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

+1

---

+1

I just saw a post about Google's new +1 experiment.  It's kind of like "liking" something on FB, except you do it while you're other places on the Internet.  Watch the video to better understand it.  Yes, it's the same concept as Stumble Upon or Tweeting it, but I think it's better because it can be applied to a Google Search.  I would want to know if I were searching for "lawn service" and one of my friends/contacts +1'd a service.  Anyway, it seems like a great idea to me, but obviously it only works if you have enough friends participating.  As with all things Google, it'll be interesting to see if this catches on.  I signed up for the experiment have have already +1'd a few things.

---

Today

Avery's in school today because I'm having the carpets cleaned in the house. That means she'll also sleep at the G's house tonight since it's not good to be in the house for several hours after the carpet has been cleaned.

D and I will probably see the new X-Men movie tonight. 

---

Books

I read 8 books in May and the first couple days of June.  If I kept up that pace, I'd read 96 books a year.  That pace will not be kept up, clearly.  I'm thinking of forcing myself to read literature vs my usual difficult-life memoir genre.  That'll be the kiss of the death to my reading streak since I'll get stuck half way through the book and not want to continue.

After reading A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman, I signed up to support a woman via Women for Women.  It takes 4-6 weeks to be matched with a woman.  After reading the book, which I have mixed feelings about, I understand that the letters you write to the woman you're supporting actually matter.  I think I always assumed they didn't.  We support a child through Compassion (yes, it's Christian charity and yes, it's weird for me to think about it considering my lack of belief in a god) and have for something like 6-8 years now.  I don't know how many.  Anyway, in a complete role reversal for us, it's D who writes Caroline (hey, at least I know her name?), not me.  This is always one of those things where I truly wonder if the money gets its way to the actual person, and then whether the money actually helps.  But I guess, in the end, I prefer to error on the side of hoping it does. 

---

M&Ms & Gluten

I have not eaten a Starburst (one of my favorite candies) since I tried them a couple of months ago and got terrible, terrible heartburn from them.  Well, now it seems I will not be eating M&M's for a good long while either.  I had two small handfuls yesterday and ended up with a terrible headache and queasy feeling.  I checked and double-checked ingredients online and it seems that M&Ms made in the US are gluten-free.  D bought these from the bulk bin at WinCo, so maybe they're imported from some other country.  Maybe I'm also really sensitive to some other ingredient.  Who knows. Either way, it'll be a while before I try M&M's again.

Speaking of gluten, I'm now so sensitive that I will feel it even if I eat only a few crumbs.  Seriously.  And I feel it really fast.  Were it not so uncomfortable, I would totally demonstrate this amazing ability as a party trick.  It's like I'm sniffer-dog sensitive.  I impress myself.  But I digress.

Tip

---

Weekend with Three

The G's were away this weekend, so we had E & N from about 4 pm on Friday to about (presumably) 5 pm Sunday.  Overall, it was a pretty easy weekend.  I still have no desire for more than one child, but Avery had a great time with both E and N.  There were also far fewer fights than in the past, so perhaps as A and E have gotten older, they've gotten better at settling their own disputes.

Friday night we headed over to the condo for a pre-judgment day dinner with Christie & family and Amber & family.  That was a perfect way to start our weekend.  The kids all played fairly happily amongst each other whilst the adults joked about the coming end of the world.  Upon arrival home, all children were asleep quickly.  Since Nolan had fallen and hit his head earlier in the day (at his house, not ours, thank goodness), requiring a visit to the doctor, we had to wake him at 11 PM to be sure he was OK.  D and I had a little miscommunication* and it turns out that both of us woke him separately - me at 11 PM, D at 1 AM.  Poor Nolan.

Saturday, after eating breakfast and getting dressed, I got the girls ready to head out to buy some flowers. Elise asked me to put her hair up like Avery's. Then Nolan wanted me to do the same. I, of course, obliged.

