pre-orders

holidays
I've pre-ordered a brined turkey from New Seasons for Thanksgiving. I'm in the process of pre-ordering our Christmas tree and arranging for delivery. I decided to get a real tree this year. I don't know why except that I'm tired of our plastic tree. The fact that I could pay $25 to have it delivered to the house is definitely a factor. I don't have to go pick it out (though I could have opted to pick it out myself) or figure out how to get it home. I got a grand fir because it's the most fragrant.

Mom will be joining us for Thanksgiving. D volunteered to cook the dinner if I do the cleaning up. Done and done! Mom is, of course, assigned dessert duty.

Christmas dinner will be done with the G's. Location of that is TBD.


sandy
I'm reading some of the analysis of why Romney lost. One factor that keeps coming up is Hurricane Sandy. It very well may have helped Obama win. What I find amusing is that Sandy was declared by Christian extremists to be retribution for the US support of a homosexual agenda. So the fact that ultimate result of Sandy may very well have been the re-election of Obama means that God approves of the "homosexual agenda" (aka equal rights for all people). I always wonder how the crazy Christian extremist interpret the tea leaves of all this. Do they just assume homosexuality is always at the top of the list as to why we have weather events? What about adultery? What about all those coveters out there?

minutia
I spent the morning cleaning and getting things almost back to the way they were before the party. I've had plenty of opportunity to do this before now, but today was the first day I felt like doing it.

I watched Witness: Juarez last night. It's an HBO mini-documentary about a photojournalist's journey to photograph the situation in Juarez, Mexico. Two things stood out to me:

1. I find it hard to believe there's any real effort on the part of the Mexican government to battle the cartels. The "war" has claimed 100 Mexican soldiers and 19,000 Mexican citizens. Only 100 soldiers lost in a war with so many citizen victims? Even if a lot of those victims are involved in the drug trade, surely the army isn't actually attempting to physically stop the cartels?
2. El Paso, Texas is right over the border and is the 3rd safest city in America. Ciudad Juarez is the 6th most dangerous city in the world. 

Chris Matthews is an idiot who should be fired. Who says he's glad a storm of this magnitude happens? It's not a slip of the tongue, it reveals he really is glad the hurricane wreaked the havoc it did (and still is wreaking).

This Kenyan mother named her twins Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. WTF is she thinking? The poor kid who ended up being Mitt Romney is going to be all sorts of messed up. I guess maybe kids growing in Africa (depending up where in Africa, of course) have things a bit more challenging than their names to worry about, but still. It's like naming one kid Winner and the other Loser. Especially when you consider that Obama is so loved in Kenya. Weird woman.

60

home sweet home after flight (Avery)60
Yesterday Avery took her 59th and 60th flights. How do I know the exact number you ask? Well, while in Mexico, I became obsessed with figuring out how many total trips to Mexico. That required I go back and document all those. I couldn't very well do that without documenting all the other travel we've done, so I did that too. Then I went and labeled all the blog posts during Mexico trips by their number. A useless exercise that only I care about, I know, but I'm still a bit obsessed with it. It's not easy being me.

We got home at 12:30 am last night (technically this morning). Despite a long layover in LAX (5 hours), it was a very easy travel day for me. The kids kept each other entertained wonderfully and when they got a little bored, Christie whipped out that iPad. iPads are god's gift to traveling parents.

Summary of our trip: pool, hot, beach, pool, hot, beach, pool, pool, beach, eat, hot. Done. Avery slept beautifully this trip. She's to the age where she always sleeps well, but her falling asleep times during this trip were unbelievable. I'd say "calm down" and she'd lie still and be asleep 15 seconds later. Amazing. It was the same tonight when we put her to bed.

iPhone stuff
So far, the thing I am most excited about for the iOS6 release for iPhone is the ability to set a Do Not Disturb time. I could always do this with my Blackberry where I had it shut itself off at 11 and wake up at 7. I like the way Blackberry did it better since it actually shut the phone off and therefore saved battery power during the night, but this will do. Plus, you can set it so that some callers can get through and can activate a feature that will let a call through when it comes from the same number two calls in a row within a few minutes of each other.

D new iPhone has shipped. We're going to get Mom set up to use D's old iPhone.

reentry day
It went pretty well today, especially because Avery had a playdate at Elise's after school. Avery made it to school on time and we didn't even rush to do that because I'd mentally decided she'd be late given our late flight. I had to run to the grocery store after drop-off to get stuff for her lunch, then take it back to her, but no biggie. I also managed to get stuff for dinner while at the grocery store. It's embarrassing how often I'll go to the grocery store in the morning to get a couple of things and talk myself out of getting something for dinner. Things I think: "maybe I'll come up with what to make for dinner later" and "another stop at the grocery store is no big deal. it'll probably even be easier" and "maybe we should just eat out?" That last thought is the one that has been winning out lately. But not today! Of course, we ate our standard meal of salmon, green beans, and (brown rice) pasta, but whatever, we still ate at home and I still cooked.

When I got home from dropping A at school and taking care of couple of minor errands, I took a nap. I slept until 2:30. I slept hard and solid. I needed that sleep. It was lovely and I'm so very, very grateful the scheduling gods (aka school and RHG) made it happen.

Mom came over to join us for dinner and to read to Avery. It was great to see her after being gone so long.

toys
Poll: how long does one have to pine after a toy before purchasing it for oneself? Like, if it's totally unnecessary, but you've wanted it for years, does that mean you're in the clear to buy it for yourself? There's a correct answer to this question and I'm fishing for it. One guess what I want the answer to be. In all seriousness, what is the threshold you use for allowing yourself to buy a somewhat expensive toy (under $500, but more than $200) for yourself that you absolutely do not NEED.

best pictures ever?
I'll let you decide. The last night in Mexico, we went exploring along the beach, then to dinner, then let the kids run the length (the FAR length) of the beach. Avery had complained earlier that her swim bottoms were hurting. We determined the cause was they are now too small for her. Since she couldn't very well walk around naked, I pulled them down slightly to make them more comfortable. She left them at this acceptable level for quite a while. When she and Henry took off running down the beach well ahead of Christie and me, I noticed a little white patch on Avery way in the distance. When we finally caught up to them (or rather got close enough to them to yell "stop!"), this is what we discovered the white patch to be.

