Walkin' in a winter wonderland

Baby blog updated with a walking video and a very few Christmas and winter outfits. Including this cute dress.

Baby blog updated

Another "papa zee" video and pictures from the last 4 weeks.

To and fro, stop and go, that's what makes the world go 'round

Ah opposites. One of the great things about marriage is you take a man and woman who are similar enough to get married but different enough to make it interesting.

I do not take risks. I like to know something is completely safe before I try it, and if I know something carries even a hint of danger, I don't do it. Especially if I'm not supposed to. So basically, I'm a pansy.

Todd likes risks. He's a rock climber; one time in Red Rock he and a friend came across a rope dangling from the top of a boulder. Who knows how long the rope had been there, where it led, whether you could get back down, etc. Todd and his friend climbed the rope. Todd is firmly in non-pansy territory.

This difference is apparent in how we hang our outdoor Christmas lights. We live in a tri-level row townhouse, so we have a skinny tall home. We wanted to hang lights around our kitchen window, the top of which is probably a good 15 feet off the ground.

Standing at the top of our ladder, Todd couldn't reach the top of the window. Me: "Oh well, the rest of the lights look nice anyway." Todd: "I bet if I hang out the window I can reach."

In this picture he's standing on the ladder; that's how high our kitchen is.

So after Pansy Jen reminded him multiple times about how often people come into Emergency Rooms because they have fallen off the roof hanging Christmas lights (doctor, heal thyself), Todd did in fact hang the Christmas lights. With no mishap.

Having balancing personalities works well. The house looks great with the addition of the window lights, and it never would've happened with just a pansy in charge.

And after gazing at our pretty lights, Todd looked further upward at the two windows and asked, "Do you think those little tiny sloping roofs can hold weight?"

No, I don't.

Sheesh

Here is reason #9,876,567,345 I don't want pets.

They don't know what to do with kids and will attack them.

At my friend's house today Nadine got swatted by a cat. Who hadn't been de-clawed. I am so grateful she closed her eye, because two of the three puncture marks are right by her eye. One was at the very edge of the bottom of her eye. Poor girl got a black eye from a cat!

She cried for a bit, but she's a tough girl. And then when the other cat appeared, she immediately screeched with joy and crawled after it. No harm no foul.

And yes, there is immense mommy guilt associated with this episode. I should have been right by her while she was in an animal's face, and I should not have allowed my baby to even be in an animal's face. Live and learn.

I'm your biggest fan I'll follow you until you love me

Many pictures and a video on the baby blog.

Just to be the man who walked 1,000 miles to fall down at your door

How fun is this sign?! It's at the beginning of Interstate 70 here in Maryland.

My mom had heard about it, so yesterday we drove to it. The Interstate going east literally just ends and you make a big U-turn and then start going west.

This is the very end of the Interstate.

Then you see how many miles until the other end of I-70. Which we have also seen (it ends at I-15 in Utah). How often do you get to see the beginning and end of an Interstate?

I have a special place in my heart for Cove Fort, not just because it reminds me of driving home from Utah, but also because one July my sister Lindsay and I had to turn around on the Interstate because it was covered by a raging fire. The fire stretched across all of I-15 and was as high as the off ramp. Completely terrifying to see, but also a fairly cool experience (in hindsight). At one point we had to stop and wait for the firemen to tell us when we could continue on the Interstate. Then, as we drove 45 MPH a fire in the median was moving just as fast as we were. It's interesting to be on the Interstate before they close it because of wildfires and then to be caught by the fire.

I wonder if at I-70 in Utah it says "Baltimore 2200." That's your homework, everyone!

House for rent

Karma decided to rear its ugly head and teach me a lesson about taking my many blessings for granted:

Six months earlier than we'd planned, our renters are moving out of our house in southern Nevada.

If you know of anyone looking to rent (or buy!!!), please pass on this web site. http://bouldercityhouseforsale.blogspot.com/

Thanks! Sigh.

"... there are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids." Robert Brault

I love Halloween!

Pictures are on the baby blog.

I apparently tricked some of you with Nani's costume preview. The hat isn't normal sized--it's dinky! I figured a teeny hat would be way more adorable. And it was. It made the outfit.

