Sick and books and stuff

So... I haven't written for a couple of weeks. I was violently sick with a stomach flu for about three days, and then immediately thereafter I came down with a head cold. The baby got the head cold. It had been passed on to the two of us by dad, who had spent several days decommissioned by severe back pains prior to getting sick.

In other words, February started out like this: Nate had immobilizing back pain for several days, bookended by weekends of MIM classes. The pain cleared up just in time for him to come down with a severe head cold. He was only just barely starting to get better when I got the stomach flu, sending me to bed for three days straight. (Seriously, I couldn't get up to do more than rush across the hall to the bathroom.) The first day I felt somewhat normalized after the flu, I started coming down with a head cold, too. The baby got the head cold two days later, as I was in the midst of feeling the worst of it.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, I spent many hours making final revision notes on Queen Witch for J.R. Pearse Nelson.

Whew.

I've actually managed to maintain a fairly positive attitude through most of this. I'm tired and certainly it has been trying, but really, I feel like I was reasonably upbeat this month. Except maybe at the ends of days, when I was feeling the weight of the day on my shoulders. That's when I would sit down to blog but could only find the frustration and exhaustion. So I didn't write. I felt obligated to write -- I still feel obligated, and that's why I'm putting down words right now -- but the actual desire to write is currently absent, as is the feeling that I have anything much to say. I think all of the editing for J.R. was also a drag on my word-related inclinations. (Not a diss, not a complaint, just an observation.)

Speaking of J.R. and Queen Witch, have you picked up a copy? You really should. Go to Amazon and buy the e-book. Or keep an eye on the blog for the availability of the book in print (should be out next month).

So let's turn for a moment to other forms of entertainment: Somewhere in the midst of being sick I read another Susan May Warren book. (You probably don't remember the review I gave of Heiress -- I read it last summer.) The book I read was "My Foolish Heart." Warren is a Christian writer and so her books always talk about God. The religion was weaved much more smoothly into this storyline than it was in Heiress, though I still found it a tad annoying (overbearing) at times. Nevertheless, I do recommend the book. It's a solid 3 or 4 star book. At times I felt like I was reading a Nicholas Sparks novel. (I mean that as a compliment, even though I'm not especially fond of Mr. Sparks.)

I also finally got to watch Dark Knight Rises. I think it took me three nights to through the movie (such is life when you only have about an hour a night to yourself.) I thought it was brilliant and beautiful. Joseph Gordon-Levitt...I could stand to see more of him. I like that guy; he's actually rather talented and surprisingly well-rounded. Nate says he has too much of a babyface. But I saw a little of him during the Oscars highlights and you know what? He can pull off much older looks, I think. So rock on, JGL!

Finally, here are three cute pictures of my kid (because this post is utterly random, so I'm just gonna roll with it...)

I asked her to smile for the camera and got about eight of these, sigh: 

She's really into books the last few days, and especially loving "Where's Waldo?" Notice her feet helping her hold up the book:

Let's fix the house, buy some vodka and get to writing!

In the haste that was all of last week, I forgot to mention that we finally got our roof fixed. We knew when we bought our house (four years ago) that there was a gap in the roof around the chimney, but it hadn't been an issue until last fall/winter. Rather suddenly, we discovered that rainwater was leaking through this gap. It went down, down, down the chimney, supporting a growth of mold in the attic, damaging the wood framing the fireplace in the living room, ruining some magazines and books, and finally puddling in the basement next to the furnace. Sound like fun, right?

Don't ask me why it took so long to get it fixed -- I delegated the assignment last year when we discovered the leak! Actually, in all fairness, my handsome partner did try to plug the leak earlier this fall, before the rainy season started. And for a couple of weeks we thought it was successful, until one afternoon when my mother heard a drip-drip and saw puddle of water in the living room. (That happened to be the same day the storm drain backed up in the driveway and we ended up with a half-flooded basement. I cursed the heavens that night, loathing their heavy clouds and buckets of rain.)

So finally, finally we got a couple of roofers to come bid on repairing the gappy flashing around chimney. One of them gave us an amazing price and a guarantee on his work, so we scheduled the repair. It's been raining for a week now but... not inside my house! Not anymore! (If you live in the same town as us and need a recommendation for a roofer, please ask.)

I'm very excited to share our other big home improvement project from this week: We put new carpet in the craft room! I wish I had a "before" picture to show you. Just try to imagine, if you can, white and yellow shag carpet. It was in decent condition but man-oh-man was it ugly! There was also something off about the texture. I don't know exactly how to describe it, except to say that it was very coarse. It just didn't feel right when you walked on it.

I've been keeping an eye on a local carpet store to see if they had any remnants in an appropriate size and type for the craft room. There was one remnant, one both perfectly sized and colored for the craft room, hanging around the store but it had a SOLD tag on it. The sale date was last June. A couple of weeks ago, I finally asked one of the salesman about the remnant. "Do people ever forget to come back for these remnants? Do you think the buyer might have changed his mind?" The salesman said he could probably cut me a new piece from the roll for nearly the same price as the remnant. I skeptically allowed him to run the numbers for a piece of carpet and installation; I couldn't believe the price. "That's it? That's all it would cost? And it would be installed?!"

