Memory Rose

My Dad spent the weekend in NY with his siblings. They worked on dividing up my
Grandparents' belongings, and other tasks of settling the estate.

A rose bush that has been in front of their house since my Dad was a little boy bloomed while they were there, the picture is posted above. This should probably go without saying, but I'll state the obvious anyway. Roses don't usually bloom outdoors in November, especially in New York.

musings on temperment, birth order, and such

as i browsed back through portraits of baby bear, and i noticed a thread that runs through them for several months. i think i first noticed it at her 3 month portrait session. no matter how hard we tried, there were times she was just not going to smile. not on our terms, anyway. one of the best smiles captured on her face that weekend was in the carsear, while the posed portraits looked like sheer torture in some snapshots (i'm so glad s & g captured the reality). 9 months later, she is still very much the same. she is not a "ham". her younger cousin, on the other hand, is the opposite. while both girls' smiles will melt your heart, baby bear's cousin seems to turn "on" in front of the camera. my little girl... studies it. the vibrant, gleeful grins of her cousin don't even phase her. she studies the camera, the flash, the photographer. and smiles if she wants to. sometimes it's a mona lisa smile, one in which her eyes speak what the shape of her mouth will not.

ironically, my baby bear seems to be the more physically aggressive of the two girls, who are just 6 1/2 weeks apart. she is the first one to crawl over and plant several kisses on her cousin's bewildered face. sometimes she adds the "mwah!" sound effect as she kisses. she wants to touch her cousin's eyes, ears, mouth.. you name it. she laughs hysterically and dances to larry the cucumber. the same toy terrifies her barely-younger cousin, who always seems to need to acclimate to her cousin's "love language". Youngest niece is a chatterbox and dancer, she bops to any and every song, including ones she seems to be making up. (Her Mommy chattered 100 words a second growing up.) Baby bear has her babbling noises, but seems to only say words she is confident she can say well... mama, dada, cat, "du"(duck). She's not the incessant "reader" or chatterbox, rather she communicates in non-verbal ways (unless she has woken up and is awaiting to be rescued from her cage). I hate to admit it, but I was the one who held my word in and exhibited violent tendencies as a child. (Like biting my baby sister after she bit me. I was 6.) Does this mean Baby Bear will hold it all in til she explodes? Thankfully, she's 13 months old and we don't have to deal with that yet. both of these girls are (currently) only children and firstborn, yet their temperment is uniquely their own....

then, another twist. my mom commented that my oldest niece, "Monarch", reminded her so much of my older brother when he was her age. Extremely intelligent and intense, focusing only on things that they find challenging. They are not related, as this niece is hubby's brother's daughter. Both are firstborn. One is 30 something, one is in kindergarten. How she picked up on this in just a couple of hours with Monarch at baby-bear's party, and perhaps in the time at Caslon & Han Solo's wedding reception, is beyond me. I do tend to take her observations with a grain of salt sometimes. But when she told me she saw similarities, for some reason it did not surprise me in the least. Eaglet (big brother) was writing programs for or Texas Instruments computer when he was just a young lad... possibly even as young as 5 or 6 (with Dad's help), definitely by 9 or 10.

It will be fun to see which personality traits that we see in our babies are still apparent in 5 years, in different ways. Sometimes not so much fun, I suppose, but always interesting.

GOD'S PERFECT TIMING!

Baby Caroline was born to one of my very best friends at 1:58 this morning. Her Daddy got home from Iraq just in time... he arrived yesterday, as did her Grandma, who was flying in "early" "just in case"... After laboring naturally, the doctors ended up doing a c-section. Mommy is resting, both Mommy and Baby are doing well.

Praise the Lord!

hubby's star-wars personality...

Which Star Wars Character Are You? Your Result: Luke SkyWalker You are a noble and loyal person who is always looking after the welfare of your friends, even if your hand gets cut off trying to save them. Just stop kissing your sister and everything will be fine.
Jar Jar Binks
Princess Leia
Han Solo
Yoda
Boba Fett
Darth Vader
Jabba the Hutt
Which Star Wars Character Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

no comments about me and yoda?
i'm just glad i wasn't likend to jar-jar.....
i know there are times i think i'm starting to look like yoda as i age...

