stymied once again

I'm going to attempt to post something today, but I've got to say once again I'm running low on inspiration.  I think it has to do with looking at my calendar for October. . . not enough blank space.  It saps my energy and focus just by looking at the lines of blue text.  Gotta shake that off and enjoy one of my favorite months.  That's the plan.

Anyway, here's what I've got. . .

Have you ever been concerned that I'm a little too strange to have an impressionable daughter in the house with me allllll day every day?  Well this story will give you more to worry about.  ;)  I don't want Miley to be whiny about every scrape and bump. . . these happen a lot to her.  She's clumsy.  She must get that from me, huh Dave?   Anyway, so instead of making a big deal out of every boo boo, which is a term I don't actually use, insert tongue in cheek. . . I offer to bite it for her. . . yep, bite whatever ails her.  She says ok and I give her little arms or legs a nibble to make the ouchie better.  She doesn't think this is strange at all.  In fact, I was telling Dave that my knee was hurting and Miley immediately said 'oh mommy,' oh yeah, she calls me mommy now and it's the cutest. . . 'what happened?'  I explained my sad story of genetically bad knees garnered from my dad and she came over and bit it for me.  I didn't even have to ask her.  And then she said 'you're welcome.'  Yep, she bit my knee. . . and it feels a lot better now.  I was right, biting works.

I received an email from e.l.f. the online makeup store, which I heart, last week.  It had an article in it talking about how thick and full eyebrows were in this season and how to make your eyebrows the right kind of thickness.  What the?  Have you ever stepped back and thought our society might be incurably ridiculous?  Why are we concerned with eyebrow thickness?  Who was the person whose job it was to write that article?  I mean, I guess it's good that they have work, but come on.  Talk about a waste.  I have this same problem when I see the Rachel Zoe Project on TV.  Bananas.

Found a new site with lots of great graphics, particularly old spooky looking pics.  After finding this site, I added a dozen more projects to my Halloween list.  Not the greatest idea, but I couldn't help myself.  Check it out HERE.

I think the new Tinker Bell movie is great.  You know we've already watched it multiple times in our house.  We're fans.  I actually think they are cute and am impressed with my daughter's great taste in films.  ;)  They always have really nice music in them too.  Double perk.  I really do fear the day she might request one of those horrible looking Barbie fiasco films.  Ugh.  I'm hoping to instill in her a revulsion for that kind of stuff.  ;)

I'm thinking my Halloween stuff is on the edge of too scary.  Miley doesn't seem to mind.  I already have some stuff out because it's new and I just didn't want to find a place to stow it for a week.  That will be the challenge after Halloween.  Anyway, Mie seems fine pointing out the big scary spiders and telling me the parts of the skull.  Dave thinks this is an excellent anatomy lesson and goes right along with her first word of gleba.  Here comes science camp, huh hon?  ;)  Is this wrong?  She even thinks the scary crow is 'cute' and wants to hold it.  I guess her not being afraid of any of it makes me nervous.  Weird.  Not that I want her to be, it's just that I don't have smiling pumpkins or cartoony ghosts holding candy that would be more fitting of the title 'cute' and her nonplussed attitude.  You know how I don't like Santa sneaking into our house. . . and yet I have skulls and such hanging around. . .?  I think I may be a little crazier than even I realized.  ummm, oh well, I guess it's too late now.

I put away the evidence of summer we had in the backyard, you know, thinking it was inches away from October and Autumn.  Namely, Mie's pool.  And guess what, this week it'll be 104 degrees not one, but every single day.  I've got great timing.

So we bought a couple ceiling fans at the end of summer, because we're super on top of things and thought, hey we'll need these. . . umm next year, or this week as it turns out.  We weren't thinking when we built our house and only put fans in two of the rooms.  We had the happy opportunity to install our first fan together last year in Mie's play room, at night after she went to bed. . . with less than adequate light since we had to turn off the electricity.  Yeah, didn't think that one through.  Turns out, we don't work well together with our arms held above our heads in the heat.  Didn't learn our lesson, tried again a few weeks ago in my super hot office.  Man, that was fun.  So fun in fact that you'll notice the last fan still in it's box on the dining room floor.  You might have seen it in some of my pics.  Yeah, no plans for it's removal yet.  ;)  Mie thinks it makes a good bench.  It goes in her room so maybe I'll let her make the call.  I could paint the box red to help it blend. 