"Yeah, that carpet is on sale. We've had a hard time selling it."

Of course no one else wanted the carpet. It is a flat, ugly brown color designed for a commercial space. But our craft room has rustic orange cabinets and it would match perfectly. The "ugly brown" actually compliments the room beautifully. So I went home to check with Nate, got two thumbs up, and scheduled the installation. Three days later, viola! New carpet! And it was ridiculously inexpensive. I know it's not exactly pretty but doesn't this look, well, kinda nice?...

 

Apparently the break I took last week from doing electrical work was enough time off because I got back at it this week with vigor. I am very pleased to report that all of the light and switch boxes are in place, and there is new wire running to them! Now I need to add a wire from the power source to these fixtures and get everything installed. Maybe I'll be done this coming week? I originally though I would try to connect all four sets of lights (utility, closet, hallway, bathroom) by going from light to light to light, but after a couple of hours of investigation and testing yesterday, I have determined that each switch just needs to have a line straight from the main power source. If you don't speak electrical-ese and that didn't make sense, just know that I have to buy and run a little bit more wire to finish it up.


My daughter got her first little haircut this week. It wasn't really a full cut, just a little trim. Her hair is long in the back (specifically on the crown of her head) and relatively short everywhere else, so it had grown mullet-ish. Not a big deal since she's a toddler, and you maybe wouldn't notice since her hair has a little bit of curl. But after it gets washed, ugh! It's like a little rat-tail going down her back. So on Thursday night at the end of bathtime, after a particularly difficult day and an evening of nothing but fussing toddler, when Nate was gone to youth group, I got out the scissors and whacked off the rat tail.

Is it cute now? Not really. Still kinda funny looking. But at least it's not hideous anymore. :o)

While we're on the subject of firsts, I had a very strange first this week: I bought vodka for the first time. I've been in a handful of liquor stores and even purchased hard liquor a time or two, but this was my first time buying something for myself. (The other purchases were of apple brandy for my MIL to make her amazing apple jam.) I got the vodka thanks to Jennifer Reese's very annoying book, Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. She suggests you buy vanilla beans in bulk from Amazon, a cheap bottle of vodka, and try making your own vanilla extract. Gee, doesn't that sound like fun? Apparently I'm game because I ordered one ingredient and went to the liquor store for the other.

Actually, what really swayed me is that you can make several different kinds (maybe every kind?) of extracts  with vodka and the right ingredients. I purchased hazelnut extract last month and found it to be... well.. wanting is the kindest descriptor I can use. (Disgusting and disappointing are more accurate adjectives.) So I figured if I get the vodka to make vanilla extract, I could try my hand at hazelnut, too. And maybe some orange extract. Doesn't that sound yummy? Too bad it takes a couple of months to distill! You'll have to check back later for a report on my home-made extracts. I have high, high hopes.


I got some good (?) news at work this week: The management team asked me to take over the responsibility for a big, important data analysis project that we do once a year. The person who currently does this project is retiring in March and we are not going to fill his position (due to budget cuts). So they are distributing his workload. This is actually really good news to me. One of the reasons I wanted a promotion (the one I was vying for at the end of 2012) is that I am a little bit tired of my current workload. It has become routine and generally fails to challenge me anymore. I'm sure this big project will seem easy and routine in a couple of years, but for right now, I am really excited to do something new and big and important.


Last but not at all least: You might recall that one of my 2013 goals (#12) is to do some creative writing. I've had a few opportunities in the last couple of weeks to sit down and write; many thanks to my husband for running errands with the kiddo and providing the necessary free time. I drafted an outline for a brand new novel and even started writing the opening scene. I have about 6,400 words under my belt. I am amazed and pleased at how well the project is going! I hope Nate will continue to support me as I work toward my goal. Maybe this time next year I really could be ready to publish? Wouldn't that be a dream come true.

Survived a Busy Week

Whew.

I'm the chair of a 10-person work group that meets once a quarter. The meeting lasts about three hours. I'm responsible for running these meetings and creating the agenda. And I don't just mean that I whip out a handy Word template and fill in the agenda items, I mean that I literally decide how we're going to fill those three hours, then spend at least 100 hours over the course of three months gathering the information for the agenda items. It's a lotta lotta work. It's about a third of what I do for my job.

This work group met on Tuesday (1/15). So if you've talked to me any time in the last couple of weeks and I've been distracted or weird or maybe even rude... I am very, very sorry! I get pretty focused on this meeting, and pretty busy getting things together, and a little bit stressed out about it. It can make me a flimsy nutcase.

As if that wasn't enough for my brain, I'm also helping out with a special project for the next couple of months at work, and it has a very dramatic ebb-and-flow to the work. This last week happened to be a big kickoff week for the project; I missed one of the team meetings and only had time for about 10% of the work I was assigned. (No really, the project leader had to re-assign 90% of my work because I didn't have time, not this week.)

