20 Firsts

Ok...so those of you on the MySpace site are familiar with these "bulletins" that get posted on a VERY regular basis. I am not feeling the need to write tonight, but I wanted to post something...so here goes. Enjoy.

20 Firsts

1. Who was your first prom date?
Ed. Tehe.

2. Who was your first roommate?
Susi (She's on my Friends List)


3. What alcoholic beverage did you first drink?
I'm sure it was beer

4. What was your first job?
K&L. Duh.

5. What was your first car?
Mercury Sable

6. When did you go to your first funeral?
Not sure...first one that I remember was a man from church.

8. Who was your first grade teacher?
Mrs. Rush

9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?
California

10. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was it with?
I don't remember "Sneaking" out.

11. Who was your first best friend and are you still friends with them?
Kelli Ross. Haven't Seen her in Years.

12. Where was your first sleepover?
1st Grade...Priscilla Nicholson's House in Moscow by the train tracks. I learned to ride her bicycle on her that gravel road!

13. Who is the first person you talked to this morning?
Ed

14. Whose wedding were you in the first time?
Mine. I have kept the bride's book a few times...before though.

15. What is the first thing you do in the morning?
Check on Ali

16. What was the first concert you ever went to? Geoff Moore and the Distance/Petra. Secular concert...Metallica! :)

17. First tattoo or piercing?
Ears....in 5th Grade. No tats.

18. First celebrity crush?
Wow. I can't even tell you.

19. First crush?
Chris Dussex in Montessori.

20. When was your first detention?
10th Grade. Stupid Orchestra. They wouldn't let us chew gum...needless to say, we did.

Repost as 20 firsts!

What's That Smell?

What's that Smell?

So, it is fair to say that we have reached another milestone in our lives. My daughter's First Birthday Party. And what a party it was. Though it was not technically her birthday (it is Tues), we wanted to make sure that everyone would get to attend so we picked a weekend to celebrate. The party was not scheduled to start until 2pm, but people started rolling in earlier than that. I think that everyone had the same idea, "let's get there early so we can play with the birthday girl before everyone else gets there!" While this may have been a good idea on paper, when it came time for the execution, it did not work. I was frantically trying to get the house in order when people started showing up. Fortunatly, I had some good help to finish things so I could go get myself ready.

After everyone arrived, we all had a great time visiting and chowing down on some yummy Corky's BBQ. Poor Little Ali ate about Half of my friend Heather's Sandwich! She must have been a hungry little girl! After dinner, it was on to present time.

This was Ali's first attempt at opening presents. She had no idea what to do at first, fortunately, we had our nephew Jacob to help her figure it out! It took her no time to learn how to pull tissue paper out of the bags. She had a really good time with the paper, even if she didn't quite understand it all. Also, there were some really great toys under all that paper! Wooden toys, educational toys, and pretend toys. All great things for a little one to have!

After presents, it was time for cake. Now, by this time, you must understand that Ali had been up since 7:30 or so without a nap. By cake time (somewhere around 3 or so), she was exhausted to the point of passing out. We put her in the highchair and gave her a little "baby block" cake to eat. Her big cake was baby blocks stacked up on top of each other. She wasn't too sure what was going on with the cake, but eventually she wrapped both arms around it and pulled it toward her....then she took a big bite out of it! It was too cute. After she fiddled and gnawed on it for awhile, she started nodding off. It was the most adorable thing that I have seen in a long time. Her little eyes were drooping and closing and her little head was dipping and lolling....and the whole time her little hand never left the cake! I guess she gets it honest. Never let go of the cake!!

Poor baby. She had a long day. But it was a wonderful day. She played and played with her friends and family. We unwrapped new presents (at the request of her cousin) and played more! By the time that everyone left at around 7pm, she could not stand it any longer. She finally passed out. We put her to bed, and she slept for about 12 hours. My sweet baby girl!

