Behold

Um, I'm pretty sure there is nothing cuter than this.

Hair

I've been growing my hair out for the last two years or so. When we moved back to MA, it was really short. Now it's about 1/2 way down my back. I go through these cycles: first really long and then I get it cut really short. I hate, hate, hate the growing out stage, but I seem to put myself through that every few years.

It's actually at a good length now - I can put it in a ponytail and it's quick and easy. I also don't shampoo it every day because it takes forever to dry. However, I always wear it in a ponytail because it annoys me when it's down. And, since I tend to wear it in a ponytail or a modified bun, I feel like I look like an old biddy. And you can't see my curls because I get sick of drying it and then it's pulled straight in the ponytail. Wow, this is really boring.

Anyhoo, I've decided that I want a cute bob haircut. But since my hair is pretty long at this point, it would be a waste to cut it without donating it to one of those cool places that makes wigs for kids with cancer. They take hair that is at least 10" long. I've got a little while until I have 10" to cut off, but it's actually pretty close. The problem is that I have a few shorter layers that need to catch up.

What I'm trying to say is, please don't make fun of my bun hair. It's for a good cause!

Locks of Love

dentist, etc.

Another dentist appointment today. The stitches have all fallen out and now it's time for gaggy impressions. The bottom impression mold wasn't so bad but the top one? I was gagging and heaving and my eyes were watering. Ugh.

The monkey was completely adorable this weekend. Smonkey. Lots of snuggles and naps and giggling and squealing. We walked into town on Saturday because it was in the 50s and gorgeous. We overdressed her because we didn't realize it was so warm so she started to get pretty warm and cranky while I was in the toy store looking for presents for our two nieces. The toy store had quite narrow aisles and was crowded so the stroller was a bit cumbersome. And then, once I got Sophie out of the stroller and out of her snowsuit, she was not about to let me put her back in to that terrible, awful, constricting wheely thingy. So, Sophie held in one arm and then trying to manueuver the stroller with the other hand. Luckily, she just wanted to snuggle and was quite cooperative. Also? She can hold her own head up pretty well, so it's a lot easier to hold her in one arm. It's not a small stroller, either. Where was Aaron, you ask? Since he walked into town with us? He got sidetracked at the game store and was 'going' to meet me at the toy store with coffee in hand. Sophster and I walked back to the coffee shop with all the weirdos (seriously, this town has an overabundance of the crazies) and Aaron wasn't there. So we walked further and there he was, still at the game store. Then we picked up our Thai food (that we ordered on the way into town), got my books from the library and headed home.

Whew.

This weekend is my niece's 5th birthday. So we'll be down in NY for the weekend. Which meant that we needed to get laundry and other errands done this weekend in preparation.

By the time I get home from work, it is really hard to convince myself to do laundry. Aaron does the best that he can during the week, but it is really hard to remember laundry when you have a wiggly little cutie-patootie at home demanding your attention.

It's nice to have weekends with Sophie. I realize how much I miss during the week. It's also nice to nurse her in bed at night so that I can get some cuddle time with her. Even though she whomps her arms a lot and her nails are in a constant state of daggery-scratchiness, it's great to sleep next to her. I could go home at lunch, but then that would mean I'd have to stay at work longer. I'm not really complaining, just explaining. In an ideal world, both Aaron and I would get to stay home with her. She seemed to really enjoy the attention on Saturday.

Sunday, Aaron went back to the game store to play with his miniature German soldiers. And he let Otto out while he was making breakfast and then completely forgot. And it started raining and got pretty cold out there. It makes sense now why Tabitha was acting to crazy and needy yesterday. It wasn't until I was getting ready to put Sophie to bed (which involves some nursing in bed before putting her in the Pack-n-Play) when I realized that I hadn't seen Otto all day. I called Aaron and he rushed home to find the poor forgotten kitty under the porch. Poor Otto. And poor Tabitha. We've neglected them because Sophie takes up so much of our time. I'm surprised they aren't pooping in our shoes.

Sophie!

Clouds!

Cloud Appreciation Society

Happy Friday!

Eh

So, the mood isn't so gloomy today. Mostly because the argument that caused it won't be resolved to my satisfaction and I'm just trying to let it go.

Anyhoo, yesterday was Sophie's belly button check-up. The nubbin is about a third of its former size but it's not gone completely. So another round of silver nitrate for the poor little girl. She cried and screamed but it was over pretty quickly. The area is actually looking a lot more like a belly button so hopefully this will be the last treatment.

In other Sophie news, she's become quite vocal. She'll sit there and chat and talk all day. Practicing different sounds, etc. She's also started squealing when she gets excