mamaLove

Slacking Once Again

I’ve been slacking in the blog posting department again. I guess motherhood and work has been keeping me busy. Actually, that’s not true. Motherhood and knitting has been keeping me busy. But that doesn’t mean there’s been knitting content posted over on the knitting blog either. Sadly. Lately, my internet time has been spent on Facebook and Ravelry.

The AB mommies kept sending me invites to Facebook, so I finally took the plunge and joined. I didn’t realize how many of my friends were there. Within a few days I had over 20 friends and that’s a lot for me. A lot of my cousins are there as well, plus friends I’ve lost touch with for one reason or another. So it has been so much fun reconnecting with everyone. Then my husband joined and he’s totally addicted to the flair. LOL!

Besides Facebook, I’ve been obsessed with Ravelry. And in conjunction with the Summer Olympics in Beijing, we’ve been doing our own knitting version…the First International Ravelympics. It’s been great fun trying to knit as many projects as possible or just one challenging project during the summer games. So lots of knitting and spinning has been going on the past 2 weeks.

Amelia has been keeping me busy. What’s going on with her? A lot. She got her playhouse at the beginning of August. My Father-in-law came up and he and my husband put it together for her. It’s a 6×6 foot playhouse with 3 windows, a door, a 2ft front porch and cedar shingles. Pretty sweet little crib for a 2 year old. So we bought her a play kitchen that looks like Cinderella’s castle and a bunch of accessories for it, so she can cook up some delicious meals for us.

She’s talking to much now, it’s sometimes frustrating trying to figure out what she’s saying. But we’re slowing learning her language. She tries to dress herself and last night managed to put her shoes on all by herself. Of course they were on backwards, but it was adorable.

And the biggest news of late…she’s teething. She’s got the two bottom molars coming in, plus one if not two teeth coming in at the top (neighbors to the front teeth). So she’s been miserable lately. Cranky, clingy, fussy. on top of that she has some sort of cold that keeps her coughing. And the poor thing smashed her fingers in the door at daycare this week. I cringe every time I picture her crying and hurting and I wasn’t there to cuddle her. It hurts me that I wasn’t there when she needed me. Thankfully she has wonderful teachers that cuddled her in my place and rocked her to sleep at nap time. But it’s never the same as mommy. So we’ve been giving her extra cuddles lately as she deals with these mean, painful teeth. I’ll be glad when they finally break through and give her a bit of peace.

Posted to At Home, Blog Talk, Motherhood | 2 Comments »

Blunt

Every time I hear a James Blunt song I just picture a movie. Most of his songs are perfect for background music in a song. You know, the scenes that they are just dramatic moments in the storyline with no dialog.

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All Moved

I’m all moved over to my new blog. Using Wordpress and the import of all my old Textpattern posts was so easy! I had a script that I downloaded a while ago that took all my posts and comments and created a file in MT export format. I just saved that file then used it to import. Everything came over as it should. I spent some time tweaking my template and voila! I’m just about done. A few more things I want to tweak, but otherwise, it’s done.

I still need transfer it over to the root from the subdirectory I was setting it up in, but I’ll get to that this weekend. And there are a few other things I want to add. I’ve also linked up the feeds to FeedBurner for both here and the knit blog.

So anyway. There you have it. I’m switched.

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Rayne Phrase

Using each letter in your name as the beginning of the sentence or phrase, write sentences or phrases that describe you.

As you can guess most of these relate to being a new mom, as does practically everything in my life now.

R eally loving being a mom
A melia’s mommy
Y earning for more hours in the day to get everything done
N eeding more sleep
E njoying the Manic Mommies podcast

OK, I could probably do better at this but I’m really tired today. I slept better than last night, but it just wasn’t enough, as always.

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Favorite Clothes

What is your favorite outfit right now? What was your favorite 10 years ago? Why was this outfit your favorite, what memories does it bring back – do you remember wearing it to a special occasion, or just hanging out with friends?

I think I’ve always preferred jean and t-shirts or sweaters/sweatshirts. I’m just a casual girl. They are comfy and you can make them grungy or stylish depending on what accessories you use. It’s really multi-functional attire.

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How Do You Travel?

What’s your favorite way to travel? Car, plane, train, boat? What do you do while you’re traveling? (Assuming you’re not the driver!)

We pretty much drive everywhere. We can’t really afford to travel much, so we rarely go anywhere that requires flight. Mainly to visit family and we’re not going to fly when we can drive 9-10 hours and it’s much cheaper. I’m usually not the one driving so I mainly read a book or work on puzzles (sudoku and word searches are popular). If a headache threatens, I will usually keep my husband (driver) company by just chatting with him and we’ll listen to music or comedy (gotta love XM). The past few times, I’ve had to ride in the back with the baby so I can feed her. If we’re traveling at night, I will sleep some so that I can take over driving and let my husband sleep for a while as well.

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All About Pets

Do you have any pets? What are their names? What kind of animals are they? Why do you like them?

Yes, I have 2 dogs. I also have several fish. I love my dogs. They are both female, so my husband jokes about being the only male in the house. One (Dakota) is a german shepard/aussie shepard mix. She is the size of an aussie but looks 100% german shepard. She is the sweetest dog and is very obedient. The other dog (Sadie) is a miz of cocker spaniel and miniature husky (actually we think alaskan klee kai). She is all white and has that thick northern coat. I don’t think she looks much like either breed, but she definitely has traits of both. She loves the cool weather and loves to chase away the birds and squirrels. But she’s pretty sweet. If we could just get her to come when we call her and not run away we’d be better. Both dogs were rescue dogs. Dakota was adopted at a shelter. She was about 4 months old when we got her a few days after Christmas in 2002. Sadie was rescued from a co-worker who couldn’t take care of her. She was a monster of a dog, who would bite, snarl, attack if you got too close or fussed too much. She did it one too many times to my husband and he fought back. She learned her lesson and has been an angel since. Not once has she bitten anyone, except in play by accident and then she feels bad and loves on you. When these two ever decide that they have done their time with us, I hope to get a chihuahua.

