finger

ouch
Avery got her ring and pinky fingers of her left hand stuck in a very heavy steal door on Wednesday afternoon at a community center. She was with Rachele (who feels horribly, but whom I don't blame in the least) and RHG said that when she eventually got Avery's finger out, it was totally flat and gray. She also said it was one of the heaviest doors she's ever seen. Poor Avery. I'm not sure for how long, but Avery was standing there for more than just a few seconds with it stuck, so it was pretty traumatic at the time. Once RHG was able to free her, she called me and told me to start driving to the urgent care, then rushed Avery there. They x-rayed her hand which revealed that nothing was broken or fractured. They put on a splint - which looked more like a cast - and sent us home. While Avery cried a bunch (as well she should have) when it happened and at the urgent care, but since the splint's been on, she hasn't complained once. After the fact, she's always a trooper.

We went in for a follow-up appointment with a specialist. There was no need to x-ray it again. He removed the splint and Avery said it didn't hurt. She said it felt like a rubber band. She favored it a bit for the rest of the day, but Saturday she was using it almost normally.

I found it interesting that both the nurse and the specialist asked questions in such a way that, upon reflection, they were looking for any signs of child abuse. Of course, I'm thankful that do that because I want them to identify any child abuse going on with children, but it was a bit odd to realize that is what was happening.

apple picking
Avery & I, Mom, and Christie & Henry all went apple picking at Kiyokawa Family Orchards on Thursday. Avery stopped by school to have her picture taken with the class, then we drove to pick up Christie & Henry and head up. It was during this drive that I realized my sweet ride (and all other minivans) are missing one key feature: the window partition - you know, like limos have. It would be so nice to just to lock out any bickering between kids. I swear that Avery and Henry bickered more during that drive than they did the whole time we were in Mexico together.

Mom made me a gluten-free apple pie with some of the apples we picked. I just ate two pieces for lunch. I like Mom's gluten-free crust better than her non-GF crust! Mmmmm. Pie.

Mom's birthday
Yesterday was Mom's birthday. I underestimated how Avery would react when I explained that Mom and I were going out to celebrate Nain's BD. That is, she was upset. So, I quickly threw together a lunch celebration wherein Avery and D baked Mom a cake whilst I cooked lunch and bought Mom's gift (a bird bath). Avery was all over it. She insisted that we each lunch in the dining room, not the kitchen. Then she set the table all by herself. She also chose where everyone would sit. Needless to say, Avery sat at the head of the table. Finally, she insisted that we put candles on Nain's cake. We put 7 on to represent each decade.

Nain and Avery on Nain's BD.

For our daughter-mom celebration, I took Nain to dinner and a foot massage. We didn't hit the afternoon movie as planned because I was exhausted and napped all afternoon - bad daughter!

scanned out
I have scanned almost everything in the house. I now wander aimlessly looking for what other paper I can get rid of (this is only partially a joke). I think a lot of the appeal to me is that it's something where I can make fast, visible, tangible progress ... unlike parenting where results of hard work aren't as easy to correlate to said hard work.

I am proud that I managed to NOT scan all past receipts. I decided that would be just an activity of scanning for the sake of scanning. The likelihood I would ever need to reference those receipts is pretty close to nil. So I bundled up the receipts and will put them out of sight until such time as I am ready to recycle them. From here on out, I'll scan in any receipts for products I might have a need to return (meaning, I won't scan in grocery receipts, but would a receipt for a birdbath or stuff like that).

If any friends need any scanning done ... :)

Fever

Avery's sick
Avery has had a fever for the past two nights. We bought some infant Tylenol at the pharmacy in town yesterday, but failed to buy a thermometer (doh!) I'm pretty sure it's a low grade fever.  She's not throwing up and is drinking enough water. Plus, I keep giving her popsicles. I don't want her dehydrated. I know the hospital here in town is good and has English speaking doctors, so I'm not worried about being out of the country. If we need to take her to the doctor, we can. I'm just frustrated that we didn't buy a thermometer yesterday.

I've implemented sick rules this morning, so she's glued to the TV at the moment.

Henry & Avery
The great news for this trip is that Henry and Avery are getting along fantastic! There hasn't been a single big argument between them. Even small ones have gone like this:

Henry: "Avery, get in and I'll push please."
Avery: "No, thank you."

Seriously. They're so damn polite with each other it cracks me up. Henry is very good at honoring Avery's "No, thank you!"s.  I'm very impressed. He doesn't quite understand why Avery doesn't want to do something, but he's good at honoring it and either just continuing to asking without forcing her, or moving on to asking someone else. Yesterday, at the pool, Henry wanted to push Avery around in the floaty chair. Avery said, "No, thank you." So Henry decided to get Damian - who was swimming with his iPod - to get in the chair. First Henry starts to drag the lounger chair on the cement. Christie said something to him about that not being good, he asked Avery to help, Avery said "no thank you", I told Avery it's nice to do teamwork when people ask for help, she grabbed the other end and helped him carry it over to the edge by a deeper part of the pool. Christie and I didn't know what they were doing, so we just watched. Henry then pushes the chair into the pool. They both stand there watching it. After about five seconds, Avery says, "Uh oh." It cracked Christie and me up since it was such a delayed reaction to the obvious. Then Henry reveals his plan by yelling at the top of his lungs to Damian, "WANT TO GET IN THE CHAIR? I'LL PUSH YOU!" Damian, of course, couldn't hear, though I'm  quite sure everyone else at the pool did. But it was still hilarious. I'm not relaying this story very well. But trust me, it was funny.

Last night the two of them had a broccoli eating context (Henry won hands-down,  but Avery did not shame me).  They also had a milk drinking contest, with Avery entering the competition well behind Henry's start and coming in for the tie.

Casa Updates
Our new locks were installed yesterday. This means we won't use the key cards anymore. I am surprised at how much of a relief that is. Not having to remember the dang card is nice! The locks do have keys, but they also have a code you can punch in to unlock the door. That'll be what we use.

We bought some additional decor to get some color into our very neutral living room. I can't find my phone at the moment, so I'm going to post this without pictures, but I'll take pictures before we leave. We bought a new piece of art for a wall in the living room, a vase with paper flowers to go in it, and some watermelon "sculptures" to go on the top shelf of our new shelves.