Photo by Christie Glynn

Photo by Christie Glynn

Flying

Flying - time!
Since I last posted, some highlights:

• I finished up all of the wedding-related stuff I was doing for the teacher at Avery's school. She got married on Saturday. I couldn't attend because we were out of town for the weekend. I was up until 2:30 AM on Wednesday night doing to place cards for the tables, but it was worth it. I was very pleased with how those turned out.  And I'm now a total expert at using many types of pens with my Silhouette. You need place cards or the like, I'm your woman. During this process, I also discovered that it's cheaper and better to buy large sheets of high quality paper at Blick (or another art supply store) rather than using cardstock or scrapbooking paper. It takes the ink better and gives you more flexibility ... you know, in case you were wondering. 
• We had a visit with some of Avery's birthfamily! It went very well. Nikki (birthmother), Grandma J (maternal grandmother), Grandpa Paul (maternal grandstepfather), and Garrett (brother) were all there for the BBQ at Grandma J's house.
• We had another visit with the grandmother we hadn't yet met, Grammie Tina. She is Mike's mom. It was great to finally meet her. The visit was a good one. Avery took no time whatsoever to warm up to Grammie Tina. She commenced trying to impress her immediately. The two of them made bead bracelets together. 
• D and I attended his office's annual company trip. This year it was held on the coast at Salishan Lodge. I remembered to bring gluten-free graham "style" crackers for the beach party where s'mores were the dessert. While D went kayaking, I hit the spa to enjoy a scrub. 
• Mom and I painted ... and repainted. Fortunately, I actually enjoy painting for the most part. Mom wanted a smokey blue for her room. We picked out a blue, painted her whole bedroom (the largest room we were painting ourselves), then decided it wouldn't work. So we repainted it and it looks much better. She and I also painted her office and the guest room. The professionals came in and painted the dining room, living room, kitchen, and hallways, as well as all the ceilings. Mom and I will still need to paint the two bathrooms, but we can do that after she's settled in a bit. 
• MOM MOVED! She moved on Tuesday with the movers doing all the heavy lifting. I've been over to her place to help out everyday except yesterday. She's making great progress. The kitchen is unpacked, the living room is done, the office is nearing completion. Her couches fit perfectly in the living room, and they are much more attractive in this house than they were in her CO house. 

Flying - Avery's schedule
I've been flying* through Avery's fall scheduling, arranging and scheduling and registering for Avery's fall classes. So far, I think we can manage gymnastics**, dance***  and swimming****. Whether theater***** can be added into the mix remains to be seen. Swimming and theater conflict. When asked to choose between them, Avery chose swimming.

* Yes, I'm stretching the use of the "flying" theme here.

** Gymnastics, for us, is dependent upon two spots being open for Avery and Elise. We're out of district for THPRD. I suppose if we can't get into gymnastics there, I'll check if Avery wants to do gymnastics without Elise. If she still does, then I can look outside of the parks & rec program (probably go to the place where Teacher Jackie is teaching).

*** I was very happy to learn that the studio I found for Avery has both online registration and the ability for me to schedule particular days during a session. This means I don't have to pay for those days we'll miss due to vacations, etc.

**** Swimming is dependent upon being able to find an agreeable time that Henry can do semi-private lessons with Avery, as well as SWCC having a semi-private slot open during our requested time(s). So many dependencies.

***** I decided to just sign Avery up for theater on the off chance that things will work out exactly the way I need them to for this class to happen. If they do, great! If not, then I will lose my $25 deposit for that class.

Flying - travel 

I have been missing Mexico. I also realized this is my last school year where I can just do as I please with Avery's schedule. As such, I decided to see if Christie & Henry would be up for a trip down to Mexico in September. As I was proposing this idea, I realized that we have to connect through LA and what's near LA? Disneyland! After some back and forth with Christie regarding dates that would work, we scheduled a trip. We'll be hitting Disneyland for two full days and we'll be in Mexico for 5 full days (7 if you count travel days). I'm very much looking forward to this. And D will be able to join us for one full day in Disneyland.

Christie is opting not to tell Henry for fear that he'll ask everyday for a month if it's time to go yet. I did not take this route with Avery and told her almost immediately. Today we had the following conversation:
A: "Am I going to school today?"
M: "No, it's Sunday."
A: [pause] "Disneyland?"
M: "No."
A: "Mexico?"
M: "No."

At least she asked about school first?

Barge

Launch
We went to a barge launch this morning. Not normally an activity we'd go to, but we got an invitation and figured why not? So we went and I'm glad we did. It was a short ceremony before the launch, bag pipes played, then put that barge in the water after christening it. It's pretty cool to watch something that big hit the water so quickly, and for the first time.

Cycle (free, share, and bi)
After the barge launch and another errand (picking up a donated sewing machine I got off of Freecycle for Sharecycle), we decided to go bicycle shopping for Avery. The first store, a real bike store, had one for $180. A tad pricey for a bike she won't use that much. The next store, Target, had only two choices for her size: Disney princesses or Barbie brands. Nope. So then we went to a used bike shop on Alberta St. They didn't have any bikes in her size. When we got home, I got on craigslist and found her to be what looks like a nice one for $50. Much more reasonable. There are bikes on there for less than that, but this one meets D's criteria of it not being completely pink and girly and frilly, yet Avery will like it.

Spoiled
After reading this article, Why Are American Kids Spoiled, I got all fired up this morning. It contains nothing I find shocking or new necessarily, but it made me realize that I need to have higher expectations for what Avery is capable of doing.

Anyway, I read the article before getting ready for our outing. I called Avery and told her she was going to go upstairs, get dressed completely dressed with shoes and I wasn't going to say it again. She marched upstairs and got dressed. Then I told her to tidy up her room and that I wasn't going to tell her how since she knew what to do. She did that. There was no whining and no nagging. That last part is probably a coincidence and I don't expect it to be so easy next time, but I'm going to do my damnedest to stop doing things for her when she's capable of doing them herself.

Tin Shed
While over on Alberta for bicycle shopping, we stopped for lunch at Tin Shed. It was so worth the wait. I had the Dr. Dreay - a sandwich with Canadian bacon, two eggs over medium, with jam on bread (I subbed gluten free for sourdough, of course). With a side of cheesy grits. DE-licious.

Date Night & Movies
Tonight is date night. We're going to watch the first half of the Timbers game at The Thirsty Lion, which is the official viewing party location for this game. Then we'll see the French movie The Intouchables. It only has a 77% critics' rating (which isn't bad, but not amazing), but more importantly the user score is 91%. In our experience, a foreign and/or indie flick with a fairly good critic rating and a much better audience rating tends to be right up our alley. Mom will be joining us since this is a movie she'll probably like.