I then took Elise and Avery to the nursery to buy flowers for the flower pots on our back deck.  The girls were pretty good at the nursery and helped me pick out flowers.  When we got back, they "helped" to plant the flowers.  Basically, they started to distribute the flower pots to the various pots, then I rearranged everything, then D gave them lunch while I planted. So, it wasn't exactly hands on helping, but Avery gets to do hands on planting at school.  My goal was to get through it as fast as possible since I don't enjoy the planting, but do enjoy the lovely flowers on the deck.  Let's see, after lunch was a nap/quiet time.  After nap time, I decided to take all three kids and Turtle out for a walk.  It took over an hour, but we all made it unscathed and my patience was even in tact.  I think Eddie was usually the aggravating factor on previous walks.  Following our walk, D took Nolan to the grocery store to do some shopping while Avery and Elise played nicely together.   After dinner, D had to leave to go to the Timbers game (I told him to take a friend since I couldn't see it being a good idea to keep Avery out late on a weekend when we'd need well behaved kids all around), so I put the three kids down to bed.  Overall, it was pretty easy.  Not as easy as most date nights, but pretty easy nonetheless.

Today, Sunday, we headed over to Sara's for our regular brunch group.  Sara made several gluten free options that I could eat - all delicious - and even cooked pig and turkey bacon so D could enjoy some bacon.  D and I are quickly becoming Those People when it comes to dinner invites.  Between my no gluten and his no pig, it's rather embarrassing.  For the record, neither of us expect people to cook around our eating choices.  Once back from brunch, it was quiet/nap time again.  Less successful than Saturday, but still a little down time.  After I got up, I took the kids and Turtle for a walk again.  Elise fell and got a little scrape on her knee, so we dropped her back off at home and headed out with just Avery and Nolan.  This time we took the tricycle.  It seemed liked a good idea at the time, but Nolan isn't quite ready for the tricycle. Then, when Avery was in the tricycle, I felt it best to hold Nolan's hand while walking, so then I had two hands occupied (the tricycle has a push bar - Avery can pedal on her own, but when going down these hills I have to control her speed and I also help push her up the hills) and still had to find a way to hold the leash.  So it was a bit of a juggling act, but not too bad.

* Is "miscommunication" not a word?  It's being red squigglied. Am too lazy to research, but not too lazy to disclaimer my confusion via this statement.  It's kind of a middle of the road kind of lazy. 

---

Virtual Tip Jar

Did you know you can now a virtual tip jar to your blog?  Yep.  Here's an example blog with the gadget.  At first I thought why would any blog like mine need a tip jar.  Then I thought about when I gathered donations for Avery's jog-a-thon and realized it would be very useful for something like that.  Should the need ever arise again, perhaps I'll do it via a tip Google Tip Jar.

Basketball

Date night

We went to the basketball game last night.  My enthusiasm was greatest before the game when the atmosphere is amped up a bit, then it took a nose dive when they started playing, then peaked again at half time when there was a flyball competition between two teams of dogs, and finally hit a low when I continued to read my Kindle right into the third quarter.  We finally just decided it was ridiculous to be there when neither of us really wanted to be.

We went to Toro Bravo for dinner.  I had never been there.  We pulled up to the restaurant at 5 pm and there was a line of people out the door.  We did get seated quickly because I think they opened at 5, however, that line never got shorter.  The food was very good, but I can't say it's the type of place I'd having a craving to go back to. 

Weekend

D has had motorcycle training both days this weekend, so Avery and I have been on our own.  It's amazing how much slower weekend days go than weekdays. I think that's just because I'm used to doing weekdays solo, but not weekends. 

I asked D if he thought he was still going to get a motorcycle.  See, when we went to try on helmets and just sit on a bike, he was a bit stiff and it didn't feel so great.  So I thought there was a chance he would decide against getting a bike.  However, after riding all day yesterday, he said it all came back to him and he's back to wanting one quite badly.  

Walk

Avery and I are about to head out for walk with Turtle Girlie.  We also need to check in on the neighbor's cat since they're on vacation. 

Subscribe by email

I put a gadget over there on the right-side bar where you can enter your email address to get a post emailed to you each time I write a post.  I have tested it out and it works well.  There is a way to stop receiving the emails if you change your mind and no longer want to be emailed.  I thought some of you non-Google-Reader users might prefer that to checking the blog directly. 