In doing this costume, I learned compiling is much easier than sewing from scratch. I'm hoping to be able to compile most of her costumes. We'll see, though, once she starts getting into all these Disney princess movies I've bought her.

Baby blog updated

She had a birthday!

And there are also videos of her walking (with assistance).

An open letter to the kids outside

The streetlights are on. It's dark. My grumpy baby is sleeping.

Stop screaming.

You do this every night.

Where are your parents?

Exasperatedly,

Your (also grumpy, apparently) neighbor

My toes are froze and my nose is froze

I finally finished the quilt I made for Todd. He designed the pattern, and I think it looks great. Because I'm an uber-nerd, we made the pattern using Publisher (we even copy and pasted the fabric from JoAnn's site), but it was actually really fun and much easier to design it that way. I'm really pleased with how the quilt turned out, even if I did make several major mistakes ("opportunities for growth" Ü).

His two requirements were that it's warm and big. I put flannel at the bottom (my new favorite), and the quilt is the length of our couch. It dwarfs me, and it's so snuggly.

He even let me use this very cool paisley fabric as binding.

It's so sweet Todd encourages and supports my hobbies. I very much appreciate it.

Also, because we're getting into trying to warm ourselves, yesterday we bought me my first pair of boots. They're not at all what I thought I'd want, but I'm so excited about them and how practical they are; they're blasted warm (the inside is lined with fur). And they look cute with skirts, which was my goal.

These Things are good Things

At my mom's request, here's a teaser for Nani's Halloween costume. I'm excited that it's actually done already, and fairly proud of myself for making the whole thing (well, compiling it).

You know what happens when you assume . . .

We got a letter from the Maryland MVA (that's Motor Vehicle Administration, for all of you who are used to a "DMV;" heaven forbid local governments come up with one name for the same function) stating we didn't have insurance on our Camry and that we were going to have a lovely $300ish fine.

I hesitated calling the MVA because I cannot stand dealing with government workers. Most of the ones I deal with are belligerent, lazy, uninformed, and fairly unintelligent (though they insist on insinuating I'm the stupid one). Yup, I greatly generalize when it comes to government workers.

So instead I first called our insurance company and the Toyota dealership. Our insurance company is awesome and was very helpful, though they couldn't do anything to get us out of the fine. I called the Toyota dealership, and they gave me the usual dealership runaround. I'm supposed to hear from them tomorrow . . ..

Today I finally broke down and called the MVA, because the deadline for information is fast approaching. And lo and behold, I talked to someone who is allowed to think beyond the borders of our suspension warning, and she came up with a logical solution to our problem that did not involve a fine. AND she was nice.

Huh, who knew.

Baby blog updated

Her first boat experience.

Baby blog updated

Teeth pictures.

Do as I say, not as I do

There are many things I want to instill in my child(ren). Things I learned from experience, from observance, and from obedience. One thing I really hope my children have is compassion for and a defense of the underdog. I don't know why I've thought of the following experience recently, but it's actually been on my mind a lot.

Because I grew up in a relatively small city, I went to school with many of the same people for 12 years. One of the girls in my grade got picked on in junior high (it mortifies me I can't recall whether high school was easier for her). She was picked on a lot. One incident is vivid in my memory: the teacher's back was turned and a boy kicked her. The whole class erupted in laughter. She crawled under a table and accused, "You kicked me!", which only prompted more laughter from her classmates and tears from herself.

I can't remember why she was picked on. Who knows how bullies choose their victims. As I look at this girl with adult eyes, though, I realize there were probably things going on in her life that made her a target--abuse, neglect, money issues, etc. The adult in me cringes that my little 12ish-year-old self didn't even think about walking in her shoes and never came to her defense.

In school I was fortunately insulated from the nasty kids. I don't know why. Was it my type-A, take-no-crap personality? Was my confidence a deterrent because I wouldn't be a fun victim? Did my sassy attitude show I could take it and dish it back worse? I don't know. But I wish I had taken that blanket of social safety and wrapped it around that poor girl. I wish I had, at least once, told the kids to leave her alone.

I know why I did nothing: I didn't want to become the focus of the nasty little junior high hecklers. Isn't that horrible? Because I was afraid of being negatively noticed, I let it go. Granted, I never participated in being mean (I'm so glad I wasn't one of those kids), but I also never befriended or defended the friendless picked-on girl.

