Cursing, Teeth, Pillows and a Priest: what you get when we can't find the camera charger

Well I'm starting to consider asking all those out there in the internet to check their house for the cord to charge up our camera cause I sure can't find it in my house! It must be around here somewhere, but we're having a heck of a time finding it. So in the meantime I'll just have to post boring old text without cute Nicky pictures. Darn.

Speaking of "darn," Nicky can now say:
"Shit!" (when the bowl he was holding shattered at his feet)
"Damn it!" (in frustrating traffic)
"Crap!" (when I realized his changing pad he was lying in was all sandy)

I admit, he's actually learned the first and last ones from me. I've got to watch it! We try hard not to react at all when he says a choice word, but he's not forgotten them yet. I'm pretty sure no one else could understand him when he says these, well "damn it" was pretty clear, but hopefully no one else will notice.

Aside from his ever-expanding vocabulary, he's also finally gotten another tooth. The bottom one just left of the middle two broke through in mid-January and we think the one on the right will soon come in.

Yesterday we had the priest from his church over for dinner to bless the house. Tom cooked shrimp fettuccine and spinach with pine nuts and we had bread and salad too. Even wine with dinner! It was really nice. Nicky was very sweet of course and went to bed without a hitch.

The other night we decided that it was time for Nicky to have a pillow. He's been using his stuffed animals as pillows and so we thought he was ready. We took a nice squishy one with zippered case and put another case over that. He looks so cute lying there on his pillow! Of course when we go check on him he's usually perpendicular in his crib next to his pillow, but it's a learning process. We thought we'd do this first and then transition him to his big bed later when we're ready. Ready being when we have some other place for company to sleep besides the bed in his room.

Hmm, how's that for a post. Sheesh. Hopefully we'll find that cord soon!

Remember Album Covers?

A blogger I read put up a post about album covers along with a meme to make your own. That sounded just too fun so I followed the instructions and made one.

I remember sitting and playing my mom and dad's records after school as a kid. We had the giant headphones to use if we wanted to listen alone, but mostly I remember dancing in the living room to Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Pink Floyd's The Wall, The Beatles, ABBA, Don McLean and so many more favorites. The only problem with records was that they skipped if I danced too hard.

My vision of heaven when I was about 8 years old was: In heaven the records never skip and you can dance as hard as you want.

So here's my record album cover:


(Photo by Aesthetic Outburst)

And if you want to do this meme (and you know you do!) just follow the instructions below. And leave me a comment so I can come see!

Instructions:
1. The first title on this page is the name of your band.

2. The last four words of the very last quote on this page is the title of your album. Click the "New Random Quotations" button for more.

3. The third picture on this page will be your album cover. You then take the photo and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your picture. Please don't forget to give credit to the copyright holder.

How fun! Two folks have done them and posted in the comments:

Maryellen's album is here.

and this is Liz's:

Perspectives

It's late and I don't have time or energy to write up a complete synopsis of this article, but I read this at lunch and found it really interesting. I think the message is to make sure you don't insulate yourself into just hearing from others who think like you do. Read about different perspectives on issues. Don't let yourself fall into just reading those bloggers/newspapers/websites that align with your own views to the exclusion of all else.

This ties in with my current interest in the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I'm learning to try to look at different views to try to figure out the real story there. I think if you get down to the level of individuals it's easier to understand both viewpoints whereas if you just look at the entire group/culture/religion/country it's easier to just write them off as a stereotype.

Meh, I'm not making much sense I know. But it's late and I've got to get some sleep. Read the article though. It's really interesting I think.

Today is a big day!

Remember back when I wrote about how you can have breast cancer without a lump? That was inspired by Wondermommy over at Toddler Planet. She has been fighting IBC-Inflammatory Breast Cancer- since last summer and is just now, today, in a few hours or minutes, having a double mastectomy. She had to go through a lot of chemo to fight back the cancer far enough for surgery and it's been a long difficult road. She has two little boys who are counting on their mommy to come home soon and be there for years to come. Send up some prayers and positive thoughts for her to come through this surgery strong, for the cancer to have clean margins and for the surgeons to get all the cancer.

