Saturday, January 14, 2006
Emma had a great day too
I guess the biggest development to report for her is that in the last week or so she has increased in affectionate-ness 50 to 100%. Seriously. She is coming to me for hugs or to check in on a regular basis now. I think she's growing attached to me ;)
Written at 11:11 PM by Highlandgal.
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For the Michael's store fans...
We went yesterday. My big bargains were 2 boxes of 9" garland with 50 white lights. Regularly $19.99 each. Got 'em for 1.99 each. A box of paints and coatings for painting ornaments. Regularly $9.99. Got it for 99 cents. Now THAT'S my kind of bargain.
Written at 11:07 PM by Highlandgal.
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Blown all the way home
Man is it windy tonight! Nasty, bitter cold. I can feel puffs of wind coming in around the windows. Yuck.

We spent the day with Noni and Popi. It was a pretty casual day. The only thing I needed to do was pop by Costco and pick up a case of diapers. It was nice to spend an unhurried day with them.

All week it's been unseasonably warm here. Really nice. It was 54 degrees when we went to bed last night. Today it all ended. I'm looking at 18 on the thermometer now. When we headed home I had warnings from M. to keep my eyes peeled for debris in the road from the wind and prepare for some blowing snow when I got home. About 1/3 of the way home my high beam switch malfunctioned. It was stuck on. I was apologizing out loud to every car I blinded as I passed. I kept fiddling till I finally hit it just the right way to turn it off. Then I was afraid to turn it back on. So now I'm supposed to be scanning the road for debris on low beams. Fortunately there was only one place where I had to pull an evasive maneuver. For the most part the stuff in the roads could be characterized as twigs. Only one real branch. We made it. Whew!
Written at 10:56 PM by Highlandgal.
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Friday, January 13, 2006
Popeye the Squinty Girl
OK. At first the cheesy stuff was cute, but now it's all she does. I have to catch her in candids to get a real smile. Sigh. I hope it's just a phase.

Written at 3:45 PM by Highlandgal.
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No actual animals were harmed...blah, blah, blah
Aunt Kathy found this hat for Emma at Tuesday Morning while doing some post-Christmas shopping. I love it. Now she's got the whole Leopard. ;)

Written at 3:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Today's outfit
This was a gift from her Aunt Bunny. The pants are wide legged with satin trim on the hip pocket and nice detailing at the waist band. The top is asian-cut (I don't know how else to describe it).

Written at 3:41 PM by Highlandgal.
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Coordinating Beads
People ask me "does she really put the beads on herself?" The answer is "yes, she does." Daddy was playing with her in her room while I was getting dressed this morning. When I came in to dress her this is what she had put on from the collection on her bed. Do you notice that every single one coordinates with her outfit? The only thing I do is hedge my bets some days and only lay out the ones that match her outfit. In this picture she chose those from her entire collection.

Sunita, in this picture she is wearing the one strand of "pearls" she has. ;)

Written at 3:36 PM by Highlandgal.
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Thursday, January 12, 2006
Reading her book and chatting on the phone
Written at 8:39 PM by Highlandgal.
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Happy as a clam
She wants to tilt every glass, bowl and plate she encounters into her mouth. Finally! She got the chance to do it without saturating her entire front side.

Written at 8:33 PM by Highlandgal.
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Wednesday, January 11, 2006
With all the things happening in this wide world...
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This is what is featured on CNN, FoxNews, Drudge, and countless other "news" sources. Brad and Angelina (Brangelina) are pregnant. First of all, they were all beaten to the scoop by a British tabloid weeks ago. There's been speculation for at least six weeks. I guess the difference is that the publicists for both actors finally confirmed it. But is this really news?

To be honest, for pop culture junkies like me it is. But then I appreciate the difference between real news and this crap. National news sources seem to be blurring the lines.

As for the news itself...congrats to them. If it's a lucky baby it will draw the best features out of the gene pool. It could be one incredible looking individual. Well just hope for a healthy baby. I'm sure Angelina will be another one who won't gain anything but a bump. I'm glad we have celebrities to show us how it should be done. :p
Written at 11:22 PM by Highlandgal.
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Bathtime with Daddy in charge
Written at 8:38 PM by Highlandgal.
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It's National De-lurking Week! Woo Hoo!
...

That means it's time for you folks who read this blog to pop in to comments and say "Hi!" Who are you? Give me at least one little factoid to remember you by. I honor anyone's wish to remain anonymous, but give me something. Throw me a bone will ya? (This includes lurking family members, say "Hi", you're allowed, honest) Please reassure me that I don't toil in the blazing heat of this blogging sweatshop for nothing.

Hat tip to Andrea at Blah Blah Babycakes, I totally stole this from her. And to Paper Napkin, the source of the nice button above.
Written at 8:05 PM by Highlandgal.
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My tea cups...for Andrea
This collection was actually assembled for me by Bea Bea, Noni's mom. She was quite the treasure hunter and loved to find something good at flea markets and yard sales. She compiled a four person setting of china for me this way. I think the pattern might be English Rose. Each of these tea cups is slightly different, so technically they're mismatched. I think it makes them all the more charming.

Tea cup One: This one is the fanciest with the roses both inside the cup and outside, and embossing on the outside.