Which Star Wars Character Are You? Your Result: Yoda You are a passive green creature with a speech impediment. You always try to find a peaceful resolution to your problems, but also aren't afraid to kick some ass if you need to.
Princess Leia
Luke SkyWalker
Jar Jar Binks
Han Solo
Boba Fett
Darth Vader
Jabba the Hutt
Which Star Wars Character Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

more insomniac ramblings

been up since 3:30. i cleaned out our joint inbox, created new folders to save some old messages and declutter. now to do that with yahoo... ugh.

bear will probably wake up in an hour or less. i should go back to sleep while i might have a chance. but i was tossing and turning and decided to get on the puter rather than wake up hubby.

yesterday afternoon was beautiful. clear, crisp warm breezw and lots of sunshine. hubby had to finish seeding the lawn, so i decided to plant my pink mum that was on the front porch before it dies completely... we'll see if it takes. potted mums need big pots in order to make it, the 4-6" pots are sure to kill the plants. this one was on its way, the blooms were not as colorful as when i bought the plant. yes, partly due to changing seasons, but partly due to no space to spread roots. that's my theory and i'm sticking to it. so now it's in between 2 day lilies along the sidewalk next to the garage door. i also decided to prune the birch and trim some of the other shrubs back a little. the birch isn't as high as mister golf course yard's birch next door, but there's more room to get under the branches with the mower (or seed spreader, in our case). baby bear watched her mommy and daddy work from her activity center, placed strategically on the front porch. i love front porches. ours doesn't get enough use, but today it provided baby bear with fresh air and protection from the sun. she pet her first earthworm today, too. i uncovered it in preparation for planting my mum. she wanted to eat it. i told her she's not old enough to eat fried or rare worms.

we visited our friends R&R tonight. Big Brother W seems to be adjusting well to his 3 week old sister, J. J is absolutely beautiful. Pray for Mommy R ad J that they will get the breastfeeding thing down. Mommy has lots of pain and saw the same lactation consultant that I did. It went well when LLC was there, but she's been struggling the next couple of days. She really wants to nurse. She had a hard time with Big Brother W, too, and ended up supplementing later on. it's so hard... i think so many pediatricians are so stat conscious, us moms who want to do things "right" get stressed out. (she's also going to the first practice where i took baby bear... before i decided the drive was too long, among other things.) while there are times i consider finding a pediatrician, i think our family practice doctor is good for me because she doesn't get caught up on stats and looks at the whole child.

crock pot creations...

this week, i've rediscovered the joy and simplicity of letting my crock pot do the work. (i was really glad i had eaten before going to vote last night!) on monday, i made italian chicken breasts. yesterday i made what i'm calling garlic soy pork chops. i don't do exact measurements, but both of these were so successful that i thought i'd share with estimated measurements. (i think i posted the italian chicken recipe a while back, but i think it tasted better this time with a couple of additions)... so, take these ideas and run with them....

italian chicken
4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves
1 can chicken broth for extra flavor (optional)
1 can diced tomatoes, italian seasoned
1 small can tomato sauce
italian seasoning to taste
ground salt and pepper to test
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
italian seasoning mix

Throw everything into the crock pot and season generously. Cook on low for 8 hours, stir occasionally. Serve over Spanish-style or long-grain rice. (I like zataran's or uncle ben's).

garlic soy pork chops
4 frozen boneless pork chops
3 garlic cloves, minced
ground salt and pepper to taste
(we like lots of seasoning)
dried rosemary to taste (about 1 tbsp)
1 c mushrooms, sliced
soy sauce to taste

throw all ingredients into the pot, cover with water (enough to fully cover meat). shake in enough soy sauce so the water turns brown and you smell the soy. add seasonings. stir. cook on low for 8 hours, stir occasionally. serve over buttered egg noddles.

bon appetit

civic duty fulfilled for the evening...

i left the house at 6:10, arrived ad the voting location about 6:15, and pulled into the driveway at 10:00 p.m. about an hour into my wait, i ran into next door/across the side street neighbor, who asked how much we paid mr. lawn guy to aerate our yard. joined in conversations with the other sore-footed voters around me. it looks like a guy who was in my freshman studies group at utm may win a seat in the state house. not surprising to see him run, although i didn't know him that well. it makes me feel old... and then i'm reminded that crt and bil have a friend who is already a representative in his state's.

it's a good thing hubby voted early and baby bear didn't have to come with me.

about 30 people remained in line when i left the building. i think the candidates should have a registration fee that goes to purchase more voting booths for their (prospective) constituents. that's one way to prove they care about our votes.

from weeds to pasture...

it's that time of year. the time to get a head start on next year's lawn. our yard is in desperate need of tlc, and hubby and i have been discussing how to fix it for about a month now. in the past, a company offered a $50 special in our neighborhood. we didn't get a flier from them this year, so hubby had pretty much resigned himself to borrowing a pick-up truck and renting an aerator or power seeder from hardware super-store.

as i drove out of the neighborhood, i noticed a truck with what appeared to be an aerator or power-seeder in the trailer. i wasn't going far, just going to drop off movies at the neighborhood, family-owned (non chain) video store. i stopped and browsed at the scrapbook shop while i was in the plaza, and miraculously did not spend any money!

