Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Wraptastic!

I went back to JoAnn's today and found some perfect fabric for my wrap skirt. It's green batik (sp?) with a little of crinkle and a little bit of stretch to it. I bought 2.5 yards instead of a full 3 (which I thought was what I needed) because it was $10 a yard. Yikes! However... when I took it up to the register I found out that it was more than half off, so my entire purchase was only a little over $10!!! Hoorah! I brought it right home, laid it out underneath my Elephant wrap skirt and cut it out. Now all I have to do it hem it up and make the tie, and I've got a new skirt for cheaper than the price of one new. That's the key to making your own clothes... it's almost not worth it if your supplies is going to be more expensive than the article of clothing itself. In this case, I lucked out!

There is a Kennedy speaking at the library today in support of Barack Obama, while down at the Plaza Hillary Clinton is going to be speaking later this evening. That means very little to us, other than to be grateful we have a driveway!!! Our poor neighbors have been confined to their homes all day because if they leave, they'll have to park blocks away from their houses!!

Okay, I just took Karenin out to go potty and she went over to the place where she usually goes poo, and she started EATING it!! We leave it there so she'll know what to do when she gets to that area of the yard, not so she can have a snack!!! How sick. Dogs are gross.

Meanwhile, my sister-in-law just got a KITTEN, and I'm completely jealous.

No, I love my dog. I really do. But Martin and I were talking this morning about how life with Karenin will be so much better when she's not a puppy. I think it wouldn't be so hard if I didn't have Anja as my first priority, and I know that in about a year or so Karenin will be THE greatest dog in the universe... but for now, she's kind of a challenge.

Also, when she went to the vet to get spayed she also got weighed and we found out she's only gained a few pounds since we got her. Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have a medium-sized dog with big paws as opposed to the puppy with large paws that we thought would grow into a large dog. Well, she's still Karenin and she's still great.

Someone else who is great is Anja. She is so smiley!! Even today when she's only had funny short naps throughout the day.

Another great person is Martin. He's a pretty cool guy. I was thinking the other day about how good it is to be married. Way better than my single life prior to my marriage. We often talk about how glad we are to be out of the dating lifestyle. Not that either of us really dated anyone..... um.... we were both kind of losers, which I guess it why we're so great as a pair... but anyway, I'm glad to not have to worry about "if" I'll ever get married and "if" I'll ever have babies. Both taken care of! But the best part of being married is always having a friend to hang out with.

Oops... speaking of that friend, I've got to go pick him up!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

On Poop

So far in my limited experience, I've found poop to be one of the biggest bummers of parenting. Way bigger than the lack of sleep, major change of lifestyle, or extra costs. Those things were all expected. But the poop? It sneaks up on you and ruins your day in one blow. I have some adorable blue and white checked overalls with little ruffles that Anja wears. But on only her second time wearing them, she produced a such a massive bowel movement that it stained her undershirt onesie, her shirt onesie, AND her overalls. She also had a cute little onesie that she wore for the first time the other day (she's just now big enough to wear it) and in another major explosion, that onesie is now only suitable for overalls. The entire back is stained that brownish-yellow color of baby poop. Boooo. And it wouldn't be all that bad, I mean it's natural and everything... it's just SUCH a disappointment. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she were a boy. Boys are supposed to be somewhat dirty and stained. They're supposed to wear their stains like badges for all the world to see that they are BOY. But my cute little baby girl is supposed to be clean and flawless at all times!!!! Except for that big red mark on her forehead she just got by rolling into the coffee table.

Other than the poopie disappointments, life around the House of Schap is nothing but happies. It's been declared (by us) that we have the best baby in the entire universe, as well as a dog who is pretty up-there on the charts. It might be considered a work of Divine Mercy (I'm only a little bit kidding) but Karenin has started ringing the bell on the door to go outside. I know. I can hardly believe it either. But it's true! She randomly started doing it yesterday afternoon and today she's still doing it. It's so amazing and makes my life SO MUCH EASIER.... aside from the fact that she rings it about every four minutes.

It's been said that I have an addictive personality. I guess that's why today I baked four loaves of Friendship Bread, bringing my total loaf count to something around 742. And now I have six starters. I've come to the point where I really need to just toss them.

Tonight is knitting at Barnes & Noble. I'm hoping to get my bear leg finished, and then I'll be ready to sew him up and stuff him. Exciting times! It's still been only 6 or 7 months since I started, and in my book any project that takes less than a year is done in good time.

One thing to celebrate is the start of Farmers Market!!!! At last!!!! This summer we will eat so fabulously. The tough thing about going to the grocery once a week is that it's hard to get a weeks worth of good meals planned because by the time the weekend comes, some of the stuff is going bad. It will be great to go down and see what they have at the Farmers Market and come home and good it up. Yum yum!

Another thing to celebrate is the slow season at Martin's work! This will be the first week he spends zero nights staying late to make calls. Hooray!

Yesterday my good friend Alison came over in the afternoon. It was lovely to chat with her! Kim and I are playing for her wedding and she gave me a list of some of the songs to play. It should be a very fun time. She's having an outdoor wedding and I'm hoping the weather that day is just gorgeous. All these weddings this year! Such fun!

I haven't really been very productive today and I haven't really done much of anything, but I still feel like I'm having a busy and crammed day. Maybe that's because Anja only took a 45 minute nap before Karenin started barking and woke her up. Grr...

Monday, April 28, 2008

Weekend Snapshots

Friday Night tea

Her cute brown overalls!

Anja decided she wanted to drive us home from Indy


The funny tongue game we were playing with her at Vienna



Roll over and push-up is her favorite activity now!


Outside in the yard on Sunday afternoon

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Weekend Winding Down

Grrrr. I need to be more zen. Sunday evenings should be an enjoyable time--we've had a fun weekend as a family and except for the fact that Martin has to go to work all day, my weeks are perfectly great. And if I were living in the moment, I'd be fully savoring this time when Anja is asleep upstairs and Martino and I are sitting here on the couch together splitting a beer. But I'm not very zen and I'm bad at living in the moment and all I can think about is waking up early tomorrow and Martin going off to work and me staying here with the ants and the animals.

We had a really fun and productive weekend. It's pretty nice having a baby as an alarm clock. We used to spend our Saturday mornings in bed. We rarely got up before 11:00 on Saturdays until Anja was born. But now it's great because we get up around 7:30 or 8:00 and we have the entire day ahead of us! We can achieve so much! This Saturday we got up early and got ready for our day before Martin went to the vets to pick up Karenin from her spaying operation. We carried out our plan of keeping her in her cage and leaving the house as not to bother her by driving down to Indy to go to the Keystone mall, at my sister's suggestion. She told us J.Crew had some great sales (they'd been down the weekend before.) So we thought, why not? and headed down. WELL, we didn't buy anything at J.Crew (although they did have some fabulous prices) but the trip was well worth it when I came away with a pair of Gap Long & Leans for $6.97. !!!! I took them up to the register and said, "Are these for real?" And indeed they were! That ended up being our only purchase of the day, but it was a lot of fun to look at all the fancy stores. We drooled over the baby clothes at Janie & Jack's, and Baby Gap, and we looked at all the super fun, and super expensive ties at Brooks Brothers. We felt very fancy looking at linen clothes and $40 onesies. However, we skipped over Tiffany's.

We ate Chinese food for lunch at the mall and came home later in the afternoon, in time to meet Matt Aiken at McCords for a coke and for Martin to get a run in before dinner. I made some vegetable soup, which boiled down and burned while I was playing my guitar at the kitchen table. I was six feet away and the dinner burned! Ugh. I don't know what we did after dinner, but I'm sure it was fun.

I forgot to mention Friday. On Friday when Martin got home from work we ate leftover stirfry for dinner while we watched a Raffi concert on DVD. Afterward Anja and I went on a little date. (You're going to think all I do is shop! It's not true!) We went to Plato's Closet where I found for myself THE sweater I saw on girls all over town and coveted for the entire fall and winter. I got it for $4.00. I also bought a pretty dress for $8.00 that I intended to wear for at least one of the weddings we're attending this summer. Sadly, it didn't fit and I returned it on Saturday. I don't think I really need to tell you if it was too big or too small. All I have to say is "Moo." (I love breastfeeding, but as I've said before, I'm looking forward to the benefits of NOT being a nursing mother.) From there we went to Once Upon a Child where I bought for Anja the cutest brown overalls with embroidered flowers on them and a pretty white sundress, also with embroidered flowers. I remember my grand total being $5.75, but each piece was $4.00, so maybe one was on sale and I didn't realize it. Aaaanyway... good deals all around!