Tea cup Two: this one is a plainer, nothing on the inside and the contour is not as interesting.



Tea cup Three: this is the wide body model, nothing on the inside.



Tea cup Four: this one has the interesting countour and embossing, but the flower on the inside is smaller than the first one.





This cup is not part of the set. Popi's mom's first china set was this white (or cream) set. She gave it to my Aunt Patty who hand painted a place setting for each of us. This was mine.



Bonus: Here is the creamer to go along with the set.

Written at 6:08 PM by Highlandgal.
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Tuesday, January 10, 2006
15 month check up
We had a appointment at 6:00 p.m. The waiting room was empty when we got there. We got called right in. The chick doing the height and weight was the most half-assed I have ever seen. She should know better. Mommies are damned serious about these stats for their toddlers. She stood her on the scale and Emma kept moving but she says "I got it." What is it? 23 lbs. Close enough I guess. Then height, shall we stand her against the door? OK. So as soon as I set Emma down her knees buckle.

"I got it," she says.
"Um...did you see her knees buckle?"
" Yes."
"What was it?"
"28 inches."
"Um...I don't think so, last time she was at least 30 inches."
"Shall we lay her on the table and mark it?"
"Let's do that."
"31.5 inches"

Everything checked out great. I think they wanted her to have more words by now, but I'm content to wait on Emma to decide when she'll talk. She just said not to respond to pointing and grunting and try to make her say what she wants. Chest clear, heart sounds great, ears great (maybe a scar in one from the infection). She asked how many teeth. 14. She seemed convinced that Emma was in fine health.

UPDATE: On the charts she is around the 75th percentile in height and about 50 in weight. The doc said she's trending down the curve in weight but it usually doesn't concern them at this point because once they start walking, running and climbing they expect it.

So here are some pics from our wait in the examining room. Of course the first thing Emma heads for is the bright red BIOHAZARD trash bag...



Next she raids her bag to find some goodies...



She tried sitting on the floor to read her book but it was too cold on her little legs...



Finally, she plays with her favorite, the doctor's stool...

Written at 8:39 PM by Highlandgal.
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Monday, January 09, 2006
Isn't this a pretty picture...?
My daughter is playing with toys purchased with hard earned dollars (not mine of course! ;) It's gratifying to see. Mommies will know what I mean.

Written at 9:44 PM by Highlandgal.
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The one I was waiting for...
The last board meeting. As of tonight I'm off the board of the non-profit business incubator. I've served my term. Their mission was worthy, their efforts were very effective and they were great people to work with. But I'm glad to be rid of one bloody monthly meeting. Now I'm just down to the work related meetings.
Written at 9:36 PM by Highlandgal.
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A weight problem
You’ll all be thanking me that I’ve never mentioned this on the blog before. Back when I used to keep a journal, during my high school and college years, the struggle with my weight seemed to be the prevailing theme in my life. I still struggle with it, but I’m more at peace than I used to be. I used to zoom above 200 lbs every couple of years and stay there for a while. Over 250 even. It’s a huge accomplishment for me that during the last year I’ve maintained a weight within a 15 lb. range. I zoom up and down that range, but I’ve never come close to approaching 200 lbs. Yay!

The point of this post is to tell you that I gained weight over the holidays. With full intent and malice aforethought. I lost some before the holidays so I’d have room to grow (in my pants). Well that room is full now. So today I go back to doing Weight Watchers. I’ll be in it for the long haul; or until my trip to Germany in April. After that we’ll see what happens.

Proof that I’m not bullshitting you: click here.
Written at 1:59 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunday, January 08, 2006
Five weird things about me...
Tagged again, confound it! I need to learn to move faster.

1. Cooking pisses me off. I can start dinner in a fine mood and by the time it's on the table I'm in a foul mood. Maybe it's the pressure of coordinating everything to be ready at the same time. Maybe it's the two 100-lb. dogs in my way every direction I turn. Whatever. Glad it's M.'s job.

2. When I eat a chocolate covered cherry I bite the top off, extract the (death) cherry and throw it in the trash, and then eat the rest.

3. If I don't shower as soon as I get up I will dread it all day long.

4. I won't answer the phone on the first ring. It has to ring at least twice before I'll touch it.

5. I'll go out of my way to avoid making a left hand turn across traffic. I'll even plan alternate routes to avoid it.

I'm tagging Sunita, Jamie, Kelly, Michelle and Steph.
Written at 10:10 PM by Highlandgal.
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We finally did it
We put the Christmas stuff away. All of it except the tree. The box is still at the store. But the important thing is that I'M done. The ornaments are put away, the stuff is put away. Not all of the presents are put away, but I'm used to living in clutter so we won't count that. We never did put any presents under the tree, but now that the skirt is gone Emma discovered that there's room under there...

Written at 8:13 PM by Highlandgal.
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Her latest obsession...
She wants to drink out of a glass. Your glass. Well...because she never gets her own glass. She will badger you to death. She also wants the ice. Usually she ends up with her front saturated. But of course she doesn't care.



Written at 7:54 PM by Highlandgal.
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All cheesy all the time (Hammy too!)
...
Written at 7:50 PM by Highlandgal.
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