I hope I can teach Nadine the importance of defending those who are unable or unwilling to defend themselves. And I hope she's the kind of person who will do so, no matter the perceived cost.

Our house, in the middle of our street

Because very few family members have been in our house, this post is nothing but photos of the house we're renting in Maryland. I love this house; it is definitely the bright spot of the move. We're so blessed to be in it.

We no longer look like college bachelors (minus the Ramen noodles in the corner), sitting on a blow-up mattress and eating off plastic plates; and we're not swimming in a sea of boxes (because my mom and sister Kelsey basically unloaded every box when they were out here dropping Whitney off at law school; I am so grateful for their help).

Here are the "befores" in July. The living and dining rooms were quite empty.

Here is a "transit" in August. This was such an overwhelming amount of boxes.

And here's now. Even the pictures are up!

Nadine has her Seussical Experience room again. It was so nice to get her out of the Pack & Play, her bed for 7 weeks, and back into her crib.

Notice the built-in dresser and mirror. Most of the bedrooms have this. It's so cool.

The basement is also fantastic; do you see the wall on the right that is nothing but shelving?! I love having so much space for our books.

Peekaboo

Cute video on the baby blog.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore

This post is not about love. Well, it kinda is, because I love pizza. And that's what this post is about.

We make homemade pizza about four times a month. I have a fantastic dough recipe that is actually really easy to make. I was talking to my mom tonight on the phone as I made the sauce, and she asked for the dough recipe. Because I was going to compile, I thought I'd share it with you all.

I got this recipe from a girl at a book club and found the honey addition online, so I can't claim any of the recipe as my own.

1 pkg. dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp olive oil (a bit more for bowl)

2-1/2 to 3-1/2 cups flour

2 Tbs honey (Yes, honey. It honestly is the best part of the dough.)

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixing bowl.

2. Add salt, olive oil, honey, and 2-1/2 cups flour. Mix at speed 1 for about one minute.

3. At speed 2, add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time.

4. Mix for about two minutes or until dough clings to hook and cleans side of the bowl (this is the trickiest part to master, but regardless of the texture the dough still tastes dang good).

5. Mix on speed 2 for about two minutes longer (if it's too dry, add a bit of water).

6. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about an hour or until doubled in bulk.

7. Punch down dough.

8. Place on pizza pan. Roll out and for edge (I just pound and moosh the dough until it covers the pan, and I don't even attempt edges any more).

9. Put sauce and toppings on pizza. Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.

That's it! It's a bit labor-intensive, but the dough is fantastic and worth it if you love homemade pizza.

You can use whatever sauce, but I like to make my own sauce and let it simmer as the dough rises. You can use tomato sauce, but I puree canned tomato chunks because it tastes richer (though you usually have to thicken it with corn starch). For sauce I add the following to taste:

1. Dried basil (mmmm, fresh basil is so tasty, especially as a topping)

2. Dried oregano

3. Refrigerated garlic

4. Onion powder

5. Ground pepper (I do freshly ground)

6. A few pinches of brown sugar

I add all the ingredients until I think it tastes yummy, then I just let it simmer on low. The major plus is your house starts smelling like pizza long before it's ready to cook. Yum.

Another tip is we always keep frozen Italian sausage (low fat = less grease) in the freezer for the days we randomly decide to make pizza (seriously, I make it a lot). We like to use turkey pepperoni (again, less grease); a grocery store-size bag of turkey pepperoni can be divided in half, which is about the perfect amount for pizza, and then frozen. I also buy bulk shredded mozzarella (Costco had a 5 lb bag--perfect!) and put about 2 cups' worth into individual freezer bags.

For the frozen pizza toppings, they can either be thawed in the fridge in the morning or on the counter in the afternoon. Italian sausage can be cooked frozen, which is wonderful.

So there are my hints for homemade pizza. Again, it's a bit labor intensive, especially as you figure out how to perfect the dough, but my goodness it's good. Easy hints: freeze as many ingredients as possible and buy them in bulk and when on sale, and make your sauce as the dough rises. Also, for Mother's Day this year Todd got me a pizza stone (I told you we make a lot of pizza); those are fantastic and truly do make a difference.

Baby blog updated

Shrieking banshee video. It's ear-shattering.