After we put her to bed, Ed and I started to address the chaos that was our house. There was cake EVERYWHERE. There were toys EVERYWHERE. And there was trash EVERYWHERE. I guess this was all to be expected...and fortunately it all cleaned up relatively quickly. We even were able to unpack all of her new toys and find new "homes" for them all. She got some really neat things...puzzles, wooden toys, a kitchen playset, a carousel rocky horse, and many many more things. She even got her first baby dolls.

One of the most profound things happened while we were cleaning up and organizing toys. Do you ever get a whiff of something that smells so overwhelmingly familiar that it just stops you right in your tracks? This happens to me occasionally, but I had another moment like this yesterday when we opened up the Cabbage Patch Doll that she got. It's really odd...I was trying to adjust the bow in the doll's hair (her name in Jaida Lina, by the way) and I could smell her head. I know how odd this sounds, but trust me. It smelled just like the Cabbage Patch "Premie" that I carried around for years. I took him everywhere...bed, church, dinner...he was seldom out of my sight. All of these memories flooded my mind when I opened this doll. I suddenly realized that my little daughter is beginning to form memories of her own. She will one day be playing with her daughter or son and think back to when she was a little girl. It's really odd to be thinking about your life in such a way. It seems that just yesterday I was playing with that doll. I would 'feed', 'diaper', and care for that little man in the only ways that I knew how. All of it just practice for the real thing. I'm now watching Ali carry her dolls around. Is she practicing too? I can't wait to find out.







CMD

Attn: All Drivers

Attention All Drivers:

I have noticed that many of you in the Little Rock area like to drive well in excess of the posted speed limits. This includes interstate driving, as well as city driving. Just so you know, the cops will get you. You will be ticketed.

Don't plow through a 25 mph neighborhood at 40mph. This is just STUPID. You WILL eventually be caught. Trust me on this.

Don't completely ignore the posted speeds in a construction zone!!! It is terribly annoying, and occasionally dangerous, when I am going the posted 55mph along I-40 at Levy and you FLY past me at 70+ mph. Do you not understand that they have lowered the speed limit there for a reason? Are you TRYING to kill me and my child? I drive a Mini-Van for a reason.....if I wanted to go fast, I would not have chosen the Sienna!!! PLEASE respect that. Furthermore, driving the speed limit actually helps with your gas mileage. It is CHEAPER to drive the speed limit.

And one more point...when you make an illegal left-hand turn after the light has turned yellow, don't get pissed off at me when you get hit. YOU are the STUPID person that thinks it is wise to ignore the posted traffic signal because you are IMPATIENT!!! Don't you dare have the nerve to blame me if I hit you!

Ok. I feel better now. Until the next time I get in the car, that is.

CMD

Pigg-O-Stat

So it's quite possible that we may be horrible parents. This morning, at approxamately 7:50am, Ali pulled her bulletin board down and knocked some of the thumbtacks off. We could not find one of them....so we had to call the doctor. Fortunatley, we were able to go to the Dr's office instead of ACH. I didn't really want to have to wait at the ER for an x-ray. We were pretty sure that she didn't swallow the thing, but we had to be sure.

We get to the Dr's office, and they listen to her chest to hear her breath sounds and she sounds good. Down to x-ray we go. Somehow, it has never occured to me that little kids must sit incredibly still for CXRs. I have never thought about a squirmy child sitting for an x-ray before. Well, they have. They had this interesting contraption left over from medieval torture days called a Pigg-O-Stat (I have no idea about the name). Poor Ali had to be strapped in with her arms up over her little head. Edward stayed with her (they made me go behind the lead wall), but she cried and cried. I know that she was not hurting, but she still looked really unhappy.

Due to the modern miracle of technology, we were able to see the films asap. Digital radiography is so cool. No wait time. No Tack, either. We still have not found that little bugger, either. I'm hoping to find it soon. Before the dogs do. They don't sit still for x-rays, either.


Pigg-O-Stat. Such a funny word. Dang. I should write about more. I am trying to fill up the time until Grey's Anatomy. I guess I could do something else that may in fact be constructive, but I refuse. Oh well. I'll go watch Ugly Betty instead. I hope it's good.

