first cold

I admit, it is kind of fun to have a cold spell here in North Texas, mostly because I know it won't last.  I'm also for it at the moment because this the first time I've felt cold in two years.  Last winter was so mild, and the winter before that I was pregnant, and I'm never cold and pregnant at the same time.

It's not quite as cold as foretold, which is also ok.  I was not looking forward to hosting an icy Thanksgiving.  Yeah- people are coming here, but no worries because I'm not in charge of the turkey- only the  bread and veggies.

D'Juan

I dreamed of another lost friend last night .... He was sweet as ever, but his name in my dream was "D'Juan" which seemed odd even in dream land. It was nice to see you again, it must have been the James Taylor and Olivia Newton John I've come across this past week.

Sweet Baby James

Was listening to James Taylor in the car today.  Remembering Hill Billy Mini Golf, Anna, and the less rule bound folks I was hanging out with the summer of 94.  

Dreaming

I dreamed last night of a long lost...  He asked why he wasn't satisfied in his life. Even though I haven't heard from or about this person in many years I gave his this advice... it's more fulfilling  to complete something important that needs to be done than it is to just do what you want all the time.  So spake the fortune cookie.  So- suck it up, and do something important.

Just preparing to vacuum (after D already picked up all the toys) got me out of breath and my heart pounding, (not from excitement, trust me.)  Oh- 8.5 months pregnant, I'm so over you.

I've got some kind of allergy/cold/flu crud.  Boo!

Baby Lailah, if you were waiting for me to finish your layette, I have half a bootie left- feel free to make your appearance any time now!

god head

In the past each time I had a dream I couldn't stop thinking about the next day or longer I would write it down so I wouldn't forget- so I could think about it later, or other people could think about it with me.  The I stopped writing things down- what a lazy habit to not write things down.  :0)

Here's the dream:  There was a scientific equation.  It was something commonly known, well accepted and simple.  I don't remember what the equation was, but something like E=mc2.

There was also an archeological discovery which was making news.  It was an enormous head of a statue of an ancient god.  Just the head was over two stories tall.  It was an unknown god.  In the eye of the statue a complex equation was carved.  Many linguists, cryptologists, scientists and mathematicians tried for many years to break the code and understand the equation.

Finally someone broke the code, and also understood that by combining the ancient complex equation with the modern simple equation there would be a massive leap in the course of human technology.  We would suddenly be far more advanced than we had ever dreamed of being.

End of dream.

So when I woke up I thought about implications of such an event.  What power might that person who broke the code possess?  How does the fact that the ancient code was written in the eye of a god factor into the story?

When I told D. his first question was, "What was the technological advance?"  Interestingly I understood that was a detail that wasn't actually important to the 'message' of the dream. However, it is very interesting to imagine what the advance could have been . . . space travel, advances in food production, longer lives . . .

Imagine what it could be, and imagine the one person who might have control over it world wide.

Imagine a false god giving information to a false prophet.

Imagine an antichrist with the future of mankind in his hands.

Just a note for posterity:  Disembodied heads- even if they are toys or ornaments creep me out. One of my former co-workers collects faces/heads and hands.  She has them hanging all over her house.  It's like a bunch of people looking at you and trying to grab you through the wall all the time.

We got everything moved into the house from storage last week.  There is no order here.  Once again there are boxes all over the place and I've run out of motivation to find places to put the stuff inside them.  Speaking of the stuff inside them . . . who has seven cake plates?  That would be me. I haven't even made seven cakes in the past 3 years.  I have six vacuum cleaners (I'm trying to remedy that situation) five blenders (I already got rid of two) two crystal trays, two beverage dispensers and several orderve platters, trays and multi tiered thingies. I have four or five sets of plates.  I am more excited about my two toasters because they are both pretty awesome for different reasons.  This is what happens when you walk around the store registering for wedding gifts willy-nilly.  I didn't think people would actually buy it all.

My exciting plans for the day include laundry, dishes, sorting and unpacking . . . chasing the toddler the whole time.

developmental delay

When EJ went for her 15 month checkup the doctor asked about her vocabulary.  The question was "Can your baby say 2 or more words that are not names of pets or family members?"  I said, "Yes."

Another question was, "When you throw or roll a small (tennis size) ball to your baby does he/she throw it back or does he/she hand it back?"  I said she hands it back.

