Quasi-geostrophic Theory

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2009-01-23T14:21:00.002-05:00

Quasi-geostrophic theory is reinventing itself on Wordpress as knitahollis.wordpress.com . Please come and pay a visit when you get a chance!

Still here...

2008-10-17T08:29:00.004-05:00

But busy busy! The past few weeks have featured numerous fun things: an awful cold, a trip to China for Rich, the stomach flu which took us down one by one, terrible teething and lots of work. The one thing that has been keeping me going is knowing that on Saturday the 18th, I along with my knitting posse will be trekking to New York. No we are not going to the city. How silly! We are going to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival better known as Rhinebeck. For a whole day I will be surrounded with all things fibery and good. Plus I get to hang out with some of the most fabulous peeps in my world! I'm trying to make a list so I don't get completely overtaken by the yarn fumes. I'm looking for some lace weight yarn, some worsted, a drop spindle (yes...the dark side is calling), and some fiber (for use with the spindle over on the dark side). I'll report back on my findings. Of course, pretty much the only people who read this anymore will be with me but what-ev.

Crafting update: I've taught myself to knit lefthanded (continental style). It has been really fun and I can knit much faster now. I'm working on a sock for me but I'm going to try to attempt to knit the 2nd of a pair of fingerless mitts today so I can wear them tomorrow. We'll see.

The other major project I'm going to be undertaking is a Halloween costume for Elisabeth. I asked her what she wanted to be. "Ariel!" Of course. So I probed further..."What do you want Ariel to wear? You have to be Ariel with legs". (I could not even fathom trying to fashion a mermaid tail for a 3 year old.) The reply, "Mommy. I already HAVE legs. I want to be Ariel in a white dress." Oh...so she wants to be Ariel at the end of the movie when she marries Prince Eric. Got it. Yesterday after a trip to Jo-Ann's I think I am all set to make my 3 year old a wedding dress. I was then informed by Elisabeth that when the dress was finished she was going to marry her baby doll. Hmmmmm....that ought to be interesting. Anyway, we'll see if I can pull this costume off. I only actually have a week b/c her "character party" (no weapons please!) at school is next Friday! Since I'm "Mother of the Year" though, it should be no problem. /sarcasm off.

A little of this...

2008-09-15T09:41:00.003-05:00

and a little of that. Things have been busy busy since classes started on the 5th. It's nice to be back to work. It's been a bit of adjustment for everyone, but so far so good!

Greyson is rapidly approaching 8 months old. He now has 2 teeth. His latest trick is crawling backwards. He can move pretty quick! He's gotten up on his hands and knees a few times, so I think full fledged crawling can't be far off. Elisabeth is in preschool and loves to tell me how she's a "big girl" like me. She is still a drama queen but she's such a sweetie with Greyson. Here he is fast asleep in his swing.

I've been doing a lot of knitting. So much knitting and so little time! I have a new knitting philosphy that I came up with last night after trying to figure out what I "should" knit. Who cares? Whatever. I knit what I want. So what if I have a dozen WIPs? There's no knitting police out there. So currently on the needles: my Talia vest (nearly done), Anastasia socks, Sheepie Blanket, Haruha scarf, Thuja socks. And maybe I'll cast on something new later if I feel like it. In order to continue this new found knitting freedom, I think I need some more knitpicks cables! I also was fortunate enough to procure what I described to Rich as "the truffle of yarns". This picture doesn't do the color justice but here it is.

Wollmeise sock yarn (that's Vahl-my-za for the uninitiated...not Wohl-meese)

Fantasy football has started. I hate both my teams. Well, that's a little strong...I think I hate both my teams. I'll give 'em another week to be sure. I'm considering a trade in one of my leagues. But trades always freak me out because what if the guy I'm trading suddenly does great and/or my new player tanks? Why does someone want my crappy RB? Is there something I don't know about? So...I'm still ruminating on that one.

Oh my....Elisabeth's face is covered in cream cheese from the bagel we shared.

Dumb NFL Announcers

2008-09-07T18:46:00.002-05:00

So today I was watching the Dolphins-Jets game and one of the announcers commented on the youth of the Miami team. "Oh they are just such a young team," he opined. "They don't know how to grind out 4 quarters of football." Um...excuse me? Did I miss the memo where college football is only 3 quarters? This type of drivel drives me freakin' insane! Yes, the NFL is professional football, but the way these talking heads carry on, you would think a rookie had never touched a football before. I bet in college, offensive lineman have to block the pass rush. I would even hazard a guess that college quarterbacks throw the ball from time to time. And I bet even the place kicker has just a few PATs under his belt. So you know what all you moron announcers out there: stick to play calling. Because you're dumb.

Happenings

2008-07-21T20:56:00.003-05:00

This weekend I was felled by a nasty cold. Elisabeth brought it home from her school; as soon as I saw her runny nose I should have realized I was doomed. I was out of commission all day on Sunday but by the evening was feeling better. Today was also better although now I am feeling a bit yucky again. Probably time for bed!

Elisabeth is a riot. Today she came into the bathroom while I was brushing my teeth and asked, "Mommy? Is there a skunk in here?" I said to her, "Well, no there isn't honey." "Oh, ok. Bye", she replied. Insert hilarious laughter here (where is that rolling on the floor plurk guy when I need him?) There was a skunk in our yard the other day, but as far as I know did not make into the house.

Greyson has become proficient at rolling over. This is as much a novelty for me as it is for him b/c Elisabeth didn't roll over until she was 8 months old! Now he wants to crawl. So he'll roll over onto his tummy and then grunt and move his legs. Except he doesn't move his arms, so he just ends up smooshing his head into the ground. Understandably, this results in frustration and tears. Hopefully he'll figure this out pretty soon. And yes, I am ready for him to locomote on his own because he's getting too heavy for me to lug everywhere! (I think I have tendinitis in my hip/knee from carrying him around!)

I've started knitting Baby Bobbi Bear for a present. I'm using Berroco Pure Merino in Wisteria. This is my first time using this yarn and I have to say I'm enjoying it quite a lot. It is soft and squishy and I like the twist on it. The stitches look very nice. I also started and then frogged the lovely vine lace baby hat. I don't think it's a good idea to do your first lace knitting while sick. I don't know how I messed it up, but I did. I will re-attempt after the Bobbi Bear is a FO.

The Red Sox game is just starting now. I hate when they play on the west coast. No offense to west coast peeps out there but it really stinks!

Summer Fun

2008-07-16T21:04:00.000-05:00

We've had a lot of fun already this summer. We kicked things off with a trip down to Delaware to celebrate Gemma's first birthday with some dear friends. A lot of fun was had by all, especially the adults (mojitos and Wii are a fun combo!) Here's a picture of Greyson nicknamed "Chubba-chub" by Auntie Lisa.

We also went to the Connecticut shore for a bbq/beach party hosted by one of Rich's bosses. This was our 3rd year in attendance. Each year it has been gray and rainy. It's becoming something of a joke! This year the rain held off for most of the day so Elisabeth was able to go play on the beach. Here she is playing in the sand.

There's also been plenty of time spent hanging out at home. Elisabeth's favorite movie is "The Little Mermaid". She's a big fan. And bonus: sometimes it helps her fall asleep!

Greyson continues to get bigger (and bigger and bigger!). Here he is representin'

It is very hard at times to be home with such little kids. The whining, the crying, the spit-up, potty training, potty accidents....those things are NOT fun. But then you get a look like this and somehow it's all worth it. (This one's for you Erin!)

"Will you love me forever Mommy?" Oh yes! sniff.

Finished!

2008-07-10T10:05:00.005-05:00

I finally finished Katja for Elisabeth. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out. It's too big but oh well. Also, I'm not sure 100% cotton was the best thing since it's already drooping a bit. Here are some pictures of the princess modeling.

I also started my next pair of socks. These are for Rich.

I also need to get cracking on some baby gifts. Yikes...there is not enough time!

Ruh-roh

2008-07-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Heh...

2008-07-08T11:50:00.003-05:00

Randomness:

It's a really good thing we don't remember (or at least I don't) teething. Greyson has had a terrible time of it today. I feel so bad for him because he looks like he's in quite a bit of pain. Thank goodness for Tylenol! He is finally asleep now; I think he really wore himself out!
It is hot today. I hate it. This is why I left Florida. Bah!
We also apparently have poor air quality today. Ozone is only good when it's in the stratosphere.
I've finally chosen my project for Ravelympics 2008. For those of you who are not on Ravelry it's basically a knitting challenge for during the Olympic games. You cast on a project at the lighting of the flame and then must finish it by the time the flame is extinguished. It's 17 days. You get to pick what you want to knit since everyone is at a different place in their knitting journey. I decided to do Talia . It looks fun; I get really bored with lots of stockinette stitch so this will be nice because of the scroll lacework that is included.
Rich bought new shoes yesterday. They are very nice...slip on leather. He's so fashionable!
I like Coke Zero
It's very quiet in here now...ahhh.
We're (that would be Rich) is almost done working on the bathroom. The only things really left to do are hang up racks/rings and the molding. It's looking really good if you forget about the crazy tub.
I am really looking forward to Wednesday night. It's the highlight of my week. Yay for knitting!
If you haven't yet, check out Plurk. It's fun and you know you need another internet addiction! :)

Inspiration?

2008-07-02T20:48:00.002-05:00

I haven't been blogging much because I haven't been feeling very inspired. I'm not sure what to write about. But I've been reading some blogs of some new friends so I thought I would try to get back into things a little bit. Anyway so the kids and I had a bit of an adventure today. There were lots of thunderstorms all around the area today. I was waiting for one to blow over to go get E from school but it was taking longer than I thought so I ended up having to make a run for it with G to the car. Of course this is freaking me out b/c I have an extremely healthy respect for lightning. In fact, I abide by the saying: "When thunder roars, go indoors!" (I didn't make that up...it's a NWS thing.) I'm buckling G into his car seat and there is a flash that I'm pretty sure hit in the woods up behind the house b/c the thunder happened at the same time. Commence shaky hands and prayers to not get struck by lightning. Finally, I get in the car and start driving. As I'm driving, the sky keeps getting darker. Plus there is a TON of lightning. Now I'm starting to figure out how I'm going to get E into the car. Long story short, one of her teachers brought her out. I jump out to buckle her in and it starts raining fat drops. And there's still lightning everywhere (in my head I'm freaking out but of course acting like everything is fine). I scurry back to the car and almost as soon as I shut the door, all hail breaks loose. That's not a typo...it was pouring hail. The meteorologist in me is fascinated but the mother in me is slightly worried. What if the hail gets bigger and breaks the windshield? What if there is a hail/rain shrouded tornado? What if there is a downburst that blows something into the car? Yeah...sometimes extensive knowledge isn't so comforting. We sat in the parking lot for a good 8 minutes (which is pretty long for hail to last) or so while hail continued to rain down. It was extremely loud; I was surprised that no one cried! It finally stopped and I was able to start driving home. So it was a crazy afternoon...and I'm thankful that we are all safe. It really made me remember how powerful weather can be; it's easy to forget when you are usually observing from a safe distance (like on the computer).

So there you go. An actual blog about an actual event. Let's see if I can keep it up.

4 months!

2008-05-31T20:01:00.001-05:00

greyson_4mo
Originally uploaded by hollis_pyatt

Greyson is 4 months old. At his check-up he was 19 lb 1 oz and almost 25 1/2 inches long. If you're not familiar with baby-sizing: that's HUGE! He's in the 97th percentile for weight and 75th for height. I think he wants to be the next Zach Thomas. I'm sure his daddy would prefer he be the next Tedi Bruschi but he'll just have to deal. He's a happy guy and loves to smile and laugh. Happy 1/3 of a year Greyson!

sock_yarn

2008-05-31T19:59:00.001-05:00

sock_yarn
Originally uploaded by hollis_pyatt

Yum Yum Yum! Beautiful yummy yarn. Maybe if you're nice I'll make you something...or maybe I'll just keep it all for me....mwahh-ha-ha.

Where did you go?