Thankfully the new project is going to be very calm for a couple of weeks, and the next quarterly meeting isn't until April. So my brain can quietly grow back into one whole unit, and my sanity levels can decrease to normal. Yay.

Turning now to house projects, I totally deserve a pat on the back: I finished wiring the lights in the utility room!!!

I know it doesn't look like much. Electrical work always seems and sounds so easy. What you don't know is that I had to drill a hole through every. single. one. of those ceiling joists so that I could run the wire from switch to light to light to light to switch. It was something like ten holes. That's 10 holes, each circle an inch in diameter, cut through a two-inch beam of old, hardened wood. I can only do a couple at a time before my arm and/or shoulder is tired from holding the drill and boring through the wood.

Then I had to run the wires and cut them to size; that's pretty easy. I had to figure out how to hang the lights; these ones are made to attach to the drywall in the ceiling. (Someday the ceiling will be finished with drywall, but not for awhile yet.) So I had to rig up a temporary frame for each light. Again, not hard, but takes some time. The real mental challenge of this project was figuring out how to run the wires. I can follow a wiring diagram, if it's available. It's not hard to connect this black wire to that red wire, bundle all of the white wires together, etc. Just follow the picture and all will be fine. Problem is, I couldn't find any lighting diagrams that showed three lights and two switches. Eventually I just took one of the two-light-and-two-switch diagrams, studied it for a good 30 minutes, and then drew my own diagram for my 3-2 combo.

I really don't have a clue how it all works or what it's doing down there, but all of the lights work, the switches work, and nothing pops or cracks or sizzles or sparks. I know I used the right type of wiring. So even though I can't explain the how of it all, I'm going to count this as a win.

After that, I decided to give myself the week off. It was Monday night and I didn't want to do any more electrical work for the rest of the week. I told myself I could spend some doing a craft project, maybe even some of the sewing projects that have piled up. Or I could just relax and watch some movies, go to bed early. Bake a cake. Whatever I wanted, you know?  That was my brilliant plan. Here's how my week actually went:

The next night, Tuesday night (note that this is the day I had my big quarterly meeting), I spent an hour cleaning up the utility room (put the tools away; threw away all the wood chips, wiring scraps, old bits of electrical whatnot; and swept thoroughly), then I spent a half hour staring at the two Burleys in the garage, trying to make a decision. (I still haven't made a decision.) I went to bed at my usual time, exhausted.

Wednesday night, I put away groceries from Costco then wrote a letter to my daughter for her 19-month birthday. She was having a hard time getting to sleep, so I went in and rocked her for awhile.

Thursday night the fun continued! I pulled all of the carpet and padding out my craft room; Nate followed after and took out the staples. I planned the dinner menu for the week ahead and made a grocery list.

Friday was a day off for me. My daughter was so excited to spend the day with me that she woke up at 3am and stayed up until she got to cuddle in mom and dad's bed. She got up for the day at 5:30am. Lucky me, I needed to mix a large batch of bread dough. Then we went grocery shopping; I was so tired and absent-minded that I left two of my reusable grocery bags at the checkout line and forgot my receipt. We got home with just enough time to put away the cold groceries, then it was back in the car and to the doctor's office for Darling Girl's belated 18-month checkup. She got three shots; I got a stack of paperwork from the pediatrician. When naptime came, I went down too. Slept for about two hours; toddler stayed down for three. Meanwhile Nate came home and left again, off to an overnight snow campout for the scouts. After bedtime, I cleaned the office, balanced the checkbook, and made a checklist for Saturday.

Gee, how could there be more to do? My daughter made sure I was up at 5:30 this morning (as if waking up every two hours last night, certain that someone had come to kill me in my sleep, wasn't enough). We mopped the kitchen floor and ran through four loads of laundry before heading out to visit Nana and Poppi. They have a new puppy, Hazel. Darling and the puppy were just starting to hit it off when it was time to go home (we had errands to run and I was starving). I wanted to run to the hardware store but Toddler declared that it wasn't going to happen. Home we went, lunch we ate, a nap she took. I put away those four loads of laundry then tried to get some sleep, too. Nate appeared right at the end of naptime and off we finally went to the hardware store. (Guess what I got? More supplies to continue the electrical work in the basement!)

Just now, I finished eating a pair of cookies, re-balancing the checkbook, downloading the week's pictures from my camera, and writing this blog post.


Whew.

Poison, Bike, Trailer... Christmas!

I'm going to sum up my week with two words: Food poisoning.

To be fair, I actually contracted the food poisoning Thursday and started feeling ill in the afternoon, so really those two words only sum up the last two days. But they've been two very long and painful days, and I feel like it's been wrecking me for the whole week. If you've ever had food poisoning I'm sure you understand. The worst part is, I shared some of my lunch on Thursday with the baby, so I think she's been feeling sick too. Cranky, not sleeping well, not eating well, poop problems... poor kid. As if she didn't have enough troubles, what with being a baby and all.