Last night D and I rented Battle Royale through Amazon Instant Videos. This is the original idea for The Hunger Games. I'm not sure how Suzanne Collins didn't get sued by the guy/gal who wrote Battle Royale (it was a book before a movie). Maybe you can't sue if someone uses their own words but steals your idea? Anyway, this movie was MUCH more violent than The Hunger Games and it was very Japanese in its style of acting and directing, but it did hold my attention.

Amusement

Amusement Park
Avery, Nain, and I met up with friends at Oaks Park, which is an amusement park here in Portland. It was my first trip there. Overall, I give it a thumbs up as far as amusement parks go. Not too big, not too crowded, definitely not too expensive, and fairly clean.

Avery, upon exiting many-a-ride, would exclaim, "That was AWESOME!" My girl does not lack for enthusiasm.

Volunteer
I've started volunteering with a (fairly) new non-profit here in Portland called Sharecycle. I was bored one night, went onto craigslist to see if any volunteer opportunities "spoke" to me, and found one posted by Sharecycle. Its mission is to distribute recycled items from the US to communities in developing countries with a need for basic goods. As everyone knows, I like to organize Stuff. I like, even better, giving Stuff I Don't Need to people who do need it and will use it. And I like to help Stuff avoid landfills when possible. So this spoke to me.

The current project the group is working on is sending a batch of sewing accessories and educational supplies to a girls' orphanage in Tanzania.

They We are having a fundraising event on Monday, July 16th at East Burn. A portion of the  profit from the restaurant that evening will be donated to the charity. So, if anyone is looking for dinner plans that night, I say come out, have dinner, and join us!

Slacker Week --> Not So Much Slack Week
This should have been called Slacker Week for me. I skipped Crossfit both days, Avery didn't have her usual slew of activities, and I've generally not done a whole lot this week.

Next week, it's back to the grind. Avery starts her summer camp through her school, thank goodness. She's been asking me for the past few weeks, "Will I get to see Teacher Millie today?"

Avery also starts two weeks of daily swimming lessons. She kept asking about them, so I finally got on the ball and signed her up for general (meaning not private and not semi-private) lessons.

In the evenings next week, I'm busy with two dinners out, a volunteer meeting, a G date night, and a Timbers game.

While

It seems it's been a while since I posted. In that time, the following has happened:

• Avery had her last day of school for the year. That was Wednesday. Thursday we had an all-school picnic, so it was almost like she had school that day in terms of time management. Friday, then, was her first full day of summer vacation. She didn't stop talking all.day.long. I don't care how much you love someone. If they talk constantly, it's bound to wear on you eventually. 
• Thankfully, I know Avery needs to be Busy. She needs to use up her words and energy somewhere. This week that place is dance camp! Yesterday when I dropped her off, she was clinging to me and apprehensive to go in. Today she didn't say goodbye and just took off for the dance room. Last night she showed us her new dance moves. I don't know what they taught the kids, but what she absorbed was hand and arm movement. 
• Next week is her sports & circus camps (sports is just 45 min each day, where as the circus is a half day each day). The following week is her totally free week with no camps. Then the next week, she starts summer camp with her school three days/week. 
• I made it to one Crossfit class. True to form, I thought I took it easy, but my abs were killing me for several days afterwards. I am leaving for today's Crossfit class shortly. How people manage to do a Crossfit workout everyday, I'll never know. I guess it's because they're in really good shape and they don't mind constant pain?
• I signed up for a year's subscription for online Spanish via Rosetta Stone. It's going well. I'm doing it almost everyday and more seems to have sunk in than when I tried the Rosetta Stone CDs several years ago. We'll see. I'm not sure how much has sunk in without the visual cues for prompting. I do wake up and just mutter random words/phrases in Spanish: "una bicicleta!" and "en los estados unidos." 
• For Fathers' Day, we went to see Madagascar 3 (funnier than I thought it'd be). For date night, we went to see Prometheus (meh).

Events

Summary of recent events

• I did sign up for Crossfit. I intended to sign up last Tuesday, but I missed that class because I went shopping to kill time beforehand, then lost track of time and missed class. Doh! I did, however, make it on Thursday. It involved more pull ups. He said I just got lucky to get to do pull ups two sessions in a row. It also involved cart wheels and running around the block. I took it easy and was the perfect amount of sore the next day. In case you're wondering what the perfect amount of sore is, it's when I'm sore enough to feel that I wasn't goofing off, but not so sore that I cannot walk and function like a normal person.
• I've been good about walking, and about getting up early to walk. Tomorrow will be tough since I'll need to get up earlier than usual due to Avery's early morning (routine) appointment at the eye doctor.
• Mom left on Friday for Colorado, so I am walking Barkley on my walks. He slows me down about 5 minutes, but that's not too bad. 
• Mom and I shopped for flowers for the pots on our back deck. Mom then planted them all for me. They're so pretty. 
• We went to the hip hop show on Wednesday night. It's probably the philistine in me, but I wasn't very impressed. The best part of the show was the very end when they switched from the artsy choreography to a more casual (and more authentic?) style of dancing. 
• Mom and I enjoyed This American Life on Thursday. My favorite part was a story about Taylor Dane by comedian Tig Notaro. I hadn't heard of Tig before.  She's hilarious. At least based on the story she told she is. 

Shock

Recap

Friday

• Walked Barkley. 
• Spent the day making skirts for Avery. 



Fabric choice by Avery

• Spent the evening listening to Mimi cry whilst babysitting the kids for date night. Don't feel too sorry for me. I have a high tolerance for crying (by babies) and just put my noise protection headphones on to drown out the noise. While Mimi isn't particularly fond of anyone outside of her family, I think it's fair to say she holds a special sort of hatred for D and me. Absolutely nothing either of do or so or give her will make her stop crying. The only time she isn't crying in our presence is if she's asleep. (For those of you wondering, yes, I would feel totally comfortable telling RHG and Jay that they have to find other plans for Mimi on date nights. No, they would not hold it against me & D. No, they are not taking advantage of us. I don't mind the screaming nearly as much as it seems others would mind a screaming baby. It's not pleasant, but as of now, I still want Mimi coming on date nights over here because eventually she's got to slot in, right? I'm not letting that one little baby mess up a good date night babysitting swap situation! Mom hasn't been here when the G kids are over, with Mimi, for a date night, so maybe Mom can work wonders with Mimi.)

Saturday

• Lazed around all day and did nothing. Took a nap most of the day. 
• D took Avery to the gym with him, then took her to lunch, then they went to the fabric store to pick out fabric for a new skirt. Somehow Avery also managed to turn that one skirt into one skirt and a pillow case, so they came back with two fabrics. One with Disney princesses on it. Apparently, Avery knows exactly where in the fabric store the Disney princess prints are located as she beelined right towards them. I think she must have remembered me saying I wouldn't make a skirt out of the Disney princess fabric ("because it just won't work!" being my excuse), and I believe this is why she came up with the need for a pillow.
• In the late afternoon, the whole family went to see the Cirque de Soleil show Ovo. Avery was enthralled the whole time. She also loved to tell me which costumes she liked best. That girl is all about fashion/fabric it seems. 
• After Ovo, we high tailed it to the G's house, dropped off A, then went to see a late movie. 

Sunday

• Avery and I spent the morning making her pillow case. Avery is OK with me sewing versus being on the computer. She'll just happily play whatever while I sew. If I am on the computer, she's on me like white on rice. Why? Why? Why?!
• Following the pillow case completion, we watched Dolphin Tale as a family. At this point, I should have wanted to Get Some Fresh Air! Or take my child for Outdoor Adventures! But all I wanted to do was nap, so Avery got more TV until Christie & Amber arrived for craft night. 
• I spent craft night working on matching skirts for Avery and Elise. I'm almost done with them, but was too tired to finish up on Sunday night. 

Monday

• Took Avery to school, came home & slept for 2.5 hours, picked Avery & E & N up from school, watched the kids for a few hours, took A & E to their first kung fu (!) class, picked up dinner, went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 7:30 this morning. Holy shit that is a lot of sleep. More on that later. 
• Kung Fu! I've been wanting to take Avery to a martial arts class for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it. The first class of kung fu was free to see if the girls liked it. Avery LOVED it. Elise loved it for a while, then the instructor brought out this foam thingy to "bop" the kids in the head if they failed to protect their heads. And when I say "bop" imagine the slowest possible motion and hitting someone with a feather to imagine what it would feel like to get bopped. Elise was VERY against that and backed all the way out of the circle. The instructor was very nice and said he wouldn't do the bopping with her, that she could just do the punches (he was alternating offering the punching pad or the head bopper, which forced the kids to choose which move to use - head blocking or punching), but that did not convince Elise. Anyway, at the end of the class, Avery said yes, she'd like to do more; Elise said no; then Avery said no, not without any other girls. Being a parent for 4+ years, I knew to DROP IT!  Megan with 2 years parenting experience would have FORCED IT and tried to convince her there and then. Time and space, people. Time and space. That's what Avery needs ... not unlike me! We're very alike in this way. Anyway, after she enthusiastically showed her moves to Daddy that night, I pushed the issue and said Elise wouldn't be in the class with her, she would likely be the only girl, but she had fun right? Besides, I reasoned, it's like in Roscoe Riley Rules #5, when he's the only boy in his tap dancing class, but he sticks with it because tap dancing is so fun. 
• Mom returned home from her visit with Wayne & Rosemary (her brother and his wife).

Sleep and Shock

So I've been sleeping a lot more in the past couple of weeks. Then, yesterday, I started to have a side effect from my anti-depressant that I have historically only had when adjusting to dose changes (smaller or larger). I call it the electric shock feeling. It's particularly prevalent when I move quickly. Turning my head makes me sort of dizzy, but it's more just a buzz kind of feeling. A mild electrical shock feeling is the best way I can describe it. It's not painful, but it's disturbing and makes me tired. 

Since I haven't changed my dosage in a long time (almost a year, I think), it's odd that I'm experiencing this. I'm not sure what to do about it. I'm hoping it's a temporary thing, but if it doesn't go away in a few days, I guess I'll go back to the PMHNP who prescribes my anti-depressant and see what she thinks. I am loathe to do that because it seems the answer will likely be an adjustment of some sort (lower dose, high dose, different med, additional med, etc). Adjustments almost always mean side effects for me. However, of all the side effects, this is among my least favorite. Anything akin to dizziness is awful. I'd rather have an upset stomach all the time than feel dizzy/shocky.

Barkster

Makin' copies with Barkminster Fuller
Since Mom is visiting her brother in eastern Oregon for a few days, I'm in charge of walking Barkley while she's gone. He's a piece of cake to walk compared to Turtle and Eddie. No pulling, no fear of trucks or other loud noises, minimally excited at the site of other dogs. This was my first time walking him. I tried to take him for a walk by myself the other day, but it turns out that if Mom is in the house, Barkley has no interest in going on a walk with me. He got only so far down the sidewalk, then sat down and refused to go. He just kept looking back at the house, presumably waiting for Mom to join us on the walk. However, today without Mom around, he trotted happily beside me without issue.

Barkley's an interesting dog. In many ways, he's my ideal dog. He's more like a cat in that he pretty much just lays around all day. There's no pestering for attention. Also, once he's comfortable around whomever is in the house, he doesn't constantly leap up to greet you when you come in the room.  It often means Avery has to walk around him laying in the middle of the floor, but I much prefer that to a dog who moves every time you approach.

For whatever reason, he's the type of dog that I give constant nicknames to. I am starting to remind myself of Rob Schneider in that SNL skit where he sits next to the copy machine. Barkster! Barkalicious! Barkminster Fuller (from the Buckminster Fuller, the inventor of the geodesic dome) Barnacle. Barky Bark and the Funky Bunch. I could go on and on ...

Routines 
After so many routine disruptions in March, then Spring Break for Avery, things are finally starting to click back in place for me. I can tell when that happens because I start thinking about new craft projects I can undertake.  And I'm finally back to logging my food and to do a daily walk, so that's good.

Bullets

I seem to have a harder time blogging with Mom here. Maybe I've been subconsciously blogging to keep her informed of my life and now that she's here, I struggle with it more? When out of ideas, there are always bullet points with random stuff.

• Mom took Barkley to the groomer this morning. He looks good, but it cost double (!) they amount they quoted on the phone, so we're still in search of a good groomer if anyone knows of one. 
• The knobs have been installed on the living room cabinetry.  It's basically done, though we still have to one door put back on after a hinge mishap. Now I need to focus on getting the visible shelves filled with "decor." That'll take me about 3 years to do, I'm sure. 
• Barkley is making small progress with walking on the wood floors. Very small, but progress nonetheless. 
• Remember when I said I was going to have a controlled fall about 1.5 months ago? Just to be completely open: there was nothing controlled about it. I've been awful about logging food, about what I'm eating, and about keeping up with walking. Not exactly shocking, I know. 
• Mom and I spent a lot of the day getting her gadgets and technical needs figured out. We got her new GPS working, saved addresses in the GPS, mapped out dog parks close(ish) to us for her to try out with Barkley, got her account set up so she can view my calendar, and got her DVR set up properly so she can watch the tube of boobs in her quarters. 
• We're all (D, me, Avery, and Mom) to the Timbers game on Saturday night.  That's right, I'm giving it another whirl. I'm not overly optimistic that I'll enjoy the game, but perhaps I'll enjoy watching the people watching the game. 
• There's a new competition-based reality show about tattooing called Best Ink. While I would never get a tattoo, I have reached a point where I can appreciate the artform of tattooing as craft or an art. 

AirPlay

Weekend update and other random thoughts

We have our date night tonight. Despite the fact that I'm sick and slept in until 11 this morning as a result, I'm still going on date night. The three of us (Mom, D & I) are going to see Undefeated, a documentary about inner-city football. I'm sure it has much more depth than that description, but I don't know like to know too much about movies before I see them. 

Last night's babysitting with Avery, Elise, Nolan and Henry went very well. Mom helped me get dinner onto the plates and get that cleaned up, as well as helped with various other things, so that was very helpful. Fortunately the kids fell into line fairly easily. Once I had them all in bed there was minimal getting up. Henry let a few minor protests fly, but they were nothing out of the ordinary for a 4yo boy. Avery was the last to get to sleep, but this is typical on date nights. Plus, because we have the routine that she can play in her room as long as she wants, as long as she stays in her room, that tends to make her bedtime later on nights when we have E & N (and/or Henry) over. 

It hit me the other day that I basically treat A's sleep like I do food. I provide her the opportunity and atmosphere to get plenty of regular, good sleep; however, whether she takes advantage of that is up to her. That's what we've done with food. We give her a variety of healthy foods (plus some non-healthy ones), then let her eat what she will.  Occasionally we make comments on her eating more x or y and on her getting to sleep earlier or being quiet, but for the most part we leave it up to her. So far this has worked well for us. It is, however, one of those things that I know probably wouldn't work if we had two kids. The odds of getting two kids with temperaments to not (regularly) fight sleep or that don't (regularly) fight healthy (or is healthful?) foods are slim. 

I find I think about what kind of parent I'd be with > 1 kid often. I think it's for two reasons: 

1. I'm grateful I realized that I am (speculatively) a better parent to one kid than I would be to > 1 kid. That's not to say I'd be terrible with > 1 kid, but I think my natural strike zone is = 1. 

2. I fairly regularly watch 2 kids, plus Avery. We have had to implement rules in the house simply to accomodate when the G kids come over. They're really good kids, but once you're at more than 1, things get really messy, really fast. 

Airplay

One great thing about our new receiver (bought for the new surround sound system* in the living room) is that is has AirPlay compatibility. We didn't seek out this function. It's just a happy coincidence that the receiver picked out for us by our installer had it. It means we can wirelessly stream music from any computer or iPhone or iPod on our network to the stereo system in the living room. And it's easy to do. 

Case in point: this morning Elise and Avery went downstairs to play. D and I were still in bed. Avery came in to tell D that she and Elise were going to have a celebration in the living room, but they needed music and she couldn't get daddy's numbers to work. D unlocked his phone for her and she and Elise scooted back downstairs to play while D and I drifted quickly back to sleep. About a minute later we hear blasting music coming from the living room. And this is to show that 4yo can easily figure out how to use the AirPlay functionality, but have not yet mastered turning the volume down. 

*We didn't know anything about what we wanted in surround sound since our entire goal was to better hear the dialoge on TV shows, not to experience car chances and action scenes with true surround sound. 

Arrival

Mom's an Oregonian!
I may come back later to provide more insight into the craziness of the past week or two, but for now, I'm just going to resume blogging as if major life changes happen all the time and should be treated to minor mentions in a random blog post.

Major life change = Mom moving to Portland from Colorado. She's settling into her quarters quite nicely from what I can tell. We arrived yesterday afternoon after an easy two day drive. This morning I cleared out space in the kitchen cupboards for her, as well as a drawer in our main floor closet. I also got her Google Voice number configured such that, when it's dialed, it rings her cell phone and our landline at the same time. It's nice because when the landline rings, it says "Call for Penny" as the caller ID name. This way we know the call is for Mom and can avoid answering it.

Barkley is having a bit of trouble with the adjustment. He won't walk (very far) on the wood floors, so he's self confined to the the backyard, Mom's quarters, and the living room. And the trip to the living room is fraught with danger as it requires a trek over about 5' of hardwood floors for Barkley.

Cabinets
The final touches are still ongoing for the living room cabinetry. The hinges for the doors that slide back into the cabinet (for the desk) are still not right, so they're working on those today. And the pull-out shelf holding the receiver, DVD, etc isn't working properly, so it'll need to be adjusted. Plus, I haven't picked out hardware for the knobs yet. But, the important thing is that I'll be able to start loading it up with stuff tonight. I made D promise that he wouldn't put anything in the cabinets while I was gone.

Catch up
I've spent my entire evening catching up on email, scheduling of Avery activities, and other misc administrative stuff. I'm in an administrative/configuration mood, so I'm going to take my new iPad (new to me - it's D's old one since he bought himself the new iPad) upstairs and get it all set up the way I want it. Then I'm going to read. Lovely. All is just lovely.

Snow

Snow day
We woke up to snow this morning. I could have risked it and taken Avery to school a bit late, but decided it wasn't worth it. So Avery and I are having a day at home. I've completed one major task that needed to be done this week, so I'm counting it as a successful day.

Avery has been playing very well by herself. In fact, she's been doing that since we got back from Colorado. I'm not sure what the Gs did to her, but I'm glad they did! It's a nice change of pace.

The snow had completely melted off by late afternoon, so we went out to dinner at Pastini's. The waitress was in love with Avery. I was on fire with my ability to crack Avery up tonight, tyvm, and the waitress heard Avery's belly giggle. She commented at least four times on how Avery was so cute and had the best laugh she'd ever heard. It was rather awesome. When she truly has a belly giggle, I must agree it's the best sound in the world. I mean to record it sometime and then make it my cell phone ring.