The doctor said, "She doesn't throw it?"  
I said, "No, she either hands it back or kicks it."
Oh, she kicks it too?  That's good.  
Yes.
But no throwing?
No.
She should be throwing things by now. (Apparently this is a developmental delay.)
Well, I haven't really encouraged throwing things, I think it's a bad habit.
Uh- well maybe she could throw things outside.
Maybe.

I see she's starting to talk though?
Yes.
What does she say?
She says, "ball" and "shoe"  and "Noni"
What's "Noni?" 
Her grandmother.
No, that doesn't count. Does she say anything else?
She says "doggie."
Do you have a dog?
Yes.
I don't think that counts either.
OK.
Anything else?
I can't think of anything.

At the end of the appointment he says, "Okay, bye-bye!"
I say, "Oh, she says "bye" and "hi" and "good girl" and "no."
Well, you've just multiplied her vocabulary!

When we got home I realized she also says "apple" which means she hungry, or she sees food or drink of any kind.

Lately she's been saying "mo-mo"  I don't know what that means.

Sometimes she squeals, "ME! ME! ME! while we are praying and says, "Amen!" at the end.

Under the category of things that "don't count" she says, Mama, Dada, Noni, Bish (Buzz), Ouie (Louie), Owe-ee (Eowyn) and gogie (doggie).

Typical conversation with EJ:

Me: You want to give me a kiss?
EJ: No
Me: Are you a good girl?
EJ: Good girl.
Me: Can you say 'Amen'?
EJ: Me
EJ: Apple?
Me: Can you say 'Please'?
EJ: No
Me: Ok.

Bish-Bish

Last night I couldn't find Buzz to put him in his box.  I figured he just wanted to sleep outside.  This morning Louie was out barking at the neighbor's lawnmower. That's kind of strange, because usually he just alerts Buzz that there is something to be barked at, and Louie comes back in for a nap.

EJ was sleeping in.  I was trying to sleep in too, but Louie . . . the neighbor's lawn mower . . . 

When I got up I saw Louie sitting outside EJ's door, when he saw me he started whining and scratching at the door.  EJ was awake; she was in her crib squealing and giggling.  When I opened the door Buzz came racing out, followed by Louie. EJ was standing in crib saying, "Bish, Bish, Bish!"

"Bish" had found a bed under the crib and gotten shut in the baby's room all night.  I guess that's a good place for him.  EJ seemed to like it.

It's almost over

Tomorrow is my last day at work. I quit. I have a lot to do, but instead of doing it, I'm blogging about all of it.  I should be grading papers and organizing my grade book, marking tests, reading essays ... Cleaning my office, sorting though old papers.

I spend a lot of time avoiding those things and instead I troll Pinterest, and think about what I would like to do while I'm not working.  (Also avoiding thoughts of what I have to do.)

I have to pack up move and clean my apartment.  What a mess. My uncle looked at the new house and said "look at all the space!"  I know we have more than enough junk to fill it. No kidding

I need to decide where everything will go in the house, move everything around, clean, sort, organize...

Then there is storage and there we start all over again. Move, clean, sort, organize, find places... 

Blah.

Moving. ... Moving ... Moving!

The move has begun.  We are moving into Daniel's house.  He bought it when he graduated from college, and it has been a bachelor pad since then.  When we got married he came to my apartment and left the house as a rental property to his friends.  We were saving some money to pay off credit cards.  Now it is time to move back to the house and the condition of that place was terrible.  There is a jungle in the back yard, dirt and grime on every surface, a family of rats in the garage and general nastiness everywhere.  A bunch of people came over to clean yesterday and most of the situation has been remedied, but there is still a lot more to do.  We made it through first cleaning, now carpet cleaning and air duct cleaning, yard cleaning, second cleaning, packing, moving, apartment cleaning so that we can move on to unpacking, arranging and LIVING.

Moving is hard.

lazy days of summer ...

These are my "lazy days" of summer.  MIL says two toddlers are better than one, so as long as she has the cousin she prefers to take EJ too.  So, I get up at 6:30 and send baby and daddy on their way and I go back to bed.  I thought about not going back to bed this morning, but the bed won.  Then I thought that I should get up at 9:00, but the bed is really strong, so I finally won at about 9:45.  How great is that?

I got up and had a bowl of Coco Puffs, which I didn't have to share. (Not sharing food is such a rare occurrence these days it is notable.)  Then I spent 30+ minutes mindlessly looking at Pintrest on the iPad that is soon going the way of my lazy days (bye-bye.)

Blogging, howering, Bible reading and off to a meeting at work to say again bye-bye.