Community Updates
Things are chugging along in the community with many steps forward and a few steps back. Within walking distance, forward steps include:

• fresh produce available at one store; milk, bread, baking products, etc at another
• two coffee shops 
• one wine bar
• three places for lunch, not including the wine bar or coffee shops which may have food (?)
• two places for dinner
• exterior modifications being done on the two large structures that are unfinished near us. They'll remain empty, at least that's my understanding, but the company that bought the common areas of our community at least agreed to plaster and paint the buildings so it looks better. I'm happy enough with that.
• rental facility for bicycles, four wheelers; it's also a place to book boating activities, etc. That's nice to see. D rented a bike. We're bringing our bikes down next time. Times I've used my bike since we moved to Portland: 0, so I'm not too worried about where it'll get the most use

Steps back:

• This isn't so much a step back as it is a bummer. An understandable bummer, but a bummer nonetheless. The hotel has finally started to charge the homeowners for the use of their facilities. That's fair enough, but who likes to pay money to use things that used to be free? It's now $5 a person to use the pool, the palapas or loungers on the beach, or the gym. I don't have a problem with the fee, but I do wish it could be applied toward a food/beverage credit as long as you spend maybe $25 at the pool or bar. Something like that. But, like I said, it's fair. 
• The restaurant that opened by the pool (not the pool restaurant, but another) seems to have closed. It's always tough to tell these things because they're not well signed when they are open. Maybe they just pulled the tables for some reason, but it looked closed to me. That's no big loss for me since they had pizza and pasta. The salad I ordered was so small I couldn't even make it through the meal without getting hungry again, so it wasn't truly an option for me. 

Kisses

Chocolate
I'm having a bit of a backslide with my eating. As I'm typing this, I'm eating Hershey Kisses. What's odd to me is that I've never been much of a chocolate eater until recently. I always go for the fruity sugary treats - Starbursts (though I haven't had those since a particularly horrible case of heartburn almost a year ago), Fruit Roll Ups, etc. But lately, all I want is chocolate. I ate bunch of Kisses yesterday on our double-movie date night, too. Hopefully this is a minor blip on the better eating I've been managing over the past couple of weeks.

Avery's sick
Avery threw up this morning, a few times. Once was all over me and the chair. She also had the chills and a fever. I think it might be another ear infection, but I don't know if an ear infection would also come with vomiting and a fever.

Redo

Built-ins in the living room
We're finally going to put built-ins on either side of the fireplace in our living room. It's something that we've intended to do since we moved in, but it is just now taking priority. I'm so very excited. I totally messed up my sleep for the week staying up late on Sunday night drawing a mockup of what I want in the built-ins. I couldn't stop thinking about it until I'd drawn it with enough detail to sufficiently relay my requests to a contractor. I don't have Visio on my computer, I had to draw it in Google Docs. That is to say that it's not nearly as clean as it'd be if I could have done it in Visio. Here it is (clicking that link seems to download a .png file rather than load it in another window - I don't know - just go with it).

I was inspired in particular by the layout of this unit, and the black interior of the shelves in this unit (second picture down).

Items of note

• Since we'll be moving the TV over the fireplace - which, I want to note is not where I'd ideally like to put the TV, but given the configuration of our room and my desire to see the TV from the kitchen, it's where it's got to be - we want to lower the mantel to get the TV as close to eye level as possible. 
• In one side (1 & 2), there will be a pull out desk to house an eventual family-computer and homework desk for Avery.  There's no goal to see the TV from the desk, so that it's essentially in the same plane as the TV isn't an issue. 
• The other large cabinet will be used for storage of toys, games, whatever. 

Sectional and chairs

We're also looking into replacing our furniture with a new sectional couch and a couple of chairs.  We both think sectionals are exceedingly dull, but it'll give us a lot more seating in our living room. We'll have to spice things up with some colorful throw pillows and maybe a colorful area rug since the sectional will be in a neutral tone (a warm grey being the leading candidate right now). 

Smith Decision-Making Expediency

In true Smith fashion, we decided on a whim to go look at sectionals on Sunday afternoon. By Sunday night, we'd settled (in our heads) on a sectional, two chairs, an ottoman and the fabric for all. It was also on Sunday night that I sent the request to meet with contractors via Service Magic. This week, I've met with four contractors and one A/V guy to take care of the surround sound we'll also be adding with this redo. 

I'd feel better about it if I hadn't strayed from our furniture store of choice to check out another one. The second one is significantly cheaper, but we both still really prefer the fabric of the first one. The first place does their own fabric, so we can't just get the fabric and stick it on another couch. Then there's all this information about the way the couch is made affecting how well it holds up, etc. I have no idea what we should do. There are bigger problems in life. Well, this doesn't even qualify as a problem. Just a decision to be made. 

Avery's Eyes

Last week we had a check up with Avery's eye doctor. She's doing very well. The doctor said we can patch fewer hours per day. I asked if it was bad to patch more because Avery often doesn't want to take off her eye patch. The doctor asked if I could have Avery talk to all of her patients. Patching more is not a problem, so we are doing it about 4 hours per day. 

I gave Avery the choice of not wearing her eye patch to school, but she said she prefers to wear it to school AND not to school. Weird. But I'm sooooooo thankful that the eye patch isn't a battle. She very rarely objects to it and usually is enthusiastic to put it on, partially because she likes to open the package. 

I get asked a lot if Avery will needs surgery. The answer is probably not, assuming she continues to do well with glasses and patching. This article explains Avery's situation very well. Avery has accommodative esotropia. I'm finding that it often says online that  accommodative esotropia should never be treated with surgery. I think that's true as long as patching and glasses work to control the inward turn of the eye. Maybe it's true all the time, but sometimes those with accommodative esotropia sometimes develop additional conditions? I don't know. All I know is the doctor says it's unlikely Avery will need surgery and she's doing great. 

Another question I often get is why some kids have surgery for a lazy eye and others don't. I believe the answer is based on the cause of the lazy eye. Avery's is caused by her farsightedness. 

Finally, the other question I get is how long will she need to patch. I think it's possible that we will be able to stop patching earlier, but it seems like there's little benefit to patching after ages 8 or 9.

Other news

There's not much to report in other news. Avery spent the day after Thanksgiving with Christie & Darren & Henry. She even spent the night there. She had a wonderful time, but she also has a bit of a hero worship thing going on with Christie. I can't tell you how many times she points out that she's wearing a purse "Christie style!" or how when she mismatches her socks on purpose that it's "Christie style!" (Christie does not mismatch her own socks, but often does so with adorable results with young Henry.)  Christie is pretty much the first person Avery always wants to show her new clothes to. 

We spent Thanksgiving with friends in The Couv (that's Vancouver to you outsiders). Avery had a great time playing with a little girl named Riley. Riley actually lives very close to us, but we only know them through friends. Avery did not want to leave. She very much liked Riley and her dad. When we left she said, "But Riley's dad is staying there!" We adults had a nice time chatting with friends and eating, eating, eating. 