Here's a picture of my bicycle (it's not my my bicycle, it's just the same make and model):

My bicycle is overdue for a tune-up, so I took it down to the bike shop yesterday. I was kinda forced to do it because I loosened (and couldn't seem to fix) the back brake in the process of putting on a new rear fender. Since I'm only going to be in the office one day next week, I figured this was a good window of time to get the tune up (okay yeah, and get the brake tightened and get the fender adjusted, since I screwed them up).

The bike shop owner put my bike on the rack to check things out. Turns out I've got a worn down something-er-rather and a loose something else, and a thing that's bent, and I could probably use thicker brake pads. Plus some other stuff that was totally optional but would be nice to fix. I don't even remember all the things the store owner listed, but I've noticed problems/challenges with all the stuff he mentioned, and I agree that it would make for much better cycling if I got it fixed. But by the time you add up the stuff that has to get done and everything that could possibly be improved, the total cost is about what my old bike is worth if I sell it.


I've actually been thinking about buying a new bike anyway, I tell the guy. Well now he gets excited -- which in this case means he went from a 1 on the Enthusiasm Meter to a 2; not really much change but perceivable on so dry a character -- and starts showing me some different options. At first he lists a few things that make sense to me, like a lighter frame, easier shifting, certain parts that are reinforced against damage, and standard sized wheels (because my bike is old, my current wheels are a wacky, non-standard size). Then he starts getting into nuances, listing all kinds of little details that don't mean anything to me, and when I ask what he means he launches into the nuances of the nuances. Are you getting a headache yet? I was. I was at the point where I just wanted him to stop talking and let me leave. TMI. Props for knowing his stuff, but yeesh.

I'm not ready to buy a new bike, and certainly not ready to drop the kind of money he's suggesting for "something that will last me 10, 15, 20 years." I'm only at the very beginning phase of buying, where I'm thinking about maybe buying something and I want to get some ideas. (I get this purchasing caution and patience from my awesome mother, bless her.)

So maybe in the next year I will get a new bike. Or maybe I'll just spend a whole lot less money and do some major improvements on my current bike. We'll just have to wait and see; I've got enough to worry about for now. I'm not even going to give it another thought until after the new year.

One of the other things on my mind is still bike related: Trailers. If you recall, this summer my mom bought us a used Burley Bee trailer for my bike. It has been such a blast to haul my daughter in it, and such a blessing since I commute via bike. But I've had some issues with the tires on the trailer... let's just be generous and say that they are very sensitive tired. After several frustrating experiences, I have decided that I am going to buy a brand new trailer. (I will resell the old one in the spring, hopefully for the same amount my mom paid.) I want to stick with the Burley brand, but move up to either the Encore (larger; see picture at left) or Cub (larger and burlier) model.

This story could get very long if I go into all the details, so I won't. Here's the short of it: The Cub (pictured below) has a hard plastic bottom, the Encore has a fabric bottom. This means the Cub is more durable and water proof, but it's also quite a bit heavier. I was really worried that the extra weight would be too much. After all, the uphills coming home from work are pretty brutal. But I love that the Cub is sturdier and built all-around to handle the harsh weather.

So I ordered the Cub, thinking I would take it for a test ride and send it back if it was too heavy. I've actually taken it out for two test rides... surprised myself when the extra weight really wasn't that much harder. But remember how the Cub is supposed to have a bunch of extra weather proofing? I got it home from the second ride, which I deliberately made on a rainy afternoon, and it was pretty wet inside the trailer. There are a couple of "vents" that allow water to enter the trailer. My daughter's socks were wet. Her blanket was damp. Yuck.

So what do I do? I don't know. Maybe the Encore is the better choice, since it doesn't have the water-allowing vents. I'll have to stew on it; more on this later.

Let's move on to...Christmas. It's just a couple of days away. I wrapped presents yesterday and today. Why did I get so many little things for my kid? She doesn't care. She'd rather I just slide the new books right onto her bookshelf, slip the jammies in her drawer, and drop the big yellow airplane in the bathtub. I guess I got them so I can enjoy watching her unwrap stuff. So hopefully she'll want to unwrap stuff!

I got Nate a new tool for Christmas. We decided that we want to use Christmas gifts as an opportunity to buy each other things that will be beneficial to the family. We figured that birthdays are a good time to be selfish, and we each have a monthly allowance if we want to get a toy, so why not put this gift-giving occasion to better use? Nate got me kitchen stuff, although I don't know exactly what.

Next year I think we're going to do Christmas differently. I would like to really focus on making Christ the center of Christmas. I don't know how to do that, I'm not really sure what that even means for us, but I know there's going to be a lot less of the worrying and working and frustration I've felt the last few years. More acts of service, more time with people we love, more time talking about the Savior... fewer presents, less shopping, no worrying about decorations and to-do lists. There's my outline; I'll figure out the specifics sometimes next autumn.