2008-05-02T11:11:00.003-05:00

Some of you may be wondering this (ahem Richie ahem). Well, let me fill you in. In the midst of caring for a 3 month old little boy who likes to eat every 2 hours during the day, chasing after an active almost pre-schooler, trying to keep house (hah!), and teaching my courses for the semester: I have found a new obsession. It's called Ravelry . It is an online knitting and crocheting community. If you even like knitting (or crocheting) a little bit, it's worth checking out. There are places to keep track of WIPs (works in progress), FOs (finished objects), your yarn stash and projects that you would like to do at some point. The other fabulous thing about this place is the forums and groups. There is a fabulous techniques forum where you can find answers to just about anything having to do with knitting (or ask a question if you can't find the answer!) There is a group for everything....really. Everything. So I'm part of the Red Sox knitters group where we gab about all things Sox as well as knitting. There's a Lost knitters group...a Top Chef knitters group....etc and etc. I also found a local knitting group who meets in Worcester that I went to for the first time this week (I know...so not like me. It was fun too!) So it's been fun and taking up any free online time lately. So that's where I've been. DH (that's forum speak for husband) thinks I may have lost it and has called me insane (to which I replied, "well, at least you can wear the stuff I make). But it's ok, because now I know I'm not the only yarn/knitting obsessed person out there.

Let's see, other pertinent information:

Greyson is now 3 months old. He probably weighs about 15 lbs. He likes to drink bottles. He is not sleeping thru the night.
Elisabeth is rapidly approaching 3. She is full of interesting things to say but will still occasionally lose it over pretty much nothing. Gotta love it. Last night she was trying to sing me a song to make my neck feel better. She sang me "Twinkle Twinkle" and then launched into "Rock-a-bye Baby" except she sang "Rock-a-bye Mommy". It was sweet.
Blech...just listening to some anchor on a news channel describe how a tornado forms: the warm air and cold air mix together and turn and then touch the ground. Moron.
I will be undertaking 2 trips in the next couple months. First down to Delaware to see Krista, Steve, Gemma and Karyn. That is a whole family car trip. Then me (myself and I) will be taking the children on a plane down to FL to visit my parents. I think I will wish myself and I were actual people at some point on the plane. I think I may be insane. I will let you know.

That is all. Maybe I'll post again in another 3 months.

A quiet moment

2008-02-26T12:02:00.002-05:00

I know it's been awhile, but I'm going to try to post more often than in the past 6 months. Yikes...that's a long time!

Randomness:

Elisabeth found a quarter today. Coins to her are "monies". I asked her what she was going to buy with it and she said, "Oil for Mr. Furnace". Ha....
Greyson is now 5 weeks old. He's doing great except for his penchant for spitting up. At the end of the day I feel like I need to go to a car wash. He's starting to smile at us now which is the best!
Elisabeth has discovered Disney princesses. I bought her Cinderella for Valentine's Day. She loves watching it. She calls the Prince: "the man".
I've become semi-compulsive about having my living room and other rooms clean. Not that I can always do it, with an active 2.5 year old and a baby but I'm always so much happier after everything is picked up. Anyone who has known me for awhile knows that this is a new thing for me.
I tried the Skinny Latte at Starbucks. What a disappointment. I got it with hazelnut syrup. It tasted like watered down milk with a slight hint of coffee. I guess I should have known better since it was just 90 calories. Or maybe my barista did a bad job (thank goodness they're all getting trained today). I'm just going to stick to my regular selections from now on.
Speaking of coffee...I love caffeine. I need it. I have to have it. Otherwise I feel like a walking zombie.

You might be wondering...how are you blogging at 12:10 pm on a weekday when your husband is at work? Because...Greyson is asleep in his swing (I <3 the swing) and Elisabeth is watching her new favorite movie (that would be the afore mentioned Cinderella). So it's a quiet moment for me, that won't last very long probably. More later...I'll try to post some pictures at some point.

2 years old

2007-08-28T18:10:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe it but Elisabeth turned 2 years old this past Saturday. We had a little party for her so I thought I'd post some pictures of the event. She is doing great and is very excited about being a big sister. We go for our big ultrasound this Friday so I'll be sure to share the news!

My big girl!

Birthday cake

Blowing out candles

Eating cake with mommy

Opening presents!

New stroller

New shoes!

Happy Birthday Elisabeth!

She doesn't know how good she has it

2007-07-25T11:57:00.000-05:00

Since we've returned from Florida on Saturday, Elisabeth has taken to screaming and crying when we put her down for a nap or bedtime. It's really frustrating. I mean, I would love someone to hold me, sing me songs, rub my back and then put me to bed! I suppose she just wants to be with us all the time which is sweet, but not practical at all. Currently, she is up in her room carrying on like a banshee. I hope she calms down soon. She had been doing so well before we did all of our travelling so I guess it will just take awhile to get her back into her routine.

In other news: Auntie Karyn is coming to visit in a couple weeks followed by Papi and Grandma. It will be nice to see all of them. And then in just a few more weeks, it will be time for my semester to start which I am very much looking forward to. It's been nice to stay home for a bit but I'm ready to go back now. I'm hoping to use my time well the next few weeks to finish up some projects that have been hanging around for longer than I would like to admit (Remember the roman shades for my bedroom Jessica? Still not done.) Hopefully I can clean out my queue of things unfinished so that I can start making quilts for Elisabeth and the new baby this fall.

Ahhh....silence....how sweet. Now I'm going to go eat lunch.

Sweet!

2007-06-18T08:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day. We discovered that just outside of Boston there exists a Chipotle ! If you've never been to one of these fab-u-lous establishments or never heard of it, listen up. Chipotle does basically one thing: burritos. And they are divine. My favorite thing to get (thanks Karyn) is the Burrito bol which is basically the insides of a burrito in a bowl. And I like to get the tortilla on the side and rip it up and eat it alongside the yumminess in the bowl. So, yesterday being Father's Day we decided to make a special drive to Medford (that's Meff-ud for you non-Boston peeps) to partake of some burrito goodness. I got a chicken burrito bol with cilantro lime rice, black beans, tomatillo salsa, sour cream, cheese, and lettuce. It was SO good. Rich (being that pork is his friend) got a burrito with carnitas (that would be pork). Elisabeth was not interested in sampling either of our dishes. Too bad for her! Anyway, today I'm looking forward to eating the rest of my burrito bol for lunch as they give you (at least me) way too much to eat at one time. It was a fun excursion...except for a brief stop at a Super 88 chinese grocery store so Rich could find some Szechuan peppercorns. It was quite the smelly place, but I toughed it out. I must love him a lot. I will leave you with this thought: GO TO CHIPOTLE...GO TO CHIPOTLE. You won't be sorry.

Doe a Deer

2007-06-08T08:38:00.000-05:00

This morning I was cleaning the kitchen and I popped outside to dump something out. We have a wooded area behind our house and I heard something rustling. I stopped to see what it was, thinking it was probably a maintenance man for the housing that is next door. Nope...it was not a person, too small. Next thought was dog? Nope...too big for a dog. Then the shapes came a little more clear and I realized I was looking at two deer! Deer! In my woods...behind my house! Let me tell you, I was so excited. I get excited when I see the chipmunks running on our stone walls. So to have deer...on our property! I of course promptly called Rich who said..."Really? I thought I saw what had to be deer tracks in our garden but I didn't really think it was deer". So apparently we have been visited by a couple of local deer. I couldn't get a picture today but maybe soon. Totally cool. I love it here.

Cheese Toast

2007-06-04T09:55:00.000-05:00

Cheese toast is really good. And easy to make if you have a toaster oven. Conventional toasters need not apply. Take a piece of bread. Put a piece of cheese. Toast. Eat. It's the perfect snack...especially now when I seem to be hungry about every hour or two. In case you didn't know, we're expecting a new addition to our family on or about Jan. 13, 2008. Yup...that's right. So right now I spend most of my time making sure my stomach doesn't get empty otherwise a very unsettling, queasy feeling takes over. Hence the cheese toast.

Besides eating all the time, here are some updates on life these days.

Elisabeth is 21 months old now. She's running around like crazy. Talking in sentences. Her favorites: "I hold it"; "I want it"; "I find it". She's also very much into figuring out who's things are who's, such as: "Mommy dink (drink)"; "Ibef (Elisabeth) jacket"; "Daddy pants". Here's a recent picture.

I have the summer off from teaching. Last semester was fabulous. I enjoyed my students so much. It was really a great experience. I'll be going back in the fall and I already can't wait. Not that I won't enjoy some time off, but I already feel a little at loose ends sometimes.
I've started singing with the worship team at my church. It's been really fun. I've enjoyed getting to know everyone better and they've been so nice to me. I'm also working on a new website for the church. I'm giving style sheets a whirl. I think it's going to be very cool. I'm also getting involved in the women's ministry. This past Saturday we met for several hours and worked on quilts. We got nearly 3 pieced and a 4th cut out. Next month we will meet to finish them up. We're going to donate them to a local NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). They use the quilts to help cover the babies' isolettes to shield them from the bright lights. Then the families can take the quilt home. I love that I'm part of a church where we can reach out and do things like this. I've met such lovely people there...the fellowship is awesome.

I suppose those are the high points...I'm hoping to post a little more frequently this summer. We'll see!

No Words

2007-04-16T14:35:00.000-05:00

There are times when the sadness and despair of this world nearly overcome me...like today.

From "Oh My God" by Jars of Clay (Good Monsters)

Sometimes I cannot forgive
And these days, mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be, maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I dream we're better,
Scales were gone and faces light
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes,
And all the fear that keeps me silent falls below my heavy breathing,
What makes me so badly bent?
We all have a chance to murder
We all feel the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder

Sometimes when I lose my grip, I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give
Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat all the wounds that money causes,
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children - this is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers - this is our greatest offense

Oh my God
Oh my God
Oh my God

Snow Day!

2007-02-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

In honor of my day off (and because I'm a weather geek...in life, there's not too much better than the promise of large amounts of snow), I kept a running diary of the day and the snow.

Prequel: The pictures below are from yesterday so you have a benchmark for the snow photo viewing.

6:40 am: Woke up hearing Elisabeth crying. Looked outside. Yes! It truly is snowing

7:11 am: Had to pee. Got out of bed and took care of business. Came downstairs to check the school closings. Salem State is closed…glad that I don’t have to drive in crazy weather today.

7:15 am: Mommy….mommy! Elisabeth comes downstairs.

8:00 am: Snow/sleet mix falling lightly. Took some pictures to document snow amounts. Opened the door briefly and got sleet in my hair. Rich and Elisabeth are in the kitchen while he makes breakfast.

9:45 am: Bacon and eggs for breakfast courtesy of Rich who also stayed home today. Still light snow/sleet mix going on. Too bad about the sleet as it will keep final snow totals down a bit. If only the low was 50 miles further east…then we would be all snow.

11:30 am: Elisabeth wakes up from her comfy bed on my lap. She’s not feeling well or something. Poor thing. Snow is continuing to fall…more snow than sleet now. Watching Alias at the moment…the scary Nocturne episode from Season 4.

1:36 pm: So far at KFIT 0.59” of liquid equivalent have fallen. If that was all snow it would probably be 6” or a little more but with the sleet mixed in, I’d say there’s about 4” on the ground currently. Winds are starting to pick up also which will make things interesting this afternoon!

2:41 pm: Highly recommend the California Pizza Kitchen barbeque chicken pizza. Yum-o. Sleet makes a cool sounds when it’s coming down. I brought some inside to melt. I don’t know why.

7:22 pm: Well after a long afternoon of an unhappy baby, she’s finally upstairs (notice I didn’t say sleeping…that could be another blog post about her sleep habits lately). Rich went outside around 6 to shovel the snleet (that’s my new word for snow+sleet). He was having a rough time since sleet is MUCH heavier than snow (higher water content in more compact form). He was working his way down the driveway when I looked outside and I swear, it looked like it was raining. So of course I had to investigate. I opened the door and stuck my head and arm outside. Sure enough, it was rain with a little sleet, and pretty heavy at that. It didn’t last too long and changed to snow after about 5 minutes. It was pretty wild. So then Rich is starting to run out of gas (which is funny if you know him at all) near the end of the driveway which is the hard part because that’s where the plow goes by. Across the street from us is a garage that the Fitchburg Housing Authority uses…on our street there are some public housing units for the elderly. Some guys had pulled up in their trucks and gotten out their snow-blowers. All of a sudden one of them starts wheeling his over to our driveway and tells Rich stand back. He proceeds to blow the snow (and I mean blow…the snow was ending up 50 feet from our house). It took him all of 5-6 minutes to take care of what would have taken Rich another 30-40 minutes. So thanks Mr. Snowblower man…you rock! (Rich overheard him saying he just got a new snowblower…I guess he was looking for another excuse to use his new toy!)