Then came Sunday. 7:30 mass and McDonald's coffee on the way home. We cooked up some eggs and toast at home and afterward went straight to work in the yard. Martin mowed and when Anja went down for her later nap around 11:00 I joined him outside pulling weeds like a madwoman and finding the most gigantic wild onions on the planet. We tied Karenin to her line on the tree and she was good all day, except for the one time she slipped her collar and disappeared and Martin found her down at the end of the alley. Oops! I went outside and there was nothing in the yard but an empty green collar attached to a dog line. Martin worked hard all day cutting down trees and chopping them up and hauling them to the road. The Cooks were out for a lot of the afternoon too, and it's always nice to have a neighbor to talk to over the fence.

When Anja woke up we met up with Matt Aiken at Vienna, then came back to do more yard work. Anja joined us in her exersaucer on the patio, and I think she liked being out there with us for awhile. If it's nice this week, I should spend some time outside with her in the yard. For dinner Martin's family brought over Subway sandwiches. We hadn't seen John Mooney since Easter, so it was good to see him again. And I always do enjoy a cherry coke.

And now it's Sunday evening. I was going to bake up my friendship bread tonight, but I was too lazy and the ants made it slightly unappetizing. So I guess it'll have to wait until tomorrow, which really means it will have to wait until Tuesday because tomorrow is looking pretty full.

Another good weekend come and gone!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Folding, Folding, All Day Long

I wrote a song today! It goes like this:

(refrain)
I am folding, folding laundry
folding laundry all day long
folding, folding, folding laundry
While I sing this little song.

(vs. 1)
I am folding underooskies
I am folding old blue jeans
folding laundry, folding laundry
with my Anja here with me
(chorus)

(vs. 2)
I am folding socks and t-shirts
I am folding jammies too
folding, folding, folding, laundry
I will fold until I'm through
(chorus)

(vs. 3)
I am folding baby laundry
I am folding grownup clothes
folding, folding, folding, folding
clothes for heads and clothes for toes
(chorus...)

I recently switched detergent scents and my new stuff smells sooooooooooo good. It makes my laundry folding quite enjoyable!! Sniff, sniff!!

I was invited out to lunch today by my parents! Well actually... my dad suggested that we ought to go to Nine Irish Brothers for lunch sometime, and this morning I called them both and asked if they'd like to go to the new Cajun place today. So I guess I just kind of organized and invited myself out to lunch with them. But whatever. It was still tasty.

And we went to the new Cajun place (located in the old Cajun place) and found out that it's called Scagnoli (sp?) and the Scagnoli family is somehow related? Or friends with? The Qualios, Bessignanos, etc. [My mom's side of the family.] Small world, huh? My mom told the owner that he was shamefully abandoning his Italian heritage by opening a Cajun restaurant. Hahaha. Also, I'd like to clear up some lies I told in my last post... my parents, unfortunately, weren't able to go to bed at 7:30 like they normally do, as they were up all night cleaning out their vacuum.

Question for the moms: Can you tell me everything you know about babies and first foods? When, what, allergies, etc? It's getting to be about that time, depressing as it is. We were thinking a t-bone for her 6-month birthday. Is that a little much? Maybe just half?

Thursday, April 24, 2008

I am a Stalker

Tonight I got to drive Anja around by myself while Martin stayed home to do some work. I was happy to go alone because I like driving and I don't get to drive all that often. When I drive her by myself I go around town past places I like, or like to think about. I go by my favorite house on 6th street and imagine the fancy people living there. I go past the downtown restaurants and see if I know any of the people standing around outside. I drive past The Old House and see if it looks like anyone's home. Tonight they looked to be having a party there--all the lights were on and the front door was open and the street was lined with cars. I could see the stairway from the street. So pretty! I also drive by the houses of people I know and wonder what they're doing. I drive by Laura & Dan's and think maybe they've made a pot of coffee and are playing Scrabble on their new kitchen table with their new green chairs. I drive by JC & Alison's and think maybe they're watching a funny moving and writing thank-you notes from her shower. I drive by Sarah & Andrew's and imagine maybe Andrew is bouncing Bella around on his shoulder while the big kids are watching Scooby Doo and Sarah is sleeping. And maybe next door at Wes & Rita's, Toby is having a bath! I drive by my parents' and I know that they are sleeping since it's past 8:30. Sometimes if she isn't asleep yet by the time I've driven past all those places I go back down my own street and imagine Karenin and Theodore being psycho together and Martin in the back room doing boring work stuff. And I don't imagine the Cooks doing anything because they aren't home.

Tonight we made tea and sat on the porch together during that nice thunderstorm. It's definitely Porch Season again!! I'm so glad. Except that Mike Prangley's recent forecast doesn't really fit with the Porch Season style.... but I don't mind some cool spring days, especially since it means I can keep wearing my new $12 jeans and my super cute grey 3/4 sleeve sweater.

Today was a good day! I dragged myself out of bed when Martin woke me at 6:30 offering me first dibs on the shower. I spent the morning being fairly lazy, and then around 9:00 I had this brilliant idea to vacuum the house. Too bad our vacuum is a piece of garbage. I seriously wasn't getting ANYTHING up off the floor. I mean, I never get great results, but today? Nothing. Not a speck lifted. And my carpets were FIL.THY. Soooooo, my next brilliant idea was to call my mom and see if I could borrow her vacuum for the morning. Hooray! She brought it by an hour later, and I got to use it for a whole hour! Unfortunately, some of that hour was spent putting Anja down for a nap, but it didn't end up mattering at all. I had done the front of the house, the hallway and most of the back room when my mom came back. That was about the same time that the vacuum started blinking "Bag Full" and not really working very well. My mom assured me that I could keep going. Haha. Yeah right. I opened the compartment where the bag is kept and carpet fuzz started spilling out of the hole where the bag connects. IT WAS SO FULL. And it's completely carpet hair. Our carpets suck. (sorry for the bad word.) But really, I'll be SO GLAD when they are gone. Or replaced. Or we move to a house with better, or better yet, NO carpets. Anyway, so the vacuuming was done and my mom left and then Anja miraculously kept sleeping, so I decided to mop the kitchen floor!! Talk about productive!! And this is all while laundry is going!! So I swept, mopped, swept again and just when I finished, Anja woke up and that was the end of my productivity for the day. After that I burned a CD for Laura and we walked it down to her work. On the way home we stopped by a few of the Main Street stores just for fun. Then home to make dinner, which we ate promptly when Martin arrived home.

And after dinner Mrs. Schap stopped by with a gift for Anja from John's sister. It's an adorable piggy bank, with even a starter dollar bill tucked into the slot. How cute is that?

From there we went to Vienna for a date. I, unfortunately, gorged myself on a VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHERRY TART, lingering in my mind from my earlier post. It was delicious. But then I felt like death for the rest of the night (including now, as I type this post.) We were going to take a walk but between the running out of time thing and the possibility of rain thing, we decided against it.

But at Vienna we saw Turgay! We haven't seen him in ages. He seems to be doing well. It's always fun to see people you know at Vienna. It doesn't really happen so much anymore.

So that's been my night. Now it's time for bed. And tomorrow is Friday! We were going to go up to Wheatfield to visit Fr. Alex and go to their monthly bluegrass show up there, but because of the time difference and Martin not being able to get off of work early, we wouldn't have made it up in time. Booo. Maybe next month though. So now we've got a free weekend. Especially free since the dog (the marvelous dog who has finally gotten the poo-outside thing down pat) will need much quiet time to herself after her special operation. *shiver* Glad it's her and not me.

The Ants go Marching

Our ant problem has returned. Again. For some reason this time it's really creeping me out. I think it's because they aren't as set on one food source... they're kind of everywhere. We've put out different piles of our fabulous ant poison, and they've been flocking to it, so we'll see how long they last.



Anja has been rolling over and over and over again! There's no stopping her! As soon as you put her down anywhere, she rolls over. And now she can roll over and prop herself up on her arms and look around AND she can roll over from her back to her stomach, then over to her back again! She was THRILLED the first time she did that (last night) but that might be because we made such a fuss.



I like all of her jammies and socks, but it's nice to have it so warm these days that I don't have to put anything on her feet, because her feet are so cute. especially when she's asleep and they're all curled up on top of each other. She is so cute when she's asleep. she seems to prefer sleeping on her side, just like Martin and I do! Last night though she kept rolling over onto her stomach and getting her face buried in the carpet. She'd whine so I'd roll her back to her back, but then she would cry until I put her on her stomach again. Finally, she got situated so that she was asleep on her stomach on her bed and she stayed there for much of the night.



Last night we went on a long walk. We set off as a family but only got to the end of the block before turning around to take Karenin back home because she was being awful. Then we set off again and got to the bridge before realizing that we were both planning to lead the other to Vienna, but that neither of us had brought any money with us! So we walked back home (again) and got our money and then walked all the way up to Vienna. It was a gorgeous evening for a walk. Just perfect. By the time we got home Anja was exhausted. She had a bath and I tried to put her to bed, but she was that kind of sleepy where she just didn't know what to do with herself and then she started having a meltdown. We went for a little drive and she fell asleep, but she doesn't seem to like sleeping in her carseat anymore. It's still a good way to get her to fall asleep, but she won't stay there more than a couple of hours. I think she gets hot. Well, and she can't roll over, of course.