It was a hard decision, but I think it is the right one.  Our budget will be tight, but being home for EJ and the newbie will be great and having time to get settled in "the big house" will help me to feel more relaxed (I think.)

I'm sure not getting much done by way of packing around here.  C'est la vie.

Strawberries

Symbol of purity and sensuality, fertility and abundance, humility and modesty. The strawberry's fruit is made the symbol of perfect goodness because of its delicious flavor and fragrance. Strawberries have been associated with goodness and purity in Christian history. The strawberry was once believed to be a holy symbol of the Virgin Mary. In paintings of Mary, many artists used strawberries in the detail of the picture or as border.

Strawberries also symbolize love, happiness, and success. The shape of a strawberry is usually in the shape of a heart, giving it it's love symbol. Also, green means eternal, or eternity, so sometimes a strawberry can mean eternal love, happiness, or success.

http://symbolism.wikia.com/wiki/Strawberry

I like it.

I had a dream the other night that I was wearing a dress and I checked my legs to see how long my leg hair was (this is a typical anxiety dream for me) and when I looked at the back of my leg there was a really-really-really long one, which I pulled out.  When I looked at it though, it was actually an oak leaf.

Of course I thought, 'What the Heck!  Why was there an oak leaf growing out of my leg?' and 'This thing is huge! (I measured in my dream and it was about 8 inches long) How could I not notice this growing on my leg?'  Also, it was dead and dried and crunchy, so I knew it had been there a long time.

Is this just some commentary on how little I shave my legs?

I didn't think so, so I looked a few things up in the dream dictionary.

I admit that most of the time when I look things up in the dream dictionary I wonder where these symbol interpretations come from- some of them are so random and contradictory.

When I looked up the elements of this dream- I felt exactly the same thing, but maybe there's something to it . . .

I went to dreammoods.com.  Actually I went to Google and put in "dream tree parts on body" and I  got to dreammoods.com which informed me about trees in dreams, and parts of body in dreams, but nothing about when your body parts grow tree parts.

Here's what it said:

Oak Tree 
To see an oak tree in your dream symbolizes longevity, stability, strength, tolerance, wisdom, and prosperity. You have built a solid foundation for success in some endeavor.

Okay, so that's good.

To see a withered or dead tree in your dream indicates that your hopes and desires have been dashed. You are experiencing some instability and setback in your life. 

Not so good ehh?

To see your legs in your dream indicate that you have regained confidence to stand up and take control again. It also implies progress and your ability to navigate through life.

Good

If you are a woman and dream that your legs are hairy, then it suggests that you are too domineering. You may be overly controlling in a relationship.

Geeze

There were a bunch of baby dedications on mother's day at church.  For each baby they would say his/her name and the meaning of the name:
 Daniel means "God is my judge"

and less inspiring:

Shannon means "Little old wise one"

and then:

Eowyn means "Delightful war horse"

"She was also known as the Lady of the Shield-arm in recognition of her triumph over the Witch-king."

Just saying.

Happy weekend underdogs

DSM

Last week a friend asked if I wanted to go see "a musical" she had free tickets and was proposing a girls night out.    I said, "sure."

Yes, typical of me not asking, "what is the name?" or "where is it?" or "what's it about?" No, none of that,  I just heard "free" and said "okay."

We drove to Dallas, we went to Fair Park, she handed me a ticket for a Dallas Summer Musical Performance.  At that point I asked, "What are we seeing?"  Dallas Summer Musicals are, as far as I know, the "premier" shows in the DFW area.  I've never been to a DSM show because they are kind of pricey  and fancy- they are usually Broadway or Off Broadway shows.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert is showing this week.  I've heard of it, but I had no clue what it was about.  I vaguely thought of it as a comedy- that was all I knew.

I can describe that show as beyond outrageous.  I actually really liked the message.  The costumes . . . WOW.  The divas floating down from the ceiling . . . the giant glittery stiletto on the LED covered bus . . .  MacArthur's Park  and the cupcakes. . . I don't have the time or the words to discuss it all.

I recommend it to a crazy tall blonde with a microphone and a camera.  I don't know where that footage will end up, on the cutting floor I hope.

Awesome teacher

I just sent all my students to the library to "research" WWII.

Welcome end of term. The new session (part time for one month) starts Monday.

In other news, forget what I said about the dishes yesterday. They are All dirty now.