7:47 pm: Final snow totals won’t be available until tomorrow since it’s still snowing right now. Here’s what has been reported so far: 5.8” as of 2:13 pm. The liquid equivalent from KFIT ASOS as of 7 pm was 0.92”. I only wish I could have seen what would have happened if all that liquid fell as nice, powdery snow. Oh well! It was still a fun storm and I got a day off.

Heard while driving

2007-02-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

A small town in Switzerland has 3 months of darkness every Dec - Feb. But they are not above the Arctic circle (66.5 degrees N). So why the darkness? They are nestled in a valley amongst the Alps. The mountains block out the sun because the sun angle is much lower during the winter months. The town is investing in some mirrors to help direct sunlight into the valley. Apparently a village in Italy with a similar problem tried that and it worked.
A jingle for "OverweightDate.com". Yes...a dating site for those who either want or have "more to love". Their newest venture? "TallDate.com": If you want to see eye to eye or just want to feel small and delicate in someone's arms... Seriously?
St. Louis had a huge animal parade either today or yesterday. Dogs from all over attended dressed in costume. One dog was dressed as a fire hydrant.
The National Weather Service was sending a team to a small town in New York to measure their snow. This town has had about 11 feet of snow in the last week or so. If it checks out it will be an all time record for New York state.
The Red Sox equipment truck began its journey from Fenway Park to Ft. Myers today. There was a large contingent on hand to see the truck off. Guess we're ready for some baseball here.
An "all natural" non invasive ED treatment involving some kind of vacuum pump. Guys: Any takers??
If you didn't know any better you'd think it was February 2008 instead of Feb. 07. Obama and Hillary were in New Hampshire this weekend, working their presidential campaigns. It's going to be a long year.

Notes

2007-01-27T14:25:00.000-05:00

So the other day I was driving out of the parking lot at my work on my way home and I saw something rather odd. There was a tree crossing the street in front of me. So as I got closer, the tree started waving a branch at me, which of course made me laugh. The tree got across the road and then I could see there was a dude behind it, laughing at me as I drove by. It kind of made my day.

Yesterday I did something I hadn't done since moving up to Massachusetts. Can you guess? In the grand scheme of things it's not such a big deal but to me it was. I went out to lunch with two professors that I work with. I've definitely eaten lunch in the past two years and on occasion even out with other people. But this was the first time I had been out with work people. It was great...we ate at a Chinese restaurant just down the block from the school. The only not so great part was the walk. It was 11 degrees outside and the wind chill was -12 F. So by the time I got to the restaurant I couldn't feel my face. But it was worth it to have a meal with my new colleagues.

Today is supposed to be clean the house day. It's going ok so far. Obviously I'm not currently cleaning, but I needed to take a break. I'm at the point where I want to get it done but suddenly I feel overwhelmed and not sure what to do next. I also cut my finger on a knife this morning thus I am slightly incapacitated and unable to do much that has to do with water (i.e. washing dishes). Fortunately Rich is picking up the slack there and also spending time wrangling Elisabeth. I've done 2 loads of laundry already with more to go. Better get back to it...

Randomness

2007-01-16T18:51:00.000-05:00

Went to Target today. It was cold outside so Elisabeth wore her big coat. She looks like an overstuffed turkey in it...it's quite funny. She also wore her "hot" (hat). Nothing too exciting at Target. Got diapers, wipes, and diaper cream...special edition Jello (strawberry dacqueri and pina colada)...Clorox wipes (love 'em)...eyeshadow on sale, a trio of pinks
Elisabeth somehow learned how to say "apple" and "purple" during the past couple of days. We don't know how she learned them...funny what she picks up. I tried to see if she knew any other color names...not yet.
A mutant virus has hit our home again. This time Rich got it the worst. He was out of commission most of the weekend. I didn't get it too bad, mostly just tired and had a headache. Elisabeth now has what we affectionately term a "boogie nose".
Tonight it is forecast to be 3 degrees for the low. Now that's COLD! It snowed the eensiest bit today. Just enough to make my heart flutter and then depress me because I want some real snow.
My classes start on Friday. I'm excited...and nervous. I hope my kids are good.
The Dolphins are still interviewing candidates for the head coaching vacancy. News is that they interviewed Mike Shula on Saturday. Now wouldn't that be something. The other candidates who are in the front of the pack are Chan Gailey and Jim Mora Jr. (re-treads!).
American Idol starts tonight. I love the first couple episodes because of the funny auditions.
Guess what Rich's favorite Elisabeth speak is? You'll never guess...well...maybe you would. But I'll save you the suspense. He loves when she says, "Poo-pie". It is quite cute.
I'm still working on a quilt for a dear little baby born in October to my friend Jenn. Hailey Grey is getting big and I hope to have it done soon. I'll post a pic when it's finished.
Speaking of babies...I'm very excited for this summer to meet two new little people when they arrive: baby V. and baby C.
Now...time for some relaxing: quilting, AI, hanging out with the hubby who's going to be watching 24 on DVD. He's working on Season 1 right now. I'm still not sure I should watch. I'm afraid I'll get sucked in! A good evening to all...until next time!

Odds and Ends

2007-01-10T19:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a slacker...but it's a new year and I'm posting! I'm getting ready to go back to work; the semester starts on the 19th. I've got my syllabus done and I'm working on the first couple weeks of lectures. Hopefully I'll get a lot done this weekend. I haven't been able to do much b/c Elisabeth has been keeping me pretty busy. She's learned how to say "uppie", and uses it profusely throughout the day. Of course I don't always pick her "uppie" but it's just hard to get much done with her at home. She's so cute, but also so trying at times. She's really learning a lot of words: hot, cold, car, chair, uppie, nana (banana), hi, bye, cracker, coo-coo (cookie). She also understands quite a lot now. This part has been fun...I love being able to communicate with her this way.

Rich got me a weather station for Christmas. I'll post a picture soon. It's a thermometer, hygrometer, anemometer combo. It also tracks pressure changes but not the actual pressure (at least I can't find where it says the pressure). I of course have been having loads of fun walking by the indoor unit (it transmits to this unit from outside) and announcing to the house (well to Rich) that it's 38.7 degrees with 3.1 mph wind. It's about time this weather girl got her own observing station! It's finally starting to get cold here. It looks like it will be down in the teens tonight. This weekend there's the potential for some frozen precip; I miss the snow so much. It's so strange that we're into January and we've had less than an inch of snow here. I have a hunch that Feb and March may be better for us snow-lovers.

I've been watching Alias again. I started over with Season 1...I'm currently 2/3 through Season 2. It's been interesting to watch now knowing everything that I know. I got new glasses frames yesterday. Go here to see what they look like, except mine are a chocolate brown. I had my first cinnamon dolce latte of the season yesterday. I was pretty proud of myself because I had some time to kill before I had to go to the eye doctor so I decided to go to a mall to get a coffee and walk around. I didn't buy anything but the coffee and I had a gift card for that! Yay me!

My friend Emilie is coming over soon; I'm helping her build a web site for her business. It's called Simple Gifts. I'll post the link when it's up and running...everyone should check it out!

Elisabeth loves her book

2006-12-25T14:57:00.001-05:00


Elisabeth find the kitty in her book and kisses it. Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread House Day 2006

2006-12-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to Gingerbread House Day at the Eshelman home. Jani and Joey each year invite relatives and friends to come make gingerbread houses for Christmas time. Mostly it is a kid thing, but since Elisabeth is still too young to participate, I made one for our family. You may recall that I made my first ever gingerbread house last year (to see a pic go here and scroll down. It was ok for a first attempt but I had grand plans for this year's house. I decided on a pink and brown color scheme with some other splashes of color as well. Pink was provided by pink good'n'plenty candies as well as strawberry banana smoothie mix skittles (which incidently don't taste that great) and pink necco wafers . Creme d'menthe andes mints worked well as roofing material and brown m&m's dark were good walkway material. It was fun...and my house turned out to be quite lovely. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.

This 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom victorian is a dream! It's secluded location as well as access to nearby ponds and woods makes it perfect for those who enjoy peace and quiet. It's unique color scheme lends charm and grace to a well constructed home.

This view shows the intricate baskeweave pattern used in the construction. Notice the pond within walking distance. The stone walkway beckons you to come in, sit down and relax. Generously sized windows allow abundant light and create a light and airy feeling in the home.

A fence across the back of the lot gives a sense of security and privacy. This home also has a fireplace on the main level which adds ambiance and warmth in the main living space. All this can be yours for a special one time only price of $9.99 + closing costs. If interested please contact the builder who may be able to arrange a walkthrough at your convenience.

An Update

2006-11-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile since I last posted. What's new up here in New England? Well, it's starting to get colder, although today is going to be in the 60's. We have a chance for snow on Monday but it's not clear yet if the low is going to move close enough to the coast for that. It's nearly December and I haven't seen so much as a flurry yet. My mom told me they had flurries in Orlando not that long ago. That's just not right! I NEED some snow. We're getting all of our Christmas decorations out. I've decorated in the dining and living rooms already. I'll put up some pictures when we get our tree!

Elisabeth continues to improve her mobility skills. She's quite a fast crawler now. She's also doing a lot of pulling up and also coasting now. I think she'll be walking in the next month or so. Her vocabulary is expanding; it now includes: hi, bye, ba-ba (drink), cracker, wow, please (sounds more like meeiii?). It's been fun seeing her learn how to communicate with us.

>

My job is going well. Next week is my last class for the semester. It went by so fast. In January I'm going to begin teaching 3 days a week, 3 lecture classes. I'm really excited about the opportunity to be a more established and it was so nice to be asked to teach a lecture. I enjoyed doing the labs, but teaching the lecture portion of Weather and Climate was what I really wanted to do from the beginning. The person who taught it this semester is leaving, so they asked me if I would do it. I'm really looking forward to it!

Murphy seems to be doing better. She's on insulin now and the vet thinks we have finally regulated her dose. She's still really skinny but not losing any more weight right now.

I'm going to start teaching two women from my church how to quilt. I'm pretty excited about it. We're going to start with a potholder. I also went to a needlework night with another lady from church at a friend of her's house. That was fun too. They are all older than me, but that's ok. It's just nice to have some people that enjoy doing the same things that I do.

Elisabeth is currently standing at the storm door looking outside. I think she's looking for da-da who just left for work. Here is what that looks like...

Updates

2006-10-10T19:07:00.000-05:00

Here's a little update about what's going on in my world (in no particular order...if you can guess who I'm mocking here, then you get a gold star!).

Elisabeth crawls! Yes...she is now fully mobile, crawling room to room. She also has started trying to pull herself up (mostly unsuccessfully, but that's ok). She also has decided that she can pick up her own bottle and drink from it, instead of me having to stick it in her mouth and then put her hands on it. Yay!
Work is going well. I'm molding the minds of young non-scientists at the moment. I'm giving an exam tomorrow. It will be an interesting barometer of how they're doing. Currently I'm predicting a bimodal distribution in the grades (those who know, and those who don't). I've definitely be enjoying the teaching though and I've been asked to come back next semester.

Now it's Thursday and I hadn't finished what I was writing. Continuing on:

So I gave that exam. I haven't graded them yet, but it doesn't look that great from the brief review I did of their tests. Sigh. Is it really too much to ask them to know some simple facts like the on June 21 the sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Cancer which is 23 1/2 N? I know that they are not scientists, but this is stuff from 8th grade really. It's a little discouraging.
I'm making Elisabeth a Halloween costume. She's going to be a cheerleader from " the U". I'll post pics when it is done.
A new little baby arrived in the world on Tuesday: Hailey Grey. Her mommy is Jennifer, a friend of mine here in Mass. I'm going to see her at Thursday night dinner tonight and I can't wait!
It rained a lot last night and now there are leaves all over the ground. Rich is not too happy...he doesn't like cleaning them up. The trees here are all turning. Very lovely.
My Murphy-cat is not doing very well. She's gotten really skinny. The vet isn't quite sure what is wrong with her. He keeps saying "Very interesting case". I'm trying to get ready to say good-bye, but it will be very difficult. She's 14 and I can't remember not having her around.
I think I hate paper. You know, like mail, bills, random other papers. They collect all over my house and I put them in piles and then those piles get big. I really ought to file them, but that just never seems to happen. I hate filing. I hate paper. GAH!
I cleaned my kitchen this morning. I find that very satisfying these days. Never thought that would happen.
Found a great candle for $2 at Jo-Ann's the other day. It's called "Put the Lime in the Coconut". Yummy...currently burning in my dining room. I've got my Yankee candles in the kitchen. It reminds me of Jessica when she and Jack were here and we went to the Yankee candle factory store. That was a fun trip!
Deep thoughts: That plane crash yesterday that killed Cory Lidle, Yankees pitcher. Brought home to me again how tomorrow is not promised to us, and that every day is precious. Life is too short for all the stupid stuff that goes on...grudges and bitterness. It made me want to tell everyone that I love how I feel about them. I think I'll leave you with that thought. Tell someone today how much you love them!