Living room project
One problem I immediately noticed with the cabinetry was a color difference between the trim and the fronts of the doors. The same color of paint was used, and they were given the same number of coats. However, the wood was slightly different and evidently the paint absorbed differently. They removed the cabinet doors to paint them and will reinstall them next week sometime.

The tile has been installed around the fireplace. They will need to grout it tomorrow. I love the hearth tile and like the tile surrounding the fireplace.

DST
Daylight Savings Time is kicking my ass this year. In the past, I've not really noticed a difference. This year, my body clock is all out of whack. It might be because of so much travel (which means disruptions in my routine) during the time change.

Five

Awake
I've been awake since 5 am. Early waking is a rarity for me. I made myself a protein drink using Spiro-tein. I figure since protein drinks are seemingly the only thing that don't give me a headache and queasiness, I should at least try to find one with less sugar than my beloved Odwalla. It definitely isn't as good as Odwalla with its 37g of sugar, but given it only has 7g of sugar, it's acceptable.

Full Metal Jousting and other TV stuff
Arriving just in time to satisfy my obsession with the 13th century is a show on the History channel called Full Metal Jousting. D and I saw it advertised at the beginning of a movie and couldn't resist. We'll see if it holds our attention. Such shows always peak my interest, but rarely hold it.

To ensure I don't miss any crap quality TV, I sometimes peruse the Daily Picks on TiVo's website. I'm doing it right now and see the movie The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie listed. Here's the description:

This 2010 snoozefest supposedly was a passion project for stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, who wanted to work with European director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ("The Lives of Others"). But this "romantic thriller" about a math teacher who gets involved in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a sultry stranger in Europe is a complete train wreck. Depp is unconvincing as a nebbish, while Jolie walks through the film with the numbed gaze of a recently Tasered supermodel. You really don't want to book this tour.

Huh? Why did they list it on their Daily Picks if they hate the movie so and recommend skipping it? Weird. I really should have been an investigative journalist since it's stories like these that I could bring the forefront of America's attention.

Minutia update
It's now 7:35 and Avery has woken up. Unfortunately she joined us in bed last night, so there will be no TV this morning. She's doing pretty well at sleeping in her bed, at least relative to the last couple of months. She comes in with us 1-2 times per week. I can't blame her much for last night's disregard for the rule since she said her ear hurt. Who wants to sleep alone when your ear hurts? Not Avery.

Reduction

Furniture is Coming
Tomorrow our new living room furniture is scheduled to be delivered! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see it in the space. The wow factor will be stunted a bit since we know this furniture won't work (as it's intended) until the TV is moved, but I'm still excited!


Added Sugar Reduction
I did not sugar-binge this weekend.  This has not eliminated the headaches or nausea completely, but there is a marked improvement.  It's like everyday is the tightrope walk for me where I think, "Will this make me feel OK?" whenever I start to eat. Nonetheless, I'll take improvements because the headaches and nausea are not mild when I do get them. They're enough to make me change my behavior. Which I guess is a good thing?

The other result of not sugar-binging was no "down" day on Monday, which meant I was more productive and then didn't have to slowly make up ground on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's hard to explain how everything just kind of comes to a halt when I hit these little mini-downs, but, again, it's hard enough for me to change my behavior.

After typing those two paragraphs, apparently I need to be hit over the head with a brick before I'll change my behavior. Simply knowing something is the healthful thing isn't enough. It's got to have some serious consequences for me. Thankfully, these serious consequences thus far are treatable and minor on a scale of health problems.

My goal at this point is to consume no more than the maximum recommended amount of added sugar per day: 40g. Ah crap. Just did more research. 40g is the recommended amount of the average daily diet of 2,000 kcal per day. It seems I should be eating no more than 20g of added sugar per day. OK, so I haven't been hitting that since one of my remaining guilty pleasures is the Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster drink for breakfast. I never pretended this was healthy for me, but I was hoping it at least wouldn't put me over my added sugar per day goal. With 37g of sugar (yes, I typed that right) per serving, I could enjoy one for breakfast and still be under for the day if that was my only added sugar. Often, following my diet restrictions over the past two weeks, it is my only added sugar. Sigh. Another vice I shall have to let go. Except on travel days. I always have this for breakfast on travel days because 1. I never get sick drinking it (I will do almost anything to avoid a headache on travel days) and 2. because it's easy and quick.

Sidenote: I asked Avery's doctor how much added sugar was OK for her. Rather than answering me, she gave the pat answer of "none on most days." Which is the Right answer, of course, but it doesn't help me gauge how I'm scoring when I let Avery have one piece of chocolate.  Anyway, this site says 12g of added sugar per day. So if I let Avery eat one yogurt, she's already WAY over how much she should be eating per day. Crap, crap, crap.

Napping or lack thereof
For a lot of January, I couldn't get enough sleep. I was napping whenever I could and going to bed as early as 7 or 8 some nights. I'm happy to report that things have leveled out. I've been charting my sleep for just over a month now.  Since Thursday, Jan. 26th, I've only taken two naps, both of which were on the weekends. Yes, I conveniently chose that date since this is when the excessive napping started to curb itself.

For the curious, my average sleep per day for the last 30 days is 9h 32m. I should note that the actual number is lower since I press the "going to sleep" button on the app when I turn off the light. Most nights I fall asleep within 5 minutes, but sometimes it's up to an hour. Likewise, I often don't push the "I'm awake" button until I'm getting out of bed, but I've actually been awake (ish) for 15-30 min. My average sleep for the past 7 days is 8h38m. We're trending in a good direction, people!

Walking
I'm still doing a daily walk. I've lengthened my route. It seems to be helping a bit with weight loss. Even if it's not, I feel better, so I'll do my best to keep it up. I plan to walk in Mexico, too, but I know I won't burn nearly as many calories since there are no hills in our community. Yes, I could SEEK out hills, but I won't do that and I'm not going to pretend there's even a chance I will.

Calendar

Same old stuff
Ah crap. I'm sitting here trying to think of a fun little element to add to my blog. Like a fun fact of the day ... but then I have to look up facts everyday. Or a few new fact about me ... but then I'm going to drive away friends with my weirdness day by day until I have no friends left whatsoever. Then what will I do on January 5th with no friends? Ha! I crack myself up with my self-deprecating humor.

Back to the old standby. Random, random and more random.