F. . . as in

Failure.  Apparently I'm afraid of it.  That's what Dave informed me after reading an article about birth order and how it affects your personality.  Typical first.  Oh and I'm clumsy, but that isn't a birth order issue just another insight Dave let loose this week.  Thanks hon.  ;)  Maybe I'll tackle that issue in another post, but for now I am going to expose the first idea. . . the f word, (which I almost used as the title to the post but thought that sent the wrong message). . . failure.

Here's the thing, I've been working on Halloween stuff, (as previously mentioned in the last random post) and had the great idea to do a sort of tutorial on how I made something.  I took pictures and everything.  Wait for it. . . . . brains.  I'm sure you'll all want some too.

How to make brains. . . the inorganic way

• Step number one. . . Make brain base.  I use tin foil as filler for many of my projects, especially when clay is involved and I don't want to use all my clay for one item.  Here it is loosely crumpled in a slightly brain shaped mass. . .

So simple even a child can do it. . .

Unless she gets distracted by singing or playing the drums. . .

• Step number 2. . . Brain covering.  I used a can of insulating foam to create the brain texture.  Spray it in a squiggly pattern or anyway you'd like, it's your brain.  You shouldn't let your child help with this part.  Use rubber gloves, and even protective eye wear if you're a crazy aim.  Do this step outdoors on a covered surface.  It smells.  It's toxic.  Perfect for nasty old brains.  This stuff is sticky and messy which makes it fun and challenging to use.  Follow instructions on can for safety.  I think I may be really good at writing tutorials, look how responsible and safe that step was. . . ;)

It dries to pliant in about an hour and cures hard some time after that.  I didn't check mine again until the next day so I'm going to say overnight.  It also expands as all good insulating foam should.  One can yields about 7 decent sized brains, with some experimentation thrown in there too.

• Step number three. . . TADAAAAH!  Carve off excess.  Paint your brain as desired and seal it with the proper glossy or matte finish to suit your taste.  I like the yellowish color of the foam, but it definitely needed a little shading in the recesses.  I also like a good matte brain, looking slightly old and dried out, but with a little glossy in the recesses for contrast.  But that's just me.  Display proudly.  Freak out children and neighbors at your leisure.  Reenact that freaky scene in Hannibal, that I wouldn't recommend watching to anyone, but since I did once it's stuck in my brain foooorreevvveerrr.

• Confession. . . OK, I didn't make it to step TADAAAAH!  I experienced a minor setback or failure.  Sad.  My trial run worked out and dried in the delightful brain texture I hoped for, but my brain on foil run smoothed out into mediocrity.  What a waste.  I didn't cry though, or even delete these pictures to hide the evidence of my failed attempt.  See Dave, I'm not phobic.

• Problem solving. . . I'm not scared of failure, I just don't accept it as the final outcome of most anything.  Maybe it's denial.  Plan B. . . I'm thinking the heat played a part in it's demise.  I'll be trying this again, and probably again after that, we'll see. . . but if you don't see any further proof of this then you can assume the f word won on this one.  And, I'll be ok with that and continue living my life with a dark smudge on my record I'll conveniently shove in the back of the filing cabinet, and then revisit this post and delete it.  I am organized and thorough, typical first.  ;)

when we're helping

we're happy. . . and so she was. . .

Yes, she knows what she is holding in the bag (do you?) and she's happy about it nonetheless.  In fact it was her idea to carry it around for her Daddy.  She's a helper.  When she saw me putting these pictures on the blog she informed me that she was holding poop in that bag.  So proud.

