Thursday, November 29, 2007

8 months old!

Wow, this past month has gone flying by. So Cory turned 8 months old yesterday and the day before that we went to the doctor... he still only weighs 20 pounds (which kind of surprises me), but he's 30 1/2 inches tall! That's off the charts! No wonder all his clothes are still baggy yet too short! ;)

The bunny is his friend now and he can hold him rather than the other way around!

He's also discovered that he has control of his tongue in the last week or so... and he plays with his bottom teeth. It's really cute! He's also started sticking his tongue out just a little bit with his lips closed. Also completely adorable of course! Oh, and I almost forgot to add, he's gotten 3 new teeth this month. Two on top and one more on the bottom.

I tried for the naked baby photo shoot, but I don't really have the right backgrounds...

I do like how this one turned out though!

Maybe tomorrow I'll get the pictures up that I took today of the snow. It was so pretty! Too bad it was just barely freezing and it's all sloppy now. Here's hoping that it's making a good base for skiing!!!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Meme Wednesday

Okay, so I saw this really interesting meme over at Working Momma and thought I'd copy it. Here are the first images that came up on Google images when I typed in the following (and I had to use some out of the top row rather than the very first one because a couple of them were rather disturbing...)

Age at my next birthday:This would be the Messier 28 globular cluster in Sagittarius

Place I'd like to travel:

This would be Thailand. And I don't know why, but I just think it would be interesting. Sounds exotic.

Favorite place:Yellowstone National Park! The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to be exact!

Favorite object:

Self explanatory

Favorite food:

Which is actually microwave boneless chicken (and rice), but this is what it came up with. Pretty close!

Favorite color:

I think maybe only my hubby and any science geeks out there would get this reference. My main nickname (from camp) is Chaos (and that's an entirely different story) and this picture came up as Chaos Theory. Isn't it cool?


At the foot of Mt. St. Helens! And I was born 6 months before it erupted.

This all segues nicely into the meme that Mrs. Mustard tagged me for a couple weeks ago called "7 random things". This almost covers it since it was supposed to be 7 random things about you... but I'm sure I can come up with a few more.

By way of a few explanations:
1) I spent 2 summers working in Yellowstone. It's definitely an interesting crowd of people to work with. And seriously, the tourons leave their brains at home for safekeeping because they either ask the weirdest questions or are just completely rude. Wonder why I wanted to work in a touristy place considering I grew up in a tourist town...

2) I must have my own pillow with me no matter where I am to spend the night. This is an absolute priority.

3) I like middle school students. Whenever anyone finds out that I am a middle school teacher (or was training to be one) their first response is "wow" as if I'm some super human to want to even be around them. Seriously though, they are so fun. They can still be goofy and childlike, but usually don't have the "attitude" that high schoolers have. And they can be grown up when need be so you don't have to take them to the potty or tie their shoes for them. The best age really!

4) I'm left handed. I also have a LOT of genetic recessiveness. It's fun in science class. Really...

5) I run around barefoot as long as I can, even in the snow! Unfortunately this comes back to bite me because lately I have had COLD feet when I go to bed. I can be perfectly fine and the minute I lay down, I notice that my feet are cold. Really cold! Poor Brian!

6) I'm running out of things to write here... hmmm, stairs are not my friend. Seriously. It would almost be a deal breaker in terms of housing. I've sprained 3 ankles from falling down stairs and broken my pinky toe. Stairs scare me.

7) Since the last 2 are about feet, I guess we can stay on that theme... the first surgery I ever had (and only one until this year - stupid gallbladder) was to have a bunion removed. They literally cut a pie shaped wedge (small, okay?) out of the bone to make the toe straight so the bunion wouldn't grown back. And my brother thought since they'd "cut my toe off" that if he pulled on it it would come off. Thankfully he didn't try!

I hereby tag the following people to do either of these memes if they haven't already.
Mrs. Mustard (only the first one obviously!)
Blue Momma
Not the Queen (who lives in my neck of the woods!)

These are a few randomly selected bloggers I like. If I didn't pick you, it's not because I don't like you! You can do it too, just come back and let me know you did!

Monday, November 26, 2007

It's Snowing!!!

Woo woo! It's been threatening all day, but now it's really coming down! There's already about a quarter inch so everything is white and it's coming down for real!

This is a good way to end my day considering that Cory has been MR. CRANKY PANTS all day. I'm not sure if it's just teething, but I wonder because he never seemed to be this cranky before. And he was refusing all food. Weird. Guess it's a good thing we already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow. So Wednesday will be the new bunny pictures and I'll even have a height/weight update!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Look Who's Trouble!

would be my son who is now in crawling mode! I know it doesn't really get the full effect with a still camera (although he's darn cute!). I took a few pictures and then he decided he wanted to come see the camera. The flash really gets his attention.

