While there are any number of reasons we decided to sell (possum!) we really just could not get used to how far away from everything we were. We now live in a tiny yellow cottage smack in the middle of Fayetteville. It is an experiment in that tiny house living Sergio is so fired up about. Actually, it is a very good size for us.
It's crazy how fast we acclimated to being back in town. In fact, we periodically have to encourage each other to make that loooooong drive back to the house to move the rest of our stuff. Tomorrow is our last day to get it all cleaned up and moved and we are having to argue with ourselves that the new owners probably don't want the broken down shelves still in the living room or the box of yearbooks in the storage room. It's so far away.
So there you go. We moved and I have yet to find even one dead rat or live possum in the kitchen. I feel pretty good about that.

Summer Art Fun or Preparing for War

2011-06-13T07:16:00.001-07:00

Irritating Dawn

2011-06-08T07:54:00.008-07:00

Good morning all,
I thought I'd post something unrelated to Rolo, well, only Rolo tangential. I'm very into the idea of tiny or small homes, to Dawn's eternal chagrin, and I thought I would put some of my favorite ones here for some feedback. Why should you care? Because Rolo would have to live in one of these if I ever build one, see, Rolo tangential.

This is an 800 sqft. 2 Bed 1 Bath, obviously modern.

The floor plan is very simple and symmetrical, but where would you put the TV?

I really like the look of this house but it's really too small.

This is the living room, all of it, again though, where does the TV go?

I think I could convince Dawn we should here, appeal to Dawn's inner 9 year old and you're usually good.

Anyways, this post was going to be longer and full of great homes, but arranging the pictures and such is hard and I'm lazy.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-04T04:16:00.010-07:00

We decided last Thursday night that it would be a good idea to drive to New Orleans on Friday afternoon. This might explain why it took Sergio and I over half the trip to realize that we needed something cooler to wear than jeans and then to find somewhere to buy those items. New Orleans is super hot and humid. I vaguely recall this from the first three times we went there.
We went with our friends Sam and Nikki and dropped Rosalind with Sergio's parents on our way. There were plenty of kids in New Orleans and I think there is a lot of good stuff for them to do. Walking down Bourbon Street with them is not one of those things. Especially when it is after midnight and the kid is asleep in the stroller and the parents are both drunk. I'm not usually one to judge other parenting styles, but I feel pretty confident in that one. Seriously though, what is it you want your 6 yr old to take in on Bourbon St.? The bars, the drunk people, the naked pictures, the live almost naked girls in every doorway, the smell of old pee/vomit? The only thing a kid should see on Bourbon St. is the amazing group of break dancer guys. That's it. If you want them to see the history, the architecture, the street performers, etc. you can take them down, um, ANY other street. The end.
So anyway, we walked around, drank some here and there, rode the trolley out to the Garden District, and shopped. But who are we kidding? Let's talk about the food! I love New Orleans and the food is my number one reason. This time we went full tourist and almost every meal we ate required a 30-60 minute wait in a long line down the street. We started with Po'Boys at Parkway. It is about two miles outside the French Quarter and we caught it on our way in before we parked the car for the weekend. It was under 6 ft. of water during Katrina but you wouldn't know it now. Shrimp Po'Boys with sweet potato fries covered in gravy(debris). Amazing. Sadly, they didn't offer oyster Po'Boys. Only downside.
If you go here, avoid the line and go to the bar. You can sit in any available seat and order from there. Lesson learned.
Beignets at Cafe du Monde. In all the times we had gone we never tried this. It is always covered with people. This actually ended up being our shortest wait time and there is a giant shade tree almost the whole way. They have it down to an art in there and it helps that there are only about six items on the menu and five of them are drinks. Totally wonderful. Even though it is outside and lots of people are crammed together the fans really work and the iced coffee is yummy and helps with the heat as well. Beignets are like a donut and funnel cake and good bread all at once, but better.
Lunch at Mother's. This was our second longest wait time but felt the longest because it was midday and there was no shade at all. BEST FOOD EVER! Totally worth it. I'm sure everything is good, but the best deal at lunch is the lunch red beans and rice. You get red beans and rice, a meat, and two sides for $11. It says you only get one side but you get two. I recommend getting two sides of greens. I wish I had. And even though it is the best deal you really don't need the additional meat. The red beans are cooked with sausage and ham. The greens are cooked in ham. The cabbage is cooked in ham. And not just a little either, enough to feed you and a friend. Go here, eat this, but don't piss off the lady that let's you in the door and tells you where to stand. She's frightening.
Dinner at Acme Oyster House. Sergio is really the only raw oyster eater among us, so when this ended up being our longest wait I think we were all a little unsure it was worth it. Since we had a lot of time in line we made friends with people all around us and they assured us it was more than worth the wait. Without these people we would not have known to try the chargrilled oysters and the dinner would have been wasted. But since we did know, it was delightful. Sergio still got raw oysters and said they were great. I will take his word for it. I like the taste but unpleasant things happen when I try to eat a raw oyster. Gagging, yacking things. But the chargrilled!!! Oh dear. They were something to behold. Covered in lemon and parmesan cheese and grilled and charred! SOOO good. I could have eaten 12 alone. Or more. That would have been expensive. Instead I just picked every shell clean and dipped bread into all the leftover juice and nibbled at the burnt edges like a crazy person. I will not be showing a picture of the oysters, though. Turns out you can't take a pleasing picture of oysters under red lights. It looks like the something unpleasant already happened.
La Fitte's Blacksmith Bar for Cazerac's. Disclaimer: I didn't drink one of those and nobody else liked them. However, if you want an authentic drink from the nation's oldest bar, a cazerac is your best bet. Your other option is a Ramos Fizz, which might be good but sounds awful. It involves lemon juice, egg white, milk, and alcohol all in one glass. ugh. A cazerac is mostly whiskey that they make smell like licorice. Two of the most divisive flavors all at once. The smell was not pleasant, the bar was. Lit only by candlelight, a jukebox, a good bloody mary with pickled green beans. A very pleasant place to be.
And that concludes our tour of New Orleans for now. I could go on about other stuff we like. The tiny independent bookstores, the Anthropologie store, Royal st., how some drunk person dressed up the lamps in our hotel hallway with all their clothes, how the fire alarm went off twice on our last night there and we had to evacuate the building. And more! But anyway, just go to New Orleans in the early spring or late fall and eat to your hearts content. It's a good time.

So True.

2011-05-25T17:15:00.004-07:00

The following is a poem(?) from Tina Fey that I read on a friend's blog and couldn't help but share here. It's pretty perfect. I tried to comment this on their blog but blogger wouldn't let me, so I'll just say thanks here.

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, May she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her
When crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels.

What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, That she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back.

“My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.

P.S. Just realized this is our 500th post. Weird.

Surprise?

2011-05-25T15:39:00.002-07:00

About two minutes ago Sergio opened a kitchen drawer filled with hand towels to find a baby opossum. We put the whole drawer outside and the little guy crawled back in after a few minutes. So now what? And furthermore, where is the mother?

PSA

2011-05-24T15:54:00.001-07:00

Just so you are aware. If a tornado hits this area tonight and we live through it, I will be moving back to Oregon or another suitably non-tornadic/volcanic/hurricanic location in two weeks when school lets out. That is all.

It's Stuff Like This That Makes Being Broke Sort Of Okay.

2011-05-16T17:08:00.004-07:00

Sergio is thinking of transitioning from his position at Legal Aid to something new over the coming months. Today he received this article in the mail, which is a lovely example of the good work that he has been a part of during his time there. And though Sergio is very hesitant about me posting this because he is afraid it could be considered self-congratulatory, I can't help it. He is one of the three attorneys being discussed here, in fact, the supervisor, and I for one am proud.

If you click into it I think you should be able to read it.

This is Her 'I Have Rubbed Liquorice Everywhere' Face

2011-05-16T06:57:00.001-07:00

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2011-05-08T18:17:00.002-07:00

Our Little Troll

2011-05-06T06:40:00.002-07:00

Last Weekend

2011-04-29T18:58:00.019-07:00

Our week has been pretty craptacular. Instead of talking about that, let's take a look at last weekend, which was quite nice.

