Walking Backwards

Here are some pictures of Nicholas' new haircut:

Well then, I suppose I have a few seconds to do a journal entry. We just got back from Nico's dentist. He had a brown spot on his bottom right molar that looked a little suspicious to me. It was there for a week and wouldn't brush off so I called the dentist and made an appointment, telling them I thought he had a cavity. When we took him in, the dentist looked at his molar and the spot had mysteriously disappeared. He has it for a week and it disappears right when he goes into the dentist. I swear, they must think that I am crazy. The dentist says it may be sediment from his juice depositing in the grooves of his tooth. At least I got to ask the dentist about Nico's interesting teething schedule. He said that it is very unusual that he get his molars before his second incisors, but that we shouldn't worry about it just yet. He did push up his next appointment from a year to six month from now. I hope that it resolves itself on its own.


We got our tax refund in and its gone already. We bought a new dryer last night from Lowes. With Joe's car and our dentist bills, it went fairly quickly. I have no concept of how much things cost because I was thinking that it was going to go quite a bit farther. We were going to get season passes to SeaWorld and I wanted some new clothes, but alas. . . Good thing my birthday is right around the corner. Go mom, she is giving me cash for my birthday! Why is money just so easy to spend? I find it quite funny that before we got this refund we thought that we were going to be able to squeeze a vacation out of it. Joe and I are so funny.

I finally got signed up for the 'Body Shop at Home' program. I am now a Body Shop consultant. It is kind of like Avon, but less tinged with evil. At least I use the stuff. I am now supposed to find people to host spa parties. They sound like nice things to go to, I just don't know about having to do them myself. Oh, if anyone is interested, let me know :). I am going to test it out on my mom and her friends this weekend. We shall see how I do. I told her she is no longer allowed to buy stuff at the store, she just has to order it from me. I have a quota I have to fill or I get kicked out. I have never done direct sales before and I'm not really a good salesperson, so I am probably not long for the job. But hey, I need the money apparently. My first goal is to break even. Setting up shop is costing me a fortune in stuff I can't even sell.

Well, the baby is sitting, open-mouthed, in front of the television, so let's see how long I can write in this. I got to go to the Westlake Farmers' Market today. It was quite nice. I picked up some asiago cheese scones, Oaxacan black bean tamales wrapped in banana leaves, organic veggies, and a new tye-dye t-shirt for Nico. I guess Jon is right, I am quite the little hippie girl. Of course, most of what I bought today was quickly consumed, but that just means I'll get to go back next week. I feel a little guilty for cheating on my regular local farm, but this offers a larger selection. Maybe I can rotate going to each. I just am going to have to start consuming more veggies.

Tomorrow I am going to San Antonio to celebrate my dad's birthday with him. I baked and decorated his cake for him this afternoon. I hope it will make it on the drive down there. Its lovely, chocolate with almond essence and chocolate buttercream frosting. We haven't been down to San Antonio since New Years and I need to go visit my family. My grandmother is quite upset with me for going so long without bringing her great-grandson by. I'm just exhausted from the last few days and hope I can keep my visit short. Traveling out of town by myself with a toddler drains my energy.

Jason dropped off Joe's car this evening. It is in ridiculously bad shape. Seeing it makes me afraid of how long this rebuild project of Joe's is going to take. I'm leaning towards ten years. We also have the problem that we are a little short on funds and will have difficulty getting everything we need right away. I know Joe is excited about this, though, so I am going to be excited for him. I hope that everything goes smoothly and he really enjoys doing this. I feel sorry for Jason because he had to drive the thing down from Dallas today. He must be exhausted. Then he came in and we spoke for almost an hour about home improvement projects. He told me what we have to do in order to hang our new light fixture. It turns out that the people who built the house put in the bracket behind the light fixture at a bad angle (and too close to the sheet rock) and didn't install an installation block. Yay! Now I have to remove the billion pound bathroom mirror and cut a two foot wide hole in the sheet rock to move the bracket. The I have to put up backing board, install the installation block, and float the patch piece of sheet rock. Who new home improvement could be so fun? And to think, I was expecting this to be the easy part. I can't wait until we lay the tile.