God must have been rewarding me for practicing self-control, for when i came to the stop sign at the top of the hill and turned right, there was that truck... and a man chatting with the owner of the yard which he had just aerated. i politely interrupted, asked the lawn man if he'd give me an estimate, and went on my way home...

about 15 minutes later, he showed up! not only did he show up, he gave us a quote that beat what we would have paid to rent an inferior machine from hardware super-store. and he tore it up. literally. imagine a combination of a riding lawn mower and a farm combine... that's what the front looked like to me, a mini combine tiller. (forgive me if my fram terminology is wrong.) the spikes had to be at least 6 inches long. i expected to see plugs pulled up, leaving holes for future seeding and water to fall into. we got plugs, all right. by the time lawn guy was finished, our flat, compressed lawn of dead crabgrass and weeds looked more like a pasture recently trampled by a herd of cattle. the clumps were not the usual rabbit-droppings, rather big clumps of dirt and uprooted weeds. hannah watched curiously, i got a kick out of seeing our lawn torn up. (we do have a general knowledge of how a lawn should be maintained, we just don't apply it.... and in TN heat, the weeds take over pretty quickly. when you live next door to mr. golf course yard, a mediocre to overgrown one looks even worse.)

when mr. yard guy finished, i don't think he realized that i actually understood our yard was pathetic and needed serious help, help which he had jump started. i asked for his phone # in case we need to call him next year. he thought i was getting it for hubby to call him wondering why our yard looks like a kicked-up pasture.

i should have taken pictures... i have never seen an aeration job so thorough. he must have set the spokes on the deepest setting. i swear he covered every square inch 10 times. our yard isn't big, but it took him 20 minutes to finish the job on a big riding contraption!

so, i called hubby, told him about the affordable, thorough yard knight on the metal horse who came to the rescure of our lawn. when hubby came home, he used my dad's spreader that we borrowed 3 years ago and haven't returned to put down some seed... while he was spreading the seed, the rain drops started falling. oh, we still need to add about 50 lbs. of seed to what he spread tonight, but at least something got into all those holes and underneath the uprooted tufts of crab grass into a place suitable for germination. and even if some of the holes close up in tonight's showers, i suspect the yard will still be more receptive to seed in 2 days than if mr. yard guy hadn't come to hubby's rescue with the riding aerator.

time will tell if we'll have a green "pasture" next season...

next project: buy spring bulbs and plant them before they go out of stock.

an overlooked holiday...

inkling referenced reformation day in her imaginative musings on october 31st. i hope i am not the only one who didn't even realize that something far more important should be commemorated in the hustle and bustle of passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, and dressing my little one up in her kitty cat outfit and pumpkin costume... shame, shame...

something greater-japan

the pastor of hamilton hills baptist in fishers, which we've visited with crt (of the aslan's child blog) periodically over the last 7 years, recently returned from a trip to japan. God has laid this country on his heart. read and pray for the believers across the globe.

i haven't read the whole blog, but it is interesting to read the perspectives of pator randy, his wife dale, and their youngest son, elliot. i was especially touched by the store of daigo, who drives an hour and a half to and from church and pays tolls and parking fees. we complain about our 30 minute drive.

it's not too late to get 30, 40, or 50% hostess benefits!
my hostess of tonight's show will end up with over $300 in FREE jewelry and the opportunity to purchase 8 items at 1/2 price. way to go, lisa!

that's my shameless plug for the week.

quotable quip from the weekend:

my adorable 3 year old niece, when she turned bear's fish tank/night light upside down and the plastic fish inside floated to the top of the 'bowl": "nemo's dead!"

baritone no more...

at least, not for "officially"... our precious niece's 1st birthday party is the same day as the holiday chorus concerts. can't do both, family comes first! i'm disappointed... i'm not sure we can swing the membership dues for me to actually join the chorus, although i am convinced they would be well worth it. i enjoyed my 1 night as a sweet adeline's chorus member.

isn't it interesting...
that you don't have to teach a child to "dance" or clap to music?

Happy Birthday, Hannah-Bear!