Yo-Yo Ma and Lil Buck

2011-04-18T04:29:00.001-07:00

Seeing what this guy can do with his ankles is enough reason to watch this.

Body, Baby, Burnout

2011-04-13T18:56:00.004-07:00

Body
Sergio and I joined a gym about three weeks ago. We didn't have enough internal motivation to stop expanding our pant sizes, so we spent money and signed a contract. We work better with external motivation. We are still trying out different workouts and routines and classes to see what works best for us now. This method pretty much guarantees that we wake up every morning with a newmuscle group so sore that we can't move or our legs give out. In fact, the second day in the gym my arm cramped in a place I would have sworn contained no muscles. Sergio and I both tried desperately to stretch the cramp out, but could neither one determine exactly where it was or how to reach it through stretching. That was less than fun. What is also less than fun is the fact that so far I have put on two pounds. I understand the whole muscle = weight thing, but weight gain is definitely discouraging.
I also bought a couple of rounds in a tanning bed. Don't gripe at me. I realize I am very pale and they are very dangerous. But I have developed eczema on my FACE! And prescription medication only helped it to a point. So I bought a few rounds in the tanning bed to see if it helps. The answer seems to be...a little...temporarily. However, in the wise words of one of my students, "Mrs. Barron, if you can't tone it, tan it." So I will finish out the last few appointments and then switch to spray tanning.
Baby
In the interest of full disclosure, the day after I wrote that Rosalind is a sweet kid and doesn't get much timeout, she totally got timeout at daycare for whacking another kid in the head with an elephant toy. Her kindness has it's limitations I guess.
Burnout
And lastly, when I was getting my Master's we were told that about 75% of our class would burn out by year five. And I think this week has shown me exactly how that happens. It isn't the annoying kids or the rude parents or the nice parents that are accidentally overbearing or the long hours or the grading of papers or even the crazy ever-changing government mandates. It is being a Junior class sponsor and having to throw prom. This Saturday at 11:15 pm you can find me in the closest bar to my school having a drink as big as my head. Prom planning can suck it.

Birthday Girl

2011-04-10T17:13:00.007-07:00

Dear Rosalind,

You turned two about two and half weeks ago. Since you thought it would be fun to drown the computer in chocolate milk a few weeks before that we haven't gotten around to posting. Daddy finally brought home his work computer, so here we go.
THE TERRIBLE TWO'S!!!!! Except, not entirely. You began to test your boundaries around 18 months and we already dealt with the temper tantrums, biting, hitting, pulling hair, etc. And none of those things ever happened all at once. It was as though we would get it through to you that biting was inappropriate and you would then try hair pulling on for size. You also never did that stuff to us, but saved it for playmates at daycare. I am glad, if hesitant, to say that you have only gotten time out once at school in the last two months. In fact, you are very sweet. More of a caretaker than a troublemaker. You still love baby dolls and real life babies and play the big sister/mommy role for the most part.
What has been the most surprising thing about TWO! and the few months before it is how loving you are. You constantly run up and give our knees the best bear hugs for no apparent reason, and blow kisses when we leave you, and crawl into our laps and hug us tight and say, "Awuvyu," and most adorably of all, you make a satisfied moan/grunt thing when you give hugs. Kind of like grandmothers hug their grandkids when they haven't seen them in a while. I was all prepped for the constant timeout giving and stern lectures associated with two, but so far it has been a steady increase of affection.
On the other hand, you are almost abusive with your affection. When I say you crawl into our laps, I mean you rake your tennis shoes up our legs and down our chests and poke your knees in our faces and elbow our guts in your attempt to get in whatever position you were going for. Sometimes you like to put your face right up against ours and will clamp onto our heads tightly and smash your nose right into our noses. I wake up most days wondering where I will find the next bruise. But it's pretty great as long as I see it coming and have time to take evasive action.
You've chosen this time to go almost entirely off veggies, even the ones you have always loved. I sneak baby food into your mac and cheese. That gummy candy you like is really a vitamin. The only juice you get at home is V8 Fusion. Don't mess with me. I'm the mommy. Ha. Actually, for the most part we simply ignore your eating oddities and you seem to come back to things after awhile. I'm rooting for broccoli's return any day now.
We don't know who taught you this but you came home and started karate-chopping the air and kicking while yelling "hi-ya!" Now we have you kick everyone because it is crazy cute.
You can count to ten but almost never show us when we ask. You definitely don't know your ABC's but you do know the tune to the song sung only as Abc's abc's abc's abc's. You can identify a square, circle, triangle, star, diamond, and heart most of the time. You have recently dropped the word please and inserted the word okay instead. What was once, "Mama, I yant canny, peas?" is now, "Canny, okay." Except, think whinier. "Potty, okaaaaay." "Night, night, okaaaay." "Go play, okaaaaaaaaaaaaay, OKAAAAAAY."
Speaking of the potty...umm, let's work on that one. You pee on the floor more often than a new puppy. You were doing well once, but now tell us you need to potty as you stand there going. Then you waddle spraddle-legged to the bathroom so that nobody could possibly ignore what has happened.
You love to point out big trucks, you call every color either pink or green, and you know which car is our car. You are long and lean and have very little baby left in you. You are too old for a pacifier but I know that strangers probably think you are WAY too old because you look like a complete little girl and not a barely two year old.
I would encourage you to slow down but I really like every new little person you become even more than the last. Happy 2nd birthday, Rolo!

Love,

Mama

It Was 82 Degrees

2011-04-05T07:38:00.003-07:00

Why we are absentee bloggers.

2011-04-03T19:12:00.002-07:00

Stick with us while we get through this blogging dry spell. Rosalind killed our Mac with some chocolate milk. I can post from Sergio's phone but I am not tech savvy enough to figure out why it won't let me post pictures. It is also daunting to type on this little screen. Posts to come...
Rosalind turned two!
Playing in the creek.
Joining a gym and stuff.
And other topics probably but LOTS of pictures.

"Seven Down, Three to Go" -quote from our friend Brett

2011-03-16T16:46:00.003-07:00

Our 7th anniversary was on Sunday. I had left the house at 4:30 am on Saturday in order to take my Quiz Bowl team to Regionals in Marshall (we won!) and got home around 7:30 pm. So by Sunday we were just happy to get to hang out and do regular weekend things. We went to lunch with our friends and played trivia video games at their house and then brought greasy pizza home. Not so exciting, I guess, but nice.

Our 7th year together was the first in which we both worked regular jobs the whole time, and for six months of it Sergio worked across the state, and we had a toddler, and then we bought a house that requires constant work just to keep it alive. In short, we've been busy. My marriage goal for year eight? I should say something like better communication, make more time for each other, work together on the house, but let's be real. My goal is to take a beach vacation.

Things learned about Sergio in year seven: He can snake pipes, install a dishwasher, build animal houses in an afternoon, and work in East Arkansas for six months without losing his mind.
Things learned about Dawn in year seven: She is not well-suited to living in the country in a half-working house.

Yet Another

2011-03-08T15:05:00.001-08:00

A Picture To Keep You Coming

2011-03-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

Sunday Matinee

2011-03-06T18:01:00.002-08:00

We are alive over here, just lacking in those snow days that made me remember to blog more often. We have a couple of short videos sitting on hold that we want to post but can't quite seem to get them from the phones to the computer at the moment. They're cute, take my word for it.

Anyway, Rosalind went to her first movie today! Rango to be exact. We were never quite sure when to try this but since she makes us watch Ponyo day in and day out we thought this might be the time. She did great in the theater, asking with wide eyes, "what was that?" when the screen and sound came on. She watched about 3/4 of the movie in relative silence, ate sooo much popcorn, and then fell asleep. It was lovely.

But then it wasn't. Two tiny naps split up in the middle of a busy day meant that the rest of our day was pretty much crap while she whined and cried and wailed but still did not sleep again.

Sergio is also getting sick. He is also whiny.

Speaking of snow days, I had to work yesterday and I have to work again this coming Saturday because of those stupid days. I should be the one complaining. So that is my update. You can probably see why we haven't posted much.