Calendar
What have I spent the bulk of my day doing? Scheduling stuff on the calendar for the new year, including getting things organized and synced between RHG and me. The functional side of the relationship between RHG and me requires calendar organization every few months. It's tedious, but worth it. Each new quarter, new session of classes, new stage in our children's lives, etc requires we juggle things a bit.

It doesn't help that I'm easily distractible when on the computer, so I end up taking care of other tasks while attempting to complete the calendar task. For example, I've also resolved some Pay Pal account issues, ordered a BD gift for Avery's brother, cleaned out some of my emails, etc.

Presents
D got me the new Silhouette cameo for Christmas! Woohoo! I can't wait to start playing with it, but I'm trying to be disciplined enough to take care of all outstanding catch-up tasks before breaking it out of the box.

For my BD he bought me the 4s iPhone. I wanted to try out Siri whilst driving this morning (to test the ease of texting a quick message while en route), but my Bluetooth isn't pairing with the new phone. So there's another thing to figure out.

Lose It!
Vic, Damian and I decided to log our food until our Mexico trip in May. The penalty for not logging by midnight of each day is that we put $1 into the other person's account, to be paid up at the end. The goal is just to make sure we're logging our food versus trying to hit a number since just the act of logging what you eat makes an impact.

We're logging in loseit.com this time (instead of fitday as we've done previously) because their app for the iPhone is better. If anyone would like to join me in this challenge, just create a free account on loseit.com and friend me at my gmail address. We can keep each other accountable ($1 penalty optional). Dad? Anyone?

Stuff

Bullets

• I'm running around trying to squeeze in all holiday commitments, activities, purchases, packing, etc. While I like to see Avery excited about Christmas, I could totally do away with the holidays and be just fine with that. I wonder if Jehovah's Witnesses live longer due to lack of holiday stress?
• Avery has an ear infection that she's probably had since about December 9th. She complained one night of horrible ear pains, but then didn't complain about it again until last night. Meanwhile, she's had a runny nose and cough the whole time. Sure enough, when we went in for her 4-yo well-child check-up, she has an infected ear. 
• All else is well with Avery's health. She's 54th percentile for weight and 57th percentile for weight. 
• Avery and I took a 3 hour nap today. I must have eaten gluten yesterday at dinner because I threw up last night and was much more tired than usual today. The source was Pepita's. I've noticed I've felt sick each time I've had tacos (with corn tortillas) there, but I guess I needed to confirm it after multiple visits. We can still eat there as long as I stick solely to protein.
• Right now I'm typing this in between running from room to room tidying up for the cleaning lady tomorrow. 
• Am going to post this despite the lack of anything interesting just to do a post. Am considering doing blog 365 next year to get back in the groove. We'll see

Recycling

Recycling

With the introduction of the new food scrap composting program in Portland, I've been reassessing what else can be recycled in our house. Granted, it is always far better to reduce consumption and reuse things. But recycling is better than not recycling, so there we go. 

This morning, I took in my plastic bags and film, as well as rigid plastics not recyclable in the curbside program. The recycling company reorganized and relabeled their bins making it more clear what is recyclable and what is not. Specifically, I've wondered what plastic bags are recyclable and which ones aren't.  After much online research, I've found that the best test is if you can stretch the bag (grocery bag, dry cleaning bag, bubble wrap), it's recyclable. An exception to this rule is that plastic packaging prepackaged food products (including frozen foods) cannot be recycled. This means chip bags and cereal bag liners which I'd been inappropriately lumping into this category. 

So then I tried to find another place that will take chip bags, cereal lines, etc. That seems to be a bust, so the best thing to do with those is to find another use for them before tossing them in the garbage. There are several sites with suggestions, but I know I won't use them for wax paper for food. I'm not a germaphobe by any stretch, but I like to know for sure that anything I'm setting food for consumption on is not contaminated.  The best I've come up with, in terms of what *I* will realistically reuse cereal bags for, is for crafting purposes. It can be used as a liner when you're doing some glueing and want to protect a table or whatever.  I'll give this a whirl, but if I find I just can't get a good system down for reuse, then I'll have to let the cereal bags hit the landfill.  Ironically, they're not even my cereal bags since I very rarely eat boxed cereal. They're from D's morning granola. And, just in case there are any readers who suggest we could make our own granola or buy bulk to avoid this problem, no we can't. D has exactly one brand of granola he likes; within that brand, he has exactly one flavor he likes. We have tried many, many other types and he never finishes a single one. I'm just happy he eats breakfast since he didn't do that before we met. 

I also feel more confident that the rigid plastics container takes all of the items I've been putting in it.  This is where we have a large volume that previously went to trash. Clam shell packaging, the plastic packaging on toys or batteries, lids from tubs or bottles, etc. 

We currently have the smallest garbage can that is provided by the program and we still aren't filling it full every other week.  I'm going to wait a few months to see if I can reduce our trash pickup to once per month. This would only save us $8.90 per month, but for me it's more about achieving once-a-month garbage pick up. 

Avery Updates

Avery is officially able to write her name now. She's been able to do A V E for several months, but now the R and the Y kicked in. 

Also recent is her heightened interest in doing crafty things. At school for the past week, she's been at the craft/writing station every time I've picked her up. Prior to this she's always been over on the rug playing with toys or listening to books. Her teacher also said she has almost predominately been into playing and moving around until recently when she is starting to show more interest in crafty things.  This week she's been making envelopes and invitations for her BD party (note: they look nothing like invitation or envelopes, but that's what she says she's doing). 

The reward/token board I made seems to be having a more definitive impact on her action.  The other charts certainly worked, but the idea that she'd not get a ticket/flower didn't seem to have much impact on her decision to do or not do something.  The newness of the token has an impact such that I can tell her if she continues asking questions after I've put her to bed, then she won't get a token the next morning. This results in her stopping her questions/talking and either go to sleep or entertain herself until she is ready to go to sleep. 

For the past several months, it has become uncommon for us to tell Avery it's time to go to bed. Typically about 7 pm or just before, she'll look at D and I and say, "I"m ready for nighttime now," then we head up to bed. That getting her to go to bed isn't a battle is something I'm eternally grateful for. She only goes to sleep shortly after 7 if she hasn't a nap that day. If she's had a nap, we typically read books, brush her teeth, and kiss her goodnight about 7:30 and she "reads" or plays quietly in her room for 30-45 minutes after that. 