The day after Thanksgiving, when Avery was at Christie's, D and I went with friends (same friends from Thanksgiving) in a limo for wine tasting. The limo was a stretch Expedition. I am pretty sure this is the first time I've been in a limo, unless you count a beat up one that was used as a taxi when I was in the Bahamas right out of college.  It had all the things you'd think something as gawdy as a stretch Expedition would have: lights, glasses for champagne, wine, whatever, TVs, etc.  It was, however, an ideal way to go wine tasting. Unfortunately for me, my body was not cool with the idea of me drinking anything on that day, so it was pretty much a taste-free day for me. I did find some yummy salami. Nice. 

Favors

Party Favor Giver?

Could the Silhouette make me become a party favor mom?  I have always been anti-party favor.  Kids receive all this little junk and then I have to find a place to put it when Avery comes home.  However, then I saw that you can make mini cake slices with the Silhouette:

They're actually designed to hold a cupcake, but could easily be used as a party favor holder. 

Today I used my trusty Silhouette to make two more charts for Avery.  They're not so much charts as holders for her reward certificates and for the sleeping "ticket" she gets each night she stays in her own bed/room for the entire night. I had been using stickers for this purpose, but when I discovered how much Avery enjoys putting her tickets in the little envelopes I made, I decided to make envelopes and tickets for the sleep chart anyway.  It all sounds very complicated, but it's not.  And the important thing is that Avery has a firm grasp on what she gets and when and why.

To my delight, Avery immediately noticed both charts hanging on the wall and kept saying how much she loved them and asking how I made them.  RHG and Amber will be glad to know I reused the gorgeous wrapping paper Amber used on RHG's shower gift as a backdrop on one of the charts.  

Waiting, waiting, waiting

I'm waiting for RHG to go into labor.  I'm sure I'm not half as anxious as she is given her current state of discomfort, but I so do not like not knowing my schedule.  I keep thinking, "OK, if it happens tonight, this is what I'll do so I can still make my appointment tomorrow."

Our ninth wedding anniversary is tomorrow, so we're hoping to go out to dinner.  I have a couple of back-up plans in case the G kids are with us, but I'm not sure either is worth the (minimal) hassle.  One is to have a second babysitter help out with the extra kids. The other option is to take Nolan to sleep over at RHG's dad's house for the night so the one sitter only has to handle Avery and Elise (easy peasy).  We'll see. 

At least *I* think I'm hilarious

I'm still in my up phase, which is just dandy with me.  The only downside for D is that he is living with a woman who thinks she's hilarious.  He rightly pointed out to me the other night that when I'm in these up phases, I crack myself up left and right.  Then I can't figure out why no one else is laughing as hard.

Speaking of my up phase, I dutifully when to my therapist to discuss it.  She agrees that there's nothing to be concerned about and no reason to take any action at this point.  Basically, if I go into a manic phase (which I've never done, so there's no reason to think I will do so) or start to feel things trending out of control, then I should call her and we'll figure out what to do.  But since it's just happy and a state that is acceptable to others (meaning I'm not out impulsively buying $50,000 cars or staying up all night or things like that), I should just enjoy it. So I am.  Oh, and if you're wondering if it feels as ridiculous as it sounds (talking with your therapist about being too happy), it does. 

New glasses

Avery's prescription changed, so we had to get her new lenses.  Except, it turns out it was cheaper to get all new frames and lenses than just the lenses.  So she has new frames.  They're the same shape, but are black instead of pink (they didn't have the pink ones).  I like her pink ones better, but the black ones are growing on me a bit more.  They're pink on the inside, so they still have some girly flair.  Plus they have a butterfly on the side, which was the selling point for Avery.

BTW, her prescription is stronger, but it means that her eye weaknesses are closer together.  So basically, the patching is working, but it's making her stronger eye a bit weaker.  I don't think this is a bad thing since my understanding of the surgery they do for lazy eyes is weakening the stronger eye to be equal in strength/weakness as the weaker eye.  Basically, the problem is not that the vision is not perfect; the problem is that the vision is not equal in both eyes.  We are to continue with patching as we have been, which is everyday for 3-4 hours per day. Fortunately, Avery doesn't mind it at all and often leaves her patch on well after we tell her she can remove it.

Pockets

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Still Obsessed with the Silhouette

It's 11:37 pm.  I am playing with my Silhouette.  I'm making very necessary pockets to hold Avery's earned tickets.  Of course, I also made Avery new tickets with ladybugs and bees and fairies and butterflies.  And I laminated them.  I'm a little obsessed with the new toy.  I even volunteered to make RHG a chart and some tokens for Elise.  See, here Elise is standing next to it.

Right now, I'm cutting the pockets after spending a bit of time getting the design right.  Here's my pattern:

The numbers are mirrored because the flaps fold inward. The screen grab above doesn't show it, but the three lines where the card is to be folded are not actually solid cuts, but rather perforations making folding easier.  Nice. However, I messed up when I did the numbers and made them perforations as well, so I had to use a box cutter (couldn't find an exacto knife) to cut out the numbers by hand.  I would have just done another sheet on the Silhouette, but I only had one of the sheets I wanted to use for the pockets. I'm too lazy to use my camera, but here's a picture using Photobooth on the iMac.  It's obviously a mirror image since it's all backwards, but you get the gist.

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All things non-Silhouette related

• Avery came down with a weird little virus of some sort on Sunday evening.  On Monday, she ended up with a fever of 103.2.  I called the doctor to make sure I was doing the right things, confirmed that she shouldn't go to school on Tuesday, and spent Monday and Tuesday with a total trooper of a sick girl. 
• Today, Avery apparently made quick friends with a new girl who will be attending her school and will be in her class.  
• I couldn't help but donate to My Charity: Water after reading this story of a 9-year-old girl who asked friends and family to make donations instead of getting her presents for her birthday on June 12th.  She set a goal of $300, but fell short at $220.  She died last week in a car accident in Bellevue, WA. Her family put the site back up, her pastor talked about it at church, and some news stories were done on it.  Now her project has raised over $500,000.

Pink

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Fountain

For lunch today, Avery and I met up with Henry & Josie (and their respective mothers and siblings) at the fountain across from D's office building.  We picked up food from the nearby food carts, texted D to join us, then enjoyed the fountain.  It wasn't the best weather since it was a bit chilly, but that didn't deter Avery from running through the fountain with Henry and Josie.  It was an easy, fun park date.  I love Portland park fountains.  They're the perfect playdate location on sunny summer days. 

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Dentist

Following the fountain, Avery had a dentist appointment.  All went very well.  Avery's teeth look great and we're just supposed to keep doing what we're doing.  Avery was a bit apprehensive, but didn't take any coaxing from me to do as the dentist asked.  She relaxed a lot once they gave her a mirror to hold up so she could see what they were doing in her mouth.  