IT'S WARM OUTSIDE!

2011-02-13T11:51:00.005-08:00

We have the wood stove barely on at all and the windows and doors thrown open. It is glorious. I have never been this ready for spring and even summer. We ate fish for dinner last night (and Rosalind LOVED it, she ate more than a normal adult helping all by herself) and played in the yard yesterday afternoon. Now I am craving a margarita beachside, or even just a beer at a baseball game. I'm not picky. As long as it stops snowing I think I will just go ahead and consider this the beginning of spring. It doesn't even have to stay warm and sunny. Just no snow.

Sergio is outside making a pen for our baby chickens. The first batch are almost big enough to get out of their container and mine are not as big but there are more of them and they smell. I'm ready for them to live outdoors now. Rosalind is in her room, which now has a door(!), and I'm pretty sure I hear her talking to herself even though she is supposed to be taking a nap. She took a goofy 20 minute nap this morning in the car and seems to believe that should be it for the day. I disagree with her assessment. I am sitting in the living room on the computer when I should be mopping the kitchen or cleaning the bathroom or hanging pictures or vacuuming the floor. I am using the excuse that I don't want to wake Rosalind. Clever, no?

They aren't this little anymore. These are Sergio's last week. Now they all have feathers on their wings and tiny combs.

I have found myself saying strange things in response to Rosalind's behavior this past week. Things that in my wildest imagination I had not prepared for. I don't think I will bother giving you any context for these statements as I don't think it would help shed any light on them.

"Eliot is NOT a wheelbarrow!"

"We do NOT throw the dishwasher! Say you're sorry for throwing the dishwasher."

"Yes, that is Rolo's oink."

Curtains

2011-02-11T18:58:00.008-08:00

I made something for the house, which is sort of a sad statement when you consider how many things Sergio has made for this house. Nonetheless, I made something for the house. After talking to some very crafty coworkers and perusing some house blogs, I decided that even I could probably make curtains using the newfangled technologies of Stitch Witchery and clip-on curtain rod...thingies. And behold...the simplest curtains ever that I probably shouldn't be so proud of but am anyway. Those of you that can sew and feel super bad for me should just avert your eyes.Ignore for a moment that I got totally swept up in this fabric and didn't realize until too late that it clashes with Rosalind's paint color. We might be moving these into the living room in the future. For now, they are much better than blankets nailed into the wall.
These are the clip on curtains things, so simpletons like me don't have to learn how to make loops or holes.
My crafty coworkers suggested that I make separate curtains out of the liner material rather than stress the hemming tape and then this would also allow the liners to be reused with future curtains.
So I did just that. It worked quite well.

They are meant to be opened or swept back to one side, but they conveniently cover the fact that we haven't trimmed out the windows while they are closed.

House of DOOM!

2011-02-09T10:53:00.020-08:00

No, not really. Though, there have been many times I have referred to this house in just that way. My favorite way of thinking of this house is an old, lonely, curmudgeony man that signed a DNR order and we are the irritating grandkids that just won't honor it. Most of our attempts at fixing this house are thwarted by this house breaking down further. We need to put sheetrock upstairs, but instead we have to spend most weekends snaking the pipes to make it possible to flush the toilets and take a shower for one more week. Or we have to burn trash, or move piles, or gather and sell metal, or make animal pens, or go to work, or cook dinner, or fix the oven, or unfreeze pipes. We struggled with the pipes freezing over and over. I am happy to report that we seem to have finally figured out a way of keeping the water going, due mostly to the fact that Sergio's parents loaned us a giant wood stove. Anyway, lots of things like that have kept us just keeping the house functioning instead of improving it in any way.
Since some people have expressed curiosity I have compiled some pictures of the house at this point in the journey. Keep in mind that this is only the stuff we are willing to show you and leaves out our goofier, grosser, or downright ingenious "fixes."
1. We sleep in the living room for now, but the bedroom is next on our list. We do have a comforter and stuff. I was washing it.
2. Because our bed is in the living room we have all the rest of our stuff smushed on one side. We need to get the tv on the wall and will eventually take that whole window out and make that wall the focal point of the living room. The wall with the tv will disappear and the living room and kitchen will open into each other. We don't leave that ottoman there. You can see that Sergio was playing a video game and didn't want to be in the picture.
3. There they are! That front window is one of the only uncovered windows in our house. By uncovered, I mean with plastic. That curtain over it is a shower curtain (cloth, not plastic. We have some standards!) and is held up by nails. I spent the weekend making simple curtains with Stitch Witchery. More on that later.
3. Our kitchen is surprisingly large for a tiny house, but we have filled it to the brim. The washer/dryer will not always be here. Neither will the stove, though I adore it completely (though the house constantly smells like barbecue!). The blue bucket and red barrel in the corner hold wood. Speaking of the washer/dryer, when we had propane and electric heaters Sergio vented the dryer straight into the house for an extra source of heat. It worked really well. As for the pipes to the washer, well, they are temporary and not worth talking about. It would make you laugh to see, though.
4. We took the doors off the cabinets for aesthetic reasons and then rethought that move. However, given our rat problems, I kind of like the open cabinets. Easily monitored and totally rat unfriendly. That bottom cabinet is held closed against Rosalind. It is full of all kinds of rat traps. Be you can't guess where the rat shows up from time to time.
5. The fan keeps the heat circulating. Notice the towel under the diswasher? It's to keep the cold out. There is not even a hint of insulation in that wall and the dishwasher freezes constantly. Until the woodstove the floor on that whole side of the kitchen stayed entirely cold. Now it stays warm. Nice. Notice the outside ground coming in under the door? That is because it used to go into a room. We weather stripped for now, but that is all. I sweep a lot.
6. Here is the stove. Love it. See how it goes out the window? Don't worry about it. That window has been completely broken since we bought the place. We only took down plastic to put it out there. We have since closed up the spaces you can see around the chimney.
7. This is coming from the hallway into the kitchen. Just to show you the crowdedness and how undone this part still is. That is all new sheetrock in the hall, but we haven't finished the ceiling yet or attempted the mudding process.
8. We need to sheetrock the kitchen ceiling. It was this strange sort of tile/paneling thing before that had a lot of water damage. So we took it down, but this is where it is for now. He and I can't do ceiling sheetrock alone because I have gotten so out of shape and weak. That will get done the next time people innocently come to visit us and we make them work the whole time.
9. This the hallway, looking up the unfinished stairs. We can't finish the stairs until we finish the upstairs. You can see that we just leave sheetrock over the bedroom access point for now and use it all for storage. Our first batch of baby chicks are living in that cooler on the stairs.
10. Under our stairs. That holds the vacuum, a shop vac, some flooring, Sergio's big bag of power tools, door framing supplies, an electric fence battery and a baby gate. And whatever Rosalind has chosen to hide there. This space will eventually be closed off and made into Rosalind's closet.
11. We took up the carpet in this area when we moved in and as you can see, the subfloor leaves something to be desired. On the bright side, those pieces come up easily and allow us to defrost pipes. We aren't attempting to fix the floor right now because this winter has shown us that the majority of our floors will need to be ripped up come spring to replace the plumbing. So we just live with it.
12. Obviously, the hallway is sort of the catch-all. The breaker box used to be located in the bathroom where the mirror belongs. When we took it to the store to try and find some replacements we were greeted with genuine awe at our antique. So we changed it all and moved it to the hallway. We put a mirror up in the bathroom.
13. Rosalind's room for now. She is inside what will become a window seat/storage chest and built in shelves. For now, she just plays in there. It is for her room that I made curtains. You can see we just have old blankets covering her windows for now. The room lacks a door, a closet door, and trim, but it is by far the most complete redo.

14. And in case you think we haven't accomplished anything and live in a hovel, here are some pictures of Rosalind's room from the beginning of this.

Stir Crazy? Who's Stir Crazy? Not Us. Heh ha ha hee hee haaaaaa.