CMD

Cousins

I have learned so much about genealogy tonight. My daughter has a 2nd cousin that is also her 5th cousin. I guess, techincally, her daddy is also her 4th cousin, once removed. It's crazy. I didn't know how all of that worked until I actually looked it up on Genealogy.com. This was all spurred by a funeral that I attended today.

My grandmother's sister (My great-aunt) died this weekend and the funeral was today. I saw relatives that I haven't seen in years. I was having a problem figuring out who was who and how I was related. See, my great aunt was older than my grandmother, and she had her children earlier in life than my grandmother did. This means that my mom and her brother are quite a bit younger than their cousins, in turn, making the generations kind of staggered in age. My mom is probably closer in age to her second cousins than her first cousins. So I tend to get confused easily.

I came home and promptly made a chart to help me figure it out. I understand things much better now that I have a visual aid!!

The funeral was in PB, so I got to take Ali and visit Grammy. She had a blast in the new toy room with all the things to play with. Grammy and I were both exhausted! Grammy even volunteered to play with her while we went to the funeral. By the way, if you have to go to an Episcopal funeral, call me. I'll tell you all about it. Let's just say I was not expecting what we were in for.

So we had a good trip, and I learned an interesting bit of information about relatives. Ask me if you have any cousin questions. I'll be glad to help sort it out!

CMD

I think I need a Hobby.

I have decided that I need a hobby. Television is not a hobby--it's a sick obsession. I admit it. I am a TV Junkie. I need it to function. The month of September signals the end of summer for most people, but for me, it means the beginning of the fall television season. Old shows that left me to wonder all summer long about their eventual outcome return to ease my anxiety and further endear me to their characters. New show premiere, filling me with a sense of curiosity not only about the plot and characters, but also whether or not they will make the cut. This past week has been a blur of loose ends being all sewn together and the beginning of a glorious new fray.

All that being said, I have decided that I need a hobby. One that does not take much time or MONEY to get started. One that also does not require the full attention of my mind. I also would like a quiet hobby. Being the musician that I am, I am tired of disturbing others when I want to play. I can't play anything while Ali sleeps, and this is a problem. For this reason, I think that I would like to give knitting/crocheting a try. A friend of mine recently told me about a program that AR Children's Hospital is running called "Knitting for Knoggins" where they want people to make hats to ensure that all kiddos go home with a warm hat this winter. It interested me. I have crocheted in the past, but it has been a very long time. I think that I might give it a try. Plus---I can always knit/crochet WHILE watching TV. Isn't that sneaky!

If any of you have better suggestions for a hobby....please feel free to let me know. I'm out of ideas.

CMD




Oh yeah, just in case you are wondering...here is a list of the shows I TiVo'd this week:
(*indicates brand new shows)
Sunday:
Simpsons
Family Guy
(This week we add Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters)

Monday:
*The Class
How I Met Your Mother
Two and a Half Men
The New Adventures of Old Christine
*Vanished
*Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Tuesday:
Law and Order: SVU
The Unit
*Standoff
Wednesday:
*Justice


Thursday:
*'Til Death
*Ugly Betty (Starts this week)
The Office (In the interest of full disclosure, I have not watched this show's previous seasons)
Grey's Anatomy
ER
*Six Degrees


Friday:
Law and Order

Saturday:
Since when did Saturday become "recap night"?

And you can't forget Sesame Street, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, each weekday!
I'm telling you. I need a real hobby.

Five Years Later

As is the trend with many of the other blogs, I have written up my memories and thoughts about 9/11--five years later.


9/11/2001


On the morning of 9/11/01 I awoke in my normal fashion. I was in my last semester of college. Senior-itis had set in particularly bad. I had other things on my mind, like planning a wedding. I had a pretty good routine, honed down to only the most important steps. Every morning I would wake up and hit the snooze button on the alarm two or three times before actually venturing out of the bed. This bad habit inevitably left me rushing to get out the door in time to make class.

The class that I had on Tuesdays and Thursdays was a Public Speaking Class. It wasn't your typical speech class, either. It was a very small class and the President of the University was the instructor. Because of this, we were able to meet in his office suite. I will never forget walking up the staircase to his office that day. I turned the corner in his office and his secretary motioned me into a different room than we normally used for class.