Back

Wonderful trip
Our visit to Mexico this last time was wonderful. Darn close to ideal. Ideal would be if we had a playmate along for the ride. There's a chance that Henry may be Avery's playmate during our trip in Feb/March. That would be awesome.

It's nice to be able to give Avery more freedom when we're down there.  She can play by herself in the courtyard near us (outside our casa) where we can see and hear her through the windows. She tends to check in with us every minute (literally).

In the pool, she can swim anywhere with the noodle.  She has never slipped or gone under, so I feel confident letting her have some distance from me when she's motoring around on her own. I do, however, look forward to her being able to swim on her own so I can let my guard down enough to read a book from the patio chair.

The pool that will be built near us in the next year or so will be a lap pool, though it has two small wings off to the side of it. Apparently, the shape and type of pool, as well as the type of shade available at the pool, has been a battle down there for the homeowners who get involved. We just pay our HOA fees and hope for the best.

Avery continually asked to go to the hotel pool, which was drained after our first few days there for maintenance. I'm not sure why she liked that pool the best.  Maybe because the shallow "end" of that pool is actually in the middle of the pool.  It must feel more grown up to her or something.

Headsprout
Avery's starting to show signs that she's ready to start to learn how to read. Stacey told me about Headsprout a while ago when we were talking about teaching kids to read. I decided to give it a whirl while we were in Mexico. Avery whizzed through the first two episodes getting every answer correct. Truth be told though, I was actually more impressed with her mousing coordination than with her reading comprehension. In any case, the trial episodes convinced me that this was a good thing for her, so I sucked it up and paid the money for a membership.

As a result of all this, I've now set up Avery with her own profile on my computer. I eliminated most applications from the dock, set the mouse to not have the right-click option on (that one sometimes snags her, particularly because she's left-handed).

Avery can spell a few words (other than her name), but I suspect those are more memorized words than knowing how to sound things out to spell them. If I sound out the word for her, then she can almost always spell it, but this isn't a new skill. It's been there for a year or so. I find it interesting that the connection between knowing the the "ssss" sound is made by the s doesn't immediately translate to seeing "sun" and knowing it starts with the "ssss" sound.  My adult brain doesn't understand why that leap is not immediately intuitive for kids. Maybe it is immediate for some kids, but my point is that, from what I've observed, they are two very separate and distinct skills.

Healthier
Inspired by my high school best friend's fabulously lean body, I seem to be making positive changes in habits over the last couple of weeks. I'm aiming for small, but consistent changes. I'm also concentrating on baby steps and not biting off more than I can chew. So far so good.  Why are good habits so hard and bad habits so easy?

Hair
So I chopped off all of my hair before Mexico.  I didn't like the cut initially and had it highlighted blond immediately. It needed to be highlighted or dyed in someway since this type of cut really needs to have textures created by the various colors.  However, I hate the color I got. It's horrible. Again however, I also hate getting my hair done, so I guess I am just going to live with the color until I need another cut and get it changed then.  The true color of my hair isn't reflected in the pictures below.  The color looks decent in these pictures.

I don't hate the cut as much as I did at first, but I don't think hair this short is my ideal look.  My conundrum is that I love, love, love the way it feels. I'm not always pushing it out of my face or off my neck.  It's like the only time I'm fussing with it is when I look at myself. That I don't particularly like what I see when I look at myself seems to be losing out to the fact that I just like the feel of it so much better.  I think I may end up with slightly longer hair than this and a much, much better color.  I don't know. It's just hair, right?

Balas

• Mexico is lovely. 
• Bala is "bullet" in Spanish ... you know, for bullet points. 
• I got sick yesterday. I think it was from a Reese's PB cup.  Those should be gluten-free, but when I do a Google of it, I do see that some versions of their candies (the holiday tree versions of PB cups) are not gluten free.  If the two vomiting sessions I had yesterday are any indication, I would say it's very possible there's gluten in those cups. More likely is that I have an issue with some other ingredient.  All I know is that it's another candy off the list of things I'll be hard pressed to have again. 
• I wouldn't have cared so much about being sick except that it was on the night Felipe came to cook for us.  He made the delicious potato and cheese soup and then vomited said delicious soup right back up and stared at the rest of the meal. 
• I woke up at 5:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep.  WTF?
• My friend Jen arrived yesterday.  She leaves tomorrow, but it's been great catching up with her.  While she was never overweight, she's now in super shape and very lean.  She looks spectacular to say the least. 
• I'm reading a rare (for me) fiction book: Serena.  Interesting.  I just went to Goodreads to get a link to the book and indicate I'm currently reading it and I see my mom read it in June of this year.  Edited to add: after I posted this blog post, I realized how I found the book in the first place.  My mom had emailed me the name of the book telling me she thought I'd like it.  I downloaded the sample for free, but then just stuck it in my samples collection on my Kindle.  Then when I was looking for a book to read I tried the sample and liked it, but forgot where the sample came from.  I love my Kindle. 
• We brought my old iMac down to Mexico to leave here.  I wasn't sure about doing so since I figured we could use it in another room of our house, though what room that might be, I have no idea.  Anyway, I'm glad D insisted.  It's nice to have it here.  Future guests: there's now a computer with a video camera available. 
• I cut my hair super short.  It didn't look good with my natural hair color, which is now a dull mousey brown. So I then went and highlighted it blond. My stylist did a highlight where they also paint the roots (which is not what is typically done during the highlights I do).  I had told him to just do whatever color he thought would look best with the haircut.  It's not that it's a bad dye/highlight job, but my skin tone cannot handle the blond and it particularly cannot handle the blond roots.  It's hard to explain.  My old colorist, who was awesome, once did this color and treatment to my hair, too.  It was the summer we went to D's brother's wedding in England. It's burned in my brain since I felt ridiculous during that whole trip because I so hated the hair color.  It makes me look sick.  As I keep telling myself, if my biggest problem is a bad haircut or bad dye job (bad for me at least), I have a damn good life.  I'll post a picture one of these days.  I forgot the camera - again - so maybe I'll have D take one with his phone soon.  Oddly enough, I hated the cut at first, then I did the highlighting.  Now I don't mind the cut since I hate the color so much!
• I was just getting ready to say how embarrassed I am that I asked Christie to avoid seeing Footloose until I get back, but then when I went to Rotten Tomatoes to get the link, I see it's getting 73%! And that's with 133 critic reviews.  I thought for sure it'd be in the 20's.   It'll probably drop a bit after it officially opens, but I feel less silly asking Christie to save it for me.