Shall We Dance?

2006-09-18T17:04:00.000-05:00

Last week, was the season premiere of "Dancing with the Stars". I didn't even know about the show the first season (I think I was still not fully awake most of the time after Elisabeth's arrival). My mom convinced me to check out season 2, so last spring I watched...and yes, I will admit it here, became hooked. It was with great anticipation that I awaited the next installment of my new fav show. Last Tuesday didn't disappoint. Here are the celebrities for this season and my first impressions of them on the show.

Tucker Carlson : He was one I could say, oh, I know who he is. He's the guy who wears the bowtie on Crossfire on CNN (now is where you make jokes that I'm really a 70 year old lady who knits while watching political shows during the evening). His dancing was well, it reminded me of maybe a very large and ungainly St. Bernard trying to prancing down a street like a poodle. Very bad. He looked like he had a good time which was nice, but I was pretty sure he wasn't going to stick around long. And I was right. He was the first one gone.
Monique Coleman : Apparently she's a teen idol. Who knew? I thought she was pretty good; she had nice poise. The judges said there wasn't chemistry between her and her partner, Louis Van Amstel . I don't know, somehow I can't blame Monique if there isn't. He kind of creeps me out. He's just a little, off, somehow. Can't quite put my finger on it.
Sara Evans : Apparently she's a singing sensation. Yup...definitely out of the loop, I am. I thought she was much better than the judges scored her. I think her experience with performing live will be an asset to her this season. I think she'll be sticking around through the halfway point.
Willa Ford : She's a singing sensation too and the "self proclaimed bad girl of pop". Any of my better informed friends know about her? I think she will go very far this season. She's obviously talented and reminds me of Stacy Kiebler (female pro wrestler) from last season.
Vivica A. Fox : I most recently saw her in Alias as the designer of the security system for the compound in Chaminde. She was great. Very confident and relaxed. She's my sleeper pick to win.
Harry Hamlin : Or for those of you who did watch the show last year, Mr. Lisa Rinna. He was just ok. All I could think about while watching him was that he resembles the Green Goblin from the first Spiderman movie.
Joey Lawrence : Woah! Joey's got no hair! I think he stands a great shot at making it to the final. He's a little, intense, I guess, but I think he'll go far.
Mario Lopez : Yup, that's right, Slater's dancing! And he was fabulous. The best performance of the night in my opinion. He's my pick right now to win it all. I think that Latin mojo is going to be the secret to his success.
Shanna Moakler : She was the runner up for Miss USA back in the early 90's and then got to be Miss USA b/c the current Miss USA became Miss Universe. She was I think very nervous and so I don't think she did as well as she could have. I don't see her staying around to the end though.
Emmitt Smith : Another of my faves. He's a big dancing teddy bear. So much enthusiasm; you could tell he was having a ball. I think he'll go far...maybe even challenge for the championship.
Jerry Springer : Oh my. Well, at least he didn't bring any of his men wanting to be women who want to be men on the show with him. He was just ok. He's well, a little older and unfortunately for him, won't be able to keep up with the younger and more fit dudes. I don't think he'll last for more than a couple weeks. If he makes it past next week, it's totally because there are crazy people voting for him (like with Master P last season)

So that's my assessment so far of the show. Tom Bergeron and Katie Holmes, oops, Samantha Harris do a pretty decent job with the hosting. Katie, I mean Samantha, is a little annoying at times however. Maybe it's the dumb questions they make her ask or the completely fabricated enthusiasm. Who knows. I guess it could be worse though.

Incidently, I bought the movie "Shall We Dance" with Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, and Jennifer Lopez today. I love that movie...completely different than what I thought it was going to be like and quite lovely at the end (makes me tear up every time).

Signs of Fall

2006-09-02T19:30:00.000-05:00

You know fall is coming when:

1. You're outside at 4:30 and think, "The light is changing" (look here to see what I mean).
2. School buses, everywhere!
3. You get excited because you can switch from the summer purse to the new fall one!
4. There are stupid drivers suddenly all over Fitchburg: Fitchburg State classes begin next week.
5. Pumpkin Spice Lattes
6. You sign a pre-buy contract with your heating oil company to lock in a lower rate.
7. There is no need to run the AC at night (at least here in Mass.), but the heat hasn't come on yet.
8. You think it's a little cool out and put on a jacket.
9. Ice cream stands begin to close for the season.
10. Fresh apples appear in the grocery store.
11. You have to start buying long sleeve PJ's for your baby.
12. Hurricanes Football !!!
13. Dolphins Football !!!
14. Pennant fever (except not here in Boston this year)
15. The leaves are changing on a tree on your street.
16. You're with your husband at Home Depot pricing snowblowers.
17. The air smells really crisp and clean.
18. Gardens all around have mums growing in them.

I tried to come up with 20, but I failed...if anyone thinks of more, add them in the comments section and I'll stick them on the list (with credits of course!)

Elisabeth's Birthday Party

2006-08-22T19:46:00.000-05:00

Here are the long awaited photos from Elisabeth's birthday party. There is also a movie of Elisabeth eating her cake. Enjoy!

Are you trying to tell me something?

2006-07-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I came downstairs after putting Elisabeth down for her nap and sat on the couch. We have a Tivo so sometimes if I leave the room and come back in a bit the channel will have changed to record something the Tivo thinks I would enjoy (which is rarely the case). So yesterday after returning to the living room, I noticed the Tivo had changed the channel on me. What did it change it to? Fit-TV. Yup...apparently my Tivo thinks I need to lose some weight or exercise or something. I think taking care of a 20 lb baby gives me all the exercise I need thank you very much. I think my arms are actually getting quite buff from all the lifting and carrying of my no longer small bundle of joy! Tivo should know that it could seriously wreck a mommy's day to remind her that she may never regain the form she once had before embarking on the incredible journey of motherhood. I feel for the most part I've made my peace with my current body shape, but some days are better than others.

In related news, last year I decided that I would no longer wear shorts since I think they aren't all that comfortable and they don't look all the great on me. So I've been trying to fill the gap with other clothing items, such as skirts. Today I went to Old Navy because I had one of those "Stuff and Save" bags so I figured I should go and see what there was. I found some cute skirts that I'd been loving but thought didn't look that good on me before. I tried them on again (in a different size) and they looked SO much better! Yay! So now I have 3 new skirts and a new shirt too. And I saved 20%! A good day.

TGIF

2006-07-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

Yes...I know it's not Friday. But today while on my way to Target, I saw something wonderful. A few weeks ago, while driving to the above mentioned store, I saw that a new restaurant was going in. I strained to see the sign, only to be dismayed when I read, "Olive Garden...Coming Soon." I was quite disappointed. See, around these parts, there aren't too many options for food unless you drive at least 30 minutes. In the local area (the twin cities of Fitchburg/Leominster) you can find the following: Applebee's (big thumbs down), Longhorn Steakhouse, Outback, Uno's Chicago Grill, and Chili's (which is new...in the Target plaza). Not so many options for dining when you're not in the mood to brave an unknown local eatery. Back to today, as I was heading into the Target plaza, a beautiful sight caught my eye. It was a sign saying "TGI Friday's...Coming Fall 2006." Let me tell you, it doesn't take much to get me excited these days and this about had me jumping out of my seat. You may think I need to get out more, but seriously, this made my day. I LOVE TGI Friday's (probably b/c it reminds me of college). I've eaten there once since moving here because the closest one is in Framingham by Rich's work. Yup...that's the news of the day...probably the news of the week!

It's shoe shopping good

2006-07-14T11:02:00.000-05:00

Well...maybe not that good (because getting a beautiful new pair of shoes is awesome), but I have begun a new love affair (don't worry hubby...I still of course love you best) with Yoplait. Growing up I never liked yogurt. I avoided it like the plague. Not only did it taste gross, the thought of eating live cultures really made me gag. I'm not sure exactly what changed. A couple of years ago on a visit with Karyn I decided to be brave and try some of her Yoplait yogurt. To my suprise it was not gross. A few weeks ago I was in the store and was looking for stuff to snack on or to supplement my frozen lunches (yes...I am sad...popping one of those Lean Cuisine/Smart Ones/Healthy Choice into the microwave is just SO much easier than attempting to actually cook anything with a little one). I was perusing the dairy aisle and wandered into the yogurt section. So I ended up coming home with 3 varieties of Yoplait. And they were good except I didn't like the custard style one very much. So now I'm a yogurt eating machine. Soon Elisabeth will be able to join me in yogurt eating, once she turns one. My absolute favorite yogurt is the Yoplait Whips Key Lime Pie. Mmmm...

I saw on the news yesterday an interview with someone from the Simplified Spelling Society whose aim it is to make English spelling easier. For instance, "people" would become "peepel" and "great" would become "grate". All I can say is Webster will be rolling in his grave if these people have their way with things. I understand that English can be a difficult language to master because of the irregularities in spelling, however, to me it's another attempt to dumb down our standards. Check out this example of one possible way to simplify our spelling. Hmm...looks a lot like another language eh?

I think we have a gymnast on our hands

2006-07-06T09:42:00.000-05:00

First some news: I have a new job! Last week I interviewed at Salem State College for a part-time position in their Geography Department teaching Weather and Climate. I'm going to be teaching two sections of a Weather and Climate lab one day a week. I'm very excited about the opportunity. In case you're interested Salem is located on Boston's North Shore. It's about 60 miles from where I am. It is a little far, but since I'm going only once a week, it's manageable. The drive isn't bad and apparently rush hour goes the opposite way for most of my drive home. It really couldn't be much worse than taking over an hour to get from Miramar to Key Biscayne!

I had a great visit with Jessica and Jack a week ago. It was so nice to share some good time together, watching the babies play. I think they had a nice time with eachother although toy sharing became a bit of an issue! Who knew...I guess it just goes to show that the flesh is there from the beginning. We had a few fun outings such as going to the Yankee Candle Factory Store in South Deerfield, MA. It is the mecca for candle lovers. It's a huge store with more candles than you could dream of! It was a great trip and I got some nice votives to burn this summer. Jessica and I also got to go to Barnes and Noble by ourselves on the last night she was here. Rich played baby-sitter and we went and had cheesecake and coffee and wandered the store. It was so nice. I miss her so much...it was hard to say goodbye. Sigh...

Elisabeth is doing well. She is 10 months old now. I'm starting to seriously plan her birthday party...and it's hard to believe she will be a year old. She has learned to wave and she has said her first word. She waves and says "Hi". If you say "Hi" to her, she'll usually wave and say it back. It's so cute. She's doing a little better with the whole shrieking monster thing, which is a relief. I seriously thought I was going to lose it when that was going on. She's still not really thrilled if she can't see me, but it's better than it was. We borrowed a doorway jumper from a friend of ours. The first time she didn't know what to do, but by the third time she got in there, she figured it out and now she bounces with glee.

Check out this video of Elisabeth bouncing away!

The severe thunderstorms that weren't

2006-06-19T21:01:00.000-05:00

I was all excited today because there was a good chance of some thunderstorm action late afternoon or evening. I spent the day in anticipation of the event for a few reasons. One, because I do love a good thunderstorm. It is one thing I miss about south Florida. And two, it is so stinking hot here that I figured a really good thunderstorm would go a long way to cooling things off a bit. Around 6:30, the radar was lit up with a line of nice looking storms stretching from New Hampshire southwest back into western Mass. And they were moving towards me! The skies got very, very dark. I turned off the computer and waited. And I waited. Went downstairs did a little work in the basement and waited. Came back upstairs around 7:30 to...nothing? Where did my thunderstorms go??? Turned back on the computer and checked out the radar. Oh my poor thunderstorms....I guess it wasn't as juicy and unstable as I thought here in Fitchburg because they literally died into puny little showers as they approached. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day...and a cold front is approaching!