I don't really have any news. I thought about doing the little survey thing on Laura's blog, but I was having trouble thinking of answers for myself when I was reading hers. Maybe I'll try anyway because I'm putting off getting dressed and actually starting my day. (Karenin is quietly in her cage and Anja is hanging out on a quilt on the floor.) Alright, here goes.



What was I doing 10 years ago?

Totally crushing on Eric Washington. And quitting track because it was awful.



5 things on my to do list:

1. Mop the kitchen floor

2. Baby-proof the house

3. Clean up our bedroom

4. Murder all the ants

5. Finish Anja's teddy bear



5 snacks I enjoy:

1. CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE FROM VIENNA!!

2. Coffee & Biscotti

3. Chips & homemade salsa

4. TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TARTS FROM VIENNA!!

5. VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHERRY TARTS FROM VIENNA!!!



5 things I would do if I were a Billionaire:

1. I would buy an old house on some land in the country and have a lot of dogs and a lot of cats and Martin and I would live there and retire. Martin would hunt and I would garden and we'd be self-sufficient except for the cost of internet, because of course, I'll still need my blogs in retirement.

2. Buy more pets.

3. Have Martin quit his job so he can watch Anja while I make greeting cards.

4. Pay medical/dental bills up front in their entirety.

5. Go to Europe.



5 bad habits:

1. Leaving my shoes around for Karenin to eat

2. Going out to eat

3. Leaving projects unfinished

4. Not getting out of bed

5. Buying something unneccessary on EVERY Annie-Car-Day



5 places I have lived:

1. Cason Street

2. 9th Street

3. North Street apt. #1

4. North Street apt. #2

5. Eastway Drive



5 jobs I've had:

1. YMCA Game Room Supervisor

2. Frozen Custard

3. Quilter's Harvest

4. It's a THEME Thing!

5. Latitude Zero



10 Random things:

1. I always match my socks and shirt.

2. If I'm not wearing socks, I try to match my shirt and underwear.

3. I'd like to make greeting cards.

4. Soy makes my tummy hurt

5. I wish I had a piano and I'm contemplating taking my organ back from Sarah...

6. I wanted to walk to Kentucky once but nobody would go with me.

7.

8.

9.

10.

I'm out of time!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Taking Our Time

Could anyone ask for a better week of weather? And tonight we might get some light thunderstorms, then have another fabulously sunny and warm day tomorrow. THIS is the weather I've been looking forward to all winter!! Yesterday Anja and I spent most of the day walking around town. I put sunscreen on her arms so she wouldn't have to wear a sweater and we took a long walk over the bridge. For some reason she had kind of a meltdown on the bridge, but was fine after we were back on the street. I wonder if she finds the bridge boring because there isn't anything to look at? I guess on the weekdays there aren't that many people out, and she's all tucked in her carrier, she probably can't see much of anything. She loves to walk by the store windows downtown though. Later in the day I got an email from Martin saying he'e regrettably just had two cokes and now felt like death. My response was "Mmm, a coke sounds good" so I walked down to McCords and got myself one! And, of course, shortly after drinking it I felt like death myself. But while I was there, Kim came in. He was on his way home from somewhere so I walked him up to 9th street before going home again with Anja. I had dinner ready when Martin got home so after we ate we were able to take a walk as a family! We went up 7th street, around the circle part of Highland Park, and back down 6th to home. We dressed Anja in her pj's and went to the store then (we were 100% out of toilet paper--yikes!) did our shopping, had some coffee, and drove home. Anja fell asleep, as we knew she would, so the pj's in advance idea was a good one.

It's weather like this that makes me not want to rush anything. When we go for a walk to get somewhere, it's nice to be able to enjoy the walk now. When it's time to take the dog out, Anja goes with me and we take our time walking around the yard. There's no rush to get back inside when it's sunny and warm out. It's great!

Speaking of the dog... she has an appointment for Friday to get spayed. I feel bad for her. They'll keep her overnight and we'll pick her up on Saturday morning. Poor girl. She'll probably be out of commission for the weekend; maybe we'll bring her home on Saturday, give her some loving, and then go somewhere for awhile so she can just rest in her cage and not be bothered by our noise. It's supposed to be a nice day; maybe we'll go hiking.

I was reading Clare's blog and followed the craft link she has on there. There was an idea on there that I'm totally going to use today--water bottles filled with colored water and glitter! I can get everything I need downtown, and I think it's something Anja would love to look at. She's probably getting bored with her same old Toucan and Haba Man anyway. Something new and pretty would be fun for her.

I'm wearing my favorite skirt from last summer! It doesn't fit quite like it did... but I can get it buttoned, which is better than I could do when I bought it two years ago. That should make me feel good about myself, I guess. I'm kind of feeling like a cow lately though, especially after seeing my sister yesterday who looks better at 3 weeks post partum than I do at 5 months!

...almost 6 months, I guess. That's crazy! Last night Anja kept rolling over in her sleep. She sleeps next to our bed, but when she rolls off her little "bed" in our direction and I wake up, I can't see her so my first thought is "Anja's gone!" Of course, she's never gone, she's just on her belly on the floor. Okay, this might sound like she's falling off a bed. But she's not. She just rolls off her blanket onto the carpet. (which is very clean, by the way. It's not like rolling off her blanket onto the living room carpet.)

Okay, time to get some work done!

Monday, April 21, 2008

The Weekend











On Saturday night we dug through old photos and negatives and found some interesting ones. I pinned two up to my fridge--one shot of Martin's face looking like a stoner with an afro, and one of my face eating a Burger King chicken sandwich. They look good together.
Anja is still asleep! It's coming up on 9:00!
On Sunday we went to 7:30 mass and I don't know what we did with our morning. Probably drank a pot and a half of coffee and watched the rest of our movie. In fact, I think that actually IS what we did. Then it got a little warmer so Martin mowed the lawn. It really warmed up in the afternoon so when Anja was up from her afternoon nap we all went for a walk, dog included. We walked over to the movie theatre and back (about Karenin's walking limit) and saw Bethany Jones along the way, who is also getting married in May, and is SO SKINNY now.
When we got home we found a dozen eggs my parents had left on our porch, so we ate eggs and beans for dinner. After that Kim came by to visit. Martin likes to call Kim over on the weekends. We're planning a trip to Cincinnati to maybe play at the Sidewinder coffee shop or go to a birthday party.
I love the weekends. Just hanging around drinking coffee, eating eggs and taking walks. We've got it pretty good, I'd say.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Our Animal Cleaning Team

I've been realizing that it's okay to be lazy in my housework... in any areas where I fall short in cleanliness, it seems my pets are there to make it up for me.


Sometimes I forget to take out the bathroom trash promptly. It doesn't matter though because Karenin usually eats it for me, and then I don't have to take it out! Also, there's that whole issue of the hair clumps that I put on the side of the bathtub. I've been giving Martin credit for putting them in the trash for me, but as it turns out, it's my precious lovey-boy Theodore who's taking care of them for me! I found that out this morning when I put three drain clumps on the edge of the tub and when I was finished with my shower I actually remembered to get them and put them in the trash. So I pulled back the curtain to collect them, and what did I find but zero hair clumps and my lovey-boy sitting there licking his chops and blinking up at me!!!! HE ATE THEM!!!!!!

This has been a fun Saturday. Anja woke up around 4:30 this morning and I dozed with her for awhile. From about 6:30-7:30 she was pretty awake and we just kind of hung out on the floor of our bedroom before finally going downstairs when it became very apparent that she was not going to fall back asleep. I got SO MUCH DONE in the hour before Martin woke up! I washed dishes and baked a batch of Friendship Bread. Then when Martin woke up I made us a good, greasy, Saturday morning breakfast of steak & eggs and toast. That breakfast with a pot of coffee was a fabulous way to start the morning. The friendship bread turned out DELICIOUS so that'll be a nice thing to have around for the weekend. I eventually took a shower and Martin walked down to the VP to get lottery tickets. We won $6 so I then walked down and bought 6 more tickets--but we only won a dollar off of all those, so we put it in the can for seed money for next time. We took a walk up to K.Dee's for coffee and thought we were going to meet Kim there, but he was in Indianapolis, so we just got our coffee to go and walked back home. For lunch we had popcorn and watched half of a movie while Anja took a solid afternoon nap. Now she's awake and sitting here beside me watching Martin play with Karenin while I'm making this blog post. It's perfect Saturday weather--a little bit damp, a little bit cool. I really love it. We haven't been busy but we haven't been bored all day. It's a PERFECT Saturday, just what they should be. The opposite of what they usually are for us, since Martin is often at work on Saturdays (booo!)

Now I think I'll fold the whites in the dryer and switch out the laundry that's in the washer and Martin can use the computer.

It's Grand Prix weekend so we're avoiding campus at all costs. We didn't know until we were over there last night--it's a madhouse!