In this room, we had a television with a cable hook-up. I remember sitting in the floor with some of my other classmates, the President, his staff, and various other people from the building. Aaron Brown was on CNN desperately trying to keep everyone up to speed with what little information he had been given. There had been a commercial airplane crash into the side of one of the World Trade Center Towers. All aspects of the story were sketchy at this point. There were also (what turned out to be false) reports of fires sweeping the Mall in D.C. I had arrived just in time to see the second attack on the World Trade Center. I will never forget screaming when we saw that. We all realized that we were watching live television, and it was terrifying. I remember the silence in the room being overwhelming. The television was the only sound. The reporter tried with all of his might to keep his composure. We just sat in silence, punctuated by occasional sniffles and sobs, trying to grasp the seriousness of what we were witnessing. We then learned about he attack on the Pentagon, as well.

At OBU, we always had Chapel on Tuesdays. This met directly after my first class. As we all assembled, there was a somber feeling among everyone in the auditorium. Fortunately, the powers-that-be decided that no one was in a a state of mind to endure a full chapel service--we basically prayed and got out of there. I found Edward first, then I found a TV.

For hours, no, days, I remember being glued to TV. Most of the other classes for the day were canceled, so I had plenty of time to watch. I watched as many channels as I possibly could. When reports of gas shortages came on, I rushed to the gas station and waited to fill my tank. I ran to the grocery store and got staples. Like many people, I was just doing the things that I thought I should do. In reality, there was no need to do these things, it was just all that we knew to do.

Like many Americans, I was so steeped in the news coverage that I didn't sleep well for weeks. We didn't know what was going to come next. None of us had ever been through something like this, therefore we didn't have any idea how to cope. I remember a few times waking up in the night, shaking, because I was so scared. I dreamed of the news coverage that I saw. I had seen the images of the towers fall over and over again on television, and now in my sleep.

I finally had to turn off the television. To this day, I am still not ready to watch much coverage on 9/11. The movies that have come out are far to real for me to watch. Even re-broadcasts of things that I have previously seen are too much for me. Perhaps the worst thing, however, is the 911 tapes that have been released. I just can't listen to these tapes without getting a real sense of fear all over again.

For the days, weeks, months, and now years afterwards people have been telling the American Public that we should just go on with our lives and not let "the terrorists" get to us. That seems to be what we should do. I want to do that. But how do you do it? How do you put aside every fear in your mind and go on with life? Just this morning, I was watching Rudy Giuliani being interviewed on "Today" by Ann Curry. He made no attempt to gloss over his opinion that there will be another terroristic attack on American Soil. With comments like this, how do you ignore "the threat" and go on? When is it safe, and when is it not? I am just not sure that we will ever know for sure. Actually, I'm not sure if we ever knew for sure.

Highlights of the Week.

Highlights of the week.

Saturday
Boo-hoo: The Hogs. Their loss agains USC was terrible. That being said, it wasn't as bad as last year though!

Yay: Hanging out with friends. While we were watching the massacre on TV, we did have a good time with our friends. Some of them even brough new people! We like new people. In the end, we played Catch Phrase....which we always do! Not your normal kind of Catch Phrase, either. It's kind of a no-holds barred, psuedo-full-contact, Catch Phrase. Intense.

Sunday
Yay: Dinner with Friends. A good friend was in town and we were all excited about that so we went out to dinner. Fun times. I'm just glad my baby was having a good day!

Yay: Little Miss Sunshine. Ed was kind enough to let me go and see a movie Sunday night with "His" friends. It was great. I know I posted about it last time, but I felt it was worth mentioning again.

Monday
Boo: Our Friend had to go home, but not after a delightful meal with everyone again!

Boo: I'm sick. Ali's Sick. Looks like Double Dr's Appts Tomorrow.