We also have a bunch of fish and I could pretty much care less about them. We have 3 tanks. A 55 gallon tank with one green terror…there used to be other fish in that tank, but survival of the fittest did them in one by one. Now the only one left is king (and has always been). He’s huge too. The other tank is a 44 gallon and has 4 guatemalen something or others and 2 turquoise cichlids. Then we have a little 1 gallon with 3 tetras in it that have survived everything and we’ve had them for 4-5 years.

The reason we have fish is because my husband wanted them. If it was up to me, we wouldn’t have gotten them. But I’m ashamed to admit we don’t take care of them as good as we should or used to. I guess having a baby does that. Plus we don’t like the green terror since we can’t have any other fish in the tank with him because he is so mean. He definitely lives up to his name.

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Sleep Troubles

What do you do when you have trouble sleeping? Any special techniques for counting sheep or secret family recipes for warm milk?

I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia back in 2003. It explaiined why I’ve always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. It would literally take me over an hour to get to sleep. Especially if I woke up in the middle of the night. The doctor prescribed Trazodone and it worked. I would sleep so soundly I wouldn’t hear my husband snoring. It was wonderful. When I started trying to have a baby, I quit taking the medication. So I would just use earplugs. If I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, it has to be absolutely silent for me to get back to sleep. So I used earplugs. When that doesn’t work, I try to sleep in a different room. Since I’ve had the baby, I think my body knows that it needs to sleep when the chance arrives. Because I’ve not had much trouble sleeping.

When I do, I go online. Staring at the computer in the middle of the night seems to make me sleepy.

Posted to Blog Talk | 4 Comments »

Book Care

What kind of care do you take of your books? Let’s review, shall we?

1. Are you careful with the spines? Or do you crack your books open to make them lay flat? Most of the time I pull them open to make them flatter, but I do it with care so that I won’t bust the spine.
2. Do you use bookmarks? Or do you dog-ear the corners? If you do use bookmarks, do you use those fashionable metal ones? Or paper? I use bookmarks. Only paper ones since they make the book close flush. If I can’t find a bookmark, I will usually grab any old piece of paper I can find until I can replace that with an actual bookmark.
3. Do you write in your books? Ever? If you do, do you make small marks, or write in as much blank space as you can find? Pen or pencil? Highlighter? Your name on the front page? Occassionally I’ll write in a book and usually only my name or a bookcrossing id #, but that’s about it
4. Do you toss your books on the floor? Into bookbags? Or do you treat them tenderly, with respect? I toss a book anywhere since my current read usually goes with me everywhere
5. Do you ever lay your book face-down, to save your place? Yep, I do that when I just need to put it down for a minute but know I’m going to pick it right back up to read
6. Um—water? Do you bathe with your books? Hold them with wet hands? Read out in the rain? Anything of that sort? Nope, I try to keep my books from getting wet
7. Are your books lined up on a bookshelf? Or crammed in any which way? Stacked on the floor? Most of the books I have that haven’t been read yet are on a bookshelf. Books that I want to keep that I’ve read are stored in a box in the closet. I have several of those.
8. Do you make a distinction—as regards book care—between hardcovers and paperbacks? Not really, I pretty much treat all books the same, with the exception of the hardcover jackets. I try to make sure they don’t get torn up.
9. And, to recap? Naturally, you love all of your books, but how, exactly? Are your books loved in the battered way of a well-loved teddy bear, or like a cherished photo album or item of clothing that’s used, appreciated, but carefully cared for? I think my books are somewhere in between. Depends on how much I liked the book, but the condition isn’t as important to me. I’ve got some books that have been pretty battered, but they are a few of my favorites. Then I’ve also got favorites that look like they’ve never been read.
10. Any additional comments? I’m a book whore I think. I’ve got books everywhere. I have an addiction…every month I have to buy at least one book. Don’t know what it is, but I have to get my fix.

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A Meme

Two Names You Go By:
1. Arenys
2. Rayne

Two Parts of Your Heritage:
1. Spanish
2. Italian

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Jeans
2. Knit Cap

Two Things You Would Want in a Relationship:
1. Honesty
2. Trust

Two of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1. Digital Scrapbooking
2. Knitting

Two Things You Want Really Badly At The Moment:
1. Mac Laptop
2. to be a SAHM

Two pets you had/have:
1. Dogs
2. Fish

Two people you talked to today:
1. My husband
2. My instructor (I’m at developer training)

Two things you did last night:
1. Scrapbook
2. Spend time with Amelia

Two people that live in your house:
1. Husband
2. Daughter

Two things you ate today:
1. Toaster struddles
2. Pizza (will eat for lunch)

Two people you miss:
1. My mom (she lives in FL)
2. My daughter (she’s at daycare)

Two Things You’re doing tomorrow:
1. Training
2. Reading

Two vacations you’ve been on:
1. Sedona (honeymoon)
2. Vegas

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Thanksgiving

Two favorite Alcoholic beverages:
1. Smirnoff Black Ice
2. Beer

Two bands you have seen live:
1. Rascal Flatts
2. Keith Urban

Two things you will do after you finish this survey:
1. Pay attention to training
2. Eat lunch

Posted to Blog Talk | 3 Comments »