2011-02-05T08:29:00.004-08:00

We are on day five of being stuck in the house due to the snow. FIVE! DAYS! It snowed again yesterday. About four more inches than they initially predicted. And since we are on our FIFTH DAY INSIDE we decided to finally go out and play in the snow. It helps that the sky is a brilliant blue and the sun is out and it is in the twenties finally. Playing in the snow would not have been very fun any day prior to this. Rosalind finally took a real interest in the snow. I think she would have stayed out there until she was frozen solid. Here's some evidence.

Now, can this snow please STOP! Or someone could just send me on a free beach vacation.

WARNING!!!!!!

2011-01-30T14:24:00.003-08:00

If you do not want to see a dead animal then you should not scroll down to the picture below!!!! If you don't mind then you can take a look at our former roommate.
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Personality Development

2011-01-28T17:08:00.002-08:00

We went to dinner tonight and Rosalind decided to be kind of...full of herself (read: bratty). This video isn't the best example from the evening, but it's enough to get an idea.

He's All Grown Up and Living On His Own.

2011-01-25T19:20:00.003-08:00

Ask And Ye Shall Receive...or Something.

2011-01-19T16:45:00.003-08:00

Yesterday I asked if things could improve. Today, my daughter feels much better and slept all through the night. A police officer called to tell me he had found my purse. The phone and $7 were long gone, but all my ID's, credit/debit cards, and keys were still there. My employer decided to pay us a half week early because...I don't know but there was great rejoicing. And Retha came to town to stay with us and brought us this gift.
He is two days old. He is asleep in a bucket in our kitchen. He is exactly the same size as Eliot. We call him Winston.

This Last Week Can Just Kiss My Rear.

2011-01-18T18:30:00.002-08:00

So cosmic forces took a look at that post where I was all, "we're moved in and things are okay," and decided we needed a reality check. "Ohhoho," cosmic forces laughed, "let's just see about that!" And then our pipes froze for three days. And we stayed in town with friends one of those nights so we could shower, but Sergio's briefcase was stolen out of our car while we were there. And I couldn't get to work because our keys were in that briefcase. So I went back and got Rosalind from daycare and took her home because she seemed all sick and miserable. She seemed to get better. Our pipes unfroze without bursting. Sergio's briefcase was found tossed in a field behind the neighborhood, though the person has yet to return it. Things seemed to be looking up. Then last night Rosalind woke up at midnight completely inconsolable. It took us awhile to realize she wasn't just being a brat. I think it hit home when we had been up with her over an hour and I finally just put her down on the floor hoping she would find something to make herself happy and she just crawled around the floor wailing and flopping over. She wouldn't take any medicine, she wouldn't drink anything. It was almost 3am and we had been up since midnight. I turned on the tv, made her a pallet on the floor and fell asleep while she watched Rugrats. She finally puked a few times and promptly fell asleep on the floor.
She woke up this morning just as inconsolable as last night, but I had to go to work. I dropped her at daycare and asked them to call Sergio if she couldn't stay. BUT! I couldn't find the truck keys and had left Sergio at home with no possible way to get anywhere. 30 minutes after I got to work they called to say she was vomiting. I found a sub and left work only to find a sleeping baby at the daycare, left her there, drove home and got Sergio, and came back for the baby. Went straight to the doctor. And yes, I found the keys to the truck about ten minutes after picking up Sergio. In my purse. Shut up.
Rosalind has some horrifying version of an ear infection that involves blisters in her ears? And also a ruptured eardrum. That is why the vomiting. A mixture of constant dizziness and pain.
We all came home this afternoon and took a family nap. Rosalind is heavily dosed on tylenol and ibuprofen and an antibiotic. She must have felt a bit better by lunch because she scarfed her mac and cheese. However, just before that she EXPLODED all over the table while I ever so helpfully held a napkin under her face. She has been much happier ever since.
I have been to work only two full days in the last week and two days. Two snow days, one holiday, and two sick days. But I'm exhausted. Can things improve now?

Snow day...

2011-01-10T07:14:00.005-08:00

but not enough to go out and play in. Here are some other pictures instead.

Comfy Cozy.

2011-01-08T17:18:00.003-08:00

So, we have been in the house for a week and this is our first weekend in a while (November?) that one of us hasn't worked nonstop. We both worked, but we also watched tv and cooked food and stayed in our pajamas all day (okay, just me). There is still an endless amount of work to be done, but we felt that Lowe's had enough of our money for now. We are sleeping in our living room and Rosalind's room still needs to be trimmed out. The kitchen still has no proper ceiling and we have yet to paint it. Our laundry has been set up in the kitchen for the foreseeable future. We need new trim in the living room and to paint all the window frames (replace them). Plastic covers a majority of our windows. We still have piles of stuff to be thrown out all around the house. The upstairs is blocked off by a piece of sheetrock and there is still a water heater where our bed will eventually go.
And best of all, we are the reluctant owners of the world's smartest rat. It lives between the kitchen and living room. Despite our best efforts, it eludes us. It seems to know exactly how to set off the trap without harm, and then eat whatever we have used as bait. It thinks we are a convenient buffet that also warmed up the house. My students, being kind and loving souls, told me that rats eat babies. And they like me. Can you imagine if they didn't?
BUT, let me also talk about what has been accomplished. All of our doors close, lock, and keep the weather out. Our house has been heated and closed off to the elements. We have running water. Rosalind has insulation, a new floor, and painted walls in her room. We installed all new faucets, pipes, shower heads and a new dishwasher where there has never been one. The cabinets have been doused in bleach, cleaned of mildew and mold, and lined with clean laminate. Our roof has been entirely replaced. Our house is entirely free of dead animals, old nests, and layers of old dirt. Our yard has been mowed and our sidewalks found. Our hallway has been ripped out, insulated, and resheetrocked. Our bathroom now has a mirror and a toilet and shower we aren't afraid to use. We replaced the old breaker box with a new one and moved it from the bathroom to the hallway. We installed all kinds of new outlets. We have replaced rotting outlet covers with new ones. We have fixed all the leaks. We have three heaters (two gas and one electric). We have the stringers for the stairs in place, but can't finish until we move our furniture up. We are as moved in and cleaned up as we can be until we finish the upstairs and our house is already quite a bit better than the rental we just left.
There have been times (many, many, many, many...many times) that this project has overwhelmed me to the point that I would simply sit down and stare off into space. I should point out here that when I said "we" all those times above, I meant Sergio, our dads, our moms, my brother and sister-in-law, and some of our friends. Especially Sergio and our dads. They took note of my sitting and staring panic attacks and stepped in to make this place livable. I could not be more grateful.
I can safely say now that we have reached this point in the process, I am quite pleased with where we are. I look forward to continuing to work on things now that the projects can be taken a step at a time. We have come a long way already from the weekend we put on the new roof, and I stood in my daughters future room downstairs (which had no walls and was covered in old dirt dobber nests and dust and spiderwebs) and looked straight through her ceiling, into our room, and straight through our ceiling to the sky above and thought, "we're idiots."

Pictures to follow this week. Keep in mind that these are just the "make livable" renovations and not the ultimate plan.

What We Have Been Doing On Our Winter Vacation.

2010-12-30T19:03:00.003-08:00

This is the kitchen floor of our new (extremely old and dirty) house, in case you are baffled by what you are looking at. This is where the clean line meets the dirty. It took soapy bleach water, a heavy duty broom and a mop to get this unattractive floor slightly less unsightly. I got blisters from scrubbing that floor so much. And it still looks dirty. Anyway, we are moving in tomorrow. We have accomplished a lot, but still have sooo much to do. I have decided that rather than updating constantly I will most likely post a short series when the house is at least through these preliminary renovations. Stay tuned. Rest easy knowing that we have water, electric, and heat which we only have because we or someone we know replaced it all. Fun times are being had here. You should join us. Carry a box.

Saying Cheese

2010-12-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

This Could Cause Progress On the House to Stop, I Think.

2010-12-27T18:59:00.003-08:00

We got a PS3 for Christmas (for Netflix and Hulu Plus streaming in the country). Sergio is currently playing in an online game while on the phone with our friend Sam. They are playing on the same team. Sergio has died four or five times in the 6 minutes he has been playing. He has cursed A LOT! This whole situation is just too funny/sad for words. I'm off to bed. Alone.