Blue his house with a blue little window, and a blue Corvette, and everything is blue for him, and himself, and everybody around

We didn't plan it this way (and yes, the Type A part of me is CRINGING because planning wasn't involved), but both of our cars are blue.

They're pretty blue cars, like sapphires, which then makes me think of a certain dragon.

But despite the prettiness of the cars and the fact I thoroughly enjoy them both, we own two blue cars and we're now a Smurf family.

P.S. How many of you got the song in your head as soon as you read my post title? You're welcome.

Baby blog updated

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Our other car finally arrived from Hawaii a couple weeks ago. Last week Nadine and I drove to the grocery store a mile from our house. I needed to go to Costco too, which is 15 minutes away, but because I wanted frozen things from Costco I decided to go to the grocery store first. This is blessing #1.

When I parked at the grocery store, I turned off the ignition, took my keys out of the car, and exited the vehicle. Then I noticed the engine was still running, even though the car key was in my hand. Puzzled, I got back into the car and turned the ignition off and on several times. The engine stayed running the entire time. So I called Todd, my dad, my father-in-law, and my brother-in-law. None answered. I figured it was better to be stuck with my wonky car at home instead of at the store, so I drove home. Blessing #2.

After I got home I still couldn't get the car to turn off, so I called my father-in-law again. Blessing #3, he answered. At that moment I needed (1) to talk to someone who knows about cars, and (2) a calming influence, which he definitely is.

I had now been unable to turn off the engine for about 10 minutes, and suddenly smoke began pouring from the hood. Not steam, smoke. The only thing I know to do when a car smokes is to turn off the engine, and I couldn't do that, so I began to turn into a blubbering mess.

I jumped out of the car and tried to open Nadine's door, but it was locked. The car battery was fried at this point, so the automatic locks wouldn't work. I pushed the lever on her door to "unlock" and I still couldn't open the door. Now I was frantic, hysterical, and absolutely terrified. The car was still running and still smoking, and my child was trapped. After tugging on the door and trying to unlock it several times, I finally realized I had been pushing the "unlock" lever the wrong way. After that I was able to open the door and get Nadine out of the car.

I ran to the front of the car and looked for flames. No flames. Blessing #4. (I can just see it: "Hi neighbor, how was work? Sorry about your car that was parked next to mine, but mine caught on fire and burned yours too. Will a casserole make you feel better?")

After a bit the engine turned off, and then the smoke eventually stopped. And I was absolutely drained. Fortunately the story has reached a point where parts of it are somewhat humorous, but it was a fairly traumatic experience, especially not being able to get Nadine out.

We figured the Camry was toast and would need to be replaced, but we towed it to a mechanic anyway. Even if it was fixed, I wasn't going to drive it again. When your car turns into a smoke monster, you are excused from using it.

Unfortunately for the poor Camry, it IS toast and is on its way to a junkyard. Apparently the wiring to the negative side of the battery melted, which is highly unusual; who knows what else is wrong. It'll cost more to fix the car than what it's worth, that's for sure.

And in Major Blessing #5, our budget allows us to purchase a replacement car. I'm glad Todd is so good about budgeting, because two car purchases in five months isn't exactly budget-friendly.

The End.

And there was much rejoicing (yay)

BabyLegs: $15

Socks from Target: $2.99

Having my sewing machine again: priceless

I love the BabyLegs we bought for Nadine (at a steep discount, mind you). We put them on her when we enter any air conditioned building because her poor little shorts-clad legs freeze. Also they're perfect to protect her knees as she crawls (especially now that she has she mastered the step out of the living room, after which she crawls on the wood floor).

And then I saw this tutorial on my friend's blog. Homemade BabyLegs! Hooray for uber-cheap leggings AND a project to help me keep my sanity!

It was especially enjoyable to spend far too much time at Target looking for socks that are funky and fun.

Our sewing machine arrived yesterday with a bit of our stuff (everything else arrives on Monday--hallelujah) and I've already put it to use with this project. I have so many sewing projects in my mental queue.

(Don't her feet look so weird in this picture? Apparently it's an odd angle. To me she looks backwards. Eew.)

It truly is an easy project, though I had a really hard time sewing straight; luckily it doesn't show. The yellow ones are our favorite pattern (and by "we" I mean Jen & Todd; Nani is blissfully uninterested in fashion).