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Sleep

Avery's sleep routine has now changed.  Right after I posted that I was quite happy with Avery in coming into our bed at night, D said he does not sleep well at all when she's in the bed with us.  As a result, when we got back from Colorado, I took Avery to the hardware store where we picked out another night light.  We then hooked that nightlight up to a timer.  I told Avery that as long as the light is on, she has to stay in her bed or on her picnic blanket.  I just explained it once that night, fully expecting I'd have to remind her to go back to her room at some point in the night. To my delight, it worked perfectly and she stayed in her bed all night and slept until about 7:30.  Since then, she's only come into our bed once.

With this change, we also restarted the sleeping chart.  Avery earns a sticker flower as long as she stays in her room until the light turns off.  Last night she cried (for 30 seconds) for me to come into her room, so today I said that she also has to not wake me up to come into her room to earn future flowers.  We'll see how that works.

She's already redeemed two sleeping rewards.  She's been obsessed with going in this pink jewelry store we often pass on the way home. 

I said she could pick out two items from it as long as each was under $5.  She beelined it for the $20 tiaras.  At first I said she'd have to save up two more sleeping rewards to get it, then I realized they had smaller $10 ones.  So she has yet another tiara that she will never wear.  She loves tiaras, but finds them extremely uncomfortable to wear.  Who am I to judge?  I love crafting supplies, yet don't particularly like the resulting crafty items. 

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Awake

I'm still wide awake now due to a tactical error on my part.  When Avery and I got home from our day out, it was 3:30.  I was quite tired, so I gave Avery some milk and told her it was time for Quiet Time.  She headed upstairs and I laid down on the chair in the living room for what I thought would be a brief cat nap.  After all, how was I to know Avery would actually nap during QT?  I woke up at 6 PM when D called to tell me he was on his way home.  Then I woke Avery up.  It's amazing she went to sleep at 9:30 (ish) after 1.5 hours of playing nicely in her room.

Gluten-free

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The usual self-reflection crap that is this blog

I'm having my usual problem resuming with blogging after a vacation.  This is compounded by the fact we did another short trip to Seattle right after DC.  This double trip threw way more of a wrench into things than I expected.  I'm still trying to get myself back on track. I was reading about extroverts and introverts the other day.  This is not new to me, but it did strike of a chord: extroverts get their energy from being around people; introverts get it from being alone.  I'm on the extreme in this area.  I very much need good, solid alone time.  Even having someone in the same house who is merely sleeping or doing their own thing doesn't have the same impact as me being completely alone.  This is a major factor in why I find parenting challenging, but also explains why it takes so long to recover from vacations.  So much time with other people - with Damian, with Avery - it all takes a toll on me. I find that odd because it's not that I'm annoyed when I'm around people, it's just that my battery never gets recharged. 

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Gluten-free is me

When in DC, I got three migraines.  The kind that make me nauseous and then throw up.  To be fair, I only threw up from two of the three headaches, but still, it's not a great track record for a five day trip.  I blame gluten consumption.  I didn't go overboard, but I had some and I believe that was my downfall. I also think that I'm becoming more and more sensitive to it.  It's almost as if eliminating it and then reintroducing intensified the impact of gluten on my system. As such, I'm officially accepting that I need to be gluten-free for a period of time to see if that is the root of most of my problems.

I just stumbled upon this article, The murky meaning of gluten-free. First, I had no idea that a label of gluten-free doesn't always mean it's free of gluten.  Second, I had no idea gluten is in some blue cheeses.  Third, gluten is sometimes used as a coating on medication?!  Great.  That's awesome.  I'm now paranoid about this since before we left for DC, I experienced heartburn bad enough that I went to the doctor the day before we left.  The thing that sticks out to me is that it started one night immediately after I took my generic Prozac.  I couldn't stop thinking that one (I take two pills to get me at the correct dosage) had gotten lodged in my esophagus even though I knew that wasn't possible.  Anyway, now I'm wondering if that is why I feel this sensation after I take the pills.  I found some list that says it's in the gluten-free category of drugs, but who knew I had to be wary of gluten in drugs?!  Argh.  It is nice to be back in Portland where gluten-free eating in restaurants is considerably easier.

I wrote the above several days ago.  Since returning from DC, I've had several more days of headaches.  One day, last Friday, was so bad that I came home from dance class with Avery and had to take some Tylenol immediately.  However, we didn't have any Tylenol other than Tylenol PM.  I had to do it.  So I plopped Avery in front of the TV with food and a movie, told her when she finished the movie, to come wake me up and I'd put her to bed, then I went to bed at 5:30.  I think it was probably the worst headache I've had in 10 years.  Avery quickly came upstairs to join me in bed, though she didn't sleep for a few hours, but rather clambered in and out of bed playing with various items around the house.  When I woke up on Saturday morning (I got a few times during the night to make sure she was OK and deal with the dogs), the house was hysterical.  She must have had a grand time since there were groups of messes at various locations - the top of the stairs, the bottom of the stairs, all the books out of the bookcase in my room, her room was a disaster, the hallway, the living room, the kitchen.  I would have found it much more amusing had I not been trying to pull everything together for our three day trip to Seattle.

Anyway, all this is to say that I haven't (knowingly) eaten gluten since DC. The headaches seem to be subsiding, or at least lessening in intensity. My napping is rearing its ugly head and competing for my attention.  That sucks, but at least I'm hopeful that if I buckle down, limit the sugar, continue with no gluten, and eat healthfully, things might get better.  I do at least have energy when I am awake, so it's not all bad news.

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Ear Infection

Yesterday, I babysat Nolan and Elise for the G's date night while D took Avery to the Timbers game.  I again had a headache, but fortunately it was no where near the level that I had the week before.  Nolan and Elise were easy as could be, and none of the kids had an issue with Avery leaving for the game.  After E & N were down for the night, D texted that he and Avery were heading home.  She ate a huge piece of pizza and half a hot dog at the game.  This was after she'd already eaten a pretty big dinner at home.  Her stomach was upset and she was crying for me.  It's highly unusual for Avery to cry for the other parent when she's with either of us.  She might favor one of us slightly on any given day, but it's really, really rare for her to ask for the other parent when out and about with one of us.  So D brought her home.  I could tell things weren't right.  She was very clingy and feverish and totally not herself at all.  This continued all night.  I finally took her temperature this morning and it was 102, so we called in and then took her to the urgent care as instructed.  The end result is she has her first real ear infection.  A couple of weeks ago, she had a small amount of fluid in one ear.  The doctor wasn't sure it was infected, nor was she sure antibiotics would do anything, but we decided to do antibiotics since we were traveling, etc.  This one was a bona fide ear infection.  After her first dose of antibiotics this afternoon, she went right back to her usual chatty self, thank goodness.  