Tuesday
Boo: The Family Clinic on Rodney Parham. I started going there because of a certain doctor. She is no longer with that practice, but my records are. They also have walk-in hours where you are seen fairly quickly. I have never needed them for something too serious, but when I got sick over Labor Day Weekend, I was sure I needed to go to the doc. They got me in fast, but the diagnosis was a little sketchy.

Boo: Sick Baby. Ali's got the same thing that I do...two Dr's Appts in one day. You haven't lived until you have taken your child into TWO germ infested areas back to back.

Wednesday:
Boo: Missing Mom's Birthday. We are too sick to visit Nana on her birthday. Poor Nana. I know she would like her present.

Boo: Missing Reece's First Birthday. Too sick to play with Reece on his first b-day. I am really upset about this too. It looks like we may even miss his real party on Saturday.

Boo...no, Make that a Hiss: Walgreen's. Oh. I can't even begin to express how angry I am with this company. Their store is ALWAYS slow. I had a prescription called in by my Dr. at 3pm. at 9pm, it STILL was not ready. They said it would be another 45 minutes. I slammed my wallet and keys on the counter and told them, very sternly, "NO! I am NOT waiting 45 minutes." They had it ready in 5 mins. Needless to say, I think I need to find another pharmacy. Do they spit in things like waiters do?After all that, the drug barely helps. I am so pissed.

Thursday:
Yay: Quiet Day! I totally needed a quiet day. Ali was pretty good...she is definately feeling better. Though I did not get to rest the way that I wanted, I did get to rest my throat. It is still hurting--worse than I think it ever has.

Friday
Super Tremendous Yay: My Dear Sister-in-Law, Shannon. Ed called her to see if she could watch Ali for an hour or two to allow me to take a shower and mabye a little nap. I am exhausted, I guess because of being sick. She actually took all three kids (her two boys and Ali) to the Zoo! I can't believe what a super brave woman she is!!! Needless to say, I was thrilled. I got to take a nap!

So, there's your run down on this week's events.....just in case you were wondering.

Just for the record....all y'all Texarkana folks, have a great time getting lei'd this weekend. I wish we could be there, but it looks like I won't be going anywhere this weekend.

Everybody just pretend to be normal, okay?

So, I think that will be my new tagline. I went with some friends this evening to see Little Miss Sunshine. It was great! The characters were interesting and quirky--the plot was hillarious and dark at the same time--and I liked the actors very much. Go see it if you can.

Sadly, that is all that I have to report on. No interesting anecdotes or anything. I'll try and come up with something soon. The new fall TV line up is getting ready to start. I will have lots to talk about with that!

CMD

What a Fun Day!

mI am thoroughly exhausted, but I sure had fun getting that way! (All of you with the sick minds, keep reading....)


Today, Ali and I took a trip to the Historic Arkansas Museum, formerly The Territorial Restoration. A friend told me last night that there was supposed to be a little festival or something going on today, so we decided to load up the kids and make an afternoon of it. (In case you are wondering, this is my Water Aerobics buddy that I had cheese dip with a few weeks ago.) Edward had mentioned yesterday that he was to attend a meeting at the Main Library Downtown, so we loaded up and headed to the Rivermarket.

With my friend's 2 year-old little boy, her 5 year-old girl, and my baby girl in tow, we met up in the lobby of the museum. To our dismay, there was no festival going on today. Sadly, it was as dead as you would expect a history museum to be. Fortunately for us, there is a small "Children's Gallery" upstairs in the main museum.

There, they have such exciting things to do....for instance: A matching game where you find which picture is just like to original. Oh oh....don't forget the clock puzzles. There was an interesting rendition of twister called "Arkansas Twister" where the mat was on a huge map of Arkansas. That provided about 15 minuted of super fun. Then we proceeded to the dress up area, and then to my personal favorite, the do-it-yourself puppet theater. Our little 5 year-old player was a super diversion for Ali. She would just sit and watch her perform with great attention.

After we squeezed all of the free fun out of that playroom, we headed over to the Rivermarket to get a snack. I found this lovely vendor named "Double D's" where I had a fabulous glass of Sweet Tea and quite possibly the longest Corn Dog that I have ever had! Yummy.