The only thing that goes faster than 9 months of pregnancy is the 1st year of your baby's life.... and i'm betting every year afterward! We'll celebrate on Saturday, when almost our whole family and a few friends join us for the big party.

dave ramsey would be proud...

ok, not really. we still use credit cards, thus dave would say we spend more than we should even though we pay them off every month. he has a point, but cash burns a hole in my pocket, and baby bear might eat it out of my wallet anyway, given the opportunity.... we really track our spending better this way. hubby even created a budget spreadsheet for himself.

i called the bank to get the payoff amount for our big vehicle. we decided it would be wise to just get rid of the payment, even though the % was pretty good. paying no interest is better than paying even just a little interest. our savings won't look very pretty, but we will be not have a $243 car payment anymore. happy halloween to us. not that halloween has anything to do with it, it just hppens to be the due date. that means the only debt left after this month will be our mortgage. i think i'm going to write this check, since the vehicle is actually financed with me listed first on the loan. it will make me feel rich to write a check that big... but then i'll feel broke again. at least the vehicle will be truly OURS!!!!!!

God has provided through some tighter times this year, we are so grateful.

more insomnia...

i've been waking up and unable to get back to sleep easily lately. i hate it. i like sleep. a lot.
so here i am, blogging because i've been tossing and turning for about an hour. i could continue working on baby bear's scrapbook but some things i want to use are in a cute little storage box in her closet. oh, they are safe, but to try to get the box out without disturbing sleeping beauty would be... stupid.

reflections on this weekend.... and this time last year...
we had grand intentions of getting a good head start on preparing for baby bear's 1st birthday party. there are many things i've said i would not do in my life. one was "throw a big birthday party for a 1 year old". boy, am i eating my words!!!!! it is true that she most likely will not remember the ordeal, except when she looks at pictures in her baby book and scrapbook. however, we have a lot to celebrate. a year ago, i was probably more anxious and excited than i have ever been in my life. baby bear's birth was scheduled. daddy bear's eminent 7 week "disappearance" loomed on the horizon as a cruel yet necessary reality of his chosen field of work. since he had already reported to his office a week earlier, we had experience a taste of what life would be like upon his return from training. evenings together, weekends together, church together. those things had been rare during the previous 3 years. his new job brought hope of something better than him patroling the streets of one of the worst areas of the city, then reporting to court for hours before finally returning home to nap before waking up for work again. i can't say that i miss his police officer schedule.

anyway, this time last year i would have scoffed at the idea of throwing a big party for a 1 year old. at first i said "just family" woul be invited. i didn't expect everyone to be able to make it. and since we have parents, siblings, & nieces, the # of attendees is naturally a big one. and i can't wait. so we've invited mostly family and a few close friends. we didn't even get to baby bear's baby friends this year. but since the party is for us anyway, we'll stick with family and friends.

this weekend was supposed to be full of cleaning house and party prep. ha. my red-headed neighbor who owns the new video shop up the road convinced me to join her for a scrapbooking lesson. i don't know why i alway feel the need to buy instruction on things. look how far it got me with breastfeeding. i need to learn to relax and just do "it". whatever "it" may be. anyway, a new scrap shop opened next to red-head's video store, and i found myself spending over 3 1/2 hours there on Saturday morning. thankfully, the money spent on the class and my early Christmas (the scrapbook itself) has resulted in a rediscovered motivation to record my daughter's life. so now our firstborn will have a fill-in calendar, a baby book, and a scrapbook. i already feel sorry for our future kids, who will be lucky to have just one of the above.

daddy bear and i did do some work outside.... he did a LOT. i pulled up some dead annuals which had been annoying me for about 2 weeks. (baby bear took a good nap!!! woo hoo!!) then, we grabbed a bite at pizza hut and took baby bear shopping for her birthday gift. i figure since she liked what we picked in the store, she'll be excited to see her gifts again on saturday. and this is the only age we can actually pick her gifts out right in front of her. upon our return home, we bathed baby bear, put her to bed, and i began actually putting the scrapbook together while we watched a video. that's my kind of multitasking.

well, these are my insomniac ramblings for now. this week is sure to bring a little house cleaning (i'm not martha stewart-esque, but thankfully my family knows that and loves me anyway). wednesday will bring... the real birthday, which will probably be the calm before the party begins Friday night, with the arrival of baby bear's dear cousins. she will probably be sure to chase them up the stairs if we let her. and saturday will be the grand celebration of the first year of the sweetest addition to our family, with lots of loved ones. photographed by randot studio, of course. (forgive my assumption, but i think it's a safe one.)

October is breastcancer awareness month!

This post is in honor of all the victims and survivors, as well as their friends and family. This includes my Uncle Gary's sister, Megan, who fought the battle for many years.

The increased incidence of breast cancer, as well as all other cancers in general, boggles my mine. I'm by now means a vegan or "granola mom". I probably should pay more attention to the health-conscious. But Barbara Curtis posted a link that captured my attention highlighting the correlation between steroid contraception and cancer. Read and think...

Here's another related link.