I took the last three days off work. Glorious. I'm off Monday and Tuesday, too, so that's a whole week away from the desk job. I almost never take time off (I haven't really been able to anyway); it's weird but nice to have some staycation time. Of course all of it went to running errands, housework, and rolling on the floor clutching my aching tummy.... it wasn't exactly a fun and relaxing time. Still, I suppose it's better than being in the cubicle.


I'm not sure how to end this somewhat random round of updates. Next week's post should be really good, though -- a recap on the year, whether I met my goals, highs and lows, and some deep thoughts. Check in with me again if you have time!


Until then, may your holidays be safe, fun, and filled with joy.

Parenting is such messy business (and other goodies)

Prior to having a child, I never knew, never even imagined, some of the things I would have to do as a parent. It's an unexpected and surprisingly disgusting journey. Today I got to experience five of those wonderful (sarcastic) new things; I share them with you for your amusement:

1. Sniff someone else's bottom (to check for poop)
2. Forcibly brush someone else's teeth
3. Read someone a story while I'm going to the bathroom
4. Catch vomit with my bare hand(s)
5. Use random noises and gestures because my brain is so tired that I can't form real words

I think I'm supposed to be able to make another list of the truly wonderful (not sarcastic) things that I never expected about parenting. Things like the thrill of being called mama or the smile-erupting joy of watching my daughter toddle around. There are, after all, a lot of upsides to being a mom. But since it was a diarrhetic, triple poop, vomit catching, five-hours-of sleep kind of day, I'm really not in a happy-sunshine, I-love-being-a-mom mood. Although I am feeling a tad more sympathetic to and grateful for my own mother these days. (Thanks mom.)

That said, I've got about ten minutes until I need to shut down my computer and call it a night. So I think I'll try to bullet point out the highlights from this week:

- Remember my friend who watches my daughter a couple of times a week? She moved last week. The difference is only about a mile, but it's a mile of steep downhills (from here to there) and makes for a totally different trip to work. Instead of going to her house, back to my house, and then on to the office, I have to go straight from her house to the office. On a very different, less safe route. I'm not thrilled. I don't at all mind the little bit of extra time or distance (I like that I'm getting a bit more and more challenging exercise), but there are a couple sections of road with no shoulder and crazy drivers. I love to bike. I don't like worrying about my safety when I'm doing it. Thankfully I traverse only a very small section of bad road with my daughter. Then there's the long uphill ride at the end of the day to get us home.... brutal. I did it twice this week; both times I had to stop and walk for a section of the hill because I don't have the cardiovascular strength for it. We'll get there.

(^^^So much for a brief bullet point. Sheesh.)

- Remember how I applied for a promotion recently? This coming week, I have an interview for the position. It's the first round of interviews; there will be two rounds. I feel confident that I can make it through the first round. It's the second round that's going to be the most challenging. But one thing a time! This week's goal is to knock one out of the park for Round 1.

- A lot of banks these days have an e-deposit program for checks. If you have a smart phone, you can take a picture of your check, send it to the bank, and it will be deposited. Amazing! My bank has this program. Unfortunately, we don't have smart phones, so I still have to go to the bank branch when I get a check. (Actually, let's be honest, my mom has been depositing most of my checks for me. Have I mentioned lately that she's awesome?) So speaking of my awesome mom, she pointed out to me this week that I can actually use the document scanner on my home printer/copier/scanner to do the same thing! I can scan the check, log into my bank account on my computer, and e-deposit. I tried it out on Tuesday and it was incredibly easy. Yay!

- Nate took down the autumn/Thanksgiving decorations yesterday. We got out our lights this morning and put them up. (But I just remembered, we forgot to turn them on! Ha!) I'm not going to rush into the Christmas decorations, but I am happy we're getting started a little earlier this year. I think maybe it will help me get into the Christmas spirit. Hopefully I can get my shopping done really early, too, and then I can just kick back for the rest of the month. Amazon is definitely going to receive the bulk of my transactions. I do not like holiday traffic on the roads and crowds of people in the stores. Makes me claustrophobic.

- Cooking. There's a lot I want to say about cooking but I have only one minute left before I need to wrap things up. Oh well, I'm just gong to go over time...

Remember my friend Kimmy who is oh-so amazing? She made some pea pesto this summer and gave me a  batch. It was delicious. I finally got a chance this week to try the recipe myself and it turned out yummy! It's really easy, too. I added 1 cup of cooked quinoa to a triple batch of the pesto so that it would have protein and thus be a "one stop" dish. I cooked the quinoa in chicken broth, which I think helped preserve the good flavor. I also made Moroccan Tofu this week, which is a variation of Nate's "famous" Moroccan chicken recipe. It turned out well. Surprisingly tasty. And my rice-and-quinoa stuffed bell peppers were so good that even after several bites, Nate hadn't noticed they were meatless. ("Wait, there's not any meat in this? Really?") Maybe just maybe my vegetarian ambitions will come true.