Afterwards, it was time to go pick up Ed from the Library and head to the house with my thoroughly exhausted daughter. She went to sleep almost immediately.

As much fun as it was playing with the kids, I have to admit, my favorite part of the whole experience was the adult conversation with my new friend. She is smart, witty, a good mommy, and very open-minded. There was a time in my life when I probably would not have even been friends with her, which makes me very sad. Since I have gotten older and become more open-minded (or less prudish, as my hubby would say), I am thankful that I have not missed the opportunity to make friends that are so accepting. I feel that I can be the real me around her, and I have felt this way from the get go. I have no preconceived notions about her, and I feel that she has none about me. The best part is, I actually say things that come to mind, instead of holding them in for fear of starting an argument, or worse, being judged. This is the type of person that I really think that I could "intelligently" fight with--meaning, state my opinion, disagree, and then go on about our business without a grudge. I can't tell you how this feels. It is very freeing. I am looking forward to many more conversations with her.

Ok. Enough rattling. I will retire now. I am very sleepy!

Abby Cadabby

It's official. I have been abducted by the Mommy Spirits. I now TiVo Sesame Street.

Alexandra loves to watch Elmo! Every time he comes on screen and starts talking, she giggles. It is one of the cutest things ever. Unfortunately, I have the theme to "Elmo's World" stuck in my head constantly....well, not constantly. It alternates with the melody to "Jingle Bells." In each episode, the item that Elmo chooses to talk about is reinforced by a song. EVERY episode has the same melody....but with different lyrics. For example, yesterday's EW was on the telephone....so for two days now, I have been singing in my head this lovely song:
(Imagine it to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Phone Phone Phone
(Jin gle bells)
Phone Phone Phone
(Jin gle bells)
Phone Phone Te-le-Phone!
(Jin gle all the way!)

Phone Phone Phone Phone
(Oh What Fun It)
Phone Phone Phone Phone
(Is to ride in-a)
Phone Phone Te-le-Phone!!
(one horse op-en sleigh!)

Over and over and over and over and over and over.....................



I think I'm a little crazy. But, it could be worse. One purple dinosaur comes to mind....who may love me, but I CERTAINLY do not love him....


One really great thing about Sesame Street is that they have an adorable new character this season. Her name is Abby Cadabby. She is the first new female muppet in over a decade. Her bio lists her as a "3 year-old fairy-in-training." She is a very happy shade of pepto pink with puffy pink pig-tails and a magic wand. She also has pretty pink wings! She tends to "poof" in and out of scenes and thinks that everything is "magic". I think that she will be a wonderful new addition to the cast. I am hoping that Ali will take to her as she makes her debut on perhaps the most famous street on television.

There. Enough Mommy Talk.
I'm off to eat some pesto pasta in peace. (Try saying that three times fast...)
Ali's asleep. I just hope she stays that way!

CMD

Stupid Arkansas Weather

I do enjoy the weather here in Arkansas, usually. Summers are hot and humid (the way they are supposed to be...) and winters are mild. The summer storms, however are getting on my nerves. I am all for rain, but I am thinking that I need to send Ed and Ned a copy of my schedule because these storms are becoming a nusience. As soon as we got in the pool this evening to do our class....boom. The thunder and lightening started. As we all scurried out of the pool, I couldn't help but wonder why we got in to begin with. Oh well, I guess we will try again tomorrow.

Oh well. I'm off to play some Sudoku and then go to sleep. I just can't seem to sleep enough lately. Is it possible to get even lazier than I already am?

CMD

So, I may have ruffled a few feathers...

I never meant to imply that CCM concerts were a bad thing.....I too went to my fair share of them.....Steven Curtis Chapman (twice), Geoff Moore and the Distance, Petra, 4-Him and Truth on countless occasions, POG, Jaqui Velasquez, etc....

Sorry if I offended some folks.

CMD

8:43 AM

Stupid 100 Questions...

Ok, I feel the need to elaborate on some of the current survey questions. I am too tired to make complete paragraphs, therefore I will be using bullet points.