Unlabeled

Label:Insanity

So do you want to know what kept me up until 2 AM last night?  What do you think could be so very important that I stay up that late?  I became obsessed with cleaning out my gmail account.  Never mind my storage is at 3%!  Basically, my goal was to delete all emails to which a labeled hadn't been applied. When I view gmail through my computer, it's not a problem to delete these since I just press the delete button to delete or the archive button to save. And I never press the archive button unless a message has at least one label attached to it.

However, when I delete through my iPhone, gmail doesn't actually delete the message.  It archives it.  This means that when I delete a newsletter-type email from the iPhone, and there are no labels attached to it, it goes into this place of oblivion.  I've known about this since a week or so after I got my iPhone (so just over a year), but thought I could just Let It Go.  Not last night.

You'd think gmail would have a way to search for all unlabeled messages.  If you Google that, you'll find a lot of people want this feature.  You'll also find there are a few tedious ways to find them, though I couldn't get a single one to work.  I think they only work when you have a small number of labels.  I have 63 different labels.  Regardless, I came up with my own method for identifying all unlabeled messages.  Then I sorted through all those that should have had a label and assigned them the correct label.  Then I deleted all the messages that were intended for deletion in the first place.

What about this problem in the future, you ask?  I did actually think this through.  I also developed an easy method for identifying those messages that I "delete" (which is actually archiving) via my iPhone in the future.  It's a manual process to then re-delete the emails from my computer, but not cumbersome.  It's like keeping my spam box cleaned out.  I'm generally very good about cleaning out spam on a regular basis. 

Yep.  I did all that for a personal email account in which I still have 97% of my storage free.  Being crazy is hard sometimes. 

Medication

The next topic isn't far off from the first one: my OCD-like obsessions.  I don't officially have OCD, but I have obsessions that a layman would call OCD.  And with regards to these obsessions, I definitely notice a huge difference when I'm on anti-depressants.  On medication, I can just let things slide;  I'm not obsessed with stupid little things; I don't freak out if something isn't perfect.  All those things take up a lot more space in my mind when I'm not on medication.  I don't really understand why my OCD-like-tendencies are helped by medication, but I know beyond any doubt that my tendencies are definitely minimized.

In the last few weeks, it feels like the medication isn't performing quite as well at suppressing my OCD-like obsessions.  I've gotten in a loop on several things such that, after the fact, I'm shocked by the amount of time I've just squandered on a meaningless task (see above).

Yet, my mood is great and I am very happy in life at this moment.  As such, I don't want to increase my medication dose.  I don't want to mess with it when I'm not having any side effects from it and my mood is stable (well, as stable as any "normal" person). 

Loreto

Check out #8 on the NYT's 41 Places to Go in 2011 list.

Buttermilk

Gym, fountain, and pie - does it get any better?

This morning, after Little Gym, Avery and I headed down to the Pearl District for some pie.  We met Amber & Josie and Christie & Henry (who were also at Little Gym with us) at Jameson Park for a bit of fountain running since the pie cart hadn't opened yet.  Avery stripped to her underwear and had a great time chasing Henry and Josie through the fountain.  I watched from the side wrapped up in my coat, but none of the kids were bothered that it was a bit chilly.

When pie time rolled around, we walked a few blocks to Pie Lab. Pie Lab is a new food cart, open only for a few hours on Friday afternoon.  The owner/server/baker conducts various, optional, social experiments on customers.  For example, one week she asked people if they were willing to allow the person in front of them (or maybe behind them) to order for him/her.  Another week, people got to spin a wheel to see what type of pie they'd get.  Today was, "Pay what you think," which is brilliant because she made way more off us than she would have with set prices.  I had a slice of buttermilk pie and a piece of peach cobbler.  The buttermilk pie was delicious.  The peach cobbler wasn't quite as good, but still very good.  I'll definitely be back.  It was fun and delicious and very cool.

Following Pie Lab, the kids played together for another 45 minutes or so, then we headed our separate ways.  I'd forgotten my phone that morning (no access to email! eek!), so I couldn't use TV to keep Avery awake in her car seat.  Keeping Avery awake in the car seat is now a must.  I let her fall asleep yesterday, then let her continue to sleep when we got home for a total of 1.5 hours napping.  She didn't go to sleep until 11 pm last night!  No way, Jose.  So, no more naps on days she's not in school.  Fortunately, she stayed awake, though it took a few "don't fall asleep" comments from me to make that happen. 

