A random smattering of things

I didn't make enough time to write a blog post last week, sorry! It takes me about an hour to put together a post and I gave away my few, precious hours of free time to other pursuits. Hopefully I can atone with at least a brief post this evening (plus my regular weekly post sometime this weekend). I usually write on a weekend evening, but Friday night we had a stay-in "date" night. Saturday night a couple of the young women from church came over to raid (I use that verb affectionately) my scrap-booking supplies. The time change that night pushed baby's bedtime to 8pm on Sunday, and since my bedtime is just after 9pm, well... it was a squeezed weekend. But we got a lot of things done, so I am not complaining!

Without further ado, here is a random smattering of thoughts, explanations, and updates:

There's a phrase I've been wanting to share for several weeks now. Maybe you're familiar with it? "If you really knew me, you would know..." I can't remember the origins of the phrase, but the point is fairly obvious: When you complete the sentence, you share something that you think people who know you well would know about you. For instance: If you really knew me, you would know that I love flowers, and I am particularly fond of bulbs. Or: If you really knew me, you would know that I don't own a television. It can really be a fun phrase, if you think about it. Sometimes as I am going about my daily routine, something will pop up that makes me think of this phrase. And I often consider sharing those "if you really knew me" moments. So now that I've given it some explanation, I will try to occasionally share those thoughts. (Again, I want to note that it's not a phrase used to air "dirty laundry" or spark competition or whatever -- it's just a fun way to share a bit more about oneself.)

If you've been reading my posts during the last nine months, you might have noticed that I've avoided the use of my daughter's name on my blog. Yes, it's deliberate. I'm a tad paranoid about the weirdos, stalkers, and baby-snatchers lurking in the world. Baby girl gets a lot of attention whenever we go out. If we're at the grocery store, for instance, nearly everyone we encounter likes to stare at the baby. Many people comment to us that she is sweet, happy, and cute/pretty/beautiful. Some people like to get up close to her, even right up in her face. Once in awhile people will touch her or play with her. These people aren't creepy (I avoid those uncomfortable-vibe people), but it does nevertheless make me ill at ease. I mean, understand why it happens -- babies are sweet and lovely (and, to my biased eyes, baby girl is the most beautiful thing in the world) -- but still, it makes me wary when strangers talk to and/or compliment my kid. So imagine how much more it freaks me out to think that people I can't even see or filter might stumble onto my blog and see my child. I want to keep my blog public, but I'm going to be cautious about it. I'm trying to think of a good blog-nickname for baby girl.... No ideas yet.

Earlier this evening I finally looked up the definition of a "foodie" (thanks Wikipedia!). Given our blossoming interests in food, cooking, gardening, and health, I wondered if it was an appropriate label to give myself. It is. I'm a foodie. Apparently the phrase has been around since the early 1980s (hey, me too!) and it indicates someone with an amateur passion for food, cooking, etc. I use to think it was a really silly title and I silently teased people who used the word, but here I am, repenting, and acknowledging that I've become one of those people. What a good reminder to not judge others!

There's a great place here in town where you can paint clay pottery (and then it's fired in a kiln and the paint becomes a beautiful glaze). In mid-January, as a belated Christmas present, Nate took baby girl and I to the store so that we could make an impression of her darling little hands. The store owner carefully assisted us in making the prints, then told us to come back in a week to paint them. I'm embarrassed to say that it took more than a month for us to make time for painting. After painting we had to wait another week before the hand prints would go through the kiln and be ready for pickup. So two weeks later (on Saturday) I went back to the store to FINALLY get the handprints. And wouldn't you know, the piece broke when it was fired. "Perfectly normal heat-expansion crack" the store owner explained, showing me the two pieces. We can go back to the store any time to start over with the process, but oh! It made me very sad to see our lovely creation split down the middle. (I will post a picture later, when I'm on my regular laptop.)

Hmmm. It seems like I had a couple more updates from last week, but they aren't coming to mind and it's 9pm anyway. So that's all for now!