On the baby front: Elisabeth has suddenly turned into a shrieking monster...and not in a good way. I'm not sure if it's separation anxiety or what. The past week whenever I leave the room she totally loses it. She cries like someone is amputating her limbs or something equally as dreadful. For a while she was very good about me leaving the room for short periods of time. I would always leave her with something to do (toys, exersaucer) and she would be perfectly happy. Now it's worse than it ever was before. It's starting to get very exhausting. The past two days she's cried so hard that she's thrown up, which she really hadn't done with me for the past few months. Today it was particularly disgusting...I'll spare you the gory details but let's just say it occurred only 10 minutes after she ate apples and chicken for dinner. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow when she goes for her weekly play day at Jani's house, and she is spending the night to give me some time to get stuff ready for Jessica and Jack's arrival. I guess I can be thankful that she is still sleeping through the night and went down for bed tonight with no problems.

I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow at a new place. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully better than the last place I went to around here. That haircut was terrible. Nice stylist but awful haircut. I shudder thinking about it. Here's to hoping I don't come home with scary hair!

Oh the humidity!

2006-06-01T07:35:00.000-05:00

It is quite humid outside today; the dewpoint has crept up to 62. That's definitely getting into the "juicy" range. The forecast today is for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon with locally heavy rain. I love thunderstorms so I hope we get a good one. That's something that I miss from S. Florida.

This weekend it was so hot that we put an air conditioner in Elisabeth's room. It was the one from our room last year so now we have to go buy one for our room. She couldn't nap upstairs during the day until we put the AC in because it gets hot hot hot in the afternoon up there. So now she snoozes comfortably. It hasn't gotten too bad in the rest of the house yet in the afternoons. It's already 74 according to the thermostat in the dining room though so we'll see. Unfortunately the basement room is still under construction. Rich has been trying to plant a garden and keep our crazy lawn under control so that's taken up a chunk of his time. Then there was a minor disaster involving oil leaking from our furnace and getting into the carpet in the basement room. That piece of carpet has been ripped out, the furnace has been fixed, but unfortunately it still smells of heating oil down there. Hopefully some more time and some more of the stuff that's used to absorb the odor will help.

I just finished reading a very interesting book. It's called Reading Lolita in Tehran . It's a memoir of a female literature professor focusing on her experiences during the Islamic Revolution in Iran. I thought it was very well written and I would recommend reading it if you get a chance.

I have a little monkey here who is dying to say something.
5evbbbgnmmmmmmmmmmmmmimbbjkn r c vv cnnvn jkv vccccgnno

I'm not sure of the translation. Maybe Jack, James Mark, or Georgia could translate for us.

Speaking of Jack, only 3 weeks until he and Jessica come to visit!!!

Borg Nation

2006-05-24T16:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday it became evident to me that I have assimilated into the culture of New England. I was talking to Karyn on the phone as I was driving to pick up Elisabeth from Jani's house. I don't exactly remember what we were talking about. What I do remember is using the word "wicked". Up here, the word "wicked" is commonly used as an adjective meaning "really" or "very". It isn't strange to hear someone up here say something like, "I had to wear three hats today because it was wicked cold out", or "Do you have some Advil because I have a wicked bad headache." Whenever I heard someone use the word "wicked" like this since I've been up here, I would laugh to myself because it was just so weird to hear the word used like that. Well...yesterday, I used the word in casual conversation. It just happened. Almost as soon as I said it, I asked Karyn if she heard what I said. She said she did and thought it was pretty funny. We had a good laugh over it and decided that I've definitely been here long enough to absorb the culture. Although I have to say: I don't think they will assimilate me completely. I still love bright colors and will wear them in the dead of winter. I will paint my kitchen orange at some point. And yes, I would definitely consider having this in my yard (except I don't think my husband would go for it.

Trees have Roots, Venice has Canals

2006-05-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

Today I had both. Yup, today I was the lucky recipient of a root canal. This past Saturday evening, one of my teeth (bottom in the front) started to ache. It had happened before so I figured it would go away. Every time it had hurt in the past I recalled what a dentist told me about 2 years ago about this tooth: that it would need a root canal at some point. How did he know this? Apparently the fact that it was slightly darker than my other teeth indicated to him that the nerve was dying and that there could be an infection. I decided not to do anything at that point. I mean, why go through something that has such a bad rap if it's not hurting, right? Well, back to Saturday. It wasn't too bad so I took some nice 800 mg Ibuprofen (left over from having Elisabeth) and went to sleep. Sunday the tooth was throbbing more and I decided that I was going to have to go to the dentist on Monday. Fast forward to Sunday night: me rolling on the couch in agony clutching my face and wondering if it would be really terrible to take 3 800 mg Ibuprofens at once (I decided that over-dosing wouldn't help anything at this point, so I didn't). Rich called a dentist on Monday morning and I got an appointment for 2 pm. I went in and it was confirmed that I did indeed need a root canal and that I had an abscess. The dentist (who was very nice) prescribed me antibiotics which he said would make the pain lessen and we scheduled the root canal for Thursday.

So here we are on Thursday. My appointment was at 2 pm. I was really nervous because I'm not a fan of dentists (nothing personal, but anyone who's poking in my mouth causing me pain is not on my top 10 list) or dental procedures. The root canal wasn't really all that bad. If you're curious, check out the ADA's description of the procedure. Things started to get uncomfortable near the end because the anesthetic started wearing off and I started feeling stuff. That was less than enjoyable. But overall, I have to say: it wasn't worse than childbirth so I guess that's saying something. We'll see how I feel tonight. Apparently, the infection that's raging in my tooth may be resistant to penicillin so if it starts hurting and doesn't respond to Ibuprofen then I may have to go on a different antibiotic. Let's hope that doesn't happen because I'm all done with pain for a little while I think.

Oh...and on a side note, I'm just about able to feel my lip again.

Thursday Night Dinner

2006-05-04T10:03:00.000-05:00

Today is Thursday. Thursdays are always a good day. Thursdays mean "Thursday night dinner". What, you might ask, is Thursday night dinner? Every Thursday night, all different kinds of people descend on a wonderful home in Pepperell, MA to eat dinner. This is the home of Jani and Joey. It is a an over 300 year old house, with wood floors and original fireplaces and all other manner of history. Jani has known Rich since before he was born! Jani and Rich's mom are very good friends and Rich and his brother practically grew up with Jani's kids. Some of Jani's kids still live nearby and they have their own families now. Actually, her two daughters (Jenn and Julie) who live nearby are neighbors of sorts since they both live in Fitchburg. Another family also comes to have dinner who lives on the street behind Jani's house. They're for all intents and purposes part of the family too. And sometimes other people come too! So Jani cooks yummy food and we all sit down together at a very long table and eat. I think we've had 20 people sitting at that table before! I love going because I feel like even though we're far away from immediate family, we have been adopted into this one. It's nice to feel like we belong. Elisabeth has a good time watching the other kids and in the not too distant future she'll be running right beside them. There's also lots of conversation and there's always someone to laugh with you and someone to lean on when things are rough. So, today is Thursday and I'm happy because I get to go to Thursday night dinner!

Those Pictures I Promised

2006-05-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

I recovered the memory card to the camera so now I can put up those pictures I promised. But first, take note of a new blog that you'll see in my "Blogs I Read" Links section. A gold star to the first person (not Karyn because she already knows) who can guess who's blog this is. Check it out here .

Now the pictures. Here is a fun sequence from Easter.

update (1:03 pm) Ugh...having technical difficulties...check back later for the pictures!

Update 2 (1:36 pm) Now that I'm tired of fighting with (and losing to) the blogger photo upload tool, please note the addition in the sidebar of a link to see my photos on Flickr. You can see pictures here from Easter as well as our recent weekend getaway to the Berkshires. :)

I'm still here

2006-04-27T07:37:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile since my last post. What's new here? Let's start on the Elisabeth front. She's sleeping through the night and taking two naps a day in her crib. That's been a wonderful, wonderful thing. She's been going to bed around 7 and waking up around 7-7:30. It's so nice to have that evening time with Rich again. She's been doing well with eating. She now eats three meals a day! She's also started to gum down Cheerios. I gave her a whole one for the first time yesterday and she ate it just fine.

On the job front...I've been facilitating an online course through Boston University's Distance Education program. The class is 7 weeks and this is the last week. It's been a good experience overall. My students were very enthusiastic and I enjoyed interacting with them. I've been asked if I would facilitate another course in the future so it looks like I'll have a little steady work. I've also been looking in to teaching a course or two at a local college. Nothing yet, but I'm working on my research and some letters of interest.

On the weather front...We had a few daysa last week that were absolutely beautiful. And then it was rainy and cold all weekend. Today should be a nice day...highs in the low 60's.

I was going to share some pictures but the memory card isn't in the camera. My darling hubby probably has it...I hope. Speaking of Rich, he's going to China again in a week. It's not as long as last time, so it should be a little easier. Plus last time Elisabeth wasn't sleeping through the night and now she is!

Happy to Be Here in the Nation's Capitol

2006-03-30T09:18:00.000-05:00

So far we've had a lovely time here in the greater DC metro area. Yesterday we went down to the Tidal Basin to have a picnic and see the cherry blossoms. We were down that way just under a week ago and there weren't many blossoms out. What a difference this time!

Pretty huh? We had a very nice picnic. Karyn and I ate some sandwiches. Elisabeth ate cereal and pears. She's really been enjoying being outside. She hasn't been able to do that much since she was born!

While Karyn was taking the above picture, this lady was also stopping to take some photos of the cherry trees. She saw Elisabeth sitting there and said, "Oh she's a blossom! Can I take her picture?". It was so funny. So now Elisabeth is on some strange lady's camera and when she shows the pictures to who ever, Elisabeth is the "random cute baby" in Washington DC!

Here's all three of us (picture taken by a nice lady with an 8 month old baby; Karyn took a picture for her and she returned the favor).

It was a little bit of an ordeal to get to the tidal basin on the metro. For an in-depth report on this, please visit Auntie Karyn's blog.

So it's been a fun time so far. Tonight I get to be a part of Karyn's small group. That will be fun. And tomorrow we're going to the zoo. And it's going to be 75! I'm off to Old Navy to buy a tank top!!!

On the Road Again

2006-03-22T10:31:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we are going on a road trip! That's right. Elisabeth's first car ride longer than 2 hours! We (Rich included) are driving down to Washington DC (Alexandria, VA to be specific) to see Auntie Karyn! I'm so excited. Rich is going to China on Saturday so at least he gets to spend a little time with us down there. I'm not sure what all the plans are, but I have plans to take Elisabeth to the zoo one day.

The National Zoo is awesome (and it's free...even more awesome!). I went there once when I was in 8th grade and my mom, brother and I went to DC to visit my dad who was doing some kind of Navy school thing there. I remember two things in particular about the zoo, exceptthey're not really about the zoo. They're about the metro station where you get off to get to the zoo. That metro station had the longest escalator I had ever seen. I was really nervous to get on it. About halfway up it, I made the mistake of looking down. In case you didn't know, heights give me the heebie-jeebies. The rest of the way up, I'm leaning as far forward as I can and giving the rails the grip of death. Karyn might remember I had similar issues when I came to see her last time in DC. This time however, no escalators for me. I'm a member of the elevator brigade now, because of Elisabeth's wheels. The other thing I remember about the zoo trip: my brother bore a striking resemblence at that time to Macauley Culkin in Home Alone. So we're in the metro station and he's dressed in a coat with a scarf around his neck. We're waiting for the metro to get there and this nice little Asian lady starts staring at us. She walks over to us and says, "Home Alone! Home Alone" and laughs. It was so funny, not to mention random. So yes, these are the highlights from the time I went to the zoo 14 years ago. I don't remember the animals at all so it will be a treat for me. I'm hoping they have this one animal that I like in particular except I can't remember it's name. It's kind of a rodenty-antelopey thing (not a capybara...I thought that was it, but it's not). I think there's one at the Miami MetroZoo. I'll know it when I see it...hopefully there's one at the National Zoo. Plus I know there are flamingos and pandas, so if nothing else I will see those and be happy. Yes...I actually think I'm taking myself to the zoo and Elisabeth is just coming along for the ride!

It will also be nice to spend time with Karyn. I think we are even going to go out one night as "adults" because one of her friends offered to babysit Elisabeth. Woohoo!! Momma's gonna cut loose in DC...watch out! You see the things that make me excited these days. A night out on the town is something that doesn't happen too often these days. Not that I would trade Elisabeth for nights out on the town, but it's nice to get a night off every now and then.

What a big girl!

