Blogolalia

Saturday, February 09, 2008

I just posted on Measuring Success at my business blog, for those who may be interested.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Dear Denis,

You posted this the other day.

Here’s my response, from 1998:

Being wrong is not equal to lying.

[via Thinkings]

Thursday, January 24, 2008

1 year check up report at WC is now up.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Birthday party details are at Whiny Complaints. Pictures included - a sample:

Friday, January 18, 2008

Jesse’s visit to the pediatric orthopedist is explained here.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

One.

One woman

finds

One man.

They become One.

And then comes another One on this date One year ago.

One precious life. One precious son.

Our precious son. Jesse.

You are One exceptional kid and we love you endlessly.

Happy birthday, my sweet boy. 

Monday, January 14, 2008

I’ve got nothing to say, so I thought I’d share a few links today.

First, there’s an update or two at Whiny Complaints.

The Thinklings are revamping, but not revamping. Read the post and it’ll all make sense.

My nephew is a smart one.

I would have killed for a dorm “room” like this one.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

I’ll be watching this post-thread for the discussion to come. I’d like to know for sure myself.

Friday, January 11, 2008

This is one of the most poignant things I’ve read in a long, long time.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

I thought the questions were interesting when I saw them at Mental Maundering (Chewie’s answers were interesting as well, of course). Here’s my take:

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? I had a baby.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t make annual resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Well, there’s no one closer to me that myself, right?

4. Did anyone close to you die? Fortunately, no.

5. What countries did you visit? We have a new baby. We barely made it out of the state, much less out of the country. 

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? 2007 was pretty good, generally. I would like for Beau to have the job that he wants, though.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? January 16 - Jesse’s birthday. And January 19th - the day I got out of the hospital after being in for a month.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Besides becoming a mother, starting a business.

9. What was your biggest failure? I know there are lots of failures. Does any one stick in my mind? Not really. I could do better at being the kind of wife Beau needs/wants. I could do better with spending time with God in His Word and prayer.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Only if you consider a c-section an injury. It certainly hurt like a mother, so to speak.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Any one of countless baby things that I love.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Beau, for being so supportive when I was laid up in the hospital (actually, for being a complete prince during the whole pregnancy) and in the days after my surgery. I really have the most wonderful husband.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I can’t think of any.

14. Where did most of your money go? His name is Jesse, although technically none of the money went to him directly.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? I think I was more excited about getting out of the hospital than I was about having the baby.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Hmmm, tough one. I have no idea.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? I think happier, since this time last year I was laid up in the hospital and miserable with pregnancy
older and wiser? Come on, really?
thinner or fatter? I had a baby - you do the math!
richer or poorer? Again, I had a baby and I moved to a place with higher rent and further from my job.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Um, TMI - “spent more time with Beau,” if you know what I mean.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working away from home.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We went to my parents’ home.

21. Question #21 must have fallen into a crevasse on Mt. Everest.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007? Already in love with a wonderful man. Fell into maternal love with Jesse.

23. How many one-night stands? Of course, none. What kind of question is this?

24. What was your favorite TV program? Always, CSI. American Idol, LOST, 24. New to me is Battlestar Galatica, which I watched while on materinity leave.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t hate anyone.

26. What was the best book you read? Well, looking at the list in the previous post, it looks like I rated HP and the Deathly Hallows with the highest rating.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? I made no musical discoveries this year.

28. What did you want and get? Too many things to name.

29. What did you want and not get? Too many things to name.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? Nothing pops into my head. I liked Amazing Grace a lot as a meaningful movie.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 40. Had dinner with my folks and uncle and they they surprised me with a small surprise party.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? If Beau was the one with the full time job so that I could be at home with Jesse full time.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Wear what fits after having a baby and without spending any money.

34. What kept you sane? Sleep.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? None.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? Gah. I’m fed up with the whole process already - this election started way, way too early!

37. Who did you miss? My granddad.

38. Who was the best new person you met? Some new folks at church who are in our new small group.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: God’s grace is sufficient for every circumstance.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: I’ve got nothing.