Smarty Pants

2010-12-19T19:00:00.005-08:00

My mom gets really uncomfortable when rewarded, awarded, bragged about, etc. So she's probably going to hate this. I attended my mother's college graduation last week. My mom graduated Summa Cum Laude on Thursday night, after going to school part-time and working full-time for six years. Just thinking about all that makes me tired. She's very impressive. Congratulations! We're very proud of you.

And because that probably made her turn all red, here are some pictures to distract everyone.

Lazy Bullets!

2010-12-09T04:13:00.003-08:00

We all have a cold. I feel slightly more human today than yesterday, but not much.

Every time I sneeze Rosalind says, "Bess you, Dawn." Of course, she also says exactly that when Sergio sneezes.

The purse seems to be officially gone.

I should have posted about the house a bunch of times by now, but I haven't. It has 99% of a new roof and has had since Thanksgiving break. It no longer has that random middle room, stairs, walls in the hallways or bedrooms, or ceilings in the kitchen and Rolo's room.

Everything on our tree has been moved out of Rosalind's reach. Turns out she never got over the novelty of ornaments or candy canes.

It has fallen to us to show this rental house to potential new renters. Does anyone else not care about housework while sick? I turned some girls away yesterday because I hadn't bothered to do the dishes. And I don't even feel bad about it.

Freaks and Geeks was one of the other shows that we watched on Netflix but that only had a couple of seasons. I knew there were more!

When Rosalind wakes up now she asks for Oso and Manny. I feel as though this might be a sign of parental laziness or something. On the other hand, if she insists on being up at five then I'm totally going to melt her brain with Special Agent Oso while I pretend to be awake on the couch. If any parents of little ones read this then here is a gift for you. "Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog! It's a Brand New Day, Whatcha Waitin' For?" Get THAT out of your head. You can't.

Christmas Tree Decoratin'

2010-12-05T18:21:00.003-08:00

We finally took down Rosalind's mobile and repurposed it. Six new ornaments!
Self-explanatory. Well, I guess. I took it from this angle because I was too lazy to move off the couch.
Rosalind seemed to get a kick out of decorating. She totally ate a year old candy cane she found in the box of ornaments. She was well into it before I realized what was happening and took the plastic off.

Typical Me.

2010-12-03T14:42:00.002-08:00

So Rosalind wasn't feeling well last night, but before I realized that I took her Christmas shopping with me. As we were leaving Kohl's she decided to pitch a fit and I decided to put the Kohl's bag and my purse down outside of the car door while I picked her up and spoke sternly. I put her in the car, and I put the Kohl's bag in the car. This morning I realized that the purse must have remained.

Shockingly, when my coworkers offered to watch my classes so I could get to Kohl's quickly this morning, it was not to be found. Nobody has turned it in to any stores either. So right now I am without most of my keys including the Focus, the house, my classroom, and the new house. I am also without my wallet which contains one (now canceled) credit card, and one (now canceled) debit card as well as my Oregon driver's license which I have sitting next to my Social Security card. I would hate to inconvenience anyone who might want to steal my identity so I just provide it all in one go. It is my phone, though, that I will miss the most. While I have most of the pictures I take with my phone on the computer, I don't have them all. Sad.

But, hey, it's the Christmas season. Maybe somebody is hunting me down as we speak. This is like the weakest premise of a Christmas movie ever.

If this fictional person goes by the address on my license then my stuff is going to end up in Oregon, Dallas, up the road, and at this address we will be leaving in a couple of weeks before making it's way to me. Nothing is ever simple.

House Update

2010-11-26T18:26:00.001-08:00

Everything takes longer and costs more than you think it should.

Also. Ugh, I'm tired.

My Inner Twelve Year Old Controls the Remote

2010-11-23T19:06:00.005-08:00

My Thanksgiving break has begun. It won't be much of a break this year considering how much work we are trying to get done on the house in this very short amount of time. I would imagine posting will be light for a few days, but considering we forgot to post as early as day 17 it isn't as though this is a huge failure.

Here is something entirely random. I have always been pretty unlucky when it comes to falling for television shows only to have them canceled early. My So-Called Life being the first and most heartbreaking that comes to mind. Netflix streaming has taken this to a whole new level though. Here is a list of shows I have loved and lost of late. I didn't really mean for that sentence to turn out like that.

Firefly
Better Off Ted
Pushing Daisies
Veronica Mars (I have one season left to watch and I am embarrassingly obsessed)
A couple of random British shows of which I don't remember the names.
Arrested Development

There are more but my brain seems out for coffee. You should watch these if you stream Netflix and like what amounts to pretty geeky television.

Upside Down.

2010-11-21T05:48:00.000-08:00

I Can't Find the Picture With the Dead Squirrels in the Walls!

2010-11-19T18:12:00.010-08:00

Two kinds of wallpaper and some plywood in the bedroom.
Plywood on the windows!
Some unexpected things we gained.
Our living room has many holes!
Old clothes.
The reason we are re-roofing first.
The barn floor is just ground!

Stuff We Now Own.

2010-11-17T18:19:00.017-08:00

House Front.
House from one side. We will be getting rid of the strange middle room. It is truly awful.
Teeny tiny stairs that will be staying tiny but far prettier.
Rosalind's bedroom.
Living room with bad curtains.
Our bedroom. Yes, it has a chimney and a water heater in the middle. We tore down all the walls this afternoon. Many dead things fell on us.
Dirty kitchen, but that stove top is quite impressive and probably brand new.
Dining area.
Kitchen again.
FLY CREEK! We have a creek. Yes. A creek. It's pretty.
We also have a 90 year old barn. It's old and pretty useless and probably a total hazard to our lives. It is our goal to preserve and use as much of this barn wood as we can.
It is held up by giant old tree trunks!
Can you see the old ladder at the back and the haylift at the top? Anybody know if those are worth anything?
Old dairy barn and a yard that needs something powerful to knock it over.
Old shop and tree.
This is the 11 acres we own across the tiny road from us. We also have 4 acres up around the house. This is the view from our front door.
And finally this is our view from our land up toward the house. Tomorrow you can look forward to pictures that show just exactly how nasty this place is, and what exactly we found when we started taking down sheet rock. We OWN it.

Regression

2010-11-16T15:48:00.002-08:00

Today was the first day ever in her life that Rosalind has thrown a clinging-throwing herself on the floor-crying meltdown when she got dropped off at daycare. I had just read something that said 18 months to 3 years is the age of separation anxiety, but I hoped we would completely pass that up. I think this was a one time kind of thing since she has gotten used to daddy dropping her off about two hours after I did this morning and he always feeds her before he leaves her. Anyway, that is what I hope because I can only laugh at my brokenhearted daughter so many times as I wave bye bye before I might feel slightly bad.

Stuff To Do Here.

2010-11-15T18:24:00.003-08:00

Yesterday Sergio convinced me to accompany he and Rolo on a bike ride. I went, grudgingly. We biked over to the newish bike trail that can take you all the way from Fayetteville to nearly Rogers (so far). We did not bike any further than Target. We also stopped along the way and let Rosalind play at one of the playgrounds. Not too far into the trip I went from grumpy about biking (pretty much my default biking mood) to enjoying it. Then on the way back I actually had to work a little, but it was still fun. You should try it if you come up here. It's not at all hard and you can go all over this area. You ride along Skull Creek and only deal with cars at clearly marked crosswalks. It is biking made just for me.

Footy Jammies!

2010-11-14T05:54:00.002-08:00

She slept until 7:30 this morning and then seemed totally thrilled to be awake (evidence above). Pajamas with feet are adorable and amazing.

Poodle Point of View: Snippet

2010-11-13T18:55:00.003-08:00

I have a secret place that Blondie and The Bearded One can't find. It is glorious! I don't know exactly what happened in this spot but it smells DIVINE! I just go there and roll, roll, roll in it. I dive and wiggle until I get it juuuust right. In fact, I am in my spot right now! I just know that I am going to pick up all the ladies smelling so good with my fur spiked so nice. Oh man, I can't wait to get home and rub this all in the carpet so the whole house can be a chick magnet!