Friday, April 18, 2008

The Rest of my Fantastic Friday

Well! It's been a day and a half already and it's only 3:30 in the afternoon! After all the excitement this morning, when Anja and I were finally dressed and ready for the rest of the day, we decided to go for a walk in the gorgeous morning. I called Kim to see if he happened to be downtown--it's always fun to have someone to walk with and he's the only person I know who is regularly bumming around downtown instead of regularly working. We met up on 4th street--on the way there, I saw my mother-in-law's car parked outside the courthouse. I thought she might be out to lunch with someone so I called her. Turns out she was in court with her Mock Trial kids, but she was GOING to go to lunch with all of them at noon and she invited me along! So instead of having a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, I got to have SALMON & ASPARAGUS!! Wahoo! But before I met up with her, Kim and I managed to get from 4th street to almost 9th street and bumped into tons of people on the way that we knew. The first was Sugar, who invited us into the new restaurant that is going into the old Cajun building. It is SO CUTE. I can't wait till they open. I'm definitely going to see if my parents want to go to lunch there next week, if they open then like they are hoping to. So we hung around there for awhile, then kept walking and ran into Dawn of Adam&Dawn and she admired Anja for awhile and while she was, Mrs. Mills saw us and came over to chat and, of course, admire Anja! Such fun! I walked Kim up to 9th street and he kept going toward Trinity Mission while I turned around and walked back down the other side of the street toward the Bistro. On the way I ran into my old boss (& fellow parishoner) Diana so she got to meet Anja too. Luckily, Anja was in the best mood of the century and was handing out smiles like church bulletins.

Lunch was fun; Mrs. Schap and I sat at a table by ourselves. One thing that did annoy me was when I came in with my stroller--which I admit is slightly oversized--and parked it next to our table and a waiter came out and said quite audibly, "well that's going to be awkward" as he moved around the stroller, which, by the way, I made sure left as much of a walkway as was possible. What annoyed me wasn't that they were unwelcoming of strollers--heck, I don't even like strollers, I think they are big and bulky and generally ugly and in-the-way--but he didn't have to grunt that the way he did and what if it had been my daughter in a wheelchair? Hmm??? Then would he have said anything?! Yes, I would rather have come with her in the carrier or sling so she could've just sat on my lap, but I wasn't planning on going out to lunch when I started out on my walk. I shouldn't be annoyed by that, but I was. I understand why he would THINK that, but I just think it was kind of rude to say it aloud. By the way, the waiter who said it was not Billy Brand, who was the waiter for our table! It was some blonde guy I don't know.

Anyway. I fed Anja in the bathroom and she fell asleep and slept all the way home. In fact, she's still sleeping. I transferred her from the stroller to our bed though. If she's not awake by 4:00 I'm going to wake her up though because while I appreciate the 3-hour naps, I don't necessarily want her sleeping ALLLLL afternoon and not sleeping tonight. I hate waking her up though, it seems so mean.

By the way, did I happen to mention how great she was this morning when we yanked her out of bed to flee the house? She was amazing. Of course, she woke right up, but she never made a peep. She's awesome!

Last night was the judging night for the Shirley Martin Scholarship. It was a lot of fun. Those things always are. Somehow I've managed to stay in the judging group all these years and last night I finally felt like I did a good job. I had really strong opinions about certain ones and I stuck with them and in the end, they turned out to be everyone else's opinions too!

TusaRebecca wanted to walk the dogs this afternoon, but Martin will be home in a little more than an hour. Good thing we're having leftovers for dinner! Maybe I will give in and wake Anja. She'd like a walk in her carrier anyway. And there's no sense wasting this wonderful day inside!

P.S. I'm disappointed in the serious lack of comments on my earlier post.

Earthquake!

What an EXCITING morning!!!!! And funny that things went down the way they did... otherwise I might have missed the earthquake!!

Martin woke up around 5:30 I guess to get ready for work. But I woke up when he came into the room and handed me the car keys and said I needed to get Anja and we needed to get out of the house. There was some weird alarm going off in our basement--one we'd never heard before. He was pretty calm until the house started shaking. We thought it was related to the alarm going off! We thought our house was going to explode!! So we ran down the stairs half-dressed and got into the car and drove across the street to the library lot and called 911. He only told them that an alarm was going off and the person said there'd been an earthquake. Wow! So that made us feel a lot better about the shaking house (evidently no one had planted a bomb under our house and timed it for today) but we still wondered if the alarm was a carbon monoxide alarm or something. He went back in to be sure the alarm was still going off. It was, so he called 911 again and the lady told him to get out and that the fire department would be there. The general thought was that a line to the heater had broken/come loose and that there was some gas leaking. So he got Karenin, couldn't find Theodore, and sat on the porch till the firemen came (immediately! Such prompt service!) They went down and checked it out, expecting it to be a broken gas line, but surprise! It was just a malfunctioning smoke alarm! It was making the most horrible noise. And we think it was completely unrelated to the earthquake, unless there was some kind of little jiggle before the real quake that got some dust in it or something, I dunno. Anyway, so we came back home and made a pot of coffee and Martin went off to work and that was about the end of our exciting morning. But Anja loved the lights on all the firetrucks, and it woke up the Cooks who came out on their porch.

My sister just told me that Mike Prangley has blogged about it too, so I'd better go check what he says! Such an exciting start to the day!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Another Fabulous Day in my Fabulous Life

The dog is asleep in a sunbeam, the baby is in her exersaucer, super happy after having the longest nap in the history of the world, and here I am reflecting on my great morning and thinking about what to do with the afternoon in front of me.
Anja and I woke up at 7:30--in time to see Martin off to work--and we were ready for our day pretty early, so we took a walk up to K. Dee's and met Kim for a cup of coffee! We stayed there a good amount of time and Anja was so happy, then in a snap she started rubbing her eyes and fussing just the teeeensiest bit. So I strapped her into her stroller and walked toward home. I walked with Kim to Huntington bank (a little farther than home) and just before we got there, Anja fell asleep, so I took my time walking home again, parked her stroller in the living room, and didn't expect her to sleep for three hours. But she did! And while she did, I made myself an egg sandwich, was able to spend some quality yard time with Karenin, washed and folded two loads of laundry, and spent some time just sitting at the dining room table reading. It was a really great morning. And when she woke up at 1:00, she was smiley and ready to go!

I think in a little bit we'll cage up Karenin and go over to the library to return "the Graduate" and see what else they've got. I might get a movie for Martin to watch tonight since we'll have a little bit of role reversal in that I'll be out judging the Shirley Martin Scholarship songs until late and Martin will be home alone. Well, he won't be alone, he'll be with Anja, but I'm expecting her to be asleep.

And then I'll probably cut some more daffodils from the backyard for the dining room table. And we'll maybe take another walk, this time probably over to the movie theatre and back because that's a nice distance for us. And on a day like this, I'd like to get all the walks in that I can handle. And if there's still afternoon left after that, maybe we'll tie Karenin up outside and spend some time in the yard, just hanging around.

Anja's so much fun now that she's bigger and able to fill out all her most adorable clothes. Right now she's between the 3 month and 6 month size which means she's pretty much wearing everything in her drawer. It's great! So much to choose from everyday!

Next week on Annie Car Day I'm going to go back to JoAnn's and look for good skirt fabric. I'd like to make a wrap skirt or two for the summer.

Okay, library time!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Panama Carrot Strikes Again!

After my sister had Christopher she went to the dentist and was told she needed a root canal. She called me to tell me (they lived in Florida at the time) and we got a lot of laughs--probably more than was neccessary--over calling it a Panama Carrot. Which actually would translate to Canal Root, and we knew that, but Carrot Panama just didn't have the same ring. Besides, everyone knows that word order gets mixed up in translations.


So this time it was MY turn to have a baby and MY turn to find out how it ruined my teeth. Morning sickness alone took such a toll on them that the dentist asked (rather brightly) if I had a history of bulemia! I came out with three cavities (hey, it's better than my record of, er, seventeen) and an appointment for a root canal. Well, that's a lie, I haven't made the appointment yet. But I will, soon. Which is a big, BIG bummer. But she did assure me that despite all my bad dreams of such happenings, my teeth are not falling out, nor will they all fall out very soon. They're just rotting, I guess.

So the other day at the grocery we bought the World's Biggest Onion. It's as big as Anja's head! As is evident by the picture! Funny stuff, huh? Okay, now looking at it again, I think the onion is actually bigger.

Dear Anja

I know I'm a bad mother. I know I put my own needs before yours. I know that it's important that you have good naps during the day and sleep well at night.

But my head is POUNDING and I can't stand it anymore, so I'm going to go into the kitchen while you are asleep (ironic) and brew a small pot of coffee. Then I will drink it. And when you're older, you'll understand, because even though your daddy won't let you date boys until you're 25 (or older) and even though we aren't going to let you get your drivers license (ever) you'll always be allowed all the coffee your little heart desires.