 Dave doesn't have many chores at home, but this one is definitely his. . . and I guess he needed some help with such a big job, so he enlisted his daughter.  Hmmm, nice hon.  It's the kind of thing I can put in her baby book. . . first chore, dog poop clean up assistant.  Precious.

a little of this

a little of that. . .

Neutralize ~ That is my goal in my living room.  It goes against everything I am normally drawn to, but it'll be good for me.  Here's the plan, you've all seen my bright orange rug and chair in my living room.  Yeah, I know, why would I buy something that is so inflexible?  Well, that's me.  I can't buy neutral.  I used to have a bright red couch.  I like bold.  It's a problem, when you like change like I do.  Well, instead of constantly buying bold and then having to redecorate as often as Dave will let me (which is not nearly often enough) I'm going to systematically remove the boldness for blandness.  OK, maybe not blandness but neutrals.  It will take some time though, another of Dave's caveats.  I can customize neutrals with less furniture being replaced.  It's a little painful for me, because the shopping is not easy.  Plain and I don't really mesh.  I'm a minimalist sure, but that is more in the stuff category and not the look of the stuff.  I don't know.  That's my dilemma. 

The change ~ I felt it a couple of weeks ago, but thinking that nature may be teasing us I didn't want to jinx anything by mentioning it. . . however now I believe we are entering a new season.  No longer are we hot followed by hot, now we are hot followed by warm or even cool.  Imagine that.  It's a nice change.  Like a normal summer elsewhere.  I've even seen some yellow leaves, and not of the dried out dying unnaturally variety.  I love fall.  I feel more relaxed.  Maybe it's the sitting outside at night without overheating that does it.  Or the smell.  I think I can already smell Autumn.  That extra proof I needed was Miley and I getting sick.  See it is getting cooler here.  No fun, but now I know we should probably go get some flu shots.  Even less fun.

Sticky fingers ~  Miley was playing with something in her hands, I couldn't tell what so I asked her what she had on her fingers.  She replied, boogies.  OK.  Good to know.  I mentioned she was sick right.  ;)  Now I tell her that boogies live in her nose and don't enjoy visitors of the finger variety.

Gray or Grey ~ Last year I searched everywhere for a brown sweater.  Ok, maybe I was more picky than that, but I couldn't find anything that fit the picture in my head.  Oh and I couldn't find anything in brown either.  It was fall, what the?  OK, so this year I'm totally loving gray and want to buy every gray sweater I see, or gray anything for that matter.  I must be trendy this year, because gray is everywhere.  Which kind of makes me hesitant to buy it, yeah no, I still have.  I think karma has forgiven me and thrown me a bone this season fashion wise.  Thank you, I hate getting stiffed.

Dark ages ~ Our modem died.  Kaput.  Five long happy years and then nothing.  I pushed all the buttons trying to resuscitate the dumb thing, but it just would take.  Last breath and then sad little red blinking light.  I didn't have internet all day.  One whole day, of 'what do I do now'. . . 'oh I could, nope, or I could, nope I would still need the internet for that too'. . . after one day of withdrawals I woke up not even thinking about using the computer.  It wasn't even a temptation, and then Dave bought a modem and here I am, sucked back in.  Bummer.

Five years ~ That's how long it's been since the last Tennis Shoes among the Nephites book came out, and now he finally drags out another and it's not even the conclusion. . .?!!  What a lame-o.  Dave made me read the dang books so he gets some of the blame for it too.  Do I read it?  I don't even remember the story anymore.  What a pain.

Pricked ~ Finally got an allergy test.  Don't know what good it will do when it comes back that I'm allergic to Dave.  ;)  That's just my guess.  We'll see.

PB & J, BFFs ~ Not so much.  Miley finds the combination uncomfortable.  I fix her a pb & j sandwich and cut it into four pieces.  I don't know why, I just like the look of little sandwiches or something.  It doesn't matter, just background info for my story.  Anyway, she separates each sandwich and places all the jelly saturated pieces on one side of her plate and all the peanut butter pieces on the other.  They don't mix.  They don't get eaten together.  I've been making these for her for some time now and have yet to entertain the idea of giving her open face sandwiches like she obviously prefers.  Once again, I don't know why.

