Finding a new appreciation for my blog...

So, this post sadly will not be an account of what has been going on lately. I figure, I can either drop that whole plan entirely or do that at a later date.

Instead, I'm going to use this blog as I please and write about what I think. That is the point after all...

See, I'm in a mild state of annoyance today. A Facebook friend of mine put up some post about how she was boycotting Amazon.com for an item they were selling, and she was wondering if that item had been removed from their list (in fact, I learned through her post that she isn't even the only one that decided to do that). Instead of argue or make a sarcastic comment in response, I decided to write on my blog. I don't want to call her out, but really?

So, here's the situation. The item she was boycotting Amazon.com for was a how-to pedophilia book. The book itself is of course a horrible concept, however, I would NEVER boycott Amazon.com for that any more than I would boycott Barnes and Noble for selling Hitler's Nazi book (which they do, by the way). To do so is to laugh in the face of freedom of press. That is what the first amendment is all about. Would I read such a book? No. Do I support the author and his/her goal of teaching people to be pedophiles? Of course not. But hell yeah do I support the author's right to write the book. It's our American right! Assuming the author is American anyway. And even if he/she is not, it's still within the rights of America to have that book available to the people. And I'm thankful for it.

Most of us had to read books like Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 when we were in junior high or high school. They make us read those books for a reason. They have a point. We need to protect our first amendment rights. They may not always lead to popular stuff like the book in question, but they are there for a reason. Boycotting Amazon.com for selling an item like that is almost like saying you don't support the first amendment. Sorry, but it's the way I feel. And thanks to the first amendment, I can write that.

Catching up...

There has been so much going on lately and my blogs have taken a back seat. Rather than spend a lot of time detailing everything that has occurred since my last post, which was what, two months ago(?), I decided to try to just summarize.

OK, here we go:

I spent a lot of time getting ready for the craft fair that was held at my grade school/church on the second weekend in November. It was my first foray into really selling my diaper cakes and baby gifts. I'd made several for friends and had a couple of orders and this was my first opportunity to build up some inventory and get some significant sales. The first part I accomplished. The second part was a bust, but then, not many of the vendors took in a lot, so it wasn't just me. I did have a lot of interest and people wanting my card, but given that I'm not local and hadn't figured out how shipping would work yet, I quickly lost some of that interest. I'll have a more detailed update on my diaper cake blog soon.

My mom broke her hip about a month and a half ago. She spent about a week and a half in the hospital and just as long at an in-patient rehab facility before she was sent home. When she was released and back at her house I drove up to Dallas to help her out so she wouldn't be alone during the day. I was there for about two and a half weeks until she was up and getting around without needing much assistance. At the end of that time period was the craft fair so it all worked out and I returned home after the fair.

I also have been attempting to feel normal again which is up and down. We learned a couple months ago that we were expecting our second child and announced it to people when I was about 12 weeks along. Now, at 17 weeks, I'm still not feeling normal. I thought my morning sickness was under control and only had a few bouts when I was up with my mom, but apparently that was a fluke. It's not terrible, but it unpredictably can take me out of the game for several hours. I was also dealing with some major fatigue issues - not tiredness, but just general lack of energy which my doctor tells me is due to lowered blood pressure and it is pretty normal. I'll be glad when that is over, and while it's not all of the time any more, I do have those moments where I feel like I just need to sit down and regroup.

So, in a nutshell, that's what's been occupying my time lately. Hopefully I'll get back into checking and updating my blog regularly, but who knows.

A long week.

So, last week seemed really long. Our mom meeting was switched to Tuesday, well, more accurately, they started a new group for crawlers and up that meets on Tuesday, so we went to that meeting. Having the meeting even one day earlier makes the week stretch on and it just seems longer.

I also was a bit under the weather this week. I was dealing with some serious head congestion that really seemed to take me out of the game. Throw in some serious headaches and major fatigue on top of the stuffiness and I was done for. I tried to lay around because I just felt punky, but Noah doesn't allow that much. He was, of course, up to his usual tricks meaning, I had to keep him within eye sight and make sure he wasn't getting into anything - which he always does anyway. Luckily, or unluckily, Taran got a few days off of work. His boss wasn't feeling well and stayed home on Tuesday and Wednesday so he told Taran he didn't have to go in. That did mean I had a bit more help with Noah which was a blessing considering how bad I was feeling.