Love,
Mommy

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Tuesday

Martin has a college dinner tonight in Jay County (wherever that is) so I've got the car today and tomorrow. His friend the wrestling coach decided to go to the dinner with him, so I think he's probably having a good time. That makes me feel much less bad for him having to work late! Also, he might be home before midnight, which would be a great thing, as opposed to 2:00 in the morning like it was the last time.

Last night we went Goodwill and Grocery shopping. Hooray! We got some picture frames and a mug at Goodwill, and our usual groceries from Target. Anja loves shopping so much! It's always a fabulous way to keep her occupied and happy.

She loves shopping so much, in fact, that I took her shopping a few times today! We went to TJ Maxx and JoAnn's. JoAnn's was a bust, but I found some steals at TJ Maxx. Their stuff is super cheap! I LOVE IT!! I found a picture frame/wall shelf for $5.50 and a box of four big candles for $6.00. The shelf is for our living room wall, the candles are to make the dog poop smell in our house go away. Ugh. This dog. She is NOT getting the "poop outside" thing down very well. AT ALL.

I'm trying to tweak the living room. (Again.) This time I think I might have succeeded in my plans. With bargain prices and old stuff dug up from unpacked boxes of apartment stuff and (oops) forgotten wedding gifts, I'm filling in the empty spaces of the walls, and making things look much more.... "right." That room is my biggest complaint. I don't care if the back room is a hodgepodge of Martin's weights and my instruments and a little corner family roomishness. I love the back room for what it is. But the FRONT room is what everyone sees. The front room HAS to say "Annie & Martin" and it has to say it loudly. I feel I've done a good job with the dining room (my favorite room) and the kitchen (my other favorite room) and just recently, the bedroom has become perfect (and therefore become my other favorite room.) The bathroom has always been good (though not as good as my apartment bathroom) the hallway is nice and Anja's room is always going to be a little bit unfinished since she grows faster than we can complete a project. But it has really bugged me that the front room, the introductory room of our house, has been so off. But today I'm fixing it.

The electricity snapped off and back on a little bit ago so now my oven clock is blinking and I HATE when that happens.

Oh! I was just going to say how worthless this post is, but it's NOT! Listen to THIS!! I've been web-stalked! Truly! Just like Aunt Anna May! I got an email this morning from Bebe Au Lait. You know, the company who makes HOOTER HIDERS! They thanked me for blogging about my hooter hider! Isn't that hilarious!?? They also want me to sign up for a special blog offer of some kind but to be honest, I was so excited that they'd emailed me, I never finished reading the email, I had to call Martin right away and tell him about it.

Okay, that cat is attacking me now...

Monday, April 14, 2008

Boden's Moles

The other day in the mail I got the strangest catalogue. It's called Boden. It appears to be European, and it's really cute clothes, kind of J.Crew style, except slightly more casual. They also have shoes and handbags. And evidently they have a separate men's store and children's store (Mini Boden.) So anyway, there are a lot of really funny things about this catalogue, one of them being that with every picture they tell something about the model. They say her name, and then her answer to a question, and then tell you what she's wearing. For example: a picture of a girl on the beach says: "Vanessa (You just can't beat: a good green tea) Aqua Island Vine Shorts, Scoop Neck, Sunglasses." And it has that for every picture! And they have maybe 7 different models or something, and for the kids they just say their names and that they are in a selection of Mini Boden. How fun is that!?? I swear, I haven't spent this much time looking at a catalogue since I was little and those gigantic J.C.Penny catalogues would come at Christmas time and I'd go through the toy section every day drawing big circles around everything I wanted Santa Claus to bring me.

But the other funny thing about this Boden place is their color names. They are mostly normal... Soft Coral, Navy, White, Aqua, Pink.... and then there's Mole. Most people call their browns Mocha or Espresso or Chocolate. Not Boden. "Mole" is the name of Boden's brown, and I can't decide if they mean "Annie-style" Mole or "furry, blind, big-handed rodent" Mole. Either way, though... pretty funny.

And Here's to You, Mrs. Robinson

I'd better lay off the caffeine for a few days, I think. Over the weekend I drank a lot of coffee and cherry cokes and today Anja is out of her mind!! Not in a bad way... it's actually a little bit hilarious. For awhile I was getting kind of irritated because she wasn't staying asleep--she took a nap for about an hour, and then another one for about ten minutes--and then I thought, Why am I being bothered by this?? She's ultra happy. Who cares if she stays awake all day? I already made the barbeque sauce for dinner tonight AND I dusted the furniture (!!!!) so what am I getting so worked up about?? It's just a few extra daytime hours with my little screech owl. But still.... I'm going to take a caffeine break for a few days. Funny as it is, this can't be good for her.

As it turns out, when Martin was unable to find "the Graduate" at the movie store, that was because he wasn't AT the movie store. He was at Target, wanting to BUY it. So on Sunday after lunch I walked over to the library and checked it out. We started watching it in the afternoon and I LIKED IT. It was so bizarre! And weirdly funny! In the evening we just got Wendy's chicken sandwiches for dinner (gross, I know) and then had Laura & Dan over to play euchre! I think Martin and I won. Then Anja was sleepy, but wouldn't fall asleep upstairs (all those cherry cokes...) so we had to kick out our guests and drive her around for awhile. If gas weren't so expensive I really wouldn't have any problem with driving her around. Martin and I sometimes have our best conversations while we're driving around town putting Anja to sleep. Someday we'll look back fondly on those times.

Just after Anja was born I thought I'd someday look back fondly on all the times we stayed up all night walking around the house with her while she screamed. My demented head thought I would miss that someday. Well, I don't. I'm SO glad those days are over.

Anja seems to be really growing all of a sudden. She can do so much now! She can switch her rings from one hand to the other, and she can find them in her lap and pick them up. Yesterday while we were playing cards she sat in a highchair for the first time and played with her toys on the tray. She's always saying new sounds, and it won't be TOO long before she's sitting up by herself. She's at the stage where she can stay up when she leans really far forward. The next step after that is sitting upright by herself without falling over! And she's just so much a person now. She pays attention and reacts when you talk to her. If I'm singing to her, she'll turn herself around so she can look at me. She's suddenly really interested in the animals. It's so much fun!! I guess this is what they mean when people say every stage gets better. You think they're pretty great as they are, and then they get to doing something else and, oh wow, THAT'S the best stage!

Okay, anyway, back to my original train of thought... Anja fell asleep about four seconds after we pulled out of the driveway, which left us plenty of time to come home and finish our movie. I really liked it!! It was just as strange at the end as it was at the beginning.

Ooo, and the best part about getting it from the library is that they've rearranged their movie section, and they must've done it recently, because everything is in correct alphabetical order now! Before I wouldn't have to look through all the "G's" to find "The Graduate" but now that they've been freshly moved, I found it right away. (Also thanks to my 2nd grade education.)

This morning at rosary group we were talking about Glory & Praise. Mary said that some people miss singing it at mass because it reminds them of their childhood. I don't miss it at mass. But I do kind of look forward to the time when Anja is in school and she will sing all those cheesy songs again.

Karenin is being too quiet. I'm going to go see what she's ruining.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Thoughts After the Noon Mass

We went to the Snoozers, Boozers & Losers mass today at St. Ann's. I like St. Ann's. I like Fr. Dominic and I like his homilies. We got there about 30 seconds late so the usher took us all the way up to the 3rd pew, which is something we're not used to. We always sit in the very back of church wherever we go; it makes it easy to slip out to the back if Anja decides to go temporarily insane. Anyway, I like St. Boniface and I like the priests there, but once in awhile it's refreshing to get a new preacher. It gets tiring to listen to the same two sermons over and over again... either you'll be told all about how likely it is that you'll go to hell for using artificial contraception and looking at pornography, or you're urged to fall in love with Christ in the Eucharist--Love Himself. Both great messages! But week after week it's easy to stop listening, and then hearing something new is kind of a breath of fresh air. I liked today's sermon a lot.

Since we got up early and still didn't go to mass until noon, it was important that Anja get a morning nap. In order to make that happen, I drove over to the Starbucks Drive-thru with her and got our coffee there. We don't like Starbucks coffee, we think it tastes burned, but it's convenient when your whole goal is to put your baby to sleep to be able to go through a drive-thru for your coffee. And it's a nice long drive from our house and back. Also, we're trying to get away from buying our coffee very much now that we're both back to drinking whole-caff. again. We bought some good beans for home and now we'll try to only buy coffee when we're going out specifically for it. Aaaanyway... as it turns out, Starbucks has run into some trouble due to their greed (like everyplace seems to do eventually) and are trying to get back to basics. They're getting away with all their lame-o extra stuff, like the whole music idea, and breakfast sandwiches, and practically being an entire store within a tiny coffee shop. I'm glad they're getting back to just being about coffee. But what made me notice was that they've changed their cups--their logo is different and much less "corporate" looking and modern. Then Martin told me the rest of the story. He said that might be one of their earlier logos, maybe like the original one. That was good to hear. I don't like Starbucks, but I think it would be just about the dumbest thing they could do to change their logo now.