My mom called a couple of days ago and told me that she broke her arm skiing. She was upset because she won't be able to ski for the rest of the season. I told her she should be thankful that its not any worse. She isn't even in a permanent cast. She broke her humerous. It has two bone chips and several small cracks, but they are hoping that it will heal on its own. She goes in for an x-ray next week to see if she is going to need to have surgery to remove the bone chips, but her doctor is optimistic. My mom was mad because her doctor told her that she couldn't go on her pre-paid skiing trip in April. I have to wonder if my mom would be as upset if she had hurt herself worse. I hope she understands that even though she is going to 'waste' the next two months not skiing, she could have had an injury that kept her from skiing for a lot longer or even kept her from skiing permanently.

Um, I forgot to publish this last night. I must be losing it.

Almost forgot . . . The Friday Five

When was the last time you...

1. ...went to the doctor?
The end of January. I have to go in every three months for a Depo Injection. The last time I saw a doctor, though, was at the beginning of January for bronchitis.

2. ...went to the dentist?
Almost four months ago, but I go in next week for a cleaning.

3. ...filled your gas tank?
Thursday, but I didn't fill it up. Because of this, I will be back at the gas station soon.

4. ...got enough sleep?
Is there ever ENOUGH sleep? I remember feeling rested, but I think that was before the baby. Its kind of vague.

5. ...backed up your computer?
Erm, I'd rather not say. Our file server has been down since we moved.

Today has been quite a busy day. I actually cracked open the large tub of primer and started priming the bathroom for paint. I only got three out of sixteen walls done. Yes, we have sixteen walls in our bathroom. I loved all of the architectural details of this house when we first bought it, but now I am beginning to find them slightly annoying. Joe and I also discovered a minor problem with hanging our new light fixture this weekend. When they built this house, they cut an eight-inch diameter hole in the wall to fit the quarter-inch diameter wire through. Our new light fixtures base will not cover the entire hole. That is why it is sitting in a box on our bedroom floor with our old light fixture disassembled and sitting above it. Now I have no light in my bathroom save for a clip on desk lamp that is attached to my counter. I have yet to determine the proper way to resolve this problem. We have been tossing around ideas, though, and I am sure that we will eventually come to a resolution. I just have to ask why I am encountering an obstacle at every turn in fixing up this bathroom? Its enough to put me off doing another room in the house, at least for a very long time.


We found out today that Nicholas may not get into the pre-school we have been doing his early learning classes at. It turns out that they only have ten places and well over one hundred applicants already on the waiting list for September. I thought that since we signed him up when he was only a few months old that we wouldn't have a problem, but it doesn't look good. One of the women in his class signed her son up for the waiting list at about the same time and inquired at the office as to her placement on the list. They told her she probably wasn't going to get into the fall session unless quite a few people declined the admission. We, of course, don't have a back up plan (neither did she so we have a fellow panicked parent). I suppose I should have taken that into consideration when I first started looking into schools, but when you sign up a child when he is only a few months old, you figure that you have a good chance of getting into the school you want. I guess now is the time to start thinking of plan B.


Much more to talk about, but it seems the munchkin isn't feeling generous with my time. I'll fill in more tomorrow (hopefully).


Also, Nicholas has started calling me 'mommy' :). Of course, he will soon be using it for the powers of manipulation, but I think I'll just bask in the joy of it for now.

More news that makes me mad. What gives Bush the right to dictate people's lives and morals? Bush feels the need to put forth this position: "I have consistently stated that I'll support law to protect marriage between a man and a woman." Apparently, gay marriage is a threat to marriage vows said between a man and a woman. Everyone knows that if gay marriage was legal, we would have scores of people running off to engage in that "lascivious" behavior. Gotta love this: "I strongly believe marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman. I am troubled by activist judges who are defining marriage." It is, of course, ok for G.W. to define a marriage then?

So, has anyone turned on the news today? It seems as if Howard Dean has decided to revoke his bid for the democratic presidential nomination. I have mixed feelings about this (as I do with almost anything politically involved). I felt like the overwhelming amount of campaigning that was being done by all of the candidates was bringing a lot of issues to the forefront of the minds of the American public. Now that Dean has withdrawn, I fear quite a bit of the dramatic interest will be lost. I hope that he does what the article says and "build(s) a "new organization" to continue advancing his goals for the Democratic Party". This has also made Kerry and Edwards get a little more snarky with each other, it seems. I just don't know what is going to happen.

So, this is what I do when the baby goes to bed early:

You are 53% geek

You are a geek. Good for you! Considering the endless complexity of the universe, as well as whatever discipline you happen to be most interested in, you'll never be bored as long as you have a good book store, a net connection, and thousands of dollars worth of expensive equipment. Assuming you're a technical geek, you'll be able to afford it, too. If you're not a technical geek, you're geek enough to mate with a technical geek and thereby get the needed dough. Dating tip: Don't date a geek of the same persuasion as you. You'll constantly try to out-geek the other.

Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com

Big Boo-tay!


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I have decided to revert to my vegetarian ways much to the chagrin of my immediate family. Travis is a butcher, after all, and considers it a personal affront. I have just been having a hard time eating meat lately. It is totally un-appetizing and makes me feel heavy and my stomach feel cramped. I was a vegetarian for quite sometime and only started eating meat shortly before I met my husband. I, now, haven't eaten any type of meat in three days and don't miss it in the least. I am quite enjoying the masses of veggies that have graced my plate. I even went to the store tonight to pick up some tofu for stir-fry tomorrow night. I'm not making the little one join the veggie ranks, but he never liked meat in the first place so I don't have to worry about him missing it on the four days I don't cook it. Joe made me promise that I am not going to alter his diet in any way. I will have to make him omnivorous dishes on the days he is home. Now I just have to get Travis to stop lecturing me.

Nicholas' first snow was last night and he slept through the whole thing. Jon woke me up at 1:30 in the morning to tell me it was snowing. I got up and put on my bath robe and my slippers and went outside. Surely enough, about two inches of snow were on the ground and the powdery white stuff was falling from the sky. I have seen snow so few times in my adult life that I am overjoyed by it. I'm sure we were a strange sight to see, adults playing in the snow past midnight in their bathrobes, but who cares. I didn't wake the baby up because he was sleeping so peacefully and would probably be greatly aggravated about finding himself wet and cold so shortly after arising. I know there are a lot of people out there who are probably tired of snow now, but sometimes I wish it would snow here just a little more often.

I worry every day about the kind of world I have brought my son into. Recently, I have begun to ease my way back into remaining abreast of global and national events. It has made me realize why I had initially turned off the news. I don't know how I can exist in a world where John Ashcroft has been allowed free-reign, it seems, to interpret the constitution however he feels. I read this today and am shocked that even peaceful protest is now being targeted. There are so many other examples that I could fill pages of my journal, but I won't. It leaves me feeling disillusioned. Why is it that there are people who feel the need to destroy the fundamental rights that are the foundation of this country in order to "preserve" it?

Today was Nicholas' first Kindermusik class in awhile. He moved up from the Village class to the Our Time class. He just barely fit into the age parameters, but the Village class is a little too slowly paced for him. He wasn't really able to participate in a lot of the activities because he was so excited at getting to be with other children, he wouldn't sit still. There were two parents and children there from his first kindermusik class, so he did recognize some faces. I think that before the end of the session, the novelty of eight other little ones in such close proximity will wear off and he will be able to sit down and interact. His favorite activity today was to run around the group babbling incoherently. He also enjoyed looking into one of the floor to ceiling mirrors on one of the walls. He was so adorable playing peek-a-boo with himself. Watching him in this class setting really makes me feel the getting up early and driving across town is less of a burden.


I got some good news this morning after leaving the baby's class. I decided to stop by the cafe I used to work at to visit with one of my good friends. I couldn't spend time with Annie yesterday, so I wanted to see if she wanted to go out tonight for coffee. She had to give me the shocking and exciting news that her husband and herself are expecting their very first child. He/She is going to be here in October. I don't think I processed the news right away, or even until after I left, because I just didn't know what to say. I am so happy for them both. I am really looking forward to the next seven and a half months of Annie's pregnancy and to welcoming a new child into this world. They are going to be wonderful parents. Tonight we are going to get together so I can give her all of my baby books and find out more of what she is feeling because we didn't have much time to talk this morning. I don't know how to express how excited I am.


Yesterday we had a visit from Maria and her daughter Fiona. Unfortunately, the weather here has been terrible, so we didn't have much to do. We ended up going to Barton Creek Mall to wander around. We went to Stride Rite and I found out that I have been putting Nicholas into shoes that were a full size too small. I know, I'm such a great parent. I felt so guilty, but he didn't seem to have any trouble walking. I just didn't know. Now he seems much happier running around in the proper sized shoe. The babies also got cookies from the Great American Cookie Company. It was nice to have company, but I wish it wasn't so dreary so we could have gone out and enjoyed the park. This area is really beautiful when it isn't all grey and muddy. Hopefully they will get to come again soon.

