I got laid off last week. My husband has been like a rock, very supportive. It's been kind of awesome, like a vacation, except with no money and I have to try to get interviews. I have enough money to coast for a couple months so I am not worried, yet. Hope to find something soon.

The good news is I don't have to sit in front of a computer all boring day. So LiveJournal: Later! Thanks for all the info, I learned a lot here and wasted a lot of time. Hope to not see you anytime soon.

Baby Junior is 8 months now. Fiiiiiiiinallllllllllyyyy we can start getting to the good part. The walking/talking/why why why/what's that mommy part of kidness. Fritz is 13 and super cool and he was a fun kid so I am hoping Junior will be cool too.. i know he will be..

I think he'll be walking by 9 months. That's good and bad.. Good because he is so. FREAKING. heavy and he's destroying all our tendons. (I've been wearing an arm brace for a couple of days now and it helps.) Bad because we are so not childproofed yet. I bought my house when Fritz was five and didn't need to do anything to it. Now it's like.. baby gates? There are wires everywhere and the back yard is a big trashy mudpit.

We did sell the pool though so he won't drown in that, I can be 100% sure. That is one of 6 million ways to die that won't get him.

The Old Man is more freaked than I am because he remembers what he was like as a child. Heh. I've already gotten one through those crucial first 3 years.

Well life is a crapshoot and kids are a big crapshoot and you just never know. I'm glad I had these 8 months and hopefully there will be many many more.

Makeshift playpen since I had the baby for a couple hours while the Old Man had a doctor's appointment.





To play with he got a phone curly cord, a usb hub and some cardboard

I just had to fix a strange error on a user's phone. She is running Good Mobile Messaging which we all know hijacks the contacts application. Normally she would start Pocket Outlook to get her contacts but somehow she hosed it so there was no way to get to her non-GMM contacts. They were still there but the shortcut to it had vanished.

Contacts are stored by Pocket Outlook, so first I verified that she still had Pocket Outlook in her Windows directory. That is poutlook.exe. Then I restored the shortcut poutlook.lnk that had somehow gotten deleted. I copied poutlook.lnk to the desktop from a different Windows Mobile phone and edited it in notepad. To do this I had to change the extension to .lnk because XP had no idea what to do with it. So it briefly became poutlook.lnk.lnk. Then I edited the file to read

21# MSPOUTLOOK contacts

and did a Save As.. and named it "poutlook.lnk". Then I dropped the file into the Windows/start menu directory on the phone.

I am writing this up in case this helps someone else because there was nothing in my google searchings that gave all the steps for this.

I didn't try to map the soft button for contacts because I think that involved going into the registry and I wanted my lunch and she wanted her phone back. She thinks I am magical just for doing that so it was good enough for now.

saturday squat max was 3x165. The Old Man and I think the baby is screwing up our physiology, his back is all tweaked and my elbows and forearms still hurt. Junior needs to learn to walk, dammit!

My goal in yoga this year is to get my damn heels down in downward dog. I was really close yesterday. I am not flexible at all. I am good at strength and endurance and bad at flexibility. I am getting closer and it's funny how it's not just flexibility but breathing and pushing with my arms. Not just hamstrings. Yoga is cool for that, it is constantly surprising.

I would like warrior more if I weren't looking in the mirrors all the time thinking about how thick my waist is.

OMG OMG largest known poop explosion in baby history has occurred STOP father has experienced exposure over 15% of body area STOP difficult solo baby shower maneuver successfully carried out STOP bubba returned home in time for mop-up STOP all is well

Fritz has strep throat. He's never gotten it before. Three houses up the street from me is "Grandma Judy"'s house. She has foster kids. They come and go. So far it's just been younger kids but recently there's been this girl there named Felicia. Fritz has been hanging out up there A LOT. There's also another boy there a little older than Fritz, and he says he's hanging out with the boy. But he spends a lot of time mooning at our front door looking up at Judy's house. And when he's ready to go up there he brushes his teeth. UH HUH. Then the other day he was hanging around our house and he was all, "Felicia's boyfriend is such a jerk." OH now she has a boyfriend? But you guys spend a whoooooole lot of time together. And now Fritz has strep throat. I have refrained from raising a significant eyebrow.

I squatted my body weight on Saturday, 185 pounds. Only once, and I was nervous. I went down and then up again. Then I back off to 165. It's a cool feeling, an accomplishment. "I can do THIS." Fritz did some squats too, with the bar at first, after we stopped him from doing some stupid exercise he saw in Men's Health. The Old Man bought the book for fun and one of the things in it is how Christian men can pray the weight off.. like.. SERIOUSLY? And only Christian men? oooookay...

Also we are getting our dog tomorrow. I didn't like the Labs at the Lab rescue, they were like little well trained drones, so we started looking around at shelters and found this awesome dog that we are going to name Wuji, because his face is half black and half white. Baby Junior laughed and laughed at the dogs. And Wuji licked his hands out of friendliness, not out of checking if he had food. It seems like a good fit, but we only met for a few minutes. He's a young dog though so he should grow into us. Stupid Sam will be surprised.