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Posting now

All right, I'm just going to publish this post now.  Who knows when I'll feel like doing a real post with pictures and video and all that stuff from vacation.  Probably about the time it's time for our next getaway (beginning of June - sans Avery - Vegas).

Decent

Energy update

While nothing like yesterday, my energy is decent today.  Mood is good, too. Well, it is now.  It was awful about thirty minutes ago when I returned from a short walk with Eddie and Avery.  The walk with Turtle and Avery = piece of cake.  The walk with Eddie and Avery had me yelling at Eddie within two seconds.  He is such a pain in the ass to walk when I'm not totally focused on him all the time.  Such a diva, that dog.

I had my second call with Andrea this afternoon. I've decided that my health care funds that pay for my therapist/drug dealer would be so much better spent if I just paid to talk to her every month. Alas, despite this, I'm quite sure my health insurance doesn't cover food coaches.

Bib Use #157

Make a stage using carefully placed bibs!  Yes, Avery danced in the middle of her stage for quite some time.  And yes, she got quite upset when Turtle Girlie claimed her usual spot in the center of the rug Avery's stage.

Avery's still sick

She is still being a total trooper about it, but the runny nose is still present.  As of last night she still had a minor fever.  I felt it best to keep her home from school.  And we have a day of relaxed rules again, though she's eating better and watching less TV on her own.  I'll take it.

Shoppers, help!

OK, I have these little shelves in my kitchen that I just can't figure out what to do with.  I've had various items on the shelves, but haven't particularly liked any of them.  So, I'm looking for suggestions for what to put on them.  I'd prefer functional, but I'm open to simply decorative.

I'd prefer things from Etsy or local shops, but again, if you have a great idea from Crate & Barrel, bring it.  Oh, and there are two sets of these shelves - each on either side of the sink.

Ideas? No color preferences, though I definitely need some color in my kitchen so Bold is Better.

Better

Better, much better

I woke up today feeling so much better.  It could be a number of things:

• The Prozac I took hit my system (highly unlikely it's this since Prozac takes a while to build up and I'm on a minuscule dose at the moment)
• I bought and drank detox tea specifically because it said it's good for kidney and liver functions.  You might recall (though why would you?) that my kidney and liver pulses are basically non-existent whenever they're checked by the naturopath or acupuncturist.  I figured what harm could tea do.  I don't like nor dislike the tea, so it's painless and easy. 
• Acupuncture yesterday finally caught up with me.
• I got better sleep last night, though I did have night sweats again - boo!

Valentine's Day cards

Here are a few pictures of the final Valentine's Day cards.

Cards for the students

Cards for the teachers

Snowman

It snowed overnight, so I bundled Avery and out we went to make a snowman.  To be more accurate, I made the snowman while she commanded that we needed to do certain things ("He needs a carrot for a nose!" etc).  I made the eyes out of wine corks - what else? - and the mouth out of celery.

I even had the energy to shovel the sidewalks and the driveway, thank you very much.  Never mind it wasn't necessary to do this since the snow is rapidly melting.  I just couldn't stop once I started moving snow around to make the snowman.  OCD, oh how I loathe thee.

It would have been better to get a picture of Avery with the snowman, but by this point she'd said she was going in the house to warm up and abandoned the project.

To satiate your need for Avery pictures, I shall post this one of a particularly cute outfit Avery picked out for school last week.

Notice how all elements have stripes.  Awesome.

Toilets

And now, since I have energy, I'm going to scrub all the toilets.  I've been aching to do this forever. Yes, I have.  But it's not something I can do quickly because I'm a total germ-a-phobe when it comes to toilet cleaning, so I have to have all my gear ready.  I've just not had the energy and time at the same time to do it.  I love me a clean bowl. 

Sick

Oh, and Avery is still sick, but was a total trooper (thank goodness, knock on wood) through the night.  As with all sick days, it's a eat whatever you want and watch as much boob tube as your little heart desires day.  Hey, maybe that's why I'm so happy? :)

Tapering

Depression

Well, I don't know if a few days a depressive episode makes, but I'm not doing well right now.  Last Tuesday, my PMHNP (therapist/drug dealer) and I decided the night sweats side effect had lingered long enough.  It was interfering with regular sleep on a frequent basis.  I would literally wake up with my clothing drenched with sweat and have to change clothes in the middle of the night.  Lest you suggest I just go commando because that option is considerably worse because I would then wake up because I could feel the sweat dripping down my thigh or off my stomach.  Also, because these particular night sweats result in me sleeping in one position for the duration (like I'm frozen, which is not how I usually sleep), I would almost always wake up to find my hands on my stomach and they would be pruny from so much moisture. So yeah, all of this is disgusting, but worse, it's a guarantee of a horrible night of sleep.  I can't really judge energy levels when I'm getting the crappiest sleep ever, so time to switch meds.

I tapered down my dose of Zoloft during the last week.  About three or four days ago is when I really started to feel the effects the lower dosage.  My temper is ultra quick, I cry at nothing (example: Eddie pooped in the house this morning and this afternoon - I cried both times), and I am so unmotivated to do anything other than what I absolutely must.  I've canceled several appointments in the past few days and am just pathetic.

Today was my first day on the new med, Prozac.  I've taken it before, but I have no idea how I do on it.  It was so long ago and it was in the time when family docs threw you on and took you off the SSRIs with no tapering up or down.  Now, tapering is a big deal.  Anyway, hopefully it'll work as well as the Zoloft, but be minus the night sweat side effect.  Fingers crossed. 

Croup

Avery is sick.  She had what I think was a minor case of croup (confident of croup, not sure if there are minor or major cases).  It was preceded by a week of a runny nose, which for Avery, is very, very rare.  Other kids are often snot machines, I've noticed.  Avery is not.  So I was struck that this runny nose stuck around.  Then, five days or so ago, she actually said her ear hurt in the middle of the night.  Again, she has never, ever complained of an ear ache.  I gave her Tylenol and asked her about it in the morning.  She said it didn't hurt anymore.

Sunday night she had a few of the barking coughs indicating that it was croup.  She did fine through the night, though.  Slept through it all and was happy as a clam all day Monday.  I sent her to school today after talking with the doctor.  Tonight, she has a fever of 100.4 (so, not high), but it's the first time she's had any fever during this little illness.  Plus, I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier.  Regardless, she's asleep at 7:12 (early for her) and skipped dinner.  Hopefully she's back to her normal self tomorrow.