2006-03-03T15:47:00.000-05:00

Elisabeth turned 6 months old just about a week ago (I like to say she is "0.5"). That same day was the 1 year anniversary of us owning our first house. So how do I feel having lived here a year? Overall: very good. The good things about life here totally make up for the things that have been harder to deal with. I feel like I'm getting know some people a little better. I've totally struck out finding a mommy group, but there are several people I know with young kids (and one with a baby due in April) so I'm going to really make an effort to get to know them all better and do stuff with them. I like our church and we're excited to start getting involved there. The weather has been good (that's meteorologically good...not necessarily the most comfortable) for the most part. The only time I'm really not happy with it is when it gets below 15. That is just TOO cold. But 20 is not that big a deal to me. It hasn't snowed as much as I would like, but now that it's March, I think I'm ready for spring to get here. I would love to go outside more. There's a great park ( Coggshall Park ) just 5 minutes from here. There's a big lake with a walking path as well as a nice playground for when Elisabeth gets a little older. So, yes, life is going very well.

Elisabeth is growing like a weed. I can't believe what a big girl she's getting to be. She's making some strides with eating. Her first official meal (non-cereal) was green beans. Today she ate some apples which were soundly rejected the first 2 times. She is sitting up now and babbles at me. She's said "Da-da" which Rich thought was great, even though we both knew she really didn't know what she was saying. But it was cute. Here are some newer pictures. Enjoy!

Look at those chunky legs!

So Happy!

I love to play...especially with my cell phone!

Are you taking my picture again??

Boo!

Ahhhh....home

2006-02-20T19:01:00.000-05:00

My trip to Florida ended yesterday and Elisabeth and I got home late last night. It was a good time overall. I saw my parents and my mother-in-law and then spent a week at Jessica's house. It was so nice to be there with her and Jack. Unfortunately, she was sick and then I got sick AGAIN (I was SO not happy about that...I mean, come on...haven't I paid my dues already this year??). Then Jack started acting a little sick. But despite all of that, we did have a nice time. It was encouraging to spend time with another mommy and baby. It really inspired me to try harder to find a mommy group of some type around this area. We did a few fun things. We went to Sawgrass Mills (made it through Ann Taylor and then Jack got hungry but we got what we came for so that was ok). We also went to Pinecrest Gardens which is a nice park in Miami. It apparently was much shadier before all the hurricanes went through. It was pretty obvious that lots of trees were knocked down, since a bunch of them were still just laying around. One really cool thing there though is a Splash and Play for kids. Elisabeth and Jack were just a little too little for it this time, but I think they will love it when they get older. I was tempted to take a run through there. I was SO hot...I guess I've really acclimated to the Northeast. So all in all, it was a great trip and I'm looking forward to when Jessica and Jack come visit in June!

On a personal note, I have a job! Around Thanksgiving, my mom met someone who works with the Distance Education program at Boston University at a conference. They ended up talking and my mom mentioned that before Elisabeth came I was a meteorologist and taught community college. The person asked my mom if I would be interested in facilitating a course online that was going to include some meteorology components. So sent in my cv and didn't hear anything. I had pretty much forgotten about it until I was at my parent's house and I got an email asking if I was still interested. So I spoke with the professor who developed the course and I was hired to be a facilitator. Basically I will be responsible for one section of students in the course; I am a resource for them, if they have questions or problems. There are weekly discussions that I monitor and can participate in as well and I also am in charge of the grading. I get to do all of this from home, even my training! It's really the perfect opportunity for me to stay home with my lovey girl and be involved in my field. The course covers geology, hydrology, and meteorology and the students are all adult learners in the Executive BA program. Things start in the middle of March. I can also travel...as long as I have internet access 6 days a week. I can't wait for it to start.

To the land of palms

2006-02-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

Elisabeth and I are flying to Florida today. We'll be spending a couple days with my parents, a day with Rich's mom and then a week with Jessica, Andrew and Jack!!! I'm so excited. In other happy news, I got a good night's sleep last night. I got a new cough syrup called Delsym. It's a little weird, but it worked great compared with everything else I tried. So with that plus the antibiotics I'm on, I should be on the road to wellness...finally!!! I hope I get to watch Lost tonight...I was so mad last week when it was a repeat. That should be illegal.

Got to go...my airport ride is here!

2 am

2006-02-06T02:03:00.000-05:00

It's 2 am... I can't sleep. Stupid cough...stupid cough! I am going to the doctor tomorrow. This is getting ridiculous. So sad :( .

Poor Seahawks. I'm sad they didn't win. I guess it's nice for Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis to get Superbowl rings though. Some great players never do, like Dan Marino.

We had our first party here at the house for the game. It was pretty fun...good food!

I think I'll try to try and sleep again now. This is going to be a long night.

Sick...and tired

2006-02-01T11:06:00.000-05:00

Ugh...I'm so sick and tired of being sick. I haven't slept good in a week. I actually don't feel too bad during the day but soon as it gets to be about 10 pm, I start coughing. And then I cough all night long. Makes it difficult to sleep for any appreciable length of time. I've tried taking Nyquil, cause that usually knocks me out, but it doesn't help. I'm about at the end of my rope here. I guess I could (gasp) go to the doctor. But that's SO not like me to do that. I avoid the doctor like the plague. It was really weird while I was pregnant to go there so often b/c I had avoided it as much as I could. But now...I need to sleep...I might just break down and go. I'm afraid though that they'll say there is nothing they can do for me. Now that would really stink...to pay my co-pay for them to tell me that there is nothing that can help me but some rest.

Carnage of the Penguins

2006-01-26T10:03:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night, we watched March of the Penguins. I had been very much looking forward to seeing it. It was not quite what I thought it was going to be however. I was expecting, well, a more upbeat, warm and fuzzy look at the lives of these penguins. In the first part of the movie, the penguins begin to march to the breeding grounds which can be 70 miles away. Morgan Freeman (who did do a nice job as narrator) intoned, "Some of these penguins will not make it to the grounds." I thought...oh that's kind of sad. This was only the beginning. Then the penguins find their mates which was nice and make an egg. Then the females need to go eat something because they used all their food stores to make the egg so they must transfer the eggs to the male penguins. Cue penguin eggs rolling around touching the frozen tundra, Morgan Freeman saying, "Some of these eggs won't make it as the transfer from mom to dad goes wrong." That was sad too. And so then the mommies go get food where one is promptly eaten by a leopard seal. The daddies are with the chicks who have hatched and are very hungry. Some of the chicks then freeze to death because it is Antarctica after all. It was after that scene where there was a cute little fuzzy penguin chick all frozen up that I turned to Rich and said, "Penguin carnage". And I said it a few more times too (male penguins going back to the sea to get food and some won't make it; chicks being attacked by sea gulls etc)! So, it wasn't quite what I was expecting to say the least. It was a well done documentary though I guess. I've never really been one for those National Geographic "Animals in the Wild" shows. It's just a little too real for me. The thought then occurred to me that while that little penguin was freezing to death, the film-makers were right there watching! Of course they couldn't do anything and it's completely natuaral...I'm aware of that. But I wouldn't have been able to just watch. I would have made a terrible animal scientist. I'm just not objective enough that way. Sure weather can cause great devastation, but meteorologists can at least try to help people (and some animals) get out of harm's way. It's kind of like the whole eating meat thing. I like meat. Burgers...steak...chicken...yummy! But I don't want to see the animal from which my meal is going to come from. That's just too close to me. I could SO be a vegetarian, except I like meat too much. I just have to keep it separate in my head!

I've been sick since last Friday but I think I'm finally on the upswing. Rich had to stay home from work yesterday because I was just toast. It's rough being sick and trying to take care of a baby. Things that normally wouldn't be so frustrating become extremely annoying. When I'm so tired and feeling so yucky, it's hard to deal with a fussy little gal. But we've made it through ok. God's grace is sufficient for me...and He's given me what I needed to get through this bump on the road. Elisabeth was 5 months old yesterday. Hard to believe. Next month will be her half birthday and the 1 year anniversary of us moving up here. Hard to believe it's been a year since we've been here. I keep thinking that we've only just moved up here. Sigh... I'm glad to be here most of the time, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like if we had stayed in South Florida. The hardest thing has been missing people that I love. It's not often that kindred spirits find each other and those are the best friendships! Unfortunately, it's been difficult making friends up here. Since I'm not working, I don't get out much to meet people. I tried looking for a Mommy and Me class but there don't seem to be any around here. I'm attempting to get involved with a weather observatory up here so perhaps I will meet some people there. I just need to be more patient I guess!

And on a final note. Big BOO to Netflix. I was all ready to pop in Alias Season 2, Disc 2 on Tuesday. I did in fact pop it in, and my DVD player said "cannot read disc". So I took it out and it is cracked! So I was upset because I wanted to watch it RIGHT THEN. Well...I reported the disc as damaged and a new one was to be sent out the next day. They also got another movie that I returned. So then I get an email saying that Disc 3 will be here Thursday and Disc 2 will be here on Saturday. Um...excuse me...but I can't WATCH disc 3 until I watch disc 2. How annoying is that!

LOST

2006-01-18T22:43:00.000-05:00

Today is Wednesday. That means one thing to me these days: Lost is on at 9/8 central. It's been awhile since I've been hooked on a TV show, other than reality shows (I was sucked into Survivor the first summer it was on and never looked back). I think the last show that I looked forward to this much was X-Files. So it's kind of nice to have a show that has more questions than answers and leaves you each week going "Wait...that's IT??? How can they end it like THAT???." It's also nice because several of the people at the Thursday night dinner we attend also watch, so we always have something to talk about. It usually goes something like this..."Did you watch last night?" with the return of "Of COURSE....what did you think about (subject here).". Really....I haven't had this much fun with TV since 22G. I also realize that I truly love Alias. I've been watching on Netflix as I might have mentioned before. I'm sad that I'm like 5 years behind. I just finished the Season 2 Disc 1 DVD today. Questions...I have questions. I have to move the next disc up in my queue. I think I'm addicted.

It was very rainy and windy here today. I'm a little miffed because I want it to snow some more. I'm hopeful though for a wintry event next Monday-ish. In some spots the wind gusted to 81 mph, but not at my house. Just a lot of rain and some good breezes.

Hmmm...nothing else on my mind right now. Only 10 minutes to 11 pm then I turn into a pumpkin, a very sleepy pumpkin. That reminds me of a news program...it's 11 pm...do you know where your children are? Yes I do....she's SLEEPING!!!! (Let's hope that it lasts till at least 6 am!).

Elisabeth Encounters Food

2006-01-14T16:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we decided to try solid food on Elisabeth for the first time. We mixed up 1 Tablespoon of rice cereal as directed on the box for "baby's first feeding". Then we attempted the feeding. Here is a pictoral essay on how it went.

First taste....

Ewww...what are you doing to me?

This is SO weird.

Well, we abandoned the effort last night and today decided to try again. Here is another pictoral essay on today's attempt.

Here we go again...

I don't think I like it!

Wait...it's good! I love it!

She ate the whole bowl...all 1 Tablespoon :). We're entering a whole new world. I had to wipe her hands off because she kept sticking them in her mouth with the food. She didn't end up wearing as much as I thought she would though. Tomorrow...on to 2 Tablespoons!!

So sleepy

2006-01-10T08:18:00.000-05:00

I guess goodnight's sleep doesn't come in threes. Elisabeth didn't think she needed to sleep last night. I don't know how she's not dead tired because I sure am. It's going to be a long day. Bring on the caffeine.

I Luv Gerber

2006-01-09T18:10:00.000-05:00

Do you know why I love Gerber? Well...I will tell you why. Elisabeth cannot keep a pacifier in her mouth. She does something with it to flick it out of her mouth. The problem is that she loves her pacifier....needs her pacifier...can't sleep without the pacifier. It has been a long 4 months in the sleeping department for us, since one of us had to hold in the pacifier for her to fall asleep initially and then at various times in the night when she would wake up. Well...at her 4 month checkup I mentioned this to the nurse practitioner. She said that it didn't mean there was anything wrong with her (I didn't think that was the case anyway) and that some babies can't keep a pacifier in. Then she said that in the hospitals and NICU's they use pacifiers shaped more like the nipple on a bottle but that they don't really sell them out in retail. The next day (on our outing to the fabric store) we stopped by Target so that I could get a crib soother for her (more on this in a second). I decided to take a look at the pacifier selection just to see if there was a different shape that I could try for her. We'd tried the symmetrical bulb type as well as the orthodontic type with no success. Lo and behold what did I see as I was perusing but a pacifier that looked just like a bottle nipple. I decided for $3 it was worth it to see if it would work. I really wasn't expecting much....I didn't want to get my hopes up. But as soon as I put it in her mouth (after sterilizing of course :) ) and then let go, she just kept sucking on it. It was SO amazing...in fact, I'm still amazed. I'm looking at her right now...pacifier in mouth. Amazing. So, this plus the Flutterbye Dreams crib soother (plays music, has little birdies that move around plus a ceiling light show) has equaled good night's sleep for us the past 2 nights. Last night she slept from 9:30 pm to 6:15 am in her crib in her own room. That is awesome. So thank you Gerber, you're the best!