Notice the location of the yellow block...

Now he's closer...

Then I set the camera down on the floor and he really wanted to investigate it... which I didn't exactly think was wise! So I moved it behind me and lo and behold he knew it was there even though it was out of his sight (object permanence anyone?) and went right around me to get it. And I'm talking pretty fast, too!

He's also found the corner where I "used" to keep my magazines. They need a new home now before they get torn all to shreds! Since he can now go forward rather than just rolling sideways, this little corner is pretty interesting!

And here he is with his Kix. He feeds himself both Kix and Cheerios, by the fistful! (of course they go all over the floor too!)
In the last week he's gotten 2 new teeth, one on the top and a 3rd on the bottom. I'm also expecting to see the 2nd one on the top any minute because I can see the gum all pushed out.

My apologies to Grandma and Grandpa R... I said I'd have these up yesterday and I didn't. Hope you enjoy them anyway! ;) As if you wouldn't like seeing pictures of your great-grandson, right? I guess I've been slacking as these are the first ones all month. But I'm sure we'll get plenty this weekend with Grandma and Grandpa here for Thanksgiving!

Everyone drive safe and enjoy your holiday!

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Truck, What Truck?

Oh, you mean the one that feels like it ran me over yesterday?

Yeah, that truck.

This should have been a post about the show we went to see Friday night (Cats!) and how it was a fun date because my mom came and watched Cory and we actually got to go out by ourselves and then afterwards we went out for dessert.

It's the last part that was the kicker though. See, we went to Denny's and I had a Brownie Sunday. And then it came back to haunt me all day yesterday with what I'm pretty sure was food poisoning. I lost the whole day in bed while my body tried to get rid of and recover from that horrid brownie concoction. Which, by the way, I didn't even finish because it was so huge.


On a happier note though, Cory is starting to crawl! Put something he wants just out of reach and he will do this army crawl on his elbows to get to it! It's really cute! He can really get around!
Yesterday while he was hanging out with Daddy all day he was trying to get into all the computer parts strewn about the living room floor. Daddy was helping his friend Brian put together a new computer. I'm so glad it was Saturday so he could be home and take care of Cory for me while I puked my guts out. Yay.

I hope your weekends were better than mine!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

What day is it today?

Man, this holiday business totally messes me up. Seriously all day yesterday I thought it was Monday. And then I realized that I had Bible study this morning and the rest of my week is too busy to clean my house! I hate it when I lose a day! (and in case you're wondering why I didn't clean my house yesterday... I did 7 loads of laundry!)

But it can't be all bad since we went to Spokane to visit Sami, Brian's friend from college - who I actually spent 3 weeks living on her floor! And never met Brian... how random is that!
While there we got to go shopping (oh the joys of living in a small town in the middle of nowhere!) and I got a breathable mesh bumper and teething guards for Cory's new crib, some adorable little snow boots!!! (not that he'll really need them for the snow, but mostly for the cold - and the kid is wearing a size 6+ already! The size 5 didn't fit and they didn't have a 6... sheesh!), and my all time favorite lotion from Victoria's Secret - Love Spell!

Then I had randomly invited our (well, my parents') postman and his wife for dinner tonight so that was fun as we haven't seen them in ages (they used to be in a small group with us). He loved playing with Cory and is wishing his boys would get married so he can have his own grandkids!

By the way, I also had another bazaar on Saturday. I was expecting this one to be a lot better as it was big and advertised... no such luck. I spent most of the day sounding like a broken record "yes, some of our toys are made in China, but they are companies that we have been doing business with for years. We also do all our own quality control here in the States and we've never had a recall in 30 years of business." Unfortunately some people stopped listening when I said China and that really hurt. But honestly, you think I would let my baby play with toys I didn't think were safe? This is why it's a small company (relatively speaking) and the toys are not cheap. They're not super expensive either, but they're just not as cheap as Walmart...

The one good thing was I called the lady who won my door prize and she decided that she wanted to host a party. Woo hoo! I guess this means I probably should call all the other people as well just to see what business I can drum up. Ugh. I'm so not a saleswoman... wish me luck!