Dish problem

I have a problem with the dishes. The problem is they are dirty, and I have no inclination to wash them. It's not as bad as a few weeks ago when literally every spoon, fool, plate and bowl in the house was dirty, but its close. Ugh.

ESL

"For example, some sports are an expression for certain communities to show their ability for doing some thing. For example, Sumo in Japan are a good movement for fat people to earn money."

That is not where I was expecting that sentence to go.

back yard bliss

The majority of my blog views are from a country I don't recognize.  My excuse it that it is a tiny map, and I'm not particularly good with former soviet states.

Today I spent an hour plus sitting in the sun in the back yard.  After I threatened my small dog with death and he shut his barky trap- I could hear the leaves in the breeze and the birds rustling their feathers.  I could hear a woodpecker high up in the trees and I enjoyed the sounds of silence and two fuzzy little creatures sniffing around the yard.

I look forward to having a yard to dream about.  This is really the first yard I've rented.  I don't see much hope for a rented yard.  I can't dream of fairy gardens and vegetable gardens when I know they will only be short term.

My baby girl's first birthday was so sweet, and editing and printing and posting the pictures in on my list of things to do today while she spends the day with her grandmother.

Time to get started.

Fat Tuesday

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday- truthfully, all Tuesdays are Fat for me.  Today is the first day of Lent, but I'm postponing until Friday because the "fast" is sugar.  The goal is to avoid the most sugar I can.  When I tracked my calories I realized how much sugar I have each day- ALOT and that's without deserts and candy.  There's just sugar or high fructose corn syrup in almost everything!  So avoid as much as possible . . . after Valentine's Day. :)

Pinterest groupies

I'm not really sure why, but suddenly I get about 12 hits a day on my Pinterest food board.  I don't know how it got into a mainstream, but it looks like lots of peeps love it.  Maybe it's the vegetarians.

Most of my boards have 41 followers.  I suppose those are the people who just followed because Facebook asked them too.  (Some people are such followers, like me!)  Yesterday I had 51 food board followers.  Today I have 71 food board followers . . .  weird.

The good part is that when someone pins a recipe I am reminded that I did want to cook that . . . so I printed out a few of my recipes to cook tonight.

Like this one: http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2006/10/egg-muffins-revisited-again.html

Egg Muffins Revisited 
(Makes 12 muffins, recipe created by Kalyn with inspiration from The South Beach Diet book.

Ingredients:
15 eggs (for silicone muffin pans, use 12 eggs for metal muffin tins or individual silicone cups. You can use less egg yolks and more egg white if you prefer.)
1-2 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional, if you have food allergies or don't have Spike, use any type of seasoning blend that's good with eggs.)
1-2 cups grated low fat cheese (I like sharp cheddar or a blend of cheddar/Jack cheese, use less cheese if using meat)
Optional, but highly recommended, 3 green onions diced small.
Optional: chopped veggies such as blanched broccoli, red pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, etc. (Using veggies will reduce the fat content)
Optional: diced Canadian bacon, lean ham, or crumbled cooked turkey sausage

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Use regular or silicone muffin pan, 12 muffin size. If using silicone pan, spray with nonstick spray. If using regular muffin pan, put two paper liners into each slot, then spray liner with nonstick spray.

In the bottom of the muffin cups layer diced meat, if using, vegetables, if using, cheese and green onions. You want the muffin cups to be about 2/3 full, with just enough room to pour a little egg around the other ingredients. Break eggs into large measuring bowl with pour spout, add Spike, and beat well. (I used to add a bit of half and half or milk, but lately I like the way they turn out without it.) Pour egg into each muffin cup until it is 3/4 full. I like to stir slightly with a fork. Bake 25-35 minutes until muffins have risen and are slightly browned and set.

Muffins will keep more than a week in the refrigerator. Egg muffins can be frozen and reheated, but I like them best when they are just refrigerated. For best results, thaw in refrigerator before reheating. Microwave on high about 1-2 minutes to reheat.

skater girl wannabe

I try not to regret things.  If it has already past, let it go.  One thing I do regret though is not learning how to skateboard when I was a kid. Every time I see a skateboarder I think, that looks like fun, easy transportation.  Not that I would have wanted to be a skater chick- just utilitarian.  You don't have to strap on anything, you can carry it with you and it looks fun.  Now when I look at young people skateboarding  it looks hard to balance and turn and not fall off and faceplant. 

I admit I wouldn't be overly sad if it were 70 degrees  and sunny outside tomorrow.