Anyway, that was just something I was thinking about today. Another thing I was thinking about came from sitting behind two little girls and their mom at mass. Both little girls were wearing very grown-up looking clothes. Obviously from someplace like The Limited Too. Bell bottoms and fitted, decorative hoodies. I was amazed! Who would want their 9 year old looking like a 16 year old?? So I decided then and there that I will dress my girl(s) in adorable, age appropriate clothing until they are, well let's face it, probably way too old to be dressing in smocked dresses. I will follow in the footsteps of both my mother and my mother-in-law, and I will have nerdy, friendless daughters who resent me for their terrible fashion--but at least they won't look like hookers!!!!!

And I guess the real shame of it this morning was that these girls were ADORABLE. They were the perfect little magazine-faced girls with blue eyes and freckles and perfect brown hair and perfect little noses. They were so cute!! But they dressed like sorority girls and it was kind of sad.

I just made omlettes for the first time ever, and I must say... killer omlettes! I'm so proud of myself! Okay, I'll admit that Martin's was a little burned, but mine was awesome! And resourceful... we're going to the grocery this afternoon because we've been living on eggs and toast all weekend... and the only fresh produce I had was one onion and a few little cherry tomatoes. Well, the tomatoes ended up being rotten so I used a can of tomatoes instead, but it was a good lunch for us! I am so proud of myself.

Karenin is now being taught to ring a bell on the door with her snout when she needs to go out. Evidently this is supposed to be about the easiest thing in the world to teach a dog (or at least a lab, according to some friends) so we're hoping for happy results.

I think today will be the last day to wear my lovely brown coat until next winter... bittersweet!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Laaaazy Saturday

Oh man. This morning Martin woke up at 6:00 to take the dog out... then he came back to bed. Then I got up at 7:00 with Anja and she and I went out to get doughnuts for breakfast, and I made a pot of coffee. I tried to wake Martin, but that was like waking the dead, and a few minutes later Anja fell asleep... So I went back to bed too! And for the first time in her life, Anja took a 2-hour morning nap, which meant we didn't all get up until 11:00!!! Talk about lazy!! It was pretty great though... we finally went downstairs, ate the doughnuts for lunch and lazed around for awhile more before finally making plans to hang out with Matt Aiken. We went to Vienna for coffee. Anja wore the most cutie-est outfit ever. Her socks matched her shirt PERFECTLY.

We ran to Kmart for some iron-on patches for Martin's shabby jeans and when we got home from that, Anja took a little afternoon nap while I made eggs and toast for us. Martin went for a run and I hung around here... Anja was in the best mood of the century, the dog and cat chased each other around all day, and in the evening we went to Barnes & Noble by ourselves, but didn't stay long enough to read Country Living because Anja decided she'd rather be at home and sleeping at exactly 8:30. So that's where we went. And now she's asleep upstairs while Martin is at the video store renting "The Graduate" and in a minute I'm going to make some hot air popcorn and we're going to have ourselves a real movie date.

Anja has officially found her feet!! Yesterday I noticed her eyeing them with a funny expression, and today she couldn't keep her hands off them. It was so fun to watch her!! Also she's started noticing Karenin a lot more, and especially noticing her squeak toys... whenever Karenin starts squeaking her squirrel or rabbit toy, Anja gets this big smile on her face. They are such good pals.

Tomorrow it's going to be colder and wetter, so we're planning to be lazy tomorrow too. Martin thought he had to go to work today but found out last night that he wasn't needed so he got a surprise day off. Which is great, considering it's Saturday. Ugh. Sometimes I really hate his job.

Rats. Martin just called. What kind of crappy movie place doesn't have The Graduate? Ugh. Now I'm in a bad mood. Stupid Blockbuster.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Hidden Benefits of Losing Your Mind

Today I am wearing a brown tank top with my orange 3/4 sleeves hoodie over it. I just spilled some coffee down the front and when I was cleaning it off I realized it doesn't matter--because I've been wearing my shirt backwards all morning!! Now I'll just turn it around! Haha, I am such a big idiot.

I only got a day to enjoy my new, sleek, scratch-free cell phone. Just a few minutes ago when I went to fill up my coffee cup, she snatched it from the table (I thought it was in my pocket, oops) and now the front is all scratched up. At least she didn't ruin it though. The screen is still intact. What a mischievous puppy.

I figure Karenin will live about 12 years. Heck, by that time I could be done having babies and all my kids might well be in school. Whenever that time comes I think she'll be a perfect companion. For now though, she is all puppy and such a handful! This morning while I was feeding Anja in her room, I thought ahead and closed the gate to the back of the house so she could be kept fairly contained. It didn't do much good--she is able to pull one of the posts loose and slip unerneath. When I came out, the gate was still latched, but she was in the back of the house eating a deck of cards!!

Anja and I slept in today for the first time in ages. I woke up at 8:00 and didn't get out of bed since I figured she'd be waking up within a few minutes, and she did, at 8:15. She is SO CUTE when she's waking up. She stretches her little arms and looks around and is so sleepy and funny. Actually, she wakes up just like Martin does. Except since Anja is so small, when she stretches like that in the morning, it is extra adorable. Anyway, she woke up and I brought her into my bed and we cuddled and jabbered until 9:00. Then she sat happily in her carseat in the bathroom while I took a shower and got dressed, and all that while Karenin was in her cage, not making a peep! For awhile I actually thought she might be dead. She wasn't. She was just being patient and good.

As soon as I was dressed we took a walk with the stroller. It was such a fabulous morning. We just walked down to Centennial Park and back. I would've gone over the bridge but I always forget about the way the sun will be in Anja's eyes, so it seems that going down 6th street one way or another is the best bet for stroller walking. I heard that the weather next week is supposed to be amazing so I will plan on a long walk one of those days. Maybe up to Vienna or something. Anja does love a nice long walk.

Boy, one night with enough sleep is a pretty amazing feeling. I woke up at 8:00 this morning feeling like I had actually slept! The night before Anja was having a very difficult time falling asleep... from about 9-1:30 she was waking up fussing about every fifteen minutes and I would nurse her back to sleep until finally she'd had enough of that as well and was just wide awake. I finally got up just before 2:00, loaded her in the car and drove around deserted Lafayette for awhile until she fell asleep. So last night having her fall asleep at 9:00 and not wake up to eat until 6:00, then sleeping still until 8:00 was very fabulous!!

Since we got the dog I've unfortunately let the housework slide. Not on purpose... it's just that I don't have very much free time anymore and I can't leave Anja alone anymore because of the dog. This is especially unfortunate since the dog adds exponentially to the dirtiness of the house.

Time to fold laundry!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Two Trying Days

I was feeding Anja and putting her down for her morning nap when I thought "Hm. Karenin sure is being good and quiet." I was rocking Anja and thinking of how I wish I'd brought my phone into her room with me because I wanted to text Martin something. When I finally got Anja down and she remained asleep, I went looking for the dog. The dog, who was in the back room, happily eating my cell phone.

This is not as terrible as it could be. Once before we were married my phone broke and instead of going to the cellular store to buy a new one, I got a used one on ebay. That was before I remembered that my dad still had his old phone which was the exact same model as mine. So I took his and put my simcard in it, and when the one from ebay arrived, I put it away as an extra. So I still have a phone... but I've lost some of my numbers. It could also have been bad because Martin went to work with only his work cell phone, and I don't know the number for that, and it wasn't saved on my simcard! Luckily, his desk phone number is on his cards and there are a lot of those lying around the house.

Still though. This phone is not exactly like my other one and it's taking some getting-used-to. Plus, there are a limited number of people I can call now. Dumb dog.

Oh, but it gets better! While I was on the phone with Martin on the new phone, getting his cell phone number and putting in his desk number and telling him what happened, I realized again that Karenin was being all too quiet. So I went back to the back room and found her again--this time she had eaten up everything on the coffee table! This included a CD I'd made for Laura yesterday, an entire spiral notebook, my flower orderform for the New Community School flower sale, and the recipe for the Friendship bread that I haven't copied yet!!!!! And on the floor next to this pile of torn up stuff that does not belong to Karenin was her hedgehog toy. Fully intact.

Martin went to Evansville in a college car on Tuesday night so on Wednesday he drove that car back to work. It was the only night this week that he'd be home for dinner and we had the evening free. It was also my second Annie Car Day of the week, but it was an important one because I had to take his shirts and drycleaning in... he wore his very last clean shirt to work that day and all of his dress pants needed to have the spit-up dry cleaned out of them. So I loaded up the laundry bag, dropped Anja off at my parents' busy house (it was noon and she was still in her pajamas and I was very embarrassed about that) and took in the laundry. ALL the laundry. Knowing perfectly well that I wouldn't be able to get it back until this afternoon at the earliest. What was I thinking?!? If every piece of clothes he owns is at the cleaners, what was he supposed to wear to work today??