No place like home!

2006-01-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone. We got back from our Florida trip on Wednesday night. It was a great trip, but I was so happy to finally come home again. I think Elisabeth was happy to come home too. We walked into the house and she looked around and cracked a big smile. It was so funny! She had her 4 month appointment yesterday. She now weighs 15 lb 13 oz, exactly 10 lb more than when she was born. The next big thing is that now we can start introducing her to solids. The first solid recommended to us is a single grain cereal, usually a rice cereal. I think we're going to get some this weekend and see what she thinks of it. Next month we can try veggies! She is so talkative now; I love hearing all the shrieks, gurgles, and coos that she's making now.

We are going on an outing today, all the way to Nashua, NH to go to Jo-ann's. Hopefully she'll get a good nap in during the car ride!

It snowed a few inches while we were gone and then snowed a little yesterday. It ended up only being maybe an inch or two but it was so pretty while it was falling. I love opening my curtains and watching the snow fall while burning candles in my living room. It's so snuggly! It would be even nicer to have a fire going, but I have yet to attempt a solo fire build. I intellectually understand how to do it, but there's something about it that I just can't get past. I just don't want to be the one to burn down the house I guess!

Oh and one more thing, thank you Longhorns. You made my night the other day...it was worth staying up to see.

Over the river and through the woods

2005-12-20T12:18:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we embark on our Christmas journey to Florida. Elisabeth is almost 4 months old (will be on Christmas Day), which should make our plane trip unlike any other I've been on. I do hope that she's good or at least as good as she can be. I used to see people with young kids and think, "Oh, I hope I'm not sitting near them". So terrible of me...and now, we're going to be "those people" with the hopefully not screaming baby. We are going to be spending time at Rich's mom's house in Stuart, and spending actual Christmas day there. Then we are traveling down to West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami to see various friends. I'm especially excited to meet one person in particular...a little guy named Jack! Next it's back up the coast to Melbourne Beach to see my grandmother and extended family. Finally we trek north to Jacksonville for some time at my parent's house. Phew...good thing we have 2 weeks to accomplish this in!

Elisabeth update: She is growing so much! And smiling so much. Now I can smile at her and she will give me one back. If I kiss her belly, she laughs. It's the best sound ever. She's also getting to the point where she wants my attention all the time. If I look away (while typing this for instance) she immediately begins to fuss whine. Soon as I look back, smiles. What a hambone. We think she may be beginning to teeth as well. So many changes.

Now I have to go finish the laundry, clean the bathroom and start figuring out how in the world we're going to pack all of our stuff. I have a hard enough time not taking everything with me for me...it's going to be interesting figuring out what to take for her!

Even the NWS guys are excited

2005-12-09T14:11:00.000-05:00

The latest forecast discussion out of our NWS office!

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
158 PM EST FRI DEC 9 2005

...BOMOGENESIS OCCURRING IN RI SND ALNG WITH THUNDER SNOW IN
BLOSSOMING COMMA HEAD...

.SHORT TERM (REST OF TONIGHT)...
WILD WINTER WEATHER HERE IN SNE...WITH SFC LOW UNDERGOING BOMOGENESIS
IN RI SND AT 130 PM. SFC LOW WL MV QUICKLY E WITH LATEST ANALYSIS
INDICATING 17 MB PRES DROP IN PAST 3 HRS CENTERED OVR ACK SND!
SIGNIFICANT WND SHIFT BEHIND THIS LOW WITH WNDS GUSTING TO 55 MPH ACRS
ERN LI AND INTO CSTL RI. IN ADDITION BUOY S OF LI GUSTING TO 58 KTS!
THUS...HV EXPANDED WND ADV EWD INTO EAST COASTAL MA...INCLUDING
BOSTON...CAPE ANN AND PYM COUNTY. STGST WNDS RI CST...INCLUDING BID
AND EWD ACRS S.CST OF MA.

IN ADDITION...VIGOROUS COMMA HEAD DEVELOPING OVR ERN CT/RI AND ERN MA IN
RESPONSE TO SIGNIFICANT HEIGHT FALLS WITH UPPER LOW. GOOD CSI BANDING
HAS MATERIALIZED WITH SVRL RPTS OF THUNDER SNOW ACRS THIS AREA.
THIS CONVECTIVE BAND WL YIELD A QUICK 3-5 INCHES OF SNFL IN NE CT/NW
RI AND E OF ORH IN MA...INCLUDING HILLSBORO CNTY. FARTHER SE INTO I95
CORRIDOR...MIXED PRECIP WL CHANGE TO SN WITH AN ADDITIONAL 2-4 INCHES
OF ACCUMULATIONS BEFORE BACK EDGE OF PRECIP MVS OFSHR. STRONG WINDS
WILL COMBINE WITH A CHANGEOVER OF SN TO YIELD NEAR WHITE OUT
CONDITIONS FROM NOW (2 PM) TIL 4-5 PM IN THE PVD-BOS CORRIDOR AND
LKLY TIL 6-7PM SE OF I95. WOW...WHAT A STORM!

NOCERA

Oh the weather outside is frighful!

2005-12-09T12:44:00.000-05:00

But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no where to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

It doesn't show signs of stopping....

***Quick update at 1:22 pm: Oh. My. Goodness. It is CRAZY outside. I think that heavy band is coming through now. I can almost not see across the street at times. And the wind has picked up too. This reminds me of that Laura Ingalls Wilder book "The Long Winter"! Here is a picture from out there now. Compare to the picture below of my car to see the difference!

Ok...you get the idea I think! It is really coming down out there now. Latest obs out of KFIT (the Fitchburg airport, which is actually in Leominster) show heavy snow with visibilities down to 1/4 mile. I've of course been watching the snow all morning. We woke up around 7 and there were probably 2-3 inches on the ground already. Since then we've added at least 6 more. There is a heavy band that looks like it is going to come through this afternoon, so I wouldn't be suprised to see a foot or maybe a little more. I think my car must be very cold! The last picture is from gingerbread house day at Jani's house last Saturday. My first gingerbread house ever. I have great plans for next year's house....pink jellybeans everywhere!

Five Years!

2005-12-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

Five years ago today, my husband and I exchanged our wedding vows. I can truly say I love him more today than ever and I am so happy that we found each other. Although the past few months have been a lot different with having Elisabeth around, it doesn't change the way I feel when I hear the screen door open in the evening and a voice call out, "I'm home!". It is my favorite time of day for sure. Today it will be even sweeter because he's been out of town since o'dark thirty (translation: really, really early) on Monday morning. I can't wait till I hear the door open tonight.

Another milestone has been reached also; Elisabeth was 3 months old on the day after Thanksgiving. She has been so interesting the past few days. I can't wait till her daddy sees what she's been up to since he's been gone. It's hard to believe so much could change in a short time. I think she is getting her binocular vision now, which means she can see toys and try to play! It is so much fun watching her face. Speaking of faces...here are some of her most recent ones, taken by Grandpa.

Gobble Gobble

2005-11-21T11:19:00.000-05:00

Weather report: Today could be fall's last gasp around these parts for awhile. It looks like it will be close to 60 today. Tonight the fun gets going as low pressure moves up the East Coast. Most of the precipitation should be rain tonight and into tomorrow, but we could end the storm with a little snow. And for Turkey Day, another system will be shooting east from the Great Lakes (a clipper type system) which would give the possibility for our first real snowfall of the year! Thursday's high is forecast to be 33, so I'm thinking a wet snow is not out of the question. We won't be here for Christmas, so a white Thanksgiving could be fun.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, my parents are flying in to Boston on Tuesday night!!! I am so excited to see them and for them to see Elisabeth. The last time they saw her in person, she was only a week old. They are even more excited than I am. Hopefully they won't be too cold; they will be coming from the upper 60's and arriving to probably the low 30's on Tuesday evening. This will also be the Pyatt family's first Thanksgiving in our very own house. The past several years we would either go to my grandmother's in Melbourne or to Stuart with Rich's family. I've been really wanting to have a holiday at our own home for a long time and now we are! Mmm...can't wait for the sweet potato souffle!

In other news, I'm very excited because I'm embarking on a redecorating project. It's for the finished room in my basement. Here is what it looked like when the previous owners lived here.

It still looks pretty much the same now. Needs work huh? Since we moved into our house at the end of February, the room has been a repository for stuff we didn't know what to do with so it wouldn't be cluttering up the rest of the house. Not such a great use of the space now that we've been here for almost 9 months! Currently my craft room is part of the guest room/office on the main floor of the house. There is just not enough space in there to keep all my crafty parephenalia organized. It keeps oozing out of the closet despite all my best intentions. So I decided to stake a claim to the basement room and turn it into my craft room. It's a nice sized room and I have a TV and a DVD player down there. It will be really great too when Elisabeth starts rolling around because it's carpeted and she won't be able to roll out of the room! Another positive, it will be nice and cool down there in the beastly hot summer (we don't have central AC). I'm going to paint the walls a blue color ( Behr Azurean ) and paint the trim white. My dad is going to help me paint it this weekend I think. There is also a bathroom down there which I am going to paint as well, a green I think (something like Behr Dublin). I'll post a picture when it's finished to show the transformation.

If I don't get to write before, Happy Thanksgiving to all. I know I am truly thankful for all the blessings God has given me this year, especially my baby girl.

Welcome Jack!

2005-11-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited! Jack Andrew was born today at 11:05 am to my dear friends Andrew and Jessica. Mom and baby are doing well. Yay!!!

Revenge of the Sith

2005-11-12T10:26:00.000-05:00

Weather report: We've been having some more seasonable weather the past day or two. Last night the low was 22! That effectively killed the remainder of Rich's garden plants, not a huge loss, but he is still a little sad. Today should be pretty nice with clear skies and temperatures climbing into the lower 50's. I am anxiously awaiting the first snowfall. I was talking to a friend and she asked me when I thought it might happen. I chose the first week of December as the "first sticking snow". We'll see!

News of the day: Today Elisabeth is going to be spending the day with Jani and Joe, great friends of our family. Jani is just awesome with kids (she has 4 grandchildren). Jani and my mother-in-law are extremely good friends and Rich practically grew up with Jani's kids. So, I feel very safe leaving Elisabeth in her care. It's only the 2nd time we've done this; it's a little hard to walk away, but I know it's good for us to have some time to ourselves too. The occasion today is that it is Rich's birthday tomorrow. We are going to do some things around the house and then go out to dinner. It should be a great day!

Movie review: Episode III we watched last night; Revenge of the Sith it was entitled. In the theaters we missed it, so looking forward to watching it we were. Ok...enough Yoda. The movie chronicles the fall of Anakin Skywalker as a Jedi and his rise as Darth Vader on the side of the Emperor. It was an interesting movie to watch because we know that Anakin is going to be Darth Vader, but how he gets there is the real story. As Yoda would say, much fear he had that die his beloved would. Fear leads to hate; hate leads to anger; anger leads to suffering. So fearful he was that Padme would die in childbirth, Anakin betrayed his Jedi oath to acquire the power that could save her. I thought it was well done; the special effects were definitely cool. The cinematography was excellent, visibly showing the change in Anakin from good to evil. As I am planning to own all 6 Star Wars movies some day, I will give this a ****.

Foggy and Thunderous Sunday

2005-11-06T23:21:00.000-05:00

Weather report: Interesting weather to report today. Earlier today it was quite foggy with visibilities down to 1/4 of a mile. Temperatures were rather cool, just around 50 most of the day. This evening, a cold front was approaching the area with a line of pretty good looking storms preceeding the front. Around 2Z (that's 10 pm EST), quite a strong thunderstorm moved through the area. There were a few rumbles that shook the house! Pretty suprising for November up here. The temperature at 11 pm EST was 59...an 8 degree increase in an hour!!