I'm at the door.

They're letting me in.

I'm flopping on the carpet!

Wait...why is Blondie yelling with the mean face?

Why am I in the bathroom? Maybe if I yowl really loud they'll let me out....nope.

I'll try again. Hey! They came to get me!

Wait...what is that? No...don't turn the knob on that thing...stop....no water, no water, no water, don't pick me up. Put me down. No, not in the wat...damn.

Just Cute.

2010-11-12T15:26:00.001-08:00

Casa Barron

2010-11-11T18:24:00.003-08:00

So, we are buying a house. Some of you know this and some don't and we actually haven't closed on the house yet but that is scheduled for next week and I really don't see any reason this transaction won't go through. So, we are buying a house. I say a house but there is an additional 15 acres included and that really is the beautiful part of the property. As a matter of fact, the actual house is less than beautiful right now and is in need of someone with great skill, it's getting me. In any case below you will find a couple pictures of what i envision the home to be some day. These are rough CAD drawings and I have every expectation that these will change.This is an overall diagram of the down stairs rooms.

This is a picture of the stairs I designed. They are alternating step stairs that hopefully will work in this small home.

And Now You Know.

2010-11-10T19:01:00.003-08:00

It was flu shot day at school and most of my students were gone throughout the day to help the little kids get their shots. This lead to a make-up day, which often involves time for strange conversations. So you might be interested to know that one of the strangest things a student of mine has eaten is cow poop, and the strangest thing I have ever vomited is Malt-o-Meal...through my nose.

Proud To Be Razorback Fans

2010-11-09T18:44:00.001-08:00

Fun With Camera.

2010-11-09T17:21:00.004-08:00

Breaking News!

2010-11-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

U-Verse has brought back HGTV and Food Network! Well done, AT&T!

Sleeping.

2010-11-08T17:47:00.002-08:00

Rolo went to sleep with a dirty face which makes for a dirty pillow. My goal was to assure you her pillow isn't always dirty, but I think I only succeeded in making people worry about why we would let our daughter go to bed with a dirty face. Look at the cute baby! I am a master of distraction.

Things I Almost Posted Today.

2010-11-07T15:44:00.002-08:00

We ALMOST filmed Rosalind playing "soccer" in the backyard, but the cameras were dead. The game involves her kicking the ball and then squealing while we all chase it down. Sometimes we kick it and it hits her and that is pretty funny for everyone.

We ALMOST took a picture of dinner, but again, the camera was dead. Braised beef with olives and mushrooms over cheesy polenta. Jealous? I thought so.

We ALMOST recorded Rolo eating the Pumpkin Spice Sundae Bowl from Shake's. Yes, the camera was still dead, but we were also distracted with eating the same thing. From the first taste Rosalind started repeating "I bites, I bites, I bites" without pausing for breath. We sometimes stopped laughing and eating long enough to tell her to say please. She would then continue "I bites, I bites, I bites" while signing "please" and "good".

Now she is in bed and has been since about 5:15. The time change is throwing her (and us, honestly) for a loop. We will be waking her up in about a half hour so she can stay awake until a normal time. That should be a lot of fun.

Things That Are Bothersome.

2010-11-06T06:35:00.002-07:00

Rosalind has a bad cough that seems to be messing with her sleep patterns. So she keeps waking up raring to go between 3:30 and 5:00 am. Ugh. And her regular morning nap that takes place around 10 and ends 1 to 2 hours later has been replaced with these frustrating little cat naps that seem to only make her grumpier. Yuck.

Sergio has devoted his whole Saturday to judging a negotiations competition at the law school. I am sure this is a good thing but it is getting in the way of my day.

AT&T U-Verse has dropped the only two channels I ever watch. Food Network and HGTV. If we weren't already probably going to lose this service in December, I would totally call and complain. Loudly and often.

He's Fast

2010-11-05T18:22:00.001-07:00

Excerpts from the Urban Dictionary.

2010-11-04T17:32:00.002-07:00

These are the ones we like, I guess. Mine is true in physical details if nothing else. Sergio's is just true.

Dawn.

The beginning, the early morning, the best is yet to come. A blonde haired blue eyed young lady that is smarter than most of her counterparts. Zodiac sign is usually cancer but may also be capricorn. Extremely funny and well versed in medical knowledge.

	Sergio
	A kid that is always smiling for no reason. And T-Baggs bikes.

This Kills Me.

2010-11-03T18:30:00.002-07:00

Click on me.

We Like This Kid.

2010-11-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

Two Cents

2010-11-01T18:11:00.002-07:00

It's November which means that it is time to try and write a post a day for the whole month. Something I have attempted every year we have had this blog and have yet to accomplish. I am motivated this month though because if we don't get another 40 post we won't even match last year. My pie in the sky goal is another sixty posts...or whatever makes us hit 100. I am guesstimating since I didn't actually check before starting this.

Sergio and I early voted today. I feel I am fulfilling my civic duty by telling you all to go and vote tomorrow as well. I also feel like I should point out that I heard a goofy ad this morning that had me riled up all day. It said, "Think Mark Martin." This was followed by the sounds of race cars. Really? It wants me to think of Arkansas Nascar driver Mark Martin instead of the Secretary of State nominee? Lame. Unfortunately for that guy it made me look him up and learn of his platform. Definitely should not have drawn my attention to that. So go vote. And probably you should vote for Pat O'Brien who did not insinuate in his ad that you are ignorant of politics and would vote for name recognition alone.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T19:18:00.009-07:00

We had some fits and starts with Rolo's costume this year. When we gave up on the puppy and went with the fairy we had some leftover face paint. And so we played with it.
She was not impressed with the pumpkin membrane. She was quite enamored of the knives, though. And the finished pumpkins. "Hi, Punkuns!" Bye bye, Punkuns!"

Sergio and I also attended a costume party. I was a pirate. He was Handy Manny. We think our friend Sam won best costume as assassinated Lincoln. A skinny tall man in a suit with a fake beard and tall hat works out remarkably well.

Fall-bulous

2010-10-25T18:29:00.011-07:00

First up: Homecoming Week. I had a goofy exchange with some of my students where I was adamant that a person could grow cows instead of raise them. A few days later two of my students presented me with the following shirt. Awesome. Then I dressed up like a zombie and did the thriller dance twice in front of hundreds of middle and high schoolers. Luckily I was not alone.

Next up: Pumpkin Patch. We went with our friends and their little boy to a local pumpkin patch. Like a real pumpkin patch where you wander around a field of pumpkins and cut off what you like. Rosalind fell immediately in love with a tiny pumpkin and carried it with her everywhere. For example, in the car, to daycare, in the house, etc.

And last up: Camping. We usually have a yearly date of camping with Sergio's parents in Bull Shoals. We skipped it last year because of overscheduling and cranky baby. This year we made it and got to enjoy some good food and campfires before learning of the burn ban and having to cut it a day short. Still a great time.

Oh! We also just got back from Georgia where I celebrated my ten year class reunion. At first it was awkward, but the addition of some unexpected GA moonshine livened things up a lot. And so now we've tried that. Sorry, no pics because it never even occurred to me. We all still look exactly as young, thin, and pretty as we did in high school. Yup.

Just Where a Baby Belongs!

2010-10-01T16:36:00.004-07:00

We took Rosalind to Bikes Blues and Barbecue last night to let her experience that total assault of the senses. She was...bewildered. She repeatedly threw her hands into the air in the universal sign for "I don't know." And before the night was over she just went ahead and said "Iyuknow?" When I asked her if she was confused she answered with a perfectly timed "WHAAT?"

Enjoy this time kiddo because this is the closest to motorcycles your dad and I will ever allow you to be.

Stuff I Meant to Write About.

2010-09-24T14:47:00.003-07:00

This guy writes about the early days of parenting and everything he says is just SO spot on for Sergio and me. Well, except for the part about being English and the fact that the mom was pretty much on board with the whole thing from the beginning. Sergio and I both fit the reluctant parent title for the first three months of her life. It might have been nice if one of us had completely done the head over heels thing but I honestly think our marriage was probably saved by the fact that we felt united against the evil invader (aka Newborn Rosalind).