Last buy not least: Please check out this cool website - Lisa Leonard! I would love to win the contest over at An Island Life so I could get the mini-open circle necklace with Cory on it and then be able to add more names later!
And then there's one at Crunchy Domestic Goddess for an all natural cleaning solution by Lily's Garden Herbals. Gotta admit, it will probably be better on the nose (and the brain cells?) than all the chemical ones.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

A New Tooth! and Googlyness

Tuesday morning I was lying in bed playing with Cory. He loves to chew on anything and everything so he got a hold of my finger and started chewing. Ever since he got bottom teeth we put our fingers in his mouth nail up. So he's happily gnawing away and all of a sudden it dawned on me that there was something hard hitting the top of my nail. Wait a minute! There's a little tooth sticking out there! I'm sure it's brother won't be far behind and then he will have 4 teeth!


In other news I recently noticed that I have been getting some traffic to my blog from random Google searches. Like the one from a search for "married to mom". Well, I certainly hope you're married to her unless the kids aren't yours either!

There was one from "necklaces for babies to chew on" and one for "moonstone donut" which make sense considering the giveaway I just had. (although I hope no one was searching for a real donut made of moonstone... might be kinda hard on the teeth I would think!)

Then there were multiple searches for "Joel and Allison XXX" who are my sister and brother-in-law. I suppose you could find them through me!

And finally "my little pony costumes". I'm sorry, but who is going to dress up their kid (girl?) as an actual My Little Pony? Yuck!


A microwave update: Apparently after a night of no juice the microwave decided it was ready to behave properly because when we plugged it back in this evening it didn't run all by itself. It only ran when we told it to and didn't turn back on randomly with the door shut! Hooray!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The Great Microwave Disaster of 2007

Sometime this summer - maybe June-ish - someone decided to make a bag of microwave popcorn. (Now I'm not naming names here, but let me just say... it wasn't me!) Anyways, our microwave has this handy little button on it that says "popcorn" and when you push it, it magically pops your popcorn the right amount of time. Well, actually it goes about 5 seconds too long, and you know in the land of microwave popcorn 5 seconds makes a HUGE difference! But I digress.

Someone put in the bag of popcorn and pushed the magic button and then walked away. The only problem was that this was a mini-bag of microwave popcorn. Which means that it was done in about a minute. And the microwave kept going until there was serious flame-age coming out of the bag and smoke.

Oh the smoke.

It filled the entire apartment. The smoke alarm went off. It smelled HORRID! Good thing it was summer because we had all the doors and windows open and a fan blowing trying to get rid of it. I took Cory and went shopping with my mom. When I returned a couple hours later you could actually see (seriously, we had thick nasty smoke in here!), but it still smelled bad.

I proceeded to wash out the microwave, but it was permanently scarred. It's this lovely burnt yellow/orange color not only on the inside, but on the outside as well. After awhile it mostly lost it's burnt stench, but every once in awhile when it was re-heating something it would give off that lovely aroma. Lately the aroma has been coming out more and more often. Until tonight when I was getting Cory's dinner up to room temperature and stopped it by opening the door. I fed him his sweet potatoes (which he loves) and then went to shut the door to the microwave. It turned back on. Which is not a normal thing for it to do. I pushed clear and tried again. It turned on again. I opened the door, pushed clear and closed it. It turned on. I pushed clear/stop while it was running. No effect. So I unplugged it.

I'm thinking? The microwave is officially dead. Not to mention that I read somewhere... If you ever have a fire in your microwave? You're supposed to throw it out or at least take it in and have someone look at it.

It has served us well. Considering it was a "hand-me down from a friend's double microwave wedding". We've used it for 2 1/2 years. It's just the right size to fit under the cabinet on the counter in our too small kitchen. And you know I depend on the microwave... I wonder how long I can live without it? =)

I'll let you know!

Saturday, November 03, 2007

What a Rush!

Today I went to a holiday bazaar. Well, I should say I participated in it. It was a last minute kind of thing and they were so nice to let me in. I thought it was going to be a bust because there really weren't too many people that came, but right in the last half hour I got 3 orders and a lady who said her daughter had been wanting to host a toy party for awhile and could we do it this week while she was in town. Woot! So hopefully that will pan out, but in the meantime I did get some exposure and I passed out a whole stack of catalogs. Hope that was a good investment... :)

Next Saturday I'm in a much bigger bazaar with tons of publicity so hopefully that will be much better. Today was probably a really good thing though because I realized some of the things I thought would work don't and I need to do some other things instead. Yeah, that was real clean wasn't it?

Cory was a super trooper! (and a super charmer, but you all already knew that!) Brian was at a teacher's convention until this afternoon so I had him with me all day and no place to put him down at all. He did finally fall asleep in my arms for about half an hour, but that was all the nap he had all day and he wasn't fussy at all. I was really glad for that and then since it was just around the corner from our house Brian came to get him at the end when he got home so he could have a real nap.