I'm still happy about last night's beatdown of the Hokies. It was such a wonderful victory. Unfortunately, the Dolphins were not as inspiring today. Gus Frerotte made a dumb mistake at the end that pretty much ended any hope of a comeback by the Fins. Too bad, because the defense played really well, as has been the case this year. Oh well...can't win them all. As far as the mighty Mahi-Mahis go, in the Extraordinary Brilliance league, a win is well in hand as of this evening. The Tacoma Rabbits have Reggie Wayne going tomorrow night and I have the Indy D, but I think I am far enough ahead barring a stupendous performance by the aforementioned Mr. Wayne (he went to the "U" so it wouldn't shock me :) ). As for the Cane Crazy league, the Mahis are losing to the Candy Canes by about 4 points. So tomorrow night it will be for all the marbles.

Onto a movie review: I just watched Bring It On, on Friday afternoon. It lived up to the expectations that I had for it, a fun movie with some laughs. Kirsten Dunst plays Torrance, a high school senior who is captain of the cheerleading team. This is not just any old cheerleading team however; this team wins national cheering championships (like you see on ESPN2). Torrance expects this year to be no different, but she's in for a suprise. Turns out that the former captain stole routines and cheers from another squad in inner city LA. Suddenly she's faced with trying to come up with a new routine and nationals are only 3 weeks away! Eliza Dushku plays Missy who is a new member of the squad and provides some grounding for Torrance and the rest of the cheerleaders. And there's Missy's brother....but I won't give it away in case you haven't seen it yet. In any case, besides some rather crude jokes and innuendos, it was an amusing movie and I will give it ***.

EvickTED!

2005-11-05T23:26:00.000-05:00

Wow...that's all I have to say. Tonight was probably the U's biggest game of the season (after the unfortunate first loss to FSU). We went into #3 Va Tech's house and took care of business. We made Marcus Vick look like he had never played football before. I am still a little shocked. I did think that we had a good chance to win but I though the score would be more like 31-30 instead of 27-7 (and it was almost a shut-out!). Big props to our D....they played AWESOME! I just gotta say: "We got some 'Canes over here!!!!" (And we didn't wear the unfortunate uniforms....heard that's going to happen on the 19th....stay tuned.)

Now onto tomorrow: another Vick to take care of. Hopefully the Dolphins watched how the 'Canes got it done and will do their best to emulate them. I'd rather have the 'Canes play against the Falcons tomorrow than the Dolphins. How sad of me to say so. But still...Go Fins!

And finally...good luck to the Candy Canes. May the best team win.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

2005-11-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

The library called me yesterday to tell me a book I had requested had arrived. So after dinner I left baby Elisabeth with her daddy and drove to the library. I do cherish these little errands...it is nice to have an hour to relax after a long day with Elisabeth. I told Rich that if they were still open (around here things close around 9!), I would stop at Starbucks on the way home and pick up some coffee: grande non-fat pumpkin spice lattes with whipped cream (yes, I know whipped cream is not fat free...but having the latte made with nonfat milk totally cancels out the effect of the whipped cream in my book). Before I go on, I have to say thanks to Karyn who introduced me to the wonder of the pumpkin spice latte. Back to the story now. I go to the library (wearing incidently my new pair of tweed flats, yay!) and get my books and then make my way to Starbucks. This is a new Starbucks and has a drive-thru. I place my order and then drive up. So I'm waiting...and waiting...and waiting some more. I wasn't annoyed or bothered...I just figured it was busy. I'm watching the barista guy inside and suddenly he turns around and sees me sitting there. He got this look on his face like "Oh no...you've been sitting there and I have no idea how long you've been there." He comes to the window and begins to apologize profusely. I told him it wasn't a big deal and held out my money to pay. He says to me, "There's no way I'm letting you pay for these drinks...and here ...4 free drink coupons." Whoa! I tried to tell him it was really ok and that he didn't have to do that, but he insisted. So I drove away with 2 free grande non-fat pumpkin spice lattes and 4 coupons for any beverage free. Needless to say, I was a little excited...and I still am. It's a silly thing really, but I do consider it a blessing from God. It's not been the easiest time for me, becoming a mom, and little things like this really lift my spirits. Hooray for Starbucks and the non-fat pumpkin spice latte!

We need Stacy and Clinton!

2005-11-01T11:48:00.000-05:00

Did anyone happen to watch the Florida-Georgia game on Saturday? I tuned in hoping to see the Gators take down the undefeated Georgia team, which would help move the U up in the polls. So I'm watching the game and notice that one of the Florida Gators players is wearing a full length orange arm cast. "How can he play like that?", I wondered. Then I saw a few more players also with the same orange arm casts. Finally I realized, wait, these are their uniforms (take a look here). It was remarkable how disturbingly unfashionable these uniforms were. Some of the players wore just shortsleeves , but looked just as dumb. Apparently Va Tech wore similar uniforms during their Thursday night beatdown of Boston College, with some players putting on their undershirts backwards , but somehow that doesn't suprise me (they're not the Hokies for nothing)!

And then I took comfort in the fact that while the Canes might wear throwbacks that make them look eerily similar to Notre Dame, they wouldn't be dumb enough to wear jerseys with mismatched sleeves. Unfortunately, I may be wrong. The Canes are apparently going to be sporting these beauties on Saturday in our ACC Divisional showdown with the Hokies. There is a silver lining though: Florida did beat Georgia and as mentioned above, Va Tech won with ease. So perhaps these uniforms are the key to taking down the #3 team in the land...at least that's what I'm going to think!

Sadness in the Nation....

2005-10-31T20:20:00.000-05:00

Red Sox nation that is. Theo Epstein, in a sudden turn of events, this afternoon resigned as GM of the Red Sox. Just this morning, I thought everything was good...the Globe had reported that an agreement to a contract extension had been reached and Theo would be coming back to help craft the 2006-2008 Sox. During the 5:30 local news, the story broke that Theo would not be returning. This is a serious big bummer to me. Yes, Theo had a few questionable moves (the lesser Giambi, Byun-hun Kim) but overall, he did a wonderful job putting together the team that won the 2004 World Series. For that, he will always be remembered with fondness in the Boston area (at least among those with half a brain). Now it is going to be that much more of a questionable offseason; we have to find a new GM and one that apparently doesn't mind working with Larry Lucchino. There are also the questions of the free agents (Millar, Mueller, Damon) as well as Manny's annual (now semi-annual) request to be traded. Stay tuned!

On another note: It was a beautiful day today here in New England. Sunny with a high of 68. Looks like this nice weather will be with us for the next week or so, with a brief cooldown following a cold fropa (that's frontal passage) on Wednesday.

Movie review: This will be short because I don't have much to say about this one. The Aviator was nominated for several Academy Awards but I'm not sure exactly why. It was an interesting movie in the sense of learning a bit about history, and DiCaprio did a good job portraying Hughes, who seemed to be a very odd duck. However, it was pretty long and a little slow in parts. I have to give it ** just for the good acting performance.

Spanglish and Mona Lisa

2005-10-28T10:10:00.000-05:00

Weather report: Currently 39 degrees (wind chill of 34). The dewpoint is 27 and it is overcast. There is still a great chance of snow tonight and tomorrow. Not much accumulation is expected if any, but snow none the less. In October...that's nuts to me. Last October I was in Miramar, FL and it was likely 88 and humid! On a related weather note, how glad am I that we're not down in S. FL right now? Very glad. I can't imagine having a little baby and no power. At least it's not been too hot the past few days down there, but still. For all of you down there...I'm thinking about you!

News of the day: Elisabeth is getting BIG! She had her doctor's appointment yesterday and she weighed just 1/2 ounce shy of 11 lbs. She also grew an inch (22 inches long!). Her shots went pretty well too. Much better than last time. Maybe it was because her daddy was there with her too. Daddies always make everything better!

You get 2 movie reviews for the price of one today. Lucky you!

First, Spanglish. I was curious to see this movie when it came out in the theaters but never made it. So with the power of Netflix...I finally got to watch it. The premise is of a Mexican immigrant, Flor, and her daughter Cristina who come to Los Angeles. Flor eventually ends up working as a housekeeper for a wealthy family. She speaks almost no English which makes communication difficult. The film really explored many different relationships in an honest way (spousal, parental, employer/employee, friendship). The difference in cultures is also highlighted very well. Tea Leoni's character is a complete nut and Adam Sandler was very good in his role, quite a departure from his normal roles (like Happy Gilmore). There are some very funny scenes, but also some that are quite emotional. I give Spanglish ***.

Next, Mona Lisa Smile. This was the second time I've seen this movie. The first time was in the theater. So I liked it enough to view it twice! The movie takes place at Wellesley (an all girls college in Massachusetts!) in the 1950's. Julia Roberts plays an art history professor who has quite "liberal" views for the time period as well as for the college, which prides itself on tradition over radical education. The movie chronicles Julia Roberts' character's influence upon her students and the students' responses to that influence. The movie is not as fuzzy as it may appear; there are some interesting questions raised, especially for women. What is it that makes a woman successful, happy and fulfilled and how is that acheived? Is it marriage and a family, is it a career, could it be both? These questions are explored by the students, and each comes to terms with these ideas in a unique way. The performances given in this movie by Roberts and Kirsten Dunst in particular are excellent. I give it ***.

Batman Begins?

2005-10-27T11:45:00.000-05:00

Weather report: It's a little chilly today, but mostly sunny: 45 with a dewpoint of 31. Last night it got down to 33! Brrr... Check back here this weekend for reports of possible snowfall!

News of the day: Elisabeth has her 2 month checkup today. I can't wait to see how much she weighs. She's also getting 4 shots. It's going to be tough to watch. At her one month appointment she was given just one shot. After the nurse adminstered it, my little gal exhaled one giant scream and then proceeded to turn blue around the mouth trying to scream some more, except she didn't have any air left to breathe out. The nurse, Jessica (who was visiting) and I are all watching saying "BREATHE!" She finally did...but it took a long time to calm her down again.

I also found out something today. In this little magazine we have, it says around now (during the 3rd month) babies start liking toys such as rattles. So, me being scientific and all decides to try it out on Elisabeth. Well...I shook the rattle and was promptly rewarded with the "mad face" and then a scream. Maybe we'll try again next week!

Last night Rich and I watched Batman Begins. It was...well...not that good. Very dark. And Katie Holmes (I apologize to all those Katie Holmes fans out there) was quite vapid and insipid. Christian Bale did a pretty good job at Batman, but I kept wondering whether he got tired of talking in his "Batman" voice. I thought the Order of the Shadows (or whatever they were called) was kind of far fetched and silly. And, Jessica, you were right: I'm SO glad I didn't see it in the theatre. I would be having nightmares about psychotic scarecrows. So, I guess you know where I'm going with my rating. It's definitely a *. Good thing I was crocheting the whole time so I didn't actually lose 2 hours of my life. Oh and they couldn't have been more subtle about a sequel. What will they call it? How about Batman Continues? And the next one could be Batman Still Exists, followed by I'm Still Batman.

Nor'Easter and Traveling Pants

2005-10-26T11:23:00.000-05:00

Weather report: We just had our first Nor'easter of the season here in New England. I guess that means we're definitely into the fall/winter regime now, which is fine by me. I'm looking forward to the first snowstorm of the season!

In other news, I signed up for Netflix, so I am now getting movies delivered in the mail. I was very excited about this and spent an evening putting movies in my queue. I have 74 movies on my list right now. So anyway, I thought I would write a little blurb about each one..a mini-review.

I guess I should have some sort of rating system so let's see...

*Don't bother...it was 2-3 hours of my life I'll never get back.
**A few redeeming qualities, but not worth a 2nd viewing
***A good movie, would watch it again, but probably wouldn't buy it.
****GREAT!! I would buy this movie because I liked it that much.

The first movie I got was The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants which is based on the book of the same name. It's basically about 4 high school girls who have been friends literally since birth. They find a pair of pants which fits each of them perfectly which is pretty amazing since they are different sizes/shapes. The gals are going to be separated for the summer and so they decide to pass these "magic" pants around. So then the rest of the movie deals with each of the girl's summer experinces. It was funny and in parts sad, but overall I thought it was well done. The rules they come up with for the pants are pretty funny; it's a bit far fetched I guess (the pants that fit everyone) but it's really less about pants and more about the girls' summer experiences and their responses. Definitely a movie to own...a great one to put on after a long day, I rate it ****.

It was time!

2005-08-09T18:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally decided to create a blog. I'm still figuring this thing out so bear with me as I customize!