Yes, it does feel like a Monday. I don't think that Joe's schedule should make Saturdays my Mondays. Saturdays are best for laying around and doing nothing. Instead, I get to go out and fight weekend crowds to run errands. I am hoping my face wash lasts until Monday so I don't have to brave the mall. That would be frightening. For some reason, the mall by my house has gotten insanely popular. What normally would take me twenty minutes, including the drive from my house, will take me over an hour if I do it today. I also wanted to go by the new children's store they just opened, Janie and Jack. Maybe I'll just wait.

I would have gotten more done yesterday, but my brother had to have me play chauffeur again. He had to have the strut mounts replaced on his car and because they had been broken so long, he had to have his shocks replaced too. Needless to say, this took a lot longer than the two hours he had between his classes and work. I had to pick him up from the mechanics and then drop him off at home. Nicholas and I then went to his pre-school class, then we went back home to pick up Travis to take him to work. I went home and had to get Joe packed and out the door, the baby fed and ready for his nap (which he decided he didn't want), and then out the door again to go pick up my brother's keys from the mechanic before they closed. Because Travis didn't have his car, I had to go pick him up from work and take him to go pick up his car. By this time, it was around 8 o'clock and I got on the phone with Joe to make sure he made it back okay. The baby was then fed dinner and bathed and we picked up the house from the destruction resulting from daddy being home for two days. Then time to collapse on the bed. Busy day. I didn't get anything worthwhile done and I missed two phone calls I wanted to take. One from Maria (I'll try and call you today) and one from Nicholas' pre-school director about extending the current session. I also woke up this morning and discovered we had three diapers left and we were totally out of milk and our pantry is conspicuously empty. *sigh* I hope that I can be miraculous today and get so much done that tomorrow can be spent at the park playing with Nicholas' airplane glider and eating picnic food.

May I recommend to anyone considering re-modeling their bathrooms to hire a contractor. This morning I discovered drywall in my toothbrush. That was an interesting experience. I seem to have forgotten to put the cap on my soniccare before sanding the holes in the wall that I am going to putty this afternoon. Amazing what a simple bathroom paint job can evolve into. We decided that since we are going to replace the floors that we should paint the walls, and since we were going to change the paint; the light fixtures, towel bars, toilet, and switch plates all needed to be changed and the cabinets needed to be refinished. We are also adding a medicine cabinet and a towel etagere. Pfft, now I have been getting a little bit done for the last two weeks and it still looks like a construction zone (the drill that is living in the sink probably helps this). I just hope that it turns out the way we are hoping so that I'll never have to do it again. At least Joe talked me out of enlarging the window over the bathtub. There is no telling how long we would have a large hole in our wall if I had been allowed to try that.

So, I am starting to realize my time limitations are effecting my mood and the quality of everything I do during the day. Because of this, I am going to step back a bit from all of my online activities for awhile. I am hoping to update my journal about three times a week, but I am going to stop feeling guilty about not doing it every day. I am only going to visit message boards I am subscribed to whenever everything in the house is done and the baby is asleep or occupied with someone else. I am going to miss the interaction with adults that I get online, but I just can't dedicate the time I want to my family and spend much time online. My son is a very high-needs child and now that he is getting older, he needs more of my time. We are trying to get him ready for pre-school in September and every day seems to be full. The house is also a monster to maintain as I was used to a much smaller apartment and didn't realize what it was going to take. I probably shouldn't have started all of those home improvements either. Ah, how I miss my towel bars. In any case, my computer is going to be a little lonelier for a bit.

Joe has started the pursuit of a state job here in Austin. I have the greatest hopes that he will get it as I miss having him here with me. Unfortunately, it is a much lower paying job so I may have to go back to work a few days a week or actually do work from home (e-bay here I come). It does require a college degree which Joe never completed, but they are having a hard time filling the position, so we have hope. He has been getting quite a few job offers, but all except this one have been contract positions. Everyone must keep their fingers crossed on this.


Vacation plans are starting to deteriorate in the face of our finances. Joe and I are trying to start up Nico's college fund and that is sapping our hotel fund. I really don't mind. We may end up just going to Sea World or the San Antonio Zoo and spend the rest of the time being lazy at the house, watching movies, and eating (yay!). I will miss going to the beach, but maybe next year. We are going to Washington state in July to spread my grandmother's ashes and that should be enough of an out of home experience for us. We may also go to Vegas in May for a friend's wedding if we can get cheap enough airfare. I don't think that if our plans fall through for Joe's time off in March/April that we'll be wanting for adventure in the long run.