Date nights

Elise and Nolan are over tonight for the Gs weekly date night.  It was a piece of cake.  The children played very well together, ate quite well, then went to sleep almost immediately. 

Tomorrow, D and I will go see The Social Network on our date night.  Christie? Stacey?  If either of you - or anyone else for that matter - wants to join us, just let me know! 

iPhone 

My iPhone's battery is running down really fast.  I'll charge it completely and it'll be at 40% within an hour or two.  I took it into the Apple store the other day.  The guy did a reset and said if they didn't work, they'd have to replace the phone (or maybe he meant the battery, though I don't think you can remove it, but maybe they can do it).  Fortunately, I'm still covered under warranty so it shouldn't cost me anything.

Mood

I can make it, I can make it ...

Avery woke up in such a mood today.  I am letting her watch her second 30-minute show of the day (her latest favorite: WordWorld). We, thankfully, have Tumble Bugs at 2:30.  I was hoping to hit the grocery store before then, but the guy fixing D's office still hasn't arrived and he has no key to get in. 

Garage doors

Our new garage doors are installed.  They still need to be painted, but they're installed and working.  It took the guy all day to do it.  I wasn't expecting it would be such a long process.  It didn't help that they guy doing it was clearly just hanging on until his next drink and probably smoked about 40 cigarettes while he was here.  However, he did do a very thorough job from what I can tell.  It seems very solidly done. Interestingly, they are much quieter than the old doors, so that's nice. 

I think the doors actually make the garage look smaller, or at least the doors themselves look smaller than our other doors.  Maybe this is due to the diagonal lines drawing the eye towards the center of the doors?  Either way, I think once they are painted brown, they'll look much better than our old doors.

I asked about an estimated date for when everything might be done. They're targeting the end of next week. I'm translating this to mid-October. I am so looking forward to it being done, though my loathing of all things house maintenance has dissipated at bit in the past couple of months. I guess having to deal with so many people coming in and out of the house for various issues has given me more practice and therefore made me more comfortable with it. Not sure, but I'm grateful for it.

Backup

I bought a backup hard drive yesterday ... finally!  I spent a lot of yesterday sorting through files and organizing documents and photos.  I still have quite a bit to do, but I at least feel like progress is moving forward versus spinning in circles.

This is a 500GB drive, but it's portable, so I plan to store it in the fire safe and then do a manual update once a month.

Adopted

"I adopted"

While we were in Colorado, Avery said, "I adopted" for the first time.  It was out of the blue.  I hadn't mentioned adoption in quite some time.  We don't avoid the topic, obviously; I'm just noting it wasn't a topic of conversation in the previous days.  She said it again while we were driving back from visiting my brother and his family in Wyoming.  Then she asked to hear the story.  I've told her the story of how we became a family probably ten times in her life, mostly while walking the dogs.  So I told her the story again.  She was in her car seat and hugged herself tightly at the end with a big smile on her face.  I know as she gets older, and we talk about the subject of her adoption, that smile won't necessarily always be there.  That's difficult for me to think about, for Avery's sake, not for mine.

It hit me with a thud when she said it, not because of the topic, but because it was a sudden realization that she's becoming aware of the concept.  Am I prepared to answer all of her questions, and to specifically talk her adoption?  I think so.  We talk about adoption a fair amount, not as it relates to Avery, but in general.  We also talk about her birth family a lot.  Typing that sentence made me realize I needed to reach out to Nikki again, so I just sent her a long email with dates we are available for a visit.  Nikki has started working, so she doesn't have as much free time.  She does get on Facebook occasionally, so that is another way we can stay in touch.

Much Better Reentry

You know how I always lament how difficult it is for me to return from vacation?  Not this time!  I had zero reentry problems.  I think the main difference was that Avery went to school yesterday, giving me the chance to get all of our stuff unpacked and get the house back into a state of clean such that we can get back on our routine. 

Dogs

Rachele's dad watched the dogs for us while both the G's and we were in Colorado (grammar experts: did I get the grammar correct in that sentence?  I'm curious, but unsure.  I know I could word it better, but is it grammatically correct?)  He made this great video of their stay at his house. 