It's gonna be awesome, we are going to take walks in the evenings and have a nice dog lying at our feet again. I'm stoked.

Soooooooo I put in an application yesterday for a rescue Labrador Retreiver. It cost $5 which I was happy to pay. I don't have any specific dog in mind and I'm not all set on a Lab either. Padre was a pit bull boxer mix supposedly, and I really like pit bulls so whatever comes my way. I also sent an email to the Bernese Mountain Dog people but I haven't heard anything at all back. Those are cool dogs.

I hope by working with the rescue people we can find a cool dog that fits with us. I want a mellow dog that does not mind a baby pushing on it and who does not run away or dig my yard up all to hell.

My mom's been halfway looking for another rescue scotty and she keeps coming close but not quite getting one. So I know the process will take a while. I don't mind. I just wanted to go ahead and get the ball rolling because the baby needs a dog!

I told my coworker about Padre and he told me about his golden that he had for 15 years and added, "That's why we had our daughter, we needed a kid for our dog!" :)

I like to hold the baby up so he can watch the trash truck come down the street. I think it is exciting for him with the lights and the beepings. I have "Trash Trucks!" and "I stink!" to read to him. Today he was more interested in trailing his fingers through the condensation on the door than watching the truck. But as the truck rolled back up the street the driver beeped and waved at us! It was so cool. And I think the baby did notice the truck, he got this really intense look of concentration on his face. It's hard to tell with babies but he seemed to be giving off this "WHERE DID IT GO" thing when the truck was gone.

I love living in the city.

Did squats at the gym on Saturday. I am almost ready to go back to where I was before the bb. I did 10, 20, 35 and I think before I was doing 25-35-45 and the 10 was really too easy. I did a lot of stretching between sets and I did not get sore at all. So I don't know if that is good or not. I pretty much immobilized myself the first time I did squats, I think it was about 1 month pp. Heh. It was the good kind of pain. My abs were sore all weekend though because we did like 10 minutes of abs in class on Friday.

Yesterday all I did all day was make peanut butter cookies. I put a bunch of chocolate chips in them and I also wanted to put ginger in. The Old Man was my taster and we kept not being able to taste the ginger so I kept putting more and more in. It ended up being like 2 heaping tablespoons of ginger. It made the cookies really good but I could feel them in my belly giving off heat. Good for a snowy day I guess. Fritz had today off because the school district is so wimpy. He's happy but of course we made him babysit. When I left the house he was sitting on the recliner reading his book. On his lap is the baby, playing with his toes.

He is getting so big for his chair

From quilt

big enough to fall out if he squirms




Hee. He's starting to get fun.

This picture is blurry but I think it's cute. My house is messy and IDGAF.

From quilt

From quilt

This is the last picture of my dog. When I got up this morning he would not get up and only barely wagged his tail. My husband and my mom are going handle it. I kind of want him to hurry up? He hasn't called her to say that today's the day and I'm like GET IT OVER WITH. I hate having this hanging over my head. And Padre is just.. He's not happy.

We're going to have him cremated and sprinkle his ashes on the lake because he fucking loved it there. He was such an awesome dog, so much fun, so good and so gentle. We're not going to get another dog anytime soon. Sam can finally be what he wanted all this time, an only dog. He's pretty old too but seems healthy except for his occasional dementedness.

I love you Padre. I'm sorry you got sick, I hope it didn't hurt too much and I am really glad you hung out with us as long as you did. We will never forget you.

Fritz dropped this and broke it last night, the cup in the picture. he's been so full of drama lately, I can understand it but I don't fucking like it. He's already on an electronics embargo and his shoes are on the line. Fuck if I am going to buy 150 Nike shoxx (including the ipod transmitter) for someone who thinks it's okay to get the grades he gets. So the next time he forgets a paper at school, NO MORE SHOXX. He lost them once and got them back and was very relieved.

Anyway, the Old Man told him to straighten out the top shelf of the dish cabinet. Fritz is tall but not tall enough to reach up there with ease and we were in the living room and heard a real soft, "Oh crap" from the kitchen. Then he comes out all hangdog going, "Look I broke this" all so upset because he broke the espresso cup that he loved even though nobody has used it since...probably when I took this picture at least a year ago.

So the Old Man was like, "I was waiting for something to get broken. You need to get a stool or something to stand on." Well then Fritz has to mouth off and end with, "There is nothing else you can take from me. I am already living in HELL."

HA.

Luckily he calmed down and apologized and chilled the fuck out and we all ate nanaimo bars and were happy. But .. DRAMA ... and oh god it's just the beginning of teenagerdom.

And I forgot I had a picture of this cup. So, now it is AN HISTORIC picture of a GONE CUP.

My dog (not the yellow dog in the picture below, that's my husband's dog) has been diagnosed with lymphoma and so he only has a few months left. The swollen lymph nodes were closing up his throat and he wouldn't eat anything, not even fresh turkey drippings. Horrible. He is responding really well to the steroids the vet gave so I am hoping to squeak a good few months out of him yet.