This coming week I'm going to make some tofu pad Thai. Nate scowled at me several times already ("I want chicken pad Thai!") but if it goes as well as the Moroccan tofu, he'll hardly notice. Let's all cross our fingers.

Finally, if you're mouth isn't watering yet: cranberry orange muffins. I want these, have been thinking about them all day. I'll have to print the recipe and get the ingredients next weekend... unless someone wants to show up at my door with a bag of groceries? I'll make the muffins and give you some in exchange? Anybody?

And then she walked! (Plus other updates and a bunch of pictures)

Years from now when my daughter asks me, "When did I start walking?"
I will tell her, "November 10, 2012."

We went to visit my parents last week at their new house (it was Nate's first time up there). As soon as we stepped in the door and I set Baby Girl down so that I could take off my shoes... and she toddled away from me, across the room.

Up to that point in time, my daughter's walking was pretty limited. She'd use furniture and other objects to help herself stand and walk, and she would sometimes take two or three steps on her own. One time I even saw her take about six unassisted steps. But mostly, she wasn't interested.

Not until the magic of Grandma's House intervened. A magic spell was cast when we walked in the door, and now my daughter is walking. She still crawls a bit, especially if she falls down while walking, but for the most part she is just toddling around as though it were the most normal thing ever.

I LOVE IT.

A lot of people tried to tell me that walking wasn't going to be much fun. They said she would get into everything and run away all the time, and that she would be too fast. I think these people must not have waited for seventeen months to see their children walk. To date, of all the things my daughter has learned to do, this is my very most favorite. It is amazing and adorable! I don't miss crawling. She's too big and too old to crawl, and created plenty of its own worries and nuisances. Bring on the walking! Heck, bring on the running!!! I love new adventures and challenges.

The next day, on Sunday, our very good friends who live an hour south (in our college town) came to visit. You might remember them from previous blog posts -- Nathan and Kimmy, whose son "Little" is nearly the same age as our daughter. We made them dinner and Kimmy took some pictures of me making my beloved new treat, pumpkin cremes! Kimmy has a food blog and wanted me to write a guest post. I was/am totally flattered! But since I'm not a great photographer, I convinced her to come and take the pictures. You can check out the post, pictures, and recipe on the Bake Shop's blog, www.kimmysbakeshop.com (here's the direct link).

Monday was a day off work (Vet's Day, belated) so we were all home and having fun. We went to see Nate's dad and then worked a bit on the chicken coop. (More on the coop in a minute.) I finally finished my edits to Queen Witch, J.R. Pearse Nelson's latest work. I sent them along and final revisions are underway. I am grateful and pleased to have participated in the writing process for such an inspiring, self-published author! The new book should be out by the end of the month. Do you want a copy? I'm going to order some extra prints to give away; just let me know.

There's a job opening at work that has me very excited. It's for the Senior Analyst position, which is one step up in pay and about five steps up in awesome from my current job. The position came open two years ago and I very much wanted to apply, but after many long deliberations, I decided the timing wasn't right. For one thing, I was four months pregnant with daughter so I knew I would be out of the office (parental leave) during a critical workload period. In the end I applied for a promotion to my current position, and I am very happy about the route I took. I've gained great experience in my job, and developed leadership skills that will be invaluable if I'm promoted again. It also gave me time to better understand and appreciate the workload of the Senior Analyst.

Now, I don't know whether I will be the top candidate. I'm a strong contender, but several smart, capable people are applying. I do know now that I am very seriously interested in the job, and I feel ready to tackle it, should things go well. The whole process will take a couple of months, so for now... stay tuned!

Today was a pretty normal Saturday. We ran a few errands and got a few things done around the house. I finally got most of the wiring set up for the chicken coop, so that we can have a light out there to keep them warm this winter. There's a covered patio out back with several lights and outlets -- too many, in fact. So I axed the last two routes on the line, hijacking them instead for the coop. I installed a light switch, and then ran wires through conduit out to the coop. (In the rain. And mud. And cold. The conditions were ugly and shoving the wire through long plastic tubing required more muscle than you would think, but when I was done and got to head inside to take a nap with the baby... total satisfaction.)

The thing is, I'm going to have to redo a bunch of work. The switch box is too small to comfortably hold all the wires, and the box doesn't mount securely. So I got a different box after nap time, and I will have to spend another hour out there sometime soon so I can swap out the switch and boxes. It's okay, it will be worthwhile in the end.

As if that wasn't enough stuff, I also tried a new bread recipe today. The goal was a bread with lots of seeds.  It has five kinds... but... it's hard to explain. The bread didn't have a big rise, so it's dense (not bad, just not great); the flavor is a bit... bitter? Some of the seeds have a great flavor, but others are kinda sour/bitter. So maybe more sugar/honey/agave next time? We'll see. I'm not going to make bread for a couple of weeks; too much is going on.