And here is when I say how grateful I am that she is such a trooper when she's sick.  Seriously.  She has got to rank up there with the most easy going kids.  She rarely cries, just wants to sleep, and doesn't fight the night time sleep even when she's coughing.  She doesn't even seem to get more clingy (most of the time).  Of course, tonight will be the night all of this ends because I committed the ultimate Mommy Blogger crime: bragged about my baby online.  However, I say, when kudos are called for, they should be given.  Because goodness knows those fits she throws over nothing at all are so very trying. 

Diet

Still on it.  I'm fucking frustrated as hell.  I truly expected that I'd be feeling some amazing results by now.  However, if I were reintroducing now, I'd have zero confidence in my ability to say any exhaustion is related to the reintroduced food or just par for the course.  I cried through acupuncture today because I am just so tired of being tired.

The food cravings are somewhat kicking in, but I'm not so sure it is craving versus just being in a negative state of mind.  What is the point of doing this if I'm going to feel almost no different?  I might as well eat that chocolate marshmallow treat that Avery brought home for Valentine's Day.  I'm not going to because damned if I won't make it to 21 days this time, but ARGH!

Asthma

2011 & classes

I can't believe next year is 2011.  It feels so space age to type that. In order to register Avery for swimming classes, I have switched her school schedule such that she'll go on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in January.  Swimming lessons will commence at the start of January and take place on Mondays and Wednesdays.

I also tried to register Avery for the pre-ballet class, but it wouldn't let me.  Even though it's a class listed for the 3 to 6-year-old set, apparently the minimum age for that class is 4.  Bummer.  I can register her for some other dance classes with the same teacher and location where she is now, but that means I have no days without a commitment scheduled.  I've learned that it's really hard to schedule things when everyday has an activity of some sort, even if that activity is only 45-minutes. 

Avery's BD party

I sent out the Evite for Avery's BD party.  Yes, I did an Evite rather than paper invitations.  When she's older, if she wants to pick out paper invitations, that's fine with me, but for the meantime, I'm going electronic. 

Date nights

The G's canceled their date night tonight.  I'll confess I immediately tried to get the neighbor girl to babysit Avery tonight so we could have two date nights this weekend.  Alas, she has dance tonight, so we'll have to wait to see 127 Hours until tomorrow night - hopefully.  We're actually having dinner at Paley's Place tomorrow, a gift for D's birthday from his dad, so hopefully we'll have time to catch the movie afterward.  We wouldn't want to waste a movie going opportunity!

Asthma

I took Avery to a pediatric pulmonologist today.  I thought for sure he was going to laugh us out of the room since I didn't think there was any way she could have asthma.  He suspects she probably does have mild asthma.  There's nothing to do about it given she doesn't have trouble breathing, doesn't seem bothered with her coughing, and it doesn't impede her life at all.  The medical community used to think you'd prevent scarring in the lungs if you did daily treatments even with such a minor case, but the doctor said they've never proven anything.  As such, I opted for no treatment at this time.

Trail

Monday & Today

Avery and I spent all day yesterday at home.  Sick rules were implemented for Avery - unlimited screen time & as much milk as she wanted - and we made it through the day easily.  We both napped a bit, needed for me because Avery's been coming into our room at night.  This is not new, but what is new is that she's keeping me awake.  She lies there whispering to herself, or asks for water in the middle of the night, or just kicks me a lot.  We're going to have to go back to the no-Avery-in-the-bed rule soon.  I just can't be woken up constantly through the night and be able to operate the next day.

Today, Avery's at school and I spent the morning reading the book I started last night, The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag.  It's a good read so far - I'm about 45% done. 

In a bit I'm off to take Turtle on her first trail walk in a long time.  I have got to get back in the habit of doing it!  I feel guilty, it's not healthy for either of us to not do it, and it's the right thing to do. 

Avery's angelic streak continues

I don't know what's gotten into her, but I like it!  She's been so good lately.  She still has moments of pouting, but they're nothing.  Like such a minor blip that I find it hard to even note them.  I ask her to do a "sippy cup roundup" and off she goes to grab all sippy cups laying around the house to put them by the sink.  I ask her to please do something and she almost always replies, "OK, Mommy!" When I say no to things recently, most of the time she just accepts it.  Occasionally she'll ask why, but accept the explanation I give.  This is the greatest phase ever.

She did have a bit of a pout this morning, but even the way she handled it was more mature and easier for me to handle.  After showing me the dress she wanted to wear to school, I said that was fine, but she had to wear a long-sleeved t-shirt & leggings underneath since it is a summer dress.   She did not like that answer and sat on her floor thinking about the situation for a good long time.  I left her to think about her choices.  When I came back, she renegotiated and said she'd wear a short-sleeved t-shirt.  I appreciate polite negotiations, so I said, OK, that was a good compromise.  Of course, once I showed her a new t-shirt I bought several months ago and had forgotten about, she just wanted to wear that with no dress, which worked for me.  The t-shirt has a picture of a stethoscope as if it's draped around her neck. Avery said, "It has a stethoscope on it! I'm Dr. Avery Smith!"  She loves to play doctor.

Eye patch update

The drama with getting Avery's eye patch on and off has subsided quite a bit. Getting off can still be challenging, but I often take the approach of telling her to let me know when she's ready to take it off once she's had it on for the minimum amount of required time.  Typically, she wants to leave it on all day.

To lessen the pain when taking it off, I put a tiny bit of lotion on her face before I put the patch on.  This reduces the stickiness just enough to make the removal tolerable.

Fever

Avery's Fever

Avery came into bed with us at some point during the night.  Early this morning, she says, very quietly and politely, "Water, please."  So I go get her some water and think nothing of it.  An unknown amount of time later, I feel her moving around to take off her jammies.  This time she turned to Daddy and said, again as sweetly as ever, "Please put my jammies on the floor because I want them on the floor."  He does.  I reach over to make sure she's OK and she's roasting.  Anyway, she's otherwise fine, but has a fever of 103.  Due to a scheduling oversight on my part, I was wondering whether I should reschedule her school day or have her just go part time.  This answers that question!

This is the first time she's had a fever over 101, I think.  I can't recall another time at least.  Hopefully the Tylenol kicks in soon and she gets some good rest.  It's now 5:30 AM and I'm wide awake. 

Movies

We saw Unstoppable (great movie!) and Jackass 3D (funny if you like the Jackass movies, which we embarrisingly do) last night for our date night.  We were able to do a 5:15 showing, then a 7:50 showing, so it wasn't even a late date night.  And we had the latest episode of Dexter waiting for us at home.  Sweet!