1. How many people really care where I have "Done it"? If you really must think about such things do me a favor. Remember this one tidbit. I'm married. Just assume we have done it everywhere. Get as creative as you wish. Just keep in mind that I am super lazy and un-adventurous.

2. Come on. Who in their right mind thinks of being attacked by bees or bears? This is one of the most random and insane questions that I have ever read.

3. What's the deal with all of the dancing questions? It seems that every survey that I have ever read like this has some sort of "do you dance" question. NO. I do not dance. Those of you that saw Follies know why I do not dance.

4. "Real Concert" does not encompass any CCM artists. For all of you that listed CCM concerts....I would be curious to know who your true first "real" concert was.

and finally....

5. Why must every survey attempt to tug at the heart-strings by asking "who do you miss"? There is no graceful way to answer this question without alienating at least one if not more of your friends!

All this being said, I did have a good time reading all of the responses and then answering them myself! Keep em coming. I may edit the surveys in the future....just to keep them interesting.
Night!

CMD

Water Aerobics and Cheese Dip

So, Friday night I get a call that my Water Aerobics class is canceled. It's always a huge bummer when this happens, as this is my only form of exercise! Not to mention the fact that I enjoy the other ladies in the class. It's wonderful for me, mainly because I am the "young'en" in there! We all meet at our neighborhood pool three times a week and usually have a blast. This has been a great way for me to meet some of the other families in the neighborhood, too. In fact, after we found out that class was canceled, one of the women in the class shot me an email and invited me out for Mexican food instead! We had a great time sipping Sangria and Margaritas at Sr. Tequila's. They have the best cheese dip in LR, just so you know. We hadn't had a chance to really talk in class, but it seemed that we shared some of the same interests just from the "small-talk" conversations that we have while doing "aqua-lunges". I was right! It was so nice to share some great conversation about babies, dating, marriage, religion, school etc, over a nice meal. I'm looking forward to doing it again!

I missed my class Friday, and now I get to miss it tonight too. I have to go and pick-up baby girl from her Nana and Paw Paw's house. They were gracious enough to come and get her Saturday when I was laid up on the couch sick. Dang. I just realized that I can't go tomorrow either. Ed has to work. Grr. What good is this class doing me?

CMD

11:45 AM

I think that my Sister-in-Law have a touch of the crazies...

I have no idea why we thought that this was a good idea to begin with, but we decided to take the kiddos to a PYO pottery studio today. We did this at Christmas time when it was just Shannon and Jacob, and Me and Ali. A little adventurous, but not really. It was not too bad with a 1:1 ratio of kids and adults. Since then, we have added my little nephew Noah to the mix! The whole 3:2 thing was a little more tricky.

It was hot. It was sticky. It was hard to get any of the kids to sit still! Fortunately, the mug that we made turned out pretty darned cute. Jacob (He's a pre-schooler) was kept occupied by a spoon-rest project, and I finally found a highchair for Ali. I think that poor little Noah (he's 5 months old) was just miserable though. Bless his heart, he was so hot and sleepy. I don't think he could get comfortable! I seriously doubt that this outing will stop us from doing it again though. We don't let too much stop us besides the heat!

Ali passed out as soon as we got in the car, so we had to drive around until it was time to pick up Ed. Her naps can get expensive when you have to drive around the entire time!

When we got home, I noticed that she was pooped. Playing like that really wears her out. Though it wears me out too, we love to spend time with Jacob and Noah. (Not that they wear me out in particular....ALL kids wear me out!!!).

I'm off to finish my wonderful Hong Kong Chicken from Lilly's Dim Sum Then Some. It's my favorite Restaurant right now! Yum.

CMD

6:23 PM -

What A Day

So I woke up this morning and not long after, my mom called to tell us that Paul Eells had died last night. What sad news to start the day off with, not to mention it is just a matter of days before the fall football season. Ironically, I was watching a new commercial on KATV just the other night. In it, they played Gary Glitter's Rock'n'Roll ,Part 2 with new lyrics that said, "Do the Paul Call!" It also tried to suggest that there is new "choreography" for lack of a better word for "Touchdown Arkansas!" (Imagine a grandiose gesture of a T followed by an A similar to the YMCA song....) I saw this and thought that was a neat idea and it would be a good lead in to our new football season. They were even selling T-Shirts to comemorate the occasion. (I ordered one tonight...all profits are going to the scholarship fund established in his memory.)