This week is Thanksgiving! Nate's parents are coming over for "dinner" at noon on the big day. We are making most of the goodies. I'm actually excited. I didn't think I would be -- who wants to go through all of that effort? -- but then we went grocery shopping today, and I got yams and potatoes and green beans and pumpkin puree and a turkey... and now, I'm feeling festive! I love Thanksgiving. If only it didn't have to be followed by the madness and annoyance of the Christmas season. (Bah humbug, I despise the holiday commercialism, masses of people everywhere, and stress. Can't I please just skip Christmas this year?)

Since I don't want to end on that Scrooge-like note, here are a ton of cute pictures from the last three months:

Set A) Climbing, crawling, exploring: She'll get into everything. It use to be "Where did we put the baby?" but now it's, "Where did the baby put herself?"

Sitting in a crock pot -- I swear she did all of this on her own:

Climbing on the step ladder -- she loves this:

In her room, she climbs onto her chair, then onto her desk, and perches up there:

And now here are a bunch of cute pictures of various things, many of them with food...

Pretty much one of the worst things I've ever seen:

Halloween Costume: Monkey

(Her) Feelings about Costume: Hatred

Time spent wearing it: Minimal

Playing with Buckle Bear! She doesn't hate him after all:

Diaper Hat -- She can thank her dad for this idea:

The back of her hair is getting long. Sadly, the font is not. Insert nickname: Mullet Girl

(Sleeping. This is what she's doing right now. I love it when she sleeps -- so peaceful.)

It's all B-stuff this week? (baby, books, Ben, and B's birthday)

If you saw my kid this week you might think we, her caretakers, are abusive or at least highly negligent. She's started standing up a lot more and "cruising" around a little bit, which has meant a few bumps and bruises. Until this week I always prided myself on the fact that I keep a close eye on her and she hasn't had any serious nicks or falls. After a series of hurts this week, I now hang my head in shame.

At the sitter's this week, on Monday, she fell down and bit herself, resulting in a cut and bruised lip. (It only just finally healed.) Wednesday when grandma was watching her, Baby Girl bonked her head on the piano bench, right next to her eye, so she had a nasty little bruise on her temple. Then on Friday morning while I was making breakfast, she got tangled up in the small metal step ladder -- tried to climb it, of course -- and managed to both scrape and bruise her thigh. As if that wasn't bad enough, she also kicked a piece of chicken wire yesterday while I was carrying her and got two long, angry-looking cuts on her calf. Arrg! I feel like an awful parent. Poor girl.

The neat thing about Darling's slowly increasing mobility is that she's shown an interest in climbing. I can't really let her out of my sight anymore, but it's a lot of fun! She likes to climb up onto chairs. She has her own special chair for which I'm planning to sew a slipcover (I have the material, I just need to find the time and courage; I might work on that tomorrow, on my day off). Isn't it such a cute chair? She loves it and so do I!

Check out the video of her crawling into her chair...

This week Darling demonstrated her understanding of "bye bye" and kissing. She now says "buuuh buh" and waves when we say goodbye. And if you ask for a kiss, and she's willing, she'll pucker her little lips and make a "mwah" sound when you kiss her. She mostly only does the kissing thing for her dad, of course. She's pretty fond of him.  :o)

Moving on: I just finished a book this evening called "War Wives" and I'm still not really sure if I liked it. The premise was good, the setting interesting and the story line very detailed. But there were a lot of characters and I feel like I never really got enough time with each person in the story, never got to hear each woman's story and connect with the characters. The book was a good length, but tried to cover too many people, events, and too long a period of time (several years) within it's pages. It either needed to be longer or have fewer characters, quite honestly. But I'm not sorry that I read it...?

Here's some news that isn't mine but is very exciting: My BIL and his wife Amy (you remember them, of course) finally found a house! They have been looking for awhile and have wrestled with the market in San Diego, where buying is still competitive and it's tough to find a started home in a decent neighborhood for a decent price. But they found a great house this week and we are VERY happy and excited for them. We can hardly wait to go visit. If you care to know more about it, you can check out my SIL's blog (amykissesmike.blogspot.com).

Speaking of houses, we have way too much on our plates right now. My brother Ben came down for a couple of days this week and did some housework for us. The to-do list is just impossibly long -- I need to stop adding projects to the list, blarg, bad B! Ben started primer-painting the chicken coop and sanded most of the pieces of wood that are going to become the stairs on our front deck. I started staining the wood, but have only gotten about halfway through. Meanwhile the deck has no stairs.... I'm sure it's wearing on our mailman's patience. (Sorry buddy, and thanks.) But on the bright side it's probably deterring would-be salesman... because we get a lot of those (not) in our neighborhood.