Come in threes ~ Breakdowns usually happen this way, though I'm hoping ours will stop at two.  I hate replacing crap, and even more expensive crap I mostly don't care about.  First the stupid modem and now my drip system regulator machine thing.  I don't know what to call it. . . oh wait, dead.  Couldn't take the heat.  Quitter.  Unfortunately we can't live without one, or I should say our plants couldn't. . . my grass however is unfazed.  ;)

Chopsticks ~ We eat Chinese food a lot, but I usually make or give Mie something else to eat because well I didn't think she would eat it. . . and she wouldn't have until now.  Now she's a fan of all things Chinese, well probably more the Americanized version of course.  We're very proud.  She's not using her chopsticks, but she has figured out how to get rice onto her fork to her mouth.  It will be on the menu more often.

Progress ~ . . . as in none.  Starting to get nervous about not having enough assembled or anything made for Halloween.  I've made NOTHING.  I am so behind.  It's like that really depressing Halloween when all three of us were really sick and all I made was a quarantined sign that said we didn't have treats for the beggars (which totally didn't work by the way, stupid kids can't read).  I hope it doesn't come to that again.  Only one new prop.  Sadness.  Pity me, I need some pity here.  I hate it when people say they didn't have enough time to do something.  We all have the same amount of time, it's just about priorities and how we choose to use it.  I just need to bump my Halloween above all the rest of the crap.  No problem, consider it done.  Sorry to all the rest of the crap, and if you are affected by the crap I just downgraded.  ;)

Metaphors ~ Miley told me the other day while eating lunch that she had poop in her hand.  She had a handful of food.  I can't recall what it was we were eating, some cottage cheese or something like that.  She insisted it was poop.  I have never called any food poop, where in the world did that come from?  I'm thinking it's her Daddy's loud complaints about how gross poopy diapers are.  Gross = poop, therefore poop = food she doesn't want to eat.  She's so ready for her SATs.

I think I'll leave it on that delightful topic. . . right Tiff?  *wink*

musical monday

accessorize

My girl is truly a girly-girl.  She loves to get dressed, re-dressed, and of course. . . accessorize.  Here are some of the things I've caught on film, which by the way is getting increasingly harder to do.  She's fast, and she doesn't want her picture taken anymore.  Bummer.

Anything can and will be worn as a hat. . .

Shoes are the go to foot accessory, but other things can be substituted. . . this also works as a hat.

A swim suit must be worn or at least tried on every day. . .

And finally her favorite accessory are these bracelets that Tiff gave her.  She wears them everywhere, all day long.  I'm not exaggerating, she needs them to change her diaper, take a bath, go to town, take a nap, they are always on hand or arm I mean. . . (even when she's sick, which is why she looks so blank in this picture)

To prove how much she wears them, here's a closeup. . . they used to be turquoise, but she's worn the color right off of them.  I guess it's time to buy her more jewelry.  Oh Daddy. . .

to you, from us

teaser, pleaser?

 (I was told that no one reads blog posts and instead just looks at pictures, so here is the obligatory picture. . . and if you read all this crazy text there may be another one at the bottom. . . that has nothing to do with the post itself either ;)

So you've all been wanting to be involved with our awesome stack of paperwork.  I knew it.  You're so helpful and generous.  Did I mention charming and beautiful?  Ok, a little thick. . . but I think you might like helping out with this one . .

Here's the deal, we have to come up with a 'profile teaser'. . . a little tag line (max 255 characters) that will accompany our mugshot on the screen listing hundreds of potential adoptive families.  Beside our awesome pic this is a chance to say 'hey look at me'.  Maybe I should just use that.  hmmm?  Here's the strange sample teaser they offer on the site for inspiration. . .

Sample:
We are so blessed to have been able to adopt our precious son. He will grow up knowing what a wonderful person her birthmom is and how she chose "life" for him because she loves him.