Friday, December 21, 2007

I got tagged by Jaynee. I’ll preface by explaining that I’ve been up since about 3am, so there’s no telling how this will go. Seems pretty easy, but you never know.

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
A mix of both. It depends on my level of lazy. So far everything except one gift is wrapped.

2. Real or artificial tree?
I like the idea of real, but we have a little fake tree and we’ll continue with the fake, I think.

3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually right after Thanksgiving. This year it was late - just last weekend. It only has lights on it and that’s probably as far as we’ll get.

4. When do you take the tree down?
Usually the start of the second week of January.

5. Do you like egg nog?
Negative. I like the flavor of egg nog, but not the actual stuff. Gack.

6. Favourite gift received as a child?
I don’t remember any specific gift except maybe the trip to Disney/SoCal that we got when we were in junior high. That trip was taken in the spring and legendary.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
I have two - corn husk dolls that are twee and a Boyd’s Bear resin set that’s also darned cute. Neither have been unpacked this year.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don’t recall ever getting a bad Christmas gift.

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I’ve done both. Last year was all snail mail since I was on bed rest and had plenty of time on my hands. This year the letter has been composed but I have yet to print it - maybe next week.

10. Favourite Christmas Movie?
“It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Elf.”

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
The earliest I started one year was September. I usually start seriously thinking about gift ideas in October and buying soon after.

12. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas?
I’ll steal my sister’s answer. The family cookie recipe: Chip balls. Pumpkin pie. Roast beef. Yorkshire pudding. Egg nog. Chocolate egg nog pie. I love it all. It’s my favorite meal of the year (after Thanksgiving).

13. Clear lights or coloured on the tree?
I like the white lights. Beau likes colored lights. We ended up throwing out all of the white lights last year and were left with only colored, so our tree has colored lights. I plan to restock the white lights after everything is on sale post-Christmas.

14. Favourite Christmas song(s)?
Not just one song, but Handel’s Messiah.

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
This will depends on the families. This year we’re staying at home, but will spend the night at my parents so that we can all enjoy Christmas morning together with Jesse (who will be oblivious still).

16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blizten, Dancer, Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, Rudolph.

17. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star - red punched tin.

18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
We’ve done both. When we were little kids we had to wait for Christmas morning and then around junior high we started opening one gift on Christmas Eve. Then it became all gifts on Christmas Eve and then we’ve reverted back to Christmas morning. I think we’ll be opening on Christmas morning this year, too.

19. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Radio stations that start with the Christmas music soon after Halloween. It’s just not right. (Amen, sistah!)

20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or colour?
I did an Americana themed tree in December 2001 - everything on the tree had the American flag on it in some form. Mostly I have a hodge podge of ornaments from my childhood that I cherish and use year after year.

21. What do you leave for Santa?
Up to now, nada. I have a feeling Jesse will want to leave a little something for Santa in years to come, though.

22. Least favourite holiday song?
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.

23. Favourite ornament?
I have a collection of White House commemmorative ornaments that I love.

24. Family tradition?
We’re a new family, so we’ll be making it up as we go along. In my family, our traditions were fluid and changed as we grew older, like when we open the presents.

25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Eve services?
Yep.

I’m not tagging anyone. If you feel like taking this on, feel free and leave a comment to let me know.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Robbo Llama Butcher relays the news that Peter Jackson will executive produce The Hobbit and that it will be two films. And he poses good questions about how it could look.

Then Gary Llama Butcher followed up with his thoughts on the films - mostly on casting ideas.

I know that I’ll be there on opening day when the movie(s) open. I loved The Hobbit - maybe more than The Lord of the Rings.

Friday, December 14, 2007

I’ve been tagged by Amy to share my thoughts on spanking. This is a place holder for the post I am going to write. My plan is to post it later today.

Quickly, I’m pro spanking and I’ll share why in the longer post.