He'd told me earlier I could choose what we did that night. I decided I'd make soup so it would be ready as soon as he got home; we'd eat and then we could have a date at Vienna and take a chai up to my sister and Martin could meet Bella. Unfortunately, I didn't really have the ingredients for soup... or for anything else... so I put a can of chicken broth, a can of tomatoes, a can of green beans and a can of corn into a pot and boiled it all afternoon. Um. Looking back, I don't really think that counts as "making soup." Then I made the Friendship Bread from Tara and thought I had all this time left in my day before Martin got home, so I took one of the starters over to Laura at her new place. I stayed there until 4:30, and realized as I drove home that Martin was getting off work just then. AND THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO PICK HIM UP!!!!

So he had to wait at work for 40 extra minutes while I drove down late to get him, then I brought him home to enjoy a dinner of three cans of boiled vegetables. Then we had to go to TJ Maxx and get him a dress shirt because I'd taken all of his clothes to the cleaners instead of keeping one shirt out to wash and press myself for him tomorrow.

Now it's the next day and Karenin is eating the house and Anja has zero clean clothes and I keep forgetting to wash them, and now she's just peed through her diaper and soaked my jeans. My jeans which I bought at TJ Maxx last night because they were my size and only $12 and I was sure glad I bought them when we were going to visit Sarah with all this coffee and Martin bumped my cup while I was putting the non-dairy creamers into my scalding cup of coffee so it all spilled on my thighs and down my seat to my crotch so it, of course, looked like I'd wet my pants. So when we got to the hospital parking garage I got into the backseat and changed into my new jeans.

I wonder what other horrible excitement will happen today?

I'm going to Goodwill.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Beautiful!

She is Bella!

More later.

Can You Hear the [Drumroll]?

Oh.My.Gosh. What a cute baby this is!!!!!!!

Please welcome, Baby Antonio #4! As of this morning (as far as I know) she remains nameless, but I don't think Sarah will mind me posting this adorable picture of her and saying that she was a girl, born last night around 9:30 and weighing just shy of 7lbs... Sarah's smallest baby by far! She is really, really cute. And has TONS of black hair!! I think she's the perfect mix of all three kids... she's got PeterXavier's mouth and the rest of her just screams Antonio.

I'll post her name whenever I learn it! My brother and I have been text-messaging back and forth, but when he called me this morning I missed it! Grr!

Look, sisters!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Laborific!

Well, my sister is in labor this evening! At 7:30 or so my mom told me her contractions were 3 minutes apart, so hopefully there will be an update soon about my newest niece or nephew!

Since Martin is in Evansville and I'm on my own tonight, Anja and I took a little drive around 8:00 and stopped by Barnes & Noble to see the girls at knitting night. It's always fun to show off Anja to the knitters. And my plan worked--she was super happy the whole time we were there, and then she fell immediately asleep as soon as we started driving home!

I got a little freaked out when I came home... partly because I had to take Karenin out in the yard and it's dark and I don't like doing that, but also because when I came into the back room I saw that the clock had fallen off the wall and taken half the stuff on our big shelf with it. It looked like a robber had been there. (Of course, the robber's name was Theodore and he wears stripes and a tail.) Also, there was this copper dish that had a bunch of trash in it from the Holiday open house (more than a year ago) and in it was a cumpled piece of paper that said "do not sit in this chair." And it was lying face-up on the couch!! Yikes!!! Creepy, creepy, creepy. I'll be glad when Martin gets home tonight, or hopefully before that, I find out about our newest family addition.

Personally, I'm hoping it's a boy named Oliver. Oliver Henry would be a FABULOUS name. I'll suggest it if the baby is still name-less when I meet him. Or her... and in that case, I have no name ideas.

Time to watch "The Holiday" and do some laundry folding. I will keep you all updated!

Gummy Bears for Breakfast

I knew this morning that I married the right guy when I dropped the fingernail clippers in the toilet and didn't even have to ask him to come fish them out for me.

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day! Unfortunately, we'd left the Snugli carrier in the car after the weekend so I wasn't able to take a walk with Karenin, but I WAS able to use our fancy new stroller and take a little stroll up and down Main Street with Anja! She loved it. She wore her pink and green plaid sunhat too. We saw Laura outside her place of employment and then we saw Kim on the sidewalk. It was a very nice walk.

When Martin got home from work we ate dinner right away and then we all went for another walk! It was such a beautiful evening, we couldn't pass up the opportunity, especially since, with two of us, Karenin can always come along. We just went up 6th Street to Kossuth and back down on 7th. Not a very far walk, but it was really nice anyway.

I see that Anja's new talent of rolling over might become problematic for her. Last night I put her to bed and a little while later we heard this funny noise over the monitor and then she started crying. I went upstairs and she had turned over and was lying flat on her face crying. It was hilarious! I picked her up and she immediately fell back asleep and didn't have any more rolling over incidents for the rest of the night. It wouldn't be anything to worry about except that she hates being on her stomach so much.

Martin is in Evansville today. He had to pick his college car up at 8:00 so we had to get up reeeaaally early in order to all get ready and get down there on time; he had to leave right away too because he had a school visit down there at 11:00. Anja slept until we left, so we just put her in the car and let her keep sleeping. Now she's still in her pajamas, wiggling around on the floor and screeching. She's kind of like Karenin... about once a day or so she gets the equivelent of Karenin's "zoomies" where she gets really hyper and start screeching and kicking her legs wildly and stuff. She's so happy! Anyway, that's what she's doing now.

Martin got me a present! He got me a Wabash Nalgene bottle that says "Refill not Landfill" on one side and Wabash College on the other. It's really cute!! Supposedly it's green... you know, as in BEING green.... but it looks yellow to me. Which is fine because I already have a dark green Nalgene and this yellow one is super cute.

Last night we went to Target to do the grocery/paper towels shopping. We go through a lot of paper towels now that we have a potty training puppy. Also, we prefer Target brand diapers and we were completely out!! Anyway, we got our groceries and then got some coffee there. I ordered the coffee and waited while Martin and Anja went back to the electronics to find a phone charger (because Karenin ate Martin's) and when they came back, Martino had bought for me TWO special milk-free chocolate bars and a package of gummy bears for me!!! Hence the title, Gummy Bears for Breakfast.

I really need to be better about cutting Anja's fingernails. They get so long and she scratches her face up and it's sad.

Anyway. That's it for today. I think Anja will have a bath today. I'm wearing the softest grey sweater in the world.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Roll Over, Beethoven!!!

It's official! Anja ROLLED OVER today!! She went from her back to her stomach and it was soooooo great. She's been trying for so long, and today she finally did it! And she was so pleased with herself! I thought she might be kind of startled the first time she finally made it over, but she was all smiley instead. It was great!

You always can tell for sure that spring is here when you come to the end of the day and see that you have dirty feet. Mine are filthy today! Definitely the mark of a good weekend. Yesterday we took the new stroller out in the evening and today we went on two different hikes in town. Late in the morning we met up with Baxter and TusaRebecca over at Happy Hollow and walked around on the trails over there. It was really nice out and the dogs had a great time. They liked each other! Baxter is gaining some weight, which means he looks fluffier than ever. Compared to him, Karenin looks tiny!

For lunch we met up with Matt Aiken and he suggested we go to that new place over by Vienna, Noodles & Co. or something like that? Anyway, it's kind of a strange place. This was the first weekend they've been open; they have a menu of Asian food, Mediterranean food and American food. I got Pad Thai. In general the place reminds me of Chipotle, but I guess that is the style for new restaurants these days.

After lunch we came home and hung around with Karenin for awhile, then packed up and drove out to Battleground to walk around their trails for awhile. It was kind of a busy place and everyone seemed to be taking the Heritage Trail, so we went across the road to Prophet's Rock and the hilly trails over there. It was pretty nice and we were the only ones there for the most part. We were afraid Anja was going to get a sunburn so we kept her covered up pretty well in Martin's baseball cap. She's such a good sport! She LOVES walks!!! The only time she ever fusses on a walk is when the sun is in her eyes.

It's kind of fun on the weekend to put in a movie and watch it on and off. Yesterday we put in "Little Miss Sunshine," which we hadn't seen in ages, and we would watch it in pieces, then we finished it this morning after church. It's such a weird and hilarious movie!! I love it! And it's always great to watch something after you haven't seen it in so long so you forget about the really funny parts and it all seems new to you.

And now, more pictures of the weekend!
This is Anja, saying "Mmumumummmmm."
This is us.

Martin's hiking shadow! Can you seen Anja in front? It makes him look like a really hardcore hiker with a pack on his back, but actually I think that's his arm.

On Friday night I played at the Klein Brot Haus and Anja sat with me for a couple of songs.