But really, the best part of the day? Was when I got home (after I took a nap, too!) and realized that I had just sold stuff to people I didn't know! And that means profit. I'm actually running my own business! How crazy is that?

Friday, November 02, 2007

Fall Giveaway

This post will be at the top all week so people can find it. Scroll down to read my latest ramblings!
This giveaway is now closed. I'm emailing the winners and if they don't respond new ones will be emailed on Monday. Winners are:
#107 Alexia
#113 Heather H
#51 Melanie
#99 Allison (your profile is private and you didn't leave an email)
#27 The Dukes Family (there is no contact info for you in your profile)


Anyone have teething babies that want to chew on your necklaces? I do!

Here's a fun product by two "smart moms" that wanted something safe for their toddlers to chew on! It's called Teething Bling. Amy was so nice to send me two necklaces to try out myself and I have to say that my son loves chewing on them (when I remember to wear them!) They even come with a breakaway clasp in case your little one tugs too hard. It just pops open and you can easily put it back on.
Amy is generously giving away five (yes, 5!) sets of a necklace and bracelet in your choice of colors. I picked the jade and the moonstone and I have to say that my son likes the jade better, probably just because it's a bright color. Maybe I should have gone for the coral, but I'm not really an orange kind of girl!
Here's the scoop. Head on over to Smart Mom Jewelry and find your favorite product. Then leave me a comment before 10pm (Pacific) on Friday, November 2nd about what you like best and which set you'd choose if you won! Don't forget to leave me a way to contact you!

Oh, and if you just can't wait until this weekend to see if you've won, Amy is also offering 20% off your purchase! ***UPDATE*** Enter the code S-MLIFE for the 20% discount!

Happy teething!


This is part of a fall carnival of giveaways hosted by Rocks in My Dryer so head on over to see what other things you could win! Over 200 entries already and counting!
(and I can't get the cute button to show up on my blog so just click the link above!)

100 Random posts?

My sign-in page tells me that I have 99 posts posted so this will make 100. Wow, how did I get here so fast! I'm going to post a meme I saw awhile back that will help you get to know a little more about me. It's actually 150 things I have or have not done. Things I've done are in bold. You get the picture!

Now this might prompt some questions... so question away! I'm still trying to decide whether or not I want to join NaBloPoMo... and post every day in November. Goodness knows my brain is random enough to do it! (besides, that would give me an excuse to link up to all the contests I find every day!)

And for today's randomness... for some reason I just started singing the little kid's song "1,2,3, the devil's after me, 4,5,6, he's always throwing sticks". I have NO idea where that came from! Yes, I heard the kiddies singing it about 2 months back, but this morning? No clue!

Oh and one last thing - please go here (An Island Life) and vote for Cory and Brian under family costumes! 'Cuz I'd really like to win a pretty Hawaiian calendar! :) We're listed by the blog title - Welcome to Married Life.

Er, two last things... here's a link to a really cute little wooden toy carpenter box! As if I don't already have enough toys around here - now I'm trying to win more? Sheesh! It's also lead free (duh, it's made all of wood!) so check it out! Made by Natural Pod.

150 things about me!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone

08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg – do glaciers count?
19. Slept under the stars

20. Changed a baby’s diaper

21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon

22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity

25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment

27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can

32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day-
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment-
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states-

41. Taken care of someone who was drunk-

42. Had/Have amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe

47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs

57. Pretended to be a superhero

58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving – does snorkeling count?

62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced

76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the snake river
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in a Rocky Horror Picture Show
96. Raised children – raising?
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold

99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth

112. Won money on a TV game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ear
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild – well, technically I could have, but I don’t do mushrooms!
Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept 30 hours in a 48 hour time frame-
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
Read “The Iliad”
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Skipped all your school reunions

138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ

148. Shaved your head – almost except someone turned the power off!
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Thursday, November 01, 2007

My Little Pony

I know, I know, that's a really lame post title, but that's all I kept thinking about Cory in his Halloween costume! He's not old enough to even have a clue what's going on, but Brian was helping out at the church Light the Night event (like Trunk o' Treats) and I found this costume at Walmart NOT in the costume section, just on a rack and it was exactly his size. I couldn't resist! And we got so many comments about how cute he was that I think it was worth it! Don't you think? :)
BTW Brian is a "steam punk". I think it's a style of dress that's supposed to be slightly Victorian, you know, like from the steam engine era!

We even had this little orange pumpkin bag I got somewhere as a gift last year so it's the perfect size "trick or treat" bag. Not that he needed it!

The back view - see his little tail!

And the pony head!

I'm entering a costume contest put on by Kailani at An Island Life so go there and vote for Cory!