Soy

Soy Sauce

I've mentioned before that I subscribe to The Big Picture blog by the Boston Globe.  Today's series of pictures is called Small Worlds.  It's from an annual competition held by Nikon to capture photography done at manification.  All of the pictures are aweinspiring, but a couple stand out to me.

#12 is of crystallized soy sauce magnified 16 times.  I'm amazing at how "Asian" it looks.  It looks like an abstract of Asian writing.  I'm sure if you read Chinese or Koren or Japanese, you'd probably think me crazy.  However, not being familiar with those languages, it just looks so much like characters to me. 

#16 is a snow crystal magnified 40 times.  How perfect it is.  Amazing. 

Mexico Happenings

Vic & Mike arrived yesterday.  They seem to be pleasantly surprised with our little community and casa.  I don't think they were expecting much since I try not to oversell the place.  We went into town for dinner last night (Christie & Mom - we ate at the same restaurant we had lunch at before taking Christie & Henry to the airport).  It was delicious and Avery was quite content to watch the iPhone through dinner, a necessity since she was a good hour past her bedtime.  That hour really matters now that she's not napping during the day. 

My afternoon shift starts in five minutes.  D has a conference call for work during it, so Avery and I will head to the beach or pool for sure during that time.  Vic and Mike have headed into town on their own to do some grocery shopping. Vic wanted to explore, so it seemed better for them to head off on their own.  And they're cooking dinner for us tonight.  Sweet!

Avery and I made Vic a birthday cake (her BD was Monday) yesterday morning and it turned out quite well.  I was most pleased with it.  I didn't make any frosting, but it's moist enough with the sour cream I put in it to do without frosting. 

Tomorrow we have a boat trip to Coronado Island planned as long as it's not too windy.

I think Avery is feeling the attention diversion now that Vic and Mike are here.  When we were driving back with them from the airport, there was a lot of chatter in the car with the four of us catching up.  Avery was watching and listening.  When the adults would laugh, she would laugh, too.  This is a move she's repeated during other moments, even though I know she's not getting the joke.  I made a mental note of it and we're concentrating on making sure she feels included.  I'm sure it's an adjustment for her.

They have started building the feature in our exterior courtyard.  We thought they'd be putting in a fountain there, but it looks like it's going to be a planter with a large tree in the center and then surrounded by flowers.  I would prefer the tree the fountain since the shade is more functional than a decorative water fountain. 

Patching

Avery's patching is going better.  She resists putting it on slightly, but not too bad.  She has no issue leaving it on, but there's still prodding to get her to take it off. However, it doesn't hurt nearly as much since we put a very, very small amount of lotion on her face first and that reduces the adhesion enough to eliminate pain, but still allow it to stick (enough) to be effective.

Busy

The Weekend Rundown

Friday

• Little Gym
• PieLab - I had the absolutely delicious berry pie
• Pumpkin patch outing - we rode the train and climbed a haystack pyramid, though Avery didn't go much higher than the fourth level.  She's not overly fond of heights, I guess.
• Playdate with Elise while I chatted with RHG
• Date night for D & me - we saw Buried. 

Saturday

• LoveLife5K - we signed up for the 1K an did about ¼ of that due to protests from Avery.  It was very wet, but thankfully not very cold. 
• Lunch at Stepping Stone Cafe - I had The Dilemma: hashbrowns topped with fresh spinach and melted cheese - delicious is an understatement.  We've been before, but this was our best visit yet.  It was so much fun.  If lunch were always that fun, I'd never stop eating. Fun music, great vibe, awesome food, very cool all around. 
• Pumpkin patch outing followed by pumpkin carving contest nearby.  The trip to the pumpkin patch itself was very quick since it was raining.  We just picked out some pumpkins and headed to the house of D's colleague for pumpkin carving.  There were two other little girls near Avery's age there, including Parker whom Avery has met several times before.  Avery had a great time trying on the hostesses high heeled shoes and petting her very, very, very patient cats.  
• Home for Gs date night

Sunday

• Woke up in the middle of the night in a fit of coughing that set my voice back a few weeks.  
• Actually cried because I am so frustrated with my voice situation.  Told D had to stay silent for several days in an attempt to heal my voice.  He took Avery for most of the day.  I have talked very little in the past 24 hours and hope to continue that streak through tomorrow.  

Patching

We received Avery's eye patches, so we started the patching on Sunday.  Avery doesn't particularly want to put it on, but seems to do OK with it once it's on.  Originally I thought I'd just do it when we're at home, but I would have to convince Avery's to put the patch on in the morning and the evenings if I did this. So I sent her to school with the patch on.  Thankfully, she's too young to feel weird about the patch.  The patches are pretty cute with the designs.

Birthday

Happy Birthday, Damian!

First, a big, huge happy birthday to Damian!  Avery was quite keen to open D's presents this morning; D was kind enough to let her open them.  We are now an iPad family!  I got D a few other things, too, but that was his main gift.  Tonight we'll celebrate by going to Tabla for dinner.

D's dad gave him a gift of dinner at Paley's Place.  That is a damn cool present.  We'll probably go there in November. 

Birthday Patterns

When Avery arrived, I immediately noticed that her birthday is exactly one week after my brother's and exactly one week before my birthday.  This year they all land on Sundays.

D's dad's birthday and my dad's birthday are on the same day in October (this Friday).

My mom's birthday is in late September.  Exactly a week later, today, is D's birthday.  The following week is my brother's wife's birthday. This year they all land on Wednesdays.

We have a few outliers in this pattern since I clearly have not mentioned all family members, but I am amazed by the patterns.  Perhaps all families have these sorts of patterns.  I don't know.  I just find it cool.

Voteeasy

The Oregon candidates are online now.  My best matches are Ron Wyden (D) for The Senate and Michael Meo (Pacific Green, Progressive) for The House.  I haven't heard of Meo before now.  While I wouldn't vote for him (see my stance on "Ralph Nader" voters from yesterday's post), this site did make me research him a bit more, so that is a good thing even if it doesn't result in my vote changing. 

Eye Doctor

We have a follow-up appointment at the eye doctor for Avery this morning.  I think we'll also need to get her a pair of prescription sunglasses for Mexico.  Neither of her current frames have sunglasses that be put on top (at least I don't think they do).  I think she'd lose any attachments anyway.  She's good at keeping her glasses on, but if there is a piece that comes off, she'll most definitely want to play with it.  Seems crazy to buy a preschooler (she seems too mature to call a toddler any more) prescription sunglasses, but I'm not sure how else to protect her eyes from the sun, particularly if she's in a refusing to wear a hat mode. 

