"The Terrible Two's" Meet Auntie Abbie & Uncle Matt

I took the photo myself. It's Jamie, Michael, and Me at Reelfoot Lake on the Boardwalk. YAY!

ok

So where to begin.

Jamie and Michael flew up to Atlanta to visit us. We had prepared by "baby proofing" the house as best we could, and borrowing car-seat for the boy (thank you Mina & Chris!). I ended up buying a pack-n-play-yard crib for him (since Jamie & I and the baby were travelling to my Grandpa's house also over the weekend). It was easily portable. We also got a portable booster seat (with straps), so he could eat at the table with us. and then lastly a "kid cage" as Matt calls it - an extra long accordian-like baby gate. You can enclose the baby inside of it, or you can stretch it out to cover doorways, stairs, bookcases, whatever you wanted to block him from getting into. It worked great, and was also portable for Grandpa's house. I didn't want anything that I had to "drill into the wall" to mount. Blah. Portable is best.
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Michael is a good little boy, he giggles, he laughs, he is independant and likes to run around by himself and wont' sit on your lap for very long, but is prone to occaisional temper tantrums and screaming (she says his terrible twos are starting early), and so we are now partly deaf, just fyi if you call me I may not hear the phone. Just kidding.
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Matthew even babysat one night for us, so Jamie & I could go out to dinner with Erika and Holly. Very cool!
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Aunt Julie travelled down from Iowa to meet us at Grandpa's, and we all had a blast. We dined on filet mignon with the Family Silver (which has been handed down for many years, and is now dad's), and the best part was that Grandpa got to meet his great-grandson. Hip-hip hooray!
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Links for Photos . Movies .

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I have to admit, the house is very very quiet now, and I miss the boy. Although, Sport is very glad that he is gone. He liked to chase the poor dog - pulling his tail and "patting" him (more like punching him with his toys) - and Sport was getting irritated. We mostly kept Sport out on the screen porch during Michael's visit. It was okay though.

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For such a GREAT visit (when she arrived, the plane was 30 mins EARLY - whoever heard of such a thin?), the last day was kind of a mess.

The FAA had a "software malfunction" and my poor sister was STRANDED at the damned ATL airport for over 8 hours. I dropped her off around 5pm, and told her to call me if she found out her plane was delayed (we had some storms the day before, so I was hoping the weather wasn't going to be a problem) - oh that wasn't the start of it.

I drove all the way home (the other side of town), and then she calls and says her flight was CANCELLED and the next one isn't leaving until 11:30pm! Her "prepaid phone" was almost out of minutes, and she wanted me to call her husband to let him know. I also offered to come back to the airport to have dinner with her (but she'd have to come outside of security and then go back thru later), she said nevermind she was going to take the baby to the "play area" in the airport and stick it out alone. I said ok. So we hung up. Then I called her hubby. No answer. I left a voicemail, but he normally never gets those.

Typical.

I wait about 15 mins and call him again.

No answer.

I know from experience, sometimes you just have to call him over and over and finally he realizes his phone is ringing. so I did that.

On the 7th call (after no answer), I was about to give up, and he finally called me back but he was really rude, he goes "WHY is my phone ringing off the hook? What the Fxxx is so important?" and I said "well! Jamie wanted me to let you know she is delayed at the airport and her phone is almost out of minutes", he yelled "ok how late?", and when I told him, he goes "That's just f-cking great!" and hangs up on me. He never let me tell him the new flight number or anything.

about 20 mins later, he calls back and says (in a very accusing tone) - "well why can't you get her on a flight for tomorrow? so I can pick her up at a reasonable hour?" I tried to explain to Mr. Dingleberry how unpredictable this would be due to the FAA having caused the mass confusion at the airport, and how ALL airlines were affected. What a prick!!! And finally he goes "so she's just stuck there?" and I said "I don't know what other options we have right now" and then he hung up again. JERK!

so, I'm livid at this point. I call Jamie back and leave her a short message, hoping she gets it and saves her minutes. No, she calls me back. We are midsentance as I explain about her *sshole of a husband, and click - her minutes run out. I have NO WAY to contact her over a phone. Even if I WAS to go down to the airport again, I do not know where she is, I can't go past security (because I do not have a flight to board), and how would I tell her where to meet me in this VAST/LARGE building?

It's nearly 6pm, and she's stuck there for at least 5.5 more hours, and there is NOTHING I can do about it.

I'm starting to clean up all the baby stuff (the booster seat, the crib, the baby gate), and washing laundry, and I'm feeling VERY badly. I start to cry. I cry for the stress she is having at the airport. I cry for missing them already, I cry for the life she is going back to and hope that her husband doesn't treat her like he just treated me, because if he does, she has a long hard road ahead of her. I cry for my nephew, who I love dearly, and hope his daddy just had a bad moment, because I don't want him to have that sort of role model 24/7. I cry because I feel so helpless, and moments before they were safely in my car and we could have driven anywhere we wanted. Matthew tries to console me, and eventually things calm down and we go to bed.

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But I wake up at 12:45am to call her husband to see if she has arrived safely. He's tired and less cranky thank goodness, but tells me she was delayed again and won't arrive until 2am. I ask him to call me back and let me know they are safe or if she needs me to come get her. And he says he will, but he never calls, and I wake up at 6am not knowing where they are.

And today I write this, hoping that they are fine at home, and catching up on their sleep today. I will have to wait until the hubby gets off work to call. he never answers the phone during the day. Sigh. Jamie's phone is still dead as a doornail, no luck there.

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I go back over the pics from our visit, and Baby Michael's smiling face remind me that we still had fun, and even if the plane was delayed, the overall visit was a good one. Grandpa is happy in the photos too.

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Well work is the same as ever - and I have a loving hubby at home, a loving doggie, and tonight a chiropractic adjustment and massage. Maybe things are on the upswing again.

The "Michael" Entry

I took the little sleepy photo, and
the other photo is from here.
Michael squared today. YAY!

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Well it's almost time. Jamie & my nephew are arriving tomorrow. We are going to have such a good time.

I can't wait until they get here. I have a carseat installed in my car (since she is flying here and will only have the diaper bag and stroller). We also have a booster seat, a baby gate, and baby yard (which Matt calls the "Kid Cage"). Marybeth visited this weekend, and she helped me pick out some toys for him too. He will have quite the surprise when he arrives. I'm also taking Jamie to get her hair done, but she doesn't know it yet, it will be a surprise.

I am becoming more and more of an Olympic fan. When I was younger, I could only watch the gymnastics and swimming and ice skating, since that is what interested me. Now, I am watching the beach volleyball, and all sorts of things. It is super sweet! Too bad the Olympics makes me tear up and cry a bit each time I hear the music. I'm such a sappy girl this month. Sniffle.

Anyhoo, is anybody as PUMPED as I am about Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals? Holy CRAP that is insane!!!

ok well that's all for now - ask me in a week if I'm still in love with babies. I may be all "babied" out. LOL

What the Dulse?

Photography by Matthew Lane of Zazen Photo
Tonight I am attempting to recreate the delicious stew I had at R. Thomas. It is comprised of corn chowder, quinoa, red bliss potatoes, veggies, dulse, and nori garnish. What the heck is Dulse I wondered, but I was able to find out fairly easily doing a google search.
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I think I improved R Thomas' recipe though, I added garlic powder and some whipping cream in my version, and it's damn tasty if I do say so myself.
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I also discovered what lovely lunch/to-go options that Whole Foods has. Can someone pass some more "Meditarreanean Tuna" please? Delicious!!! And the sushi, the sashimi, it's so fresh, it puts my favorite restuarants to shame. I think I found my new lunch spot!
And don't EVEN get me started on the wine selection. holy mama!

The Return of Pinky & The Brain - yeah I wish.

Photo Credit I have decided that I TOTALLY Miss that hiliarious duo - "Pinky and the Brain" - ah yes Pinky and his "NARFing" and Brain with his witty quotes.
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Well here we go. August's rollercoaster of fun has begun.
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Matt and I watched "The Usual Suspects" last night. I hadn't seen it yet. Unbelievably, I took a wild guess as to what the ending twist is, and I was RIGHT! ha! I swear I don't remember ever watching it before now, and nobody told me the answer.
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I cannot believe how many people haven't seen "Super Troopers" or "Beer Fest" - so we are thinking of having a party so people can WATCH 'em already!
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The Hair Lounge is having it's Grand Opening on Sunday August 24th. I would totally go, but I will be in BFE Tennessee that day with my sister and nephew, so I will miss it. Darn! Ya'll enjoy and tell me how it is ok?
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Limes & Coconuts

Photo Credit
So "you put a lime in dee co-co-nut" and then what? hee hee. I prefer to put rum and cream and shaved ice into the co-co-nut with a straw, and then drink it. Screw the lime unless you are also bringing me a Corona. LOL
Ahh "Rum Runners" in Freeport, Bahamas. I miss thee!
Link to Lime & Coconut Lyrics. Interesting.
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oh yeah - funny story. So, we went to Freeport, Bahamas for Erika's Birthday earlier this year. We go to "Rum Runners" because it was recommended by a friend who had been there. I have a thing for Pina Colada's served STRAIGHT from the coconut - it's awesome! Ok so I digress. Anyhoo, Erika, Holly, Matt, and I are sitting at Rum Runners one night - drinking of course. And we see this older dude (maybe late 40s-early 50s) who we recognized from the resort swimming area earlier that day. He was hard to miss because his face was BURNT RED. Turns out he's a nice guy from Davenport, IA in Insurance or something or other, and so he buys us a drink. We chat with him for a bit. he takes a quick photo with his digital camera of me, Erika, and Holly. We barely got the guy's first name, but he seemed harmless. Fast-forward to a week later. I'm back at work, bored, missing the Bahamas, and I get an email from a friend. This friend had put us up at the Resort for a cheaper than normal rate, and had gotten a call from the Resort's front desk. The Burnt-face insurance guy had tried to find us, but since the hotel (thank goodness) doesn't give out information on guests to weird burnt-faced dudes, they got HIS info and called us. So, my friend passes this along. The message was something like "I have something for you girls" and I had a moment of panic that we'd forgotten something at the hotel. Also I did not remember the guys name or anything, so I hadn't made the connection yet. Ok - SO being the smart girl I am, I decided I would call him, BUT I would use my un-traceable work phone, versus my personal cell. I left him a very brisk business-like message about "I'm calling to find out more information on what you have for us, and how we can retrieve it, etc" - and leave him my work phone. He calls me back in about 1 hr, and THAT's when I realize who it is. He wanted to send us the photo he had taken on his camera and he wanted our mailing address. I asked if he couldn't just email it, after all it was digital. He said he preferred to mail it. I didn't want to give some potential creep my home address, so I gave him my work address.
----6 months go by---
A box is hand-delivered to my desk by the mail guy. He wants me to sign for it. I am like "I didn't order anything this size" and then I open it. It was very sweet actually. The Insurance Burnt-faced guy had printed Three 4x6 sized images of the photo he took. He framed each in real cherry-wood frames - and he had a brass metal engraved label attached to each frame reading "Rum Runners" Freeport, Bahamas. I forget if it had the date or not. Three framed photos, one for each of us. WOW! I was really surprised. The return address on the box was a UPS store in Davenport, so I have no way of tracking down this dude. However, that's fine. It was a nice gift, a nice moment, and that's sufficient. cool beans.

You're "JOKING" right?

Photo Source Review: We finally saw "The Dark Knight" Batman Movie on Friday night. Heath Ledger was phenomenal! WOW he stole every scene. He was pretty damn scary too!

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I could pass on Maggie Gyllenhaal. She's a good actress, but I just didn't think she fit the part as well as Katie Holmes did in the first movie. Yes, I know, Katie isn't as great of an actress, but she's much better looking. I think a lot of it was the lighting. Maggie has these crazy large bags under her eyes and in a dark/shadow-filled movie like this, it really does NOT flatter her. Sorry if I'm being a b*tch that's my opinion on the Rachel character. Maggie was awesome in "Stranger than Fiction" though. I guess it depends on the movie.

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New obsession: Peppercorn dressing from my company cafeteria. I can't explain why but it's SO damn tasty with carrots. Of course it has little nutritional value. Figures that's probably WHY I LIKE IT! blah. Here's a low-fat recipe version.
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Warning: I'm on-call this week AND I'm majorly PMSing. Cross me at your own risk.

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Discovered: I love red wines. I love dark chocolate. I do NOT like red/violet dessert wines (aka Muscat wine). Why? I don't know. I just can't drink the stuff. I feel badly for whomever brought it to our house "re-warming" party, but I think I will have to dump it out. Matt can't even take a taste of it. I can suffer through a glass, but it's not my favorite thing. Weird. I almost WISH I could like it, it would make sense if I did. Oh well.

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ok gotta get back to work, write more later.