I did make it to yoga on Thursday, though I felt like I was going to collapse and regretted it halfway through. I really thought I'd be ok, but apparently, I wasn't back to myself yet. I also had an nagging little voice tell me my iron was probably low and resulting in my serious fatigue that I'd been feeling over the past week in addition to the stuffy head (we cut most red meat out of our diets in an effort to be healthier, but I must have cut out too much and I just don't eat enough other foods that are high in iron). A few burgers later, I'm feeling better. =)

Saturday, I asked Taran to take sole responsibility for Noah after our mommy meeting so I could work on the order for diaper cakes I had received. I had collected everything over the past several weeks, but just hadn't gotten the opportunity to focus on putting them together. Being out of commission most of this past week certainly didn't help. So, I spent the entire afternoon working on the diaper cakes. I finished one and the bouquet that was part of the order. The second cake is built, but not decorated all the way. I'll probably post pics when I get them completed and give more detail on the design and what not. I sent pics to my friend that ordered them and she loved them. I'm so happy that she likes them!

So, today was Grandparent's Day. Noah and I worked on a sign which he then posed with (finally after wrinkling and bending it multiple times and ripping it too) for a picture to send his grandparents and great-grandparents to wish them a happy day. He helped color it. It was his first time with crayons. I really had fun watching him explore how they worked. He seemed to be especially attached to the orange one. Maybe a favorite color?

I'm hoping to finish up the other diaper cake tonight and get pics taken of all three items together. Then I can update my blog and Facebook page. I also figure this way, I get them to my friend with plenty of time before her sip and see that she is throwing next weekend.

I only hope that I continue to feel better. Today I'm almost back to my normal self with most of my stuffy head issues gone and I don't feel drained of all energy. With any luck I'll continue to recover and have a good week next week, and hopefully, one that doesn't seem to drag on!

A fun day

Today was a pretty fun day. It started out a little slowly. Since Noah has a rehash of lower GI issues, I opted not to go to yoga since they have a tendency to pull you out of class if the little ones have episodes like that. I prepared breakfast and fed the pets, then I started getting ready for our play date.

One of my mom friends came over today and I used her and her little one as guinea pigs in my cooking attempts. I made for today, chicken, cheese, and spinach enchiladas which turned out pretty well. I think next time, I have to tweak it a little bit, maybe a lower temp for a bit longer so the edges of the tortillas aren't crispy. they did taste good though.

Noah nursed after they headed out and we both took a pretty good afternoon nap. Dinner was leftovers and the rest of the evening was pretty typical. All in all, it was not a terribly hectic day, but we had fun. Here's to days like this!

Party!

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. We had a relaxing morning and then got ready for the main event for the day, a birthday party! The past month has been full of them and there seem to be more to come as the moms that seemed to start out the mommy group I'm in celebrate their babies turning 1. There seems to be an age gap and many new moms are joining the group, but  we are getting way crowded in the little meeting room so the group will be breaking up this week and crawlers and up will meet on a separate day. I'm a little sad, because I want to see the new group of little babies as they grow and learn, not to mention, the new moms can't really ask questions at the meetings about issues that we've already been through. It makes it kinda sad, but there really isn't another option and we still have the Facebook group where we can troubleshoot and discuss. Ok, that was quite a tangent...

So, we skipped the regular Saturday mommy meeting because the party was scheduled to start at 11. I had wrapped up the small gift I had picked up the night before so we were good to go. I loaded Noah up in the car and started to punch in the address in my handy dandy GPS. Except, the GPS couldn't find the street. Uh oh... After trying a few other things like punching in different city names (since all of the suburbs seem to blend together here and it's hard to define where one stops and the other starts) I gave up, hopped out of the car, leaving the A/C running for Noah and ran in to check Google. I printed the directions and we were off. I was already running a bit late and this hiccup meant that I was heading out about 5 minutes before the party was about to start. I kept may navigation system on to see why it couldn't find the address and Google helped me find my way, kinda. Apparently, there are several streets in the neighborhood we were going to that had one name on one end and another on the other end or around the corner. Google did not warn me of this and when I didn't see the correct street name on that first turn it told me to take, I kept going. So, I was driving around the neighborhood a bit and finally found it thanks to seeing the area map on my GPS even though Google told me to turn on a street with a completely different name. Sigh...

So we made it, about 20 minutes late, which was better than I had expected. There were a ton of babies at the party. It appears the mom knows many  more moms with little ones than just those in our mommy group. Leads me to believe I have a very small social circle, kinda depressing actually. They had a nice sandwich spread with a veggie tray and fruit tray. I didn't get to see the cake. It was in the kitchen and by the time I saw it, they had already taken the smash cake off of the top and let the birthday boy have at it and they were cutting the big cake. I hope I get to see pictures. I bet it was cute. It did taste good. =) Noah seemed to have a blast playing with all the toys of the birthday boy. Which I thought had tired him sufficiently for a nice little nap. I was only partially right.