There’s a reason the old adage is an old adage - “spare the rod, spoil the children.” I believe it to be true. I support spanking as an effective discipline tool in parenting. It worked on me as a kid and I know that Beau was occasionally spanked, but in both of our cases it was rare.

I remember only one time being fully spanked by my father and I totally deserved it. Jaynee and I were messing around under the pews at church during communion - I think we were 7 and 5 years old at the time. We got home and each received a spanking and time in our room (we shared at that point). I don’t remember what Dad used, but I’m thinking it was his hand on our bare behinds. Painful enough to get the point across - we never messed around during church again.

I was the compliant child and rarely got into serious trouble. There was a short time in junior high when I was grounded for long periods and when Mom resorted to swatting my behind with a wooden spoon. Many wooden spoons were broken on my butt in those days. I think we’d both agree that it was just puberty kicking in along with a little angst about Dad being at sea (this was a time when he was deployed more than he was home and things were a little unsettled because of the Iran hostage crisis and a few of my peers fathers deaths in the community as the result of training accidents).

For the most part my parents would send us to our rooms when we were in trouble. In hindsight and with chuckles, my mother realized that this was hardly punishment for me since I loved to be in my room alone. And there was the grounding, of course, which was annoying but nothing more than that really, imho. Like I said, I never really got into major trouble and when I did I usually dimed myself out because of the overwhelming guilt.

My son is only 11 months old, but already we have swatted his little behind. We have a strong little guy and as he gets bigger there are times when his wiggling is too much for me to control. When his wiggling almost resulted in his falling off of the changing table, I swatted his bare behind (it was a light smack with my fingers with no intent to hurt him, just for shock) and told him, “No,” to get his aural attention. It worked and he instantly stopped moving. He was so shocked and cried for maybe 10 seconds and then laughed. I think he was 7 or 8 months old at the time. I had to repeat that only once or twice more before he finally got it that when we change diapers he is not to roll over at all. He still wiggles and kicks his legs, but we haven’t had another incident since and when I tell him, “No,” he stops.

Beau and I are in agreement that other methods of discipline are to be tried first. Spanking is a last resort form of punishment unless Jesse has ignored a safety warning. Spanking is immediate if he attempts to run into the street or something similar that puts his safety in jeopardy. Otherwise we’ll see what kind of punishment works with him as he gets older. So far he’s an easy, compliant kid but we know that as he gets older and more autonomous we’ll be tested as parents. And we realize, too, that each child we may have will be individuals and that whatever works for Jesse may not (probably won’t) work for another child. But we will employ judicial spanking if it’s warranted.

Tag 5 bloggers
1st - You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.2nd - Let the blogger know that they have been tagged by leaving comment in their blog.

Miche does not spare the rod.
Jo-N wants to be her children’s best friend.
Tot’s Mom spares the rod and believes in patience.
Huckdoll spares the rod and believes there are more effective yet gentle ways to discipline than spanking.
Kelly at Ordinary Art has a three-step approach that does not always work but leaves tiny tushes mark free.
OhMommy has spanked and never will again.
Amy spanks when necessary.
Jaynee is pro, but as a last resort.
Amy spanks.
Jen plans to spank.

Bloggers whose opinions I’d like to see on this, but who are not obligated to participate: Granny, Any of the Thinklings, Tony, World Despot, Robbo Llama Butcher, and Bryan

Instructions:
1. Go to your blog.
2. Post about the topic.
3. Give me the hot, hard, and heavy linky love
4. Copy the last paragraph above and add your name and discipline style.
5. Post that paragraph onto your blog, including links. (Yeah, you will want to sharpen a pencil and stab it in your eye at this point. But, isn’t that half the fun.)
6. Go to the five people you have tagged and leave them a comment to know they are now, it.
7. Sit back and let the comments roll in.

Monday, December 10, 2007

I love photoshoots with Uncle Denis! New pics posted at WC, including the following, which may be my favorite. Love that eyebrow action…

Friday, November 30, 2007

With pictures, including this one.

He’s going to hate me for that one when he’s older.