The biggest news of late is that my birthday is very soon... it's tomorrow! Yay! Nate's been bugging me for a birthday list. I finally provided one on Thursday. Basically I asked for a day off from stress and responsibility. I'd like to sleep in, take a long shower, perhaps go bike riding or shopping, do some craft projects, not have to clean anything or change diapers.... and I'd like breakfast foods available all day. Nate said he was going to buy me presents, but I said no, what I really want is just to sleep and take it easy. Seriously. I don't want people or stuff. I also don't want a messy house or an unhappy kid. I just want to be selfish and unburdened for one day. Tuesday I will go back to work and life will resume, but tomorrow... tomorrow I get the day off.

I know I still owe you news about baby bike seats, plus I want to talk about making candy, but oh... I'd rather get started on that very long stretch of sleep! Another time my loves. Until then, adieu.

Remodeling outside, cooking/baking, and that sweet little girl

At our house, the big project the last couple of weeks has been the chicken coup -slash- storage shed on the southeast corner of our property. For a long time it was a scary, dark, evil little shed, tucked away in the farthest corner of our property, that I refused to go visit. Now I'm banging around, rolling out chicken wire, arguing with Nate about how best to build a run for the chickens. It's nice to see it repaired and made useful.

One of my brothers is coming over for a few hours next week (I think) to do some work around the house. I plan to have him clean, prime and paint the coup/shed, and to finish the stairs on our front deck. The last few days have been focused on getting the two areas ready for those tasks. I needed to cut some more pieces for the deck and purchase several parts (bolts, screws, etc.). The shed needed significantly more work -- weatherproofing wrap, siding, trim, etc. Despite several long hours yesterday afternoon and most of today, we're still not quite where we need to be. Monday afternoon/evening will also be devoted to getting the last few things ready before my brother comes on Tuesday.

Here are some pictures of the evolution of the shed:

In totally unrelated news: I once again tried out some new recipes this week. For dinner there was pulled pork in the slow cooker on Thursday, which was nearly a disaster except some brilliant suggestions from Nate saved the day. Lasagna "roll ups" yesterday (Friday), which were not as quick and easy as I expected, but were quite tasty. Somewhere in there I tried homemade oreos.... They turned out as yummy little chocolate cookies, not at all like oreos. I'm disappointed but at least it wasn't a failure. I also made some healthy breakfast "cookies" that I really hoped Baby Girl would eat (she didn't) but that, surprisingly, Nate loved and even wanted a second batch. Finally, this morning I made cheese crackers (kinda like cheezit imitations) that also seemed like they were going to be a disaster because the dough wasn't coming together and they weren't getting crunchy when they baked, but with patience and a little extra oven time they turned out nicely. Baby Girl ate a few of them. I'm not totally sure what she thinks... jury's still out for her.

(In the morning I am going to make an apple crumb bread... very excited about this one! I've got fresh apples from my mom and hopefully about 30 minutes of free time.)

Speaking of the baby, she's doing great, glad you asked. She's sassy, mullety, and fat. She's standing quite a bit now -- even trying to do it on her own without help. Wednesday at the "baby sitter's" house she had a tough day, then Thursday she had a great day. Go figure. I enjoyed hauling her around in the Bee, though. It's good exercise and fun.

Ah nuts, I just noticed the time. I better add the pictures and get ready for bed. Hopefully I'll find time to talk about fruit and bike carriers soon!

Burley Bee for Baby and ME!

Right before the baby's bedtime, I wrote a brief list of things I wanted to accomplish before I went to bed. It ended with a typical entry, "Blog?" Nate noticed my list and did a couple of things for me; I got distracted while completing a task and ended up spending half an hour cleaning up something that wasn't on my to-do list. Typical, right? By the time I was done, I was tired and did not want to do "Blog?" or anything involving my brain.

So I'm just going to share the briefest of updates, which is that my (AWESOME!) mom got a bike trailer for Baby Girl. Happy early birthday to me! It's a Burley Bee, used but in really good condition. (I am still thinking about getting a baby bike seat, too... I haven't made up my mind.)

I love the Burley. It is really cool. It has room and buckles for two kids, plus space enough in the back for a bag of groceries or whatever else I might want to haul. I'm going to get a different "hitch" for it, though -- one that will make it quick and easy to take the Burley on and off my bike.

My mom brought it to us on Friday and I took Darling out on Saturday morning for half an hour, going up and down the street. At first she absolutely refused to wear her helmet, so after several minutes of fighting and pleading and trying to trick her, I gave up and decided to take a really slow lap around the block, to distract her. It worked. After the one lap, I was able to stop, get the helmet on her, and continue riding without fuss. I managed to get one okay picture of her in the Burley with the helmet (obviously, when we stopped, she'd try to yank it off... she'll get used to it):

I also got a little video of her riding along. Lest you think I was being unsafe, know that I took the video mostly "hands free." I hung the camera backwards around my neck (down my back), reached around to push the start button, and rode slowly down the street. For the first part of the video, the camera got shuffled toward the pavement. Then I must have scooted it or something because you can suddenly kinda see Darling again. Right after the camera was back on her, she started babbling a little bit. It's very cute! So you can either endure the first 18 seconds of weird video, or just advance the video to the 18th second, and you can watch her and listen to her talk for a few seconds: