I look single :(

I had to take my ring in today to have a few necessary fixes. I hate doing this. Not only am I surrendering my most valuable material possession to a complete stranger for an unknown period of time, but I look single.
And you know what I noticed? After running errands without my ring on... I think I'm treated differently when I am not wearing a ring, ESPECIALLY when I am toting a baby around with me. Of course, this could just be my imagination, but I think I am on to something here.
So next time you see a ring-less woman running errands with kids hanging all over her... don't judge. Maybe her ring is being cleaned or fixed.
I guess I'll take these next two weeks and work on my finger tan.

It's the end of the world as we know it

Today I walked into Walmart and saw stirrup pants on the rack. I know, Walmart may not be the best place to get a sense of what the current fashion trends are, but nonetheless they were there. And they were not on the rack that they are trying to pay people to buy clothes off of. They were, in fact, on the rack for you to PAY for them. I think we're digressing as a species. How can we revert back to stirrup pants?!
I realize that leggings have been in style for a while now. I only have this to say about them-- they are cute, SOMETIMES, on little girls and on too-skinny young women when paired with a babydoll shirt. The majority of the success being found on the little girls... However, if a person wanted to wear leggings, or in this case, stirrup pants (which are in fact a digresion from leggings), I wonder why they wouldn't skip wearing pants all together and just paint their legs the desired color? It would have the same effect.
The thing I am most of afraid of, is that next week I will see loose t-shirts, paired with matching scrunchies to tie up the corner of the t-shirt. This would, as you know, go very nicely with the pair of leggings. And for your workout, don't forget to grab a pair of leg warmers!
I need to be blunt now. Despite what all of you stirrup people think, this is not what you look like wearing stirrup pants--

Stirrup pants do not magically make your backside skinny, and your legs long. If this were the case, they would never have gone out of style.
Instead, you will look something like this.

I'm not saying you're fat, I'm just saying you should stay away from the stirrup pants. There are very few places in this world where stirrups are needed, and on your pants is NOT one of those places.
I'm just warning you. Do not, under any circumstances, pay for, or wear the pants. If you do, I'm afraid I may have to pretend I don't know you.

Update on Brooklyn

I know Brooklyn hasn't hit a major milestone, but I thought I'd document a few things she likes and does now, just for memories sake.

-likes to sing songs with you
-thinks she is the funniest person she knows
-runs to the door when daddy comes home
-will read and read and read books with you until you're completely read out
-likes to find her belly button, and yours
-plays pretend with her baby and other stuffed animals
-likes to be outside
-gives kisses!
-likes to dance
-likes to watch a movie with her ba-ba (bottle)
-likes to look at your teeth
-talks on the cellphone, ONLY when nobody is really on the phone talking to her
-will fold her arms and say prayers
-can say lots of single words, no phrases yet
-will not say "please," but will sign it
-gets SO much attention anytime we go anywhere
-loves her stuffed ducky
-wants to skip sippy cups and move straight to regular cups (no lids)
-loves bathtime
-thinks it's funny when she does rebellious things like drink dirty pool and bath water
-tries to jump off the groud
-likes jumping in her crib
-stashes things all over the house
-likes to unload the dishwasher, regardless of whether it's clean or dirty
-loves making cookies
-likes playing with stickers
-loves attention
-likes singing "popcorn popping" with the hand actions
-does not want anyone on the computer unless it is her
-loves babies
-is not very good at sitting still at church

She'll be 14 months this week. It's hard to believe how big she's getting!

How to Beat the Heat?

I saw this article the other day, "100 ways to beat the heat." Some of them were pretty clever, so I thought I'd share. Of course, some of them were pretty stupid too, and you better believe I'm going to share those...
Most of the ideas were pretty typical "summerish" ideas, like
-go swimming
-nap under a fan
-wash the car

...no creativity there. then we get to some that are good ideas, just things you might not think up off the top of your head.
-take a walk through the mall
-make kool-aid popsicles
-stand under the air vent at walmart

then we cross the line to ridiculous. I couldn't help myself, I had to make comments about each one of these ideas. Feel free to try any of them... just don't tell anyone else.
-freeze your sheets and just before bedtime, make your bed and jump in-- OK, WHO REALLY LIKES MAKING THEIR BED EVERY DAY? ESPECIALLY WHEN THE SHEETS HAVE BEEN UNDERNEATH YOUR FROZEN CHICKEN? THIS CANNOT BE SANITARY. PASS.
-think cool, mind over matter does help-- DUMB. THIS DOES NOT WORK
-watch a documentary about polar bears-- THIS WILL NOT COOL YOU DOWN, IT WILL JUST MAKE YOU JEALOUS
-grab a handful of ice cubes and take bets on which will melt first-- OF COURSE, YOU'RE STANDING OUTSIDE ON THE CONCRETE, WHICH WILL MAKE YOU EVEN MORE HOT. GOOD THINKING
-stand in a bucket and collect your sweat, then water your plants-- RIIIGHT

then there were two that really caught my eye. I might try them, in combination of course.
-put your underwear in the freezer (YES, RIGHT UNDER YOUR SHEETS)
-turn yourself in to the police and sit in a 70 degree jail cell.

make sure you put the frozen underwear back on BEFORE heading to jail.

I ALMOST DIED TODAY

I really did. I almost had a heart attack. And it wasn't even because Brooklyn did something crazy that scared me. It was a bug. But a BIG bug. Remember that post from when we moved in 3 weeks ago? The post with the picture of the un-identifiable bug? Well, today I met it's mom/dad/sibling-- I'm not sure which. I didn't stop to ask it before it tried to eat me.



It had been a quiet morning. A few birds were singing outside. The sun was shining. Brooklyn woke up at her normal time and we ate breakfast like normal. I did a load of laundry and was working on the dishes. I was putting away the clean dishes in the left side of the sink when it saw me and thought, "I want to eat her." As I lifted the clean frying pan (which I later realized was contaminated with bug-ness and therefore needed to be cleaned again), I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Luckily, the tap was on, so I quickly moved it so the water was running on the moving thing. And I say "luckily," because I'm pretty sure the bug was about to run up the side of the sink and leap across the kitchen to my arm, where it would then begin eating me. The water slowed it down enough that I could see what it was that was moving in my sinkload of dishes that shouldn't be moving. It was a relative. A relative of the bug that had managed to climb on the ceiling above the shower. You know how I know it was a relative? Not only did they look very genetically similar, but they both placed themselves in strategic locations (above the person showering and underneath a sinkload of clean dishes) to attack. THIS one though, was 5x as big.

Though the water was running and slowing the bug down, he continued to try to climb out of the sink to get revenge. I made a quick grab for a spatula without taking my eyes of the little devil. The spatula is what saved me, I know it. I used my long-handled spatula to keep him in the sink where the water was weakening him. He got weaker and weaker until I felt safe enough leaving for 2 seconds so I could find a glass jar. I tried to get him to climb into the glass jar but he was so weak he couldn't do it. The spatula came in handy again and I used it to force him inside, afterwhich I covered the jar with a plate. Then the jar and the plate went outside to the deck where they will sit until Tim gets home tonight.

Animal cruelty? I don't think so. Sometimes you have to shoot the bear before it eats you. Or... put the bug in an airtight jar that will sit in the sun all day so it can bake. Yuck. Hey, what were my other options? It might have killed us!

I still don't know what it is... but maybe it's best that way.

Domesticity?

So now that Tim is working everyday... I'm getting bored. Brooklyn and I have a pretty good routine set, but I need some ideas for things for me to do-- preferably ones that don't require me spending any money. That's the catch, I know. For example, I could make baby blankets, but then I would have to buy fabric. I could make cookies and cakes and candy, but then I would have to eat them, and then I would have to pay for lots of liposuction. I could go shopping, but clearly, I would be spending money. I could ... well, you get the idea.

With that said, I need some ideas. I am totally open to becoming more domestic and house-wifey. So what should I do all day?

I am a nerd

I was re-reading some posts from before and realized I have lots of spelling/grammatical mistakes in a lot of them. (now if this doesn't make me sound like a dork, I don't what could). And it was driving me nuts. So I'm sorry. This is my apology to all of you nerds that read any of my posts and the mistakes drive you nuts too. I obviously don't care a whole lot or I would edit the posts instead of making a whole new post about it for you to read and waste your time with... but that's ok!
Here's my excuse. When I'm blogging I am typing as fast as I possibly can because I have limited "Brooklyn nap" time. And when she's not napping and I'm blogging-- well, it's a race to type and publish before she turns the computer off or tries to steal the keyboard/mouse for herself. hmm.. I think I had another excuse too, but since I can't think of it right now... maybe I'll post again later.