Sadly, we will probably not see anymore of those commercials. Even more sad, we will never again hear a Live Paul Call. Growing up in Arkansas, I have NEVER heard a Razorback game that was not called by Paul Eells. He is a legend around these parts, for his famous voice that often remarked, "Oh My!" He is also a legend for the kind and genuine person that he was. I don't usually listen to sports radio, but for the past few days I have. I will never cease to be amazed by the number of people that called to share their personal stories about Paul Eells. There will be a terrible sadness among the people of this region for a long time.

After I was able to gather my thoughts and go on about my business, I had an interesting afternoon. I schlepped Ali into Sam's and back in the blistering heat. Got some really cute mats for her playroom and an awesome mat for the dog bowls. It's one of those water trapping mats that are terribly expensive in the fancy schmancy doggie catalogues---at Sam's they are only 20 bucks. We'll see how it works. It may not....

After I put all of my purchases away (the perishables, anyways), Ali and I got back into the car to retrieve Ed from work. He was at UAMS today, so this means that we must negotiate traffic on Markham Street. I HATE HATE HATE Markham Street. There are too many idiots that use it like an Interstate. Markham Street is NOT an Interstate Highway!!!!!! Ok. Enough Venting.

Well, to make a long story somewhat short, I was in the outer lane going east and some guy changed lanes right into my driver's door. Grr. I was so upset! Fortunately, it was such a low speed it didn't even wake up Ali. She slept through the entire ordeal. It just hacked me off though. At least the car that hit me was interesting. 1984 Cadillac El Dorado convertible with huge red rims and Cherry Red Metallic Paint. Very interesting car. The driver was nice enough and could not apologize enough for hitting me and the baby. He wanted to just "exchange information" though. He didn't want to wait for the police to come and make a report. I insisted TWICE that we must wait for the police. Fortunately he did wait and even had insurance. There are so many people that don't have insurance--I was very thankful for this!

After the collision, I took Ali to our neighborhood block party. The lovely folks in our neighborhood organized a little get-together to celebrate "Take Back the Night" or whatever it was called. Just a cool excuse to meet more neighbors! Yay! Unfortunately Edward could not come because he had to teach, but it was still fun.

Ali is now asleep and all is well in her little world. My world, however is a little fuzzy. Car busted, Sticky from heat, HUNGRY!!! I just realized that I need to eat! Rotisserie Chicken, here I come!!!!!!!!!!

CMD

My First Blog Ever!!

Sunday, July 30, 2006


My First Blog Ever!
Current mood: geeky

At what point do you qualify at obsessed?

So here I am, sitting at my computer, which is what I seem to do when my baby goes to bed at night. I have been sitting here for an hour now, and I am just now realizing the time. This is a good night, for there are some nights when I will sit here on the computer and not realize at all that I have been here for three or more hours!

In the past few days I have learned a few skills that I did not know until now. All of them involve my MySpace account! I have learned how to refine the art of "slideshow editing" as well as "layout stealing" (Thank you Jennifer Annison, btw), and now I am trying out my skills as a blogger. Granted, this is not a major feat, but I'm proud of myself!

All in all I have enjoyed the whole MySpace experience thusfar. I have re-connected with a few folks that I haven't seen in a while, and that makes it all worth the effort. Most of them would be just as happy with a few pictures here and there, but I have become obsessed with finding the perfect layout! This is what I have spent a few hours doing this weekend.....Searching through all different kinds of pre-made layouts and even some profiles. Then I learned that you can "Steal" someone else's layout! (Ask me how if you are interested). I am a much happier MySpacer now that I know that if I find something that I like better on a profile I can just rip it off!

Well, I guess that will do for my first attempt to post some thoughts....not that anyone else cares besides me! Talk to you all soon.

CMD

9:50 PM