I have been meaning to write a post about the first few months of her life in retrospect, but this guy does it better and his pictures are super funny and cute. I promise to stop being so lazy soon.

*To see his post you have to click on the word area when you reach the end of section and it will scroll down for you.

Superlative Sunday

2010-09-05T11:03:00.008-07:00

This morning was just too Incredible not to enjoy.

So we started off on a Wonderful hike

Look at that Idyllic view

Rosalind was taken aback by the Incomparable beauty of the day

Rosalind thinks splashing in the creek is just the Best

Afterward we ate Pho, which Rosalind thinks is Fantastic

So Spicy.

The Cutest Thing Ever.

2010-09-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

New pea-sized frog species discovered in Borneo

Late Summer Fun

2010-08-22T19:19:00.010-07:00

Helpful!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

First Popsicle!

So stylish!
Squuuuueeeeeaaaaallllll!

Totally busted my lip riding my train-scooter in the kitchen. Hardcore!

The Most Yummy of All

2010-08-16T17:25:00.002-07:00

Sergio got up on Sunday and made me tostadas. That wonderfulness that you see above is a freshly fried corn tortilla topped with refried (mashed?) black beans, a fried egg, and homemade pico de gallo. It is a delicious salty crispy masterpiece and has ruined me for any other breakfast item since I had it about a year ago. He and his mom both make this and they differ slightly and they are both the most best breakfast food on the planet. Yes, I realize things can't be most best grammatically or realistically as only one thing can actually be best, but they are. The Most. Best.
Sergio wanted me to point out that this is not the first time he has made me great breakfasts and he also wanted me to point out that I have never once in our relationship returned this favor. So I admit that I have never made Sergio a fancy breakfast. Why would I when I know he will cook these things if I just stay out of the kitchen? Logic.

How Other People Succeed in Blogging Through Way More Effort and Hardwork Than Me!

2010-08-14T04:38:00.005-07:00

So I woke up at 4:45 this morning. This Saturday morning. When all other people are reveling in the sleeping lateness of Saturday mornings. I'm not really complaining though, since I slept 23 minutes longer this morning than yesterday morning. Yesterday, when my daughter was at her grandparents and I didn't have to be at work until 8. I am complaining about that one.
So this morning while Rolo and Sergio were both still a snooze, I checked Facebook. I saw that two of my former students had mentioned a website and that they loved it. But let's face it, they are 18 years old and who knows where that might have led. Then I went to a blog I have read for many years now and she had the SAME website mentioned. And she had read it for many years as well. Three mentions in five minutes of surfing is too much coincidence. So I clicked through.
If you would like to read something way funnier than me for awhile (since I hardly post anyway) then you should go here.
Disclaimer: Me being tired is much like me being drunk or emotionally unstable in some way, so if you don't find this as funny as me I would understand. But it is funny, so there.

Dear 16 Month Old Rosalind,

2010-07-30T13:38:00.006-07:00

I was still in the bed when I took this picture, but barely. Thank heavens you don't actually like to sleep in bed with us or I think I would have permanent neck trouble. The important thing about this picture though is your incredible WING SPAN!
I have noticed that other babies younger than you are getting long hair finally. You continue to get more and more hair, but it tends to go upward. I don't know how long it will go up before it goes down, but I am enjoying the show in the meantime.
This is not a picture of time-out, but I feel I should point out that you are in time-out regularly lately little Ms. Attitude. You don't like time-out but you do have a tendency to do whatever action it is that is forbidden and then go sit in time-out before we can put you there. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of this disciplinary tactic.
You have been fighting any sort of nap that does not take place in a crib. You are kind of habitual that way. So we have had some wing ding fits lately that then result in a total battle with sleep. This is you in the car with your head in your hands moaning slightly. It was as though you had just lost a fortune in the stock market and didn't know how to go home and tell the kids there would be no supper.

Other things of note -
We have started a very lax potty training regime in which you are rewarded with Reese's Pieces. We have had more success than I expected so far, but it is hard to tell if you like the candy or the flushing the toilet reward better. What you have not figured out is why that candy cannot be had at all times for any reason. It is hard to make you understand when daddy keeps eating it in front of you and he didn't go potty.
You can say the words momma, daddy (emphasis on the eeee part), Mamie, Pa, Coal, Eliot, cheese, shoes, juice, bite, mine, NO, go, away, duck, mean, bean, dog, moo, and please with regularity. You often repeat new words but then don't use them, such as pepper, boom, and purple. Today you said "bite, please" every time you wanted a noodle. I was impressed. It sounded like "buy peas" but I'll take it. You also sign "more","play", and "all done" as well. Communication is developing at a quick rate, but not fast enough I guess because you are starting to get easily frustrated when we don't understand.
Speaking of communication, you now come take my hand while pointing to the kitchen. If I follow you will point out exactly what you want. Usually it is for me to open the fridge and then you get your own cheese. We went through a package of cheese at lightning speed this week.
Otherwise your favorite foods are eggs, yogurt, and cantaloupe. I only wish these foods satisfied me the same way. I would never have to work out again.

Love,

Mama

P.S. I just had to delay posting this to go hunt you down. I found you in the bathroom transferring the water from the toilet to...everywhere else in the bathroom. And when you heard me say your name you totally startled and fell in the puddle you had made. There's one for the embarrassing stories to tell when you are sixteen! Now to give you a much needed bath.

We Heard This On the Radio, but You Can Watch the Video.

2010-07-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

My Birthday Gift to All of You.

2010-07-15T11:12:00.001-07:00

Our Pie Came From the Television!

2010-07-13T07:56:00.004-07:00

Netflix has had the canceled television show Pushing Daisies available to watch instantly. I adored this show while it was on. A little background, this guy has the unexplained ability to touch dead people and bring them back to life. He had a bit of a tragic childhood and grew up to make pies. So most of the show is set in his pie shop. Needless to say, you can't watch this show for very long without craving a pie. Even if you aren't much of a pie person...like me.

See...
Why yes, that is cheese on top. I had always heard of some subset of the population enjoying a slice of cheddar on top of apple pie so this didn't seem like such a stretch when we saw it. On one of the early shows a pear and gruyere pie is made. It is a testament to how good it looked and sounded that both Sergio and I immediately decided we should try and make one. It also says something about how good it looked that when we looked up "pear and gruyere pie recipe" all the top recipes were other people who wanted to make the pie from that show.
Anyway, after buying every ingredient but butter for two days we finally got around to making it. Sergio added a B for pretty.
It is quite yummy. Especially for breakfast.

Pie crust recipe here (we also used the baking instructions from this one).
Pie filling recipe ... um, I can't find it. It was your basic filling. Five cups of pears, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp lemon zest, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, freshly grated nutmeg to taste, 3 tbsp flour, 1/2 cup sugar. I think that was about it but I did that from two day old memory so maybe not.

Another Bizarre Internet Video

2010-07-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Picture Post!

2010-07-07T06:18:00.009-07:00

Months ago I dropped my phone in the baby's tub and didn't notice for about 45 minutes. Not long after that Sergio left his on the top of the car and it was run over by a stranger who then very kindly hunted us down and returned it. Since then we have replaced our phones. Just before I sent his back to the company he took a memory chip or something out of his and put it in mine. A tiny treasure trove of pictures showed up from the past several months. I thought I would share a few. The three top pics are from just the past few days and two of them come from our friends who hung out with us to watch Rosalind watch fireworks for the first time. Nikki taught her to say "boom" every time one went off. Rosalind seemed very content to watch from a distance while clinging to an adult.

Fun At Granny and Pa's

2010-07-01T09:24:00.001-07:00

Weekend Redux

2010-06-28T07:18:00.005-07:00

As you can see, the dog days of summer have been rough for Rosalind. Here she is trying to stay cool with a bit of swimming. Also, she's swimming with a duck. This fact might seem strange, but as you can plainly see, she is swimming in a large cow trough that in any other life would have been used to water cattle. And, what you can't see is that said trough is located in the bucolic scene that is my parents mini farm. Which means that Rolo was luxuriating in her trough to the sounds Cows mooing, Horses Neighing, and Fowl chattering in their respective species' way. So a duck seems pretty much par for that course.