This is Martin coming out of the elevator on our walk to Vienna on Saturday evening. Does it look like broad daylight? The courthouse bells were chiming 7:00 when I took this picture.

My Life

If I didn't have my life... I would totally want it.

I was thinking about it yesterday when we took our awesome baby and our awesome dog on a wonderfully fabulous walk over to Vienna and back. We used the new stroller which was SO worth the money, I can't even describe how great it is. Such a smooth ride, sooooo easy to steer... I walked the entire way home from Vienna pushing the stroller with one hand and carrying a cup of coffee in the other and had no problems! It's amazing! And of course, Anja loved the walk. Karenin liked it too, but I think it was a little too busy over on campus for her... she got a little freaked out.

GREAT NEWS!!! The West Lafayette Police Department is starting another hiring process, and Martin is applying! I have high hopes this time around. Last time with West Lafayette he got through everything and finally got cut at the Merit Commission and this time around I think he'll do much better with them, considering he now has a baby girl. He's going to stock his wallet full of photos of Anja. He calls the Merit Commission part the "Mr. Rogers Portion" of the process. The other interview, with the policemen, is called the "John Wayne Portion." Last time he did great being John Wayne, not so great being Mr. Rogers. This time around, he'll whoop 'em all.

Laura's bridal shower was fun! I feel so much less awkward at bridal/baby showers now that I am married and have a baby. Well, the baby stuff wouldn't matter so much, I don't think... but I always felt so incredibly awkward at showers, like people were pitying me for being the spinster of the family. Now I go to them and actually enjoy being there! Especially since they are not thrown for me!!!!! I hated my bridal showers. I hated being the center of attention. Yesterday they played the "All About Dan" game, just like at my shower they played the "All About Martin" game. That was terrible. I remember being so humiliated that I didn't know any of the answers and it looked like I didn't know anything about this guy I was about to marry. I was glad when Laura got so many answers wrong too. I can't know for sure, but it looked like she took it a lot better than I did. She didn't seem embarrassed one bit! And good for her.... ugh, I hated that game.

Today we are going hiking! Not very hardcore.... I think we're going to go to Battleground or Prophetstown. We WERE going to do the Heritage Trail, but then we figured it'll be flooded. So this afternoon (in about 10 minutes) we're going over to Happy Hollow Park with Karenin to meet up with TusaRebecca and Baxter. The dogs will get to play and we'll get to be in the sunshine. Then we'll hang out with Matt Aiken for a bit, and go on to whichever trail we choose later in the afternoon when it's warmer.

Pictures of the weekend to be posted later!

Friday, April 4, 2008

The Idle Rich

Yesterday, Kim and I played music and gave a short presentation to the Thursday Club. Evidently this club is over 100 years old, and they get together on the first Thursday of every month for tea and a presentation of some kind. They must be running out of presentation ideas after 100 years, as was evident by their asking us to participate. I knew some of the ladies there, and it was a funny little sneak peek into the lives of the rich old ladies of the community. Anja went along and she did great for what was expected of her... we were told that we'd be playing at 12:30, so I fed her at noon right before we headed over... we ended up not playing until about 2:00 and we didn't get home until well after 3:00. Just in case anyone was wondering, two o'clock is WAY past Anja's usual time for a nap. She had the slightest little meltdown while I was playing, so I snuck away and fed her, she fell right asleep, and she slept the rest of the time we were there and far into the afternoon. The poor little thing must've been absolutely worn out... she had a royal fit in the car on the way to pick up Martin, and didn't really fall asleep until about the time we were getting home again. That was around 9:00.... and she is STILL asleep!!! She only woke up once in the night! Poor tired thing.

But there's also the worry that I ate some milk yesterday in the chicken salad sandwiches we were offered at the tea. I make chicken salad with mayonnaise, but Martin said some people make it with yogurt. I also ate some lemon bars, which have always been okay in the past, but I don't know how other people make them, maybe they put milk in them or something. Anyway, she never screams like that anymore, so whenever it happens we automatically assume that I've either eaten some milk by accident, or she has an ear infection. We'll see how she is today whenever she wakes up.

It's going to be a busy weekend! Tonight Kim and I are playing at the Klein Brot Haus. That'll be great, especially if Anja's back to her old self. We'll get free dinner and good company. Maybe we'll buy some challah bread for the weekend too! On Saturday I'm going to Laura's bridal shower (um, p.s., Anne, I never formally RSVPed, but I'm coming, if that's okay!) Yay! I think I'll wear my purple wrap skirt with my new cutie summer sandals that I ordered when it was still winter. They are soooooooo cute. And the high is supposed to be in the low 60's both days this weekend, and we often end up hitting a higher temperature than what is predicted!! Martin will go to work while I'm at the bridal shower, to get that out of the way for the weekend, and then on Sunday hopefully we'll go to 7:30 mass and then hit the trails in the afternoon. I'll be our first weekend out and we have many places to choose from, and many things to consider. I still don't think Anja will like riding in her carriers, however she might be big enough to try a back carrier at this point. She holds herself up really well. (I'm tempted to get the exersaucer out today and see what she thinks of it!) We also got our fabulous new stroller, but I don't think we can take that on the Heritage Trail, or at least only to a certain point. So our options are Prophetstown, Happy Hollow, Battle Ground, or the Heritage Trail. I think if we use the stroller we'll go to Prophetstown because it's pretty un-rugged out there. Anyway. I'm just rambling now. But we're DEFINITELY going someplace, but I doubt we'll go anyplace far like Turkey Run. Besides that, it'll probably still be flooded anyway. It's always flooded at this time of year.

I have such a nice life this morning! I'm glad Martin got me up as he was leaving so I could take a shower with him still here. Now I'm all ready for the day, listening to Anja snore over the monitor, with Karenin asleep at my feet.

There seems to be an unfortunate pattern in my days. Our mornings are fabulous, our afternoons start out very nicely, and then between 4:30 and 6:30 everything gets horrible. The dog goes nuts EVERY DAY at that time, right at the same time as Anja decides that she no longer wants anything but to just be held. So every day I end up taking Karenin out about every twenty minutes, taking the baby with me out there, and then almost every day it's happened at least once that when going back inside, the cat gets out and here I am with two animals and a baby, trying to get everyone back into the house without accidentally (or intentionally) killing any of them. And it doesn't help that I have a horrible habit of throwing trash bags just outside the kitchen door instead of putting them in the garbage can (approximately one step away from the doorway) so then critters get into the bags at night and there is often some food trash there on the ground and Karenin just LOVES that.

Okay, so this post could win an award for "Most Rambling, Least Sense-Making Post of the Year." I think I'll hang it up and get some things done before Anja does wake up. Things like cleaning the bathroom and washing the dishes!

P.S. I wore a really cute outfit yesterday.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I saw Henry Arth TWICE today!

Heh heh... glad to see I fooled so many of you with my very clever April Fool's joke. I know, I am just so funny, hah-hah-hah-hah...

We have had quite the runaround day today--as if yesterday wasn't enough! We woke up extra early to get to Martin to work more than on time, and wouldn't you know, today might have been the latest he ever was. Of course! I don't even know how it happened, but I was supposed to be meeting Lisa at my house at 9:00 and I didn't get home until 9:15, but it didn't end up mattering at all. She and I rode together over to Purdue--and saw Henry Arth riding his bike down Columbia Street-- where we met Brian at the McDonald's on campus and we walked over to Elliot Hall to find the music to the song we were singing for the funeral at noon, and to practice. It was fun to be in the PMO rooms... it was kind of like being behind the counter at a store... that weird feeling of being somewhere you're not supposed to be. But it was fun! And we learned the song, which was the most important part. We walked from there over to the Student Wellness Center to visit Mrs. Loew at her office; we sang for her and she liked it. She also liked Anja very much and she took us around to introduce us to everyone she works with. Very fun! I fed Anja there (Anja, who, by the way, has been a complete angel all this time) and then we walked back to our cars and made it to St. Lawrence before 11:30, which is what time Lisa needed to be there. (Lisa cantored.)

The funeral was very nice, and Fr. Dan's sermon was really good. It's always sad when you go to a funeral where the priest/minister obviously didn't really know the person. Not so today. However, at the last funeral I attended, the minister came right out at the beginning and admitted that he hadn't known the deceased, but he'd spent some time with the family the night before and here's what he learned. Anyway... today was nice.

Afterward, Lisa rode with her mom and I drove myself back to my house where I offered Lisa a cup of coffee, and she replied with an invitation to lunch! Hooray! So we went to Vienna for delicious sandwiches and chit-chat. It was here that we saw Henry Arth again! Weird!!

Anyway, after that I came home and played with Karenin and Anja took a nap and then I made some dinner to put in the fridge for when Martin gets home. Now Kim is on his way over to practice for the thing we're playing for tomorrow, and at 8:30 I'm off to Crawfordsville to pick up Martin.

Busy day!!