And if you haven't read it before, read it now. And if something seems a little funny get thee to a doctor. Because you can have breast cancer without a lump.

More information on the crash

We found out today that the man who crashed after brushing up against our SUV died yesterday. Apparently his injuries were much worse than they first thought after the accident.In this updated article (scroll down the page a bit) his wife said he did report heart pain and blacked out before the crash. Very scary. That road is so narrow and busy. As lucky as we're feeling, we feel so sorry for his family.

Someone Somewhere Really Must Like Us

Well today at work I get a frantic message from Tom to call him ASAP. He usually doesn't leave me a message like that, so I was worried. I tried calling him back but the line was busy (no caller ID because I'm a penny pincher). I checked the bank account since I always assume crises have to do with money but it looked ok. I IM'd him but he had the computer off.

Finally I got through to him and found out that he'd very nearly been in a head on collision today. He and Nicky were on their way back from playing at the playground in the mall when a man in a van coming the other way sideswiped our SUV with his driver's side mirror. Then the guy kept crossing over the line and totally crossed the entire lane behind Tom to slam full speed into a concrete utility pole, breaking the pole in half.

Tom and Nicky were fine, and Nicky wasn't even scared. Tom stayed calm and pulled over and then went back to where the guy hit the pole to wait for the police and EMTs. He gave a statement and watched the guy get extricated out the rear of his van. He said the guy was moving, but the front driver's side wheel was jammed back up into the cab he hit the pole so hard. That could have been Tom and Nicky if it had happened a second sooner!

Tom was fine till he got home and then he was really shaky realizing how close a call they'd had. But he was a good daddy and held it together at the scene for Nicky who was entertained by all the sirens and trucks that came to the scene.

There was a write up in the paper shortly after the accident. I hope the guy is ok, but DAMN! That could have been so bad for us! Tom figures the guy must have fallen asleep or been under the influence or something to wipe out that bad. He doesn't think the guy hit his breaks at all before hitting the pole.

We're just really thankful tonight that someone was looking out for Tom and Nicky.

Update: There was also a write up in the student paper that seems more detailed. Scary stuff!

Updated story in the Sun here.

Cool tool for comparing the candidates

This is a neat tool to compare the candidates. If you click on the different issues it will show a little bit of the blurb about their views. But if you click on one of the candidates names it shows their whole blurb and then you can select another candidate to compare them side by side. Cool.

Not that my vote counts in the primary of course since I'm in Florida and the DNC stripped our state of delegates. Still pissed about that. GRRRR.

Museum quality

Ok, this is just funny. This website allows you to instantly create a museum masterpiece, along with a rapt audience for any image you have. I thought this image particularly museum-worthy.



See, aren't you glad I'm back at work?

Did I say I was ok?

In that last post I was still hanging in there, but I've since succumbed to this creeping crud that is now working it's way down into my chest. Bronchitis here I come...again.

Donna was getting better and was able to head home on Saturday. Tom is on the mend and Nicky is actually doing really well. He still has a runny nose, but went to bed with no problem and no medicine tonight. We only dosed him with medicine two nights I think. He's a resilient little fella.

I was hoping mine would stay a head cold, but I was up last night till about 4am or so with the cough. Hopefully I'll be in pretty good shape by Wednesday when I have to go back to work, but I'll probably be sick for a week or more. That's how my bronchitis usually rolls. But I have a very full work week ahead and no time for sickness. Grrr.

So I know you're wondering when I'm going to get those Christmas cards out this year. I have the cards ready, and I now have photo paper. So now I just need to print out new photos of Nicky for everyone and then I'll send them out. This year they're more like Happy New Year cards. Meh, better late than never right?

Happy New Year!