When we got back home, I put him down to bed (he had napped most of the way in the car after all), but he wanted to be topped off, so I nursed him and finally got him to bed. I tried to take a nap too, but before I got to sleep Taran called. I chatted with him a bit and then we hung up so I could go back to trying to take a nap. It didn't work. By that time, I was up. I grabbed a snack and before too long, Noah was up again.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, Noah and I had a quiet dinner, well, he ate, I wasn't hungry from my snack earlier - must plan better. It took a while to get Noah down for the night. My guess is that we aren't done with these teeth that are coming in. He's been cranky and all about nursing all day long. Poor little man.

If more happens today, I'll write again, but for now, I'm thinking it'll be a lazy day.

Adventures in gardening

I've always wanted a vegetable garden. I see so many success stories and I want to have some home grown veggies. Unfortunately, my imagination is a bit more advanced than my gardening skills.

Now, I'm sure a large part of it is lack of space and every time I've grown vegetable plants, they've been potted. It's not like this is a foreign or unsuccessful idea, but I choose bad pots. Usually shallow box planters that are probably better suited for flowers.

Several years ago, when I was living in College Station the first time, I received some banana pepper and sweet purple pepper plants. One of the vets I worked with at the time took pity on these pepper plants at the nursery and purchased them - I think they were on sale or clearance, or something like that. Either way, she brought several small plants to the pet hospital and these are the ones that I selected. The plants did quite well and even survived my move to Austin. I grew several banana peppers and I think only one or two small purple peppers.

The following year, after saving seeds from the plants I'd grown, I planted some more peppers. Again, I was successful in cultivating several banana peppers. I think some of the others grew, but I don't remember eating them. They probably died on the plant or something. I can't really remember that far back.

I kept seeds, including some from peppers I'd purchased with high hopes of growing bell peppers (especially since red, yellow, and orange ones are usually so expensive). Although, I didn't try to grow vegetables for several years after that, I decided this year I'd try again.

I was inspired to do so because on day when soaking some black eyed peas for dinner, I noticed that several of them had sprouted. I left the sprouted ones in water and cooked up the rest. Many of the bean developed leaves and I decided it'd be fun to plant them and see what happened. So, I planted six of the little plants in one planter box, and I planted some banana peppers and bell peppers in the other box. One bean plant survived, and one pepper plant grew. A bit disappointing I think.

My bean plant has done fairly well though. So far it has produced about 10 black-eyed peas from 3 different pods. Ok, sure, it doesn't make a dinner, but give me a break, I have one plant! More are on the way though. There are two or three pods on the plant now.

My pepper plant looks impressive. I have no clue which type of pepper that I planted actually grew. I was hoping to find out based on fruit it produced. This is the largest pepper plant I've grown. It remains barren however. Several flowers have bloomed, but no peppers have developed. I don't know why. More flower buds are on the plant, so we'll see if I get some peppers, but who knows.

I hope next year to continue with peppers and black-eyed peas. With any luck, I can get more than one plant to actually grow. I do need either an actual garden or deeper pots though, so that's something to look forward to. I'll try to get some pictures to post of my poor little plants so I can show off my green thumb, which is apparently a bit yellow. At least my house plants look good for the most part.

A week of lonely

So, this morning Taran headed out to his regular engineering meeting that he attends once a month. Only, this one, they made mandatory. Usually he gets to pick one of two meetings to attend based on what his schedule is. He has to drive about 5 hours to get to the meeting and often he will leave the night before since he has to be there at about 8 in the morning. This time, however, he got up in the wee hours of the morning and headed out. Next week, he has training Monday-Thursday. I think he said it was somewhere in Mississippi. So, he decided since the meeting location is on the way to his training, he figured rather than drive to the meeting, drive back, then drive all the way to training all in a matter of a couple of days, it made more sense to hang out over the weekend in a hotel. This means including the travel day it'll take him to get back, he'll be gone for a week.

I know in theory, I should be used to it. When he goes out on rigs, he's gone 14-16 days if you include travel days, but it never gets easier to see him go. Not to mention, now I have Noah double time. Now, normally, I have him full time, but when Taran comes home from work, he is able to save me from a cranky baby at least for a little while if I need to get some things done. This allows me at least a bit of time to relax or scoop the litter box without the baby picking up the clumps. =)

Here's hoping the baby decides to have a good week. Otherwise, we'll have one cranky mama on our hands.