Story

Ladybug

Yesterday, I tried reading my Kindle while Avery read books.  I sat on the chair and she sat on the couch.  It was very sweet.  After about five minutes of reading together, yet separately, Avery looked up and started to tell me a story about school.  It was fascinating to listen to her string her vocabulary and the sequence of events together to get out what she wanted to tell me.

• Avery said, "Teacher Theresa put ladybug on her finger to show."  
• Then she paused and looked down.  "Grant.  Grant squashed ladybug."  
• I said, "Awww."  
• She then said, "That not nice!"  Another pause, "Avery no squash ladybug." 

I'm quite curious to ask Teacher Theresa about this to see how accurate the story is and, in fact, whether it happened at all.  Teacher Theresa was surprised to hear that Avery said, "Just like Teacher Theresa!" when eating her green beans, but Avery definitely has a green bean association with TT since she repeated it again when we had green beans again the other night. 

Three Cups of Tea

On Tuesday night, I downloaded two books by/about Greg Mortenson: Three Cups of Tea and Stones Into Schools.  I'm 50% of the way through Three Cups of Tea and love it.  I'm happy reading it because I know I still have Stones Into Schools to go.  Typically, I start to get sad at the halfway point of a good book because I find it so difficult to find books I really enjoy reading, yet when I do find a book I enjoy, I like reading more than most any activity, TV and computer included.  

Avery & Illness

Avery is doing much better and seems fully recovered.  However, there are some lingering things that make me wonder.  For example, yesterday she threw up a massive amount right before D got home.  And in perfect timing, D arrived about two minutes after I finished cleaning it all up.  Well played, honey.  In any case, then she sat down and ate a fair amount of dinner. 

This morning, absent any fever or coughing and looking really well, she has asked me to hold her hair twice, then stared over the toilet obviously feeling unwell.  Now, just fifteen minutes later, she's totally fine.  Strange. 

Lovely Pattern

I'm not sure how long this has been going on, but it's really solidified into a lovely pattern.  D gets up earlier than me on most weekdays.  Avery has either joined us in bed (she comes in around 6 ish most mornings it seems), or she wakes up when she hears him get up and then joins us.  D gets her some milk.  He gets ready and leaves for work.  Avery and I then sleep until anywhere from 7:45 to 9:00.  It rocks.  I sometimes wonder if giving her milk to get a bit more sleep out of her is wrong.  Then, after thinking about it for a while, I decide what could be wrong with helping your child get plenty of sleep. That's the stance I'm taking, right or wrong.

Fever

Fever

Avery started a low grade fever (100.8°) last night.  When she woke around 6:45, she still had it.  The good news is that she slept through the night in her room.  She's definitely getting better, though we did take a three hour nap together late this morning.  Despite those three hours, I'm quite tired.  All things considered, it's been a fairly easy sick-kid stint, but I tire easily, as you should know if you've read my blog for a week or more. I'm really happy to have D home.  He was in Seattle Monday and today.

Right now, I hear D reading to Avery up in her room.  And he said he'd clean the kitchen tonight.

I expect tomorrow Avery will be well enough for me to cease the screen-time-limit-be-damned attitude I've been allowing.  We have watched a lot of Kung Fu Panda ("there is no charge for awesomeness ... or attractiveness" - best line of the movie right there).  Avery has started talking about Master Shifu. It's odd to hear her say, "Master Shifu."

Book

I read a book.  Yes, this feat merits an entire section because, damn it, I just don't read that much anymore.  I'll Fly Away is a compilation of short stories and poems written by women in a prison in Connecticut.  The author Wally Lamb runs writing classes (workshops?) with them.  I read the first book he published with works by the women, Couldn't Keep it to Myself, and enjoyed it, so I bought this one for my Kindle.  While I don't like that I can't share a book I bought for my Kindle, I do love the Kindle itself.

Since I so enjoyed reading an actual book, I'm going to read the Stones into Schools book my mom recommended.  At least if it's available on Kindle I'm going to read it.  If not, then I know Three Cups of Tea by the same author is available for download. Christie read Stones into Schools, so I fear that while we're in Mexico, she and Mom will be chatting away about this book that I'm going to wish I'd read.  

Underwear

I skim this blog about happiness.  I have mixed feelings about it.  I like it in that I do believe that happiness is, in large part, a choice we make.  I dislike it because I like happiness to be easy and not something I work to make happen. That said, I think it was Vy who commented she read the book by the blog author and was intrigued by the idea of adding more happiness into her already happy life.  In any case, this is why I skim it: because I find it somewhat interesting without being a devout follower of the concept.

In my skimming, I paused on the post Do you hoard your new underwear?  I can say unequivocally that I do not hoard my new underwear.  I wash it, then put it directly into rotation the moment I buy it.  It would never occur to me to hoard my new underwear.  Why would you buy underwear just to keep wearing your old underwear?  Further reading of the posts reveals that this isn't so much about underwear as much as it as about "spending out" (using things that she has because otherwise they go to waste just sitting there unused).  I do not suffer from this problem.  If I buy something, I rarely save it for later.  I think I used to do that, but I've decluttered enough to have realized that when I save things for later, I just end up forgetting about them and then not extracting the happiness from using it.

Now I feel like, in my little diatribe, I've basically stolen this woman's post and redone it.  I didn't mean to do that.  She can rest peacefully in the fact that hers is much more eloquent and profound, whereas mine is mostly about the underwear. 

Avery Conversations

Today, as we were checking out at the grocery store, Avery says to the checkout clerk, "Hi. My name is Avery.  I have yogurt."  And she did have yogurt.  The end.

 Ballsy

Finally, I leave you with a posting of two emails sent by an internship seeker.  It's hard to believe that someone like this exists, but since I've heard stories of candidates going in for interviews with their mothers in tow (seriously!), I guess this shouldn't surprise me.

Tiny

344

I posted to a NYT article a while back about this Hong Kong man's 344 sq ft apt, but now they have a video tour of it.  I totally want to live in his 344 sq. ft. apt.  He apparently let it be videoed as a look at "green" homes. It looks so cool.

Vomit

Avery went to bed at 6:45. I had intended to just read her some books to pass the time, but I got a few pages in and she said, "Avery's tired. I want to go to bed." So I put her in bed and she conked out immediately. She woke up around 10:30 and needed to go to the bathroom.  Then she said she was hungry, so we came downstairs to get some hard boiled eggs (her favorite at the moment).  As I was making them, she asked for milk and I caved.  The end result was that she threw up a tiny amount while waiting for eggs.  After I got her cleaned up - an easy effort this time - she said she was tired and headed upstairs to bed.  I hoping things return to normal tomorrow, though this so easy to put to bed thing rocks.