All that is to say that we spend this weekend at my parents house and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Our visit was an exemplar of Summer in the south, complete with grilling, swimming, cantaloupe, corn on the cob, air conditioning, ice cream, cucumbers, and a little public nudity.

I'm always hesitant to post pictures like this but as you can see I couldn't resist in this case. Sorry grown-up Rolo.

WHAT?!

2010-06-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

Signs

2010-06-15T19:55:00.002-07:00

A clue that you might have focused too much on one sign of baby sign language - while watching Jeopardy the answer to a clue is Benjamin Moore and when you yell it at the television your child turns around and earnestly signs "more."

I had to hunt down a cookie* really quickly in return for that.

*If you are Rosalind then you pronounce this Too-ey.

It Was An Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow ...........

2010-05-29T11:33:00.001-07:00

SUMMER FUN

2010-05-23T11:46:00.002-07:00

We decided that it was warm enough to have some backyard water hose fun today and the preceding was the result. It was a nearly perfect half hour, only besmirched by Dawn's propensity to put her finger in the video screen.

Snippets of Conversation

2010-05-20T18:55:00.002-07:00

One of my professors once lamented that people no longer have meaningful conversations because cell phones keep people in constant contact and they no longer have time to experience events they would later relate in person. He didn't carry a cell phone at all. Sergio and I choose to carry Blackberries, our friends all have iPhones. This means that we not only have the ability to speak and text, but also to email, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype if we so choose. Here is a brief segment of the roughly 100 emails we sent each other yesterday.

Sergio: I'm watching Maury, the lie detector results are in.
Dawn: I think I've seen that one.
Sergio: Turns out they were lying.
Dawn: Now comes the paternity tests.
...
Sergio: The last slide in the PowerPoint was Oneonta Gorge.
Dawn: That should make it easier to sit there and not wish you were somewhere else!
Sergio: Motivation fail.
Dawn: Does it help if I remind you how cold it was?
Sergio: Not really, it's hot in here. Come rescue me. Be my knight in shining armor.
Dawn: Stupid work always getting in the way of gallantry.
Sergio: Good Sir Dawn and her trusty stead Eliot with the help of her giant simpleton Rosalind travel to the delta to rescue Dame Sergio who is being held captive by a corporate trainer.
Dawn: Rolo the Giant isn't here so I don't think that will work.

I just don't see what that Prof meant at all!

A Noodle Slurpin' Good Time!

2010-05-13T16:12:00.002-07:00

You are more than welcome to watch with the sound off. I don't know what drives me to talk in videos and drop my g's all at one time.

Letter From Emelia Earhart to Her Fiance

2010-05-12T09:24:00.001-07:00

You must know again my reluctance to marry

This is a link to a great website and specifically a very interesting letter.

The First Thing Sergio Does When He Becomes Insured.

2010-05-09T05:10:00.004-07:00

Sergio and I became convinced during my pregnancy that I was not meant to carry children. Most people believe that once you have a child you conveniently forget how horrible it all was and you will want another one in a couple of years. I am sure that is true to some extent, but some pregnancies, labors, and first two months with a refluxy baby are harder to overcome than others. And lest this reasoning makes you nervous, let me assure you that we revisited the discussion constantly. Long after we discovered that we had the world's most perfect child and had the ability to create more, we still didn't want to. We decided we just wanted to do everything in our power for this one kid and so...Sergio went on Friday afternoon for a vasectomy.
Maybe this is more information than you guys need, but Sergio asked me to write this post after we did a little research into the subject. People have quite an idea about this whole procedure. In fact, the research was superfluous. Our friends reactions to it were enough. Insert loss of manhood joke here. So let me just say, it took less than a half hour (including the paperwork), he found the tape worse than any shots, punctures, or clips, and he walked out on his own looking as though he had received no more than a teeth cleaning. Other than a little rest on the couch with a strategically placed icepack it has not changed much about our weekend. We don't begrudge people their experiences with excessive pain, blood, or swelling, but for the record, that has definitely not been our experience.
After having lived through my pregnancy and labor with me, Sergio needed no convincing to take responsibility for this part. Not having to pay twice the price for a far more invasive procedure or ever having to worry about daily birth control ever again is a perfect Mother's Day present. The new iPod Nano was also lovely. It is orange.
Happy Mother's Day!

Daredevil

2010-05-02T14:52:00.005-07:00

Just about every time we turn around lately this is what we find.

Alright, maybe she didn't do this last one herself, but she was asleep as we walked around Target and she gets really heavy.

Something that entertains her.

2010-04-26T19:12:00.001-07:00

What We Did Last Week

2010-04-18T04:55:00.002-07:00

Dawn: Last week was Benchmark testing at the middle school. I walked silently around the room for hours every morning with periodic breaks to read the directions verbatim. If I had messed up this routine at all then I could have lost my teaching license. They are a little nutty about these things at the state level. Every afternoon we let the kids have free time at the gym and I used that time to brutally defeat 7th and 8th graders at dodgeball. I take crazy pleasure in beating them. An unhealthy amount of pleasure.

Rosalind: Rosalind learned to clap during patty cake, lost a shoe at daycare, and was so worn out most days that she would take a short nap after I picked her up and then went to bed by 6:30. Our quality time together these days is short. On Friday night she puked like an adult a few times and then woke up the next day with a fever. Otherwise she seems totally happy and healthy. Babies are confusing.

Sergio: I don't really know what Sergio did last week while he was in Helena. Law stuff. Yesterday he and his friends had MAN DAY. MAN DAY was actually Sam's bachelor party. They played golf, went bowling, ate wings, and played shuffleboard. So if you were wondering what happens on MAN DAY it seems to be chock full of slightly drunk competition.

Rosalind's First Birthday Party

2010-04-01T17:42:00.015-07:00

This is the birthday girl! The hat wasn't a plan of the outfit, but it was a very windy day and her ears seemed to hurt.
Rosalind trying to take part in the gifts a little early.We wanted a cake that was specific to Rosalind's likes and dislikes. She really likes this.
She had her own little smash cake.
And away she goes!Actually, she played with the little pepperoni pieces and then ate the cake really daintily. So we gave her a cupcake with gooey frosting. That got her into the spirit a bit more.So excited she started spreading the cake smashing fun. You can tell I was also excited about this.
About a minute and a half after the party was over.Enjoying her toys after we got home.

Rosalind, you learned how to blow kisses on the actual day of your birthday. You say "hi dad" when we hand you a phone. You walk almost entirely upright like a proper biped now, instead of the orangutan walk you have been sporting. One of our favorite developments has been that when we sing "When you're happy and you know it", you actually clap your hands. You love pizza, grilled cheese, celery, bananas, noodles (because of the awesome slurping), and, well, just about every type of food we put in front of you. Except baby food. You are pretty much over that.
Watching you grow and change over the last year has been amazing. Looking back at all the pictures, your father and I can't quite fathom how small and helpless you once were. Happy birthday, baby girl!

Obviously Losing It

2010-03-25T14:39:00.002-07:00

Characters: Me, Rosalind, Sergio, Retha (Sergio's mom), Eugenio (Sergio's dad)
Scene: We are all leaving the hotel room and each grab a bag, pack and play, bottle, or pacifier to help them load all of Rosalind's paraphernalia in their truck. I swing a bag over my shoulder and have a pacifier in my hand. I walk out the door and see Eugenio ahead of me carrying bags. I look behind me as Sergio and his mom close the hotel door each carrying bags. With a mounting sense of panic I ask, "Where is the baby?"
Sergio: What?
Me: Who has the baby? (Increasing panic!)
Sergio gives me a confused, slightly annoyed look. "You do."
Me:........
Sergio: "She is in your left arm."
And indeed she was.

It's My Birthday And All I Got Was An Oreo

2010-03-23T17:40:00.003-07:00

We are celebrating Rosalind's Birthday on Saturday but we thought she'd like a treat today so we gave her some Oreos. She likes them.