I did all these while she napped today (since she overcame the monster of all jetlags, she has started taking 2-hour naps. It's wonderful. If she had napped that long from the beginning I think I would've had a much easier time the first five months).

Y mas crawling

. . . on the baby blog.

It's the final countdown

Who else is excited about Mockingjay?!

I am always pleasantly and excitedly surprised when I hear loads and heaps and oodles of praise about a book, and then I finally read it and it actually lives up to the hype. And then the sequel is even better.

And yes, I am a dork with a countdown on my blog. I also stole the idea from my sister. So I'm an unoriginal dork.

Crawling video

She's crawling! (It should, in theory, be easy to baby-proof an empty house. The dangers just JUMP out at you. Ü)

Nani's celebrity lookalike

Here

Baaaaaaaack in the saddle again

We have internet at our house! Yippee! It's sad how empty the house feels without internet. Granted, our house IS empty and will be until July 30, but still. Baby steps.

Isn't our empty house gorgeous though?! I adore it.

Since my last post, we moved to Maryland. Nadine did so well on the four separate flights. It probably helped that the Army bought her a seat on all the flights, which was wonderful.

On our way east we stopped in Utah for 36ish hours to visit Todd's family. It was a really fast but fantastic trip. I'm glad Nadine has now met most of her paternal aunts, uncles, and cousins. While there we had a BBQ, and Todd's dad bought the coolest water slide. They so didn't have stuff like this when I was growing up.

Pictures of Nadine are on the baby blog.

The rest of this post is whiny. If you don't want to read my "woe is me, boo hoo" post, stop now and just look at adorableness. But if you don't mind joining my pity party, keep reading.

I doubt I am alone in this, but I have a really hard time moving. I've realized moving gives me a major case of the blues, so I'll admit it: I have had a tough time since we've come to Maryland. It probably doesn't help that we don't have our household goods and won't get them for a couple more weeks. That's a lot of sitting on the floor.

I dread getting to know people again. Not that my cup runnethed over for a social life in Hawaii, but I at least had one person I could call who got me out of the house a few times a week. During our previous move I learned I need to be proactive instead of just sitting in the shadows complaining that no one talks to me. So I was excited to put myself out there. But I went to a church activity last night and left more depressed than when I arrived--that's never a good thing. It totally takes the wind out of my "be assertive, can-do" sails.

I understand people get busy and forget to stop and think of others (I know am guilty of it), but my goodness why don't people remember what it's like to be the new person? Again, I know I need to make the effort and blah blah blah, but sometimes it's nice when someone else is trying too. Hopefully I'll have wind in my sails again in a few days.

What have you guys done to successfully fit into a new area?

OK, waaa waaa waaa I'm done. Sorry this post is so Debbie Downer.

To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

I will miss many things about Hawaii.

This mountain range.

The ocean, and especially this beach.

There are also a fair number of things I will not miss about Hawaii.

Such as this 5-inch centipede that was on the inside of our screen this morning. I noticed it an hour and a half after I opened the door; who knows how long it had been inside. I'm so grateful it didn't sting me when I opened the curtains, and I'm especially grateful Raid kills these buggers.

But I will especially not miss where the centipede was located.

Yup, right above the spot where Nadine plays every single day. All it had to do was drop on her, and she would've been in some serious pain. Eesh. I have the heebie jeebies.

Aloha.

I got all my sisters and me

My youngest sister graduated from high school on Wednesday, and I was able to fly out for a 10-day vacation and for the graduation.

We now have five of these sister graduation photos. They're some of my favorite photo ops. I need to track down the other ones and compare.

Being "home" showed me, again, how important relationships are with good family members (notice I say "good" family members; I do not believe you need to maintain a damaging relationship with someone just because he/she happens to be related to you).

I have been blessed with a wonderful family with whom I have fantastic relationships, and this is especially true with my sisters. They are some of my closest friends, and I miss them terribly. They are supportive, fun, wonderfully honest, independent, kind, accomplished, hilarious, righteous, and mind-blowingly intelligent. And beautiful.

Especially Ms. Valedictorian 2010.

I am so thankful we were sent to earth in family units, and that I was sent to a good one.