That's verbatim, yep, they even forgot what gender their baby was halfway through it.  I think we can do better.  I can't remember what we used last time, but it wasn't serious like the sample.  It was more us.

What do you think?  Any suggestions?  Maybe I'll offer a reward for your help, and by help I mean useful in some way.  Though I'm told that the best reward for service is eternal perspective.  I guess I'll let you be the judge on that one.  ;)

(Here is another picture, as promised, for reading a whole post, thanks for sticking it out.  Have a nice day. )

experiencing flashbacks

of an unpleasant nature, unfortunately.

I thought about going back through the archives here and looking for past rants about our issues with the Family Services office, but that was too depressing an endeavor. . . I remember all too well the problems.  And now I'm feeling a little deja-vuish.

First let me start off by saying that the staff at LDS Family Services is all new there.  We met with a new counselor to be over our adoption process this time around.  New secretaries too.  They even have new procedures and a new way to do all the paperwork on the computer.  If you ask me, new includes a lot of kinks and a lot of repetition. . . and a lot of me doing their work for them.

We were asked what problems we encountered last time around so they could make improvements.  I happily obliged with my recommendations.  We were assured that they had things well under control and that the office was stable and organized now.  I decided to believe that, but not without a huge grain of salt.

Here we are again. . . everyone I talk to in the office seems confused about something or another and constantly have to ask someone else in the office. . . I don't think my questions are that tricky, needless to say not inspiring a lot of faith.  Their lists of required paperwork are incomplete or in some cases over-complete (if there can be such a thing) with stuff we don't actually need to do.  Thanks for the extra work on that one.  Getting anyone on the phone who knows anything is like pulling teeth. . . . who knows maybe they have everything under control and this is just what organization looks like?  yeah right.  Flashbacks to 2007.  Freaky.

I don't know how much I shared about the process last time around so I thought I'd give you a little run down here so you'll understand the time frame we're working on.

First. . . Background checks, recommendations, basic paperwork, contracts, first payment.  Once all of that gets in (and the background check takes some time) the board reviews the information and OKs us as a proposed adoptive couple, which isn't the same as approved for adoption, that comes at the end.

Second. . . We have to sign all sorts of releases of information from medical to religious.  They have to know everything.  We also have to provide all our government documents of birth through death.  Luckily the death part hasn't come or I'd have to shell out another $20 for that certified document.  Family histories, financial papers, insurance, employment, physicals, proof of immunizations. . . including Miley.  We are all involved this time around.

Third. . . There is paperwork concerning each of us individually about our emotional and mental well being.  Questions to be answered, and what we think of our spouse's emotional and mental well being.  On top of that we have interviews separate and together with our counselor on the same stuff we filled out all the paperwork on.  This step also has the hardest piece of paperwork to fill out and that's the birth conditions form.  You have to go through an intensely lengthy list of conditions and say what you are willing to accept or risk in a baby and their birth parents.

Fourth. . . Our house has to be inspected to make sure it is safe.  It's called a home study.  They come and check everything and ask a billion more questions about 'what ifs' and what''s our plan to bubble wrap our house.  And then we have to prove that we can and aren't just talk.  More paperwork is done describing our house in detail, our neighborhood, our area, including distances to fire hydrants, fire and police stations, schools, etc. etc. 

Fifth. . . Are you getting tired of reading this run down yet?  I am.  OK, so after we pass all that stuff and are still in the clear we start the paperwork that will be our profile on the computer for potential birthparents to peruse.  This is a lot of info about us, q & a's, a letter describing our family, our thoughts about adoption, hobbies and interests (which are apparently two different things and listed likewise, I'm sure I screwed up that section), and photos.  The board looks through all of our stuff from beginning to end and OKs it.  They make suggestions about phrasing and photo choices too, but once they are happy we get. . .

Sixth. . . a letter in the mail saying we're approved to adopt, which means our profile is online and active for anyone to see.  Here we wait, but they don't like to call it that.  We have the option of advertising($$) further with other online resources, which is what we did last time and which is how Kristel found us.