Search in blog

I don't have this blog listed publicly.  I don't mind that some people read it whom I don't know personally, having clicked over from the blogs of various friends, but I don't see the point in listing it publicly, especially since it's such a daily log blog.  Anyway, Blogger has this bug where if you don't list your blog publicly, the search functionality for the blog doesn't work.  It used to, but has been broken for a couple of years now.  I often use my blog to look up when something happened with Avery or other things, so not having this search functionality work sucks.  However, today I discovered that if I use the search functionality on the Edit Posts page, it works great!

New labs in gmail: preview and label hierarchy

For those who use gmail, they released two new labs that I particularly like.  First, you can install message preview that shows a preview of a message you right click on.  Handy.

Second, you can install the ability to create a label hierarchy.  Sweet!

iComplaints

Activities

Avery, Nain, and I went to lunch with Grandma Kate today.  I was hoping, as I'm sure all parents do, that Avery would be on her best behavior and show off all her new skills.  No such luck.  She was in full-on 2.25yo whiny/"I do it!"/"No!"/"Mine!" mode.  Then she threw a minor car seat tantrum when we left.  As I said, it was minor and there wasn't a struggle to get her into the seat as much as there was crying once we drove away.  She got over it once we reached the grocery store.  Right now she's napping nicely. 

After she wakes up, we might head over to a local nursery that has a lot of animals and things to see.  Or maybe we'll hit the park again. 

Tomorrow we're heading up to Cheyenne to visit with Uncle Collin, Aunt Denise, and Cousin Dylan.  Hopefully the weather is nice so we can hit the park up there.

iPhone complaints

I love my iPhone, but like all Apple products, it's missing some very obvious functionality.  Apple is weird that way.  I shall list my biggest complaints:

• No auto-off feature.  With my Blackberry, as with a lot of phones, I could set up my phone to shut off at 11 pm and then wake up at 6 am, thereby saving battery life when I didn't use my phone at night.  You'd think since most smartphones are battery hogs, this would be key functionality, but if the iPhone has this functionality, I haven't found it. 
• No arrow keys on the keyboard.  With my Blackberry, and with the Android, there is a roller ball that you can use to get the cursor in a precise location to edit typing.  With the iPhone, you have to use your finger to tap where you want the cursor to show up.  This gets the general location, but it's really hard to get it to land exactly in the middle of a word that you need to edit.  Typically I have to select the whole word and then retype it.  Why they don't have little arrow keys on the keyboard to allow you to move the cursor over a few letters is puzzling to me. 
• The volume of the phone ring is on the same control as the volume for applications, etc.  I want my phone ring to be at a constant level unless I specifically lower the volume.  With the iPhone, the volume button controls the volume for the phone ring, the iPod, the applications, etc.  So if I want to listen to music very softly and turn down the volume, unless I remember to turn up the volume when I'm done, the phone ring will be so low I cannot hear it.  This is why I miss most calls on my iPhone.  As a phone, it really sucks.  As an information device, it rules.  Fortunately, I consider the phone functionality to be the least important features, but it's still amazing this wasn't caught in testing. 
• Locking controls.  This is really a nice to have feature, and I don't actually fault Apple for not putting it in on the first few iterations of the phone.  However, it's been out long enough now that they must know it is an awesome tool for distraction with toddlers.  I generally let Avery play with it at will and hope she doesn't delete anything I care about.  I can replace most applications if she deletes them and the pictures and videos get backed up when I sync with my computer.  It would be awesome if Apple developed a control screen that would allow parents to configure a simple "toddler" mode that would allow me to indicate which applications would be enabled in that mode and would disable the ability to delete and/or move around applications. 
• Auto email population.  Each time I have to log into a website using my email address, I get mad.  How come they don't have a shortcut button that allows me to press it and have it fill in a configured email address?  I am not asking it to remember all my various logins, but most logins now are an email address.  I spend more time pecking out my stupid email address when I could just push a button and have it auto populate.  Along those same lines, what's up with not putting the @ symbol on the main screen? 
• Custom dictionary.  My Blackberry had a custom dictionary.  I loved it because I could put in my custom word like "bc" and have it auto correct to "because."  I also put in shortcuts for names and addresses.  Apple doesn't have this.  I hear people rave about the auto correct functionality, but I am not impressed with it.