I don't have a lot of experience with death, nobody close to me has died and my main dog that I had when I was growing up died of old age, in an easy fashion. So this death is going to be rough on us all. The baby is just starting to notice him and of course Fritz has grown up with him so UGH. I am in denial right now though. We just keep on with him .. he just has a swollen neck is all.

Anyway, he will eat these dog biscuits so I have been making them every day since we found out. He is eating other food now too but the biscuits did keep him going for a while. At first I thought he was just being picky.. I mean what dog won't eat turkey jelly? But then I found out he had fucking cancer.

This is how I make the biscuits. I have a Kitchenaid, so it would not work without that because the dough is so stiff. But I break two eggs into the bowl and set the mixer going. Dump some spoonfuls of corn meal in. Shake in some dry milk. Add a handful of quick oats. And almost a half cup of water. Two cups of whatever whole grain flour I am trying to get rid of (it's rye right now) and mix until blended. More flour or more water until the dough is good.

Take a small handful of dough and roll it into a turd shape. (Or a log shape) and put on the same cookie sheet I've been using for 2 weeks without washing it. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes and turn the oven off when the timer goes off and let it sit in there until they cool. Serve all through the day. If your husband forgets to turn the oven off when the timer goes off and you don't check until half an hour later when you are done nursing NOT THAT THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED, they are still okay. Not burned. Still tasty. And if the baby wants some that is fine too but he can't really eat them yet. Unless you have used old turkey drippings in them. In which case they are only good for YOUR DOG NOT YOUR HUSBANDS STUPID YELLOW DOG.

oh shit lol I used to dance to this song on INDUSTRIAL NIGHT at the club



with my little skirt, black leggings and white ankle socks and doc martens YES BITCHES

then everybody started doing heroin :(

fucking artfags.

I think Fritz is wrestling with the idea of God these days. We used to go to church when I was a single mom. To be honest, one reason we went is because I thought there might be a custody battle and I wanted that item on my resume: Sunday school teacher. Surely they wouldn't take a baby away from his Sunday School teaching mom!

Anyway we stopped going when I married the Old Man. I also stopped bellydancing at that time too. And they were for the same reason, pretty much. I didn't need to get out and socialize as much anymore. I am an introvert and so is the Old Man, so we just hang out with ourselves mostly. Or did, before the baby came.

So the other day in the car Fritz asked, "When we went to church, what kind of church was it?" Episcopalian. The kind with a nice old stone church, formal vestments, and-- very important-- real wine at Communion and Communion every week. I liked it a lot. I didn't feel weird there even though I was. There wasn't a lot of holy rolling and SIN SIN SINNAR!!! It was really WASPy and rich and I was poor and tattooed but I didn't mind if they didn't.

So I told him that whether or not we went to church has nothing to do with how often I talk to God. And last night we got on the subject again, and I told him that God as I imagine Him is benevolent and wants the best for us, and that when we die we go to a really nice place. And he said something about praying and I said, "Well, I pray all the time." and he was all "REALLY??? I don't see you do it."

Poor heathen. LOL. I told him I pray to say thank you, because I have so much to be thankful for. And I told him I pray for strength. He said he prayed "WHY ME??" and I told him that wasn't so great, that everything that happens is a lesson, and that we should just pray for strength.


I need to tell him to give his burdens to the Lord because that has helped me a lot even if only psychologically. LOL I should have given the burden of the server to the Lord over the weekend instead of worrying about it.

I don't consider my self particularly religious. But I think it can be helpful and maybe I should emphasize the helpful parts more, for Fritz.

The Old Man is this combination of deeply spiritual and completely rational so we never did a church thing together; plus he was raised 7th Day so we couldn't go on Sundays. It doesn't bother me but I do wonder if Fritz would be more happy if he had a God figure to kind of lean on. Maybe I am just projecting. 7th grade was a hard and scary year for me but Fritz has many advantages that I did not have.

So the gas company came and read our meter and the Old Man and I were sweating blood. Here comes a $2500 bill adjustment. Got the bill today... they adjusted it by $220 dollars; result: we owe 50 bucks.

FIFTY DOLLARRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! YES BITCHES.

I can't even describe how good it feels to be current on the gas. And I don't regret for a second putting in the new AC unit and furnace. I am cool and comfortable in the heat and I expect to be happy and warm this winter instead of freezing my FUCKING ASS off. Not to mention, we still haven't gotten the whole month electric bill from switching to the central from window AC. Our bill for July was 110.00. Hopefully August will be significantly lower.

When things work out like this I feel a lot more comfortable about being a homeowner. It's not all one panic situation after another. Maybe we'll put that addition on like the Old Man wants. I want to live in my house until I die, so it might be worth it.

It's so awesome. It's so bright. I love the colors and the goofy alien dudes.



The old man picked out the binding, it is variegated. It looks perfect. He vetoed the ribbon which was, yeah, too bright.

It is fuzzy and soft on the back, even though you can see the stitching you can't really feel it.



It came out more the size of a throw than a twin size blanket. It's cool. It will be 20 times as big as Junior for years anyway and when he is a grownup he can put it on his couch.