Seventh. . . you thought we were done right?  Nope.  Now we have to fulfill 10 credit hours of education.  We can be chosen at any time, but before the adoption we need to have all 10 completed.  These come from meetings held monthly on adoption topics, or adoption related books with which you can submit book reviews.

Eighth. . . wait for it, I'm going to get to ten.  ;)  We'll still have meetings with our counselor in the interim.  At this point in the process we are waiting for the right birthparent to find us and choose us.  If the wait exceeds a certain amount of time, we have to pay to have our home study updated and that dumps us back at number 4 again.

Ninth. . . Once chosen, our profile is taken down from the site.  We are not available to anyone else and we wait for a baby to be born.  A short time after birth there is a lot more paperwork to be signed and a big check to be written and then we're placed with a beautiful baby.

and Tenth. . . We still have more interviews and house visits from our counselor for the next three or so months to check up on us.  We hire a lawyer, fill out more legal paperwork and after six months find ourselves in court finalizing an adoption.  The laws are different for each state, but that's the short version of how it works if the baby is born in Utah, without other legal issues.

Now you're wondering where we are right now. . . after a few months of work. . . number 2.  That's right.  It takes forever.  The thing is, I just barely got through to them to check on all the things from No. 1, and something else was added to the list that wasn't there before.  I just don't trust that they know what they are doing, they'll have to overcome my past experience to gain on that one.  Cue the flashback.

Now I don't want to leave you all disheartened with our lack of progress, so I'll let you know that I do have quite a bit of numbers 3 & 5 done. . . since we've done this before I can skip ahead and be prepared.  We also have some education credits, so mark off some of 7.  I'm supposed to get an email this week with the form to fill out for number 4.  Feeling better?  Yeah well, nobody said this was going to be easy.

we're celebrating you, brother

Happy happy birthday from all of us!

dark thoughts

In German (and since that's what I am I'm going with it) one of the meanings of my name is dark. . . and I kinda think it's fitting.  Beyond my awesome tan I mean.  ;)  Other than my whole 'i love halloween' thing, I kind of have a tendency to entertain devious-like thoughts.

For instance, you know those I'm-proud-of-my-procreating-ability sticker families on the back window of all minivans?  I'm pretty sure at some point I'm going to take a family member off of one and switch it with another from the van nearby.  Musical family members anyone?  I don't know why I want to do it, but there it is always a temptation when I see them. . . which is pretty much all the time.  Be warned, your little johnny may be hitch hiking on another mini van if you park by me.  I just want to broaden his horizons a little. 

I have a thing with Santa Claus.  I don't like him.  Well I like him in movies, but that's the extent of our relationship.  Yeah, I know it's not normal but it's true.  I think the idea of telling my kid that a big-fat-old stranger is magically sneaking into our house at night is creepy.  Seriously.

I wanted to be zombie Santa and Mrs. Claus one year for halloween, but that idea was rejected by my friends because it would have scarred their children.  Come on.  Ok, maybe a little.  So I'm seriously thinking about leaving Santa Claus out of Miley's world.  How mean is that?  What?!  I won't have to lie to her about his existence which I know is a small one, but I don't think any lie is ok.  She'll still get the gifts and also be free from nightmares of being smothered by giant white beards while asleep.  I know, now you're not going to let your kids talk to my kids, right?  Whatever. ;)

You know that blog that makes fun of all other mommy blogs, Seriously So Blessed?  OK, it's kinda funny, but mostly annoying how she spells everything wrong.  Well I feel like making a facebook page along those lines of mockery.  I think facebook is the most annoying/ridiculous/pointless thing ever.  Yeah, I know I'll be dragged into the street and stoned for this confession.

If I find any more dog poop in my front yard I'm going to assemble a nice little pile in the middle of the sidewalk and put up a big Lost and Found sign in it.  That's right, I'm one of those gross/annoying people who like to make public nuisances out of themselves over little things like big stanky dog poop.  Where's the Weed Nazi on that one?

I'm trying to talk Dave into working out more.  You know, to build up muscle so when it comes time (I'm talking apocalyptic) to turn on one of your family members to survive in a cannibalistic manner, he will be able to sustain Mie and I.  I would take one for the team here, but let's face it Dave just has more life sustaining ability in him. . . I mean literally.

I would admit to more, but I feel like I've already shown too much of my hand at this point.  ;)

reminiscing about TWO

So very long ago my girl had a birthday, here are some pics. . . except these are like all of them because I was busy actually playing with her and not taking pictures. Gasp. I know, things were missed. Memories lost. We'll survive. She celebrated all week, opening a gift or two every day. That's how birthdays go in my house.

Dave did take a video of her with her two little candles in a cupcake. We didn't do candles last year so this was new for her. Mie wasn't a fan of them. The fire freaked her out and then so did the little wisps of smoke. I guess that's a good thing. No pyros here. ;)

 You know how you're supposed to plan party events so that you are set to get good pictures of the important stuff?  Yeah well, I totally didn't do that.  As you can see.  Mie opened presents in her jammies on the orange rug in front of the giant yellow jumpo.  Beautiful.  We don't have to mention the various states of her hair either.  ;)  Oh well, better luck next year.

blocked

Bloggers block. . . is that such a thing?  I seriously have nothing to say here.  I don't know why or how this happened, but my list of blog worthy anecdotes, thoughts, and pictures has run out.  I've got plenty of rants left in me, but that just doesn't seem like the stuff you're coming around for.  ;)  That's not to say that I'm unhappy right now, nope just the opposite.  I just have that kind of steady fire inside me about various issues that I could spew forth at a moments notice.  ;)  Mt. Saint Helen style.  Though I like to think I have my own eloquent style in there too.

As parting thoughts today and for the foreseeable future, (until the blockage is passed, and yeah that sounds gross to me now that I've just re-read it), here's all I have to offer. . .

My back is killing me.  It has been a little painful for over a week now and I can't fix it.  Usually I can handle it myself.  I've been doing that for years.  Yoga and Dave work wonders.  However, on rare occasions I cannot and luckily I have a chiropractor close by. .. . not anymore.  The moment I decided I couldn't fix this particular pain was the moment they chose to pack up shop and move. . . not far, but move and be out of commission for a time.  Ugh.  Karma kicking my butt.  I'm sure I deserved it, but I would feel better if I at least knew why I did.

Until they are all settled, and by all means take your sweet time, I'll be lying here on the hard floor suffering in silence.  ha ha.  OK, maybe not so silent.  I've started the old person groaning when I move thing.  It's way attractive.  Dave's idea of helping was to teach Miley to walk on my back.  It actually feels pretty good until she decides to plop down like I'm a trampoline.  I'll definitely need that chiropractor now.

We're selling my old camera.  Sadness.  I haven't used it since well June, but I won't be happy seeing it go either.  Hopefully to a good home, maybe in the country?  Who knows.  It's looking for a new owner and tired of being shelved.  I think another new camera (I'm thinking polaroid) would help ease the feeling of loss here.  Honey?

A couple miley-isms. . .

Miley will ask me to rub her feet.  She'll come up to me and put her foot in my hand and say 'Mom, feet.'  How spoiled is that?  ;)  I guess it comes from the fact that I ask her to scratch my back.  Alls fair.

I let Miley answer the phone when it's a telemarketer.  She has a nice little chat with automated services and foreigners alike.  Good times.

I don't think I can pray any harder for the end of diapers.  I know, it's on her time frame.  blah blah blah.  It just doesn't seem right to have to hear from their own mouth about what they did in their pants.  If they can name it they can decide where to put it.  Unfortunately that decision is currently the cushy lining following her cute little fanny around.  Bummer.

So it turns out I had a couple mostly space filler kind of comments left to share, but that's it.  Tapped.  I'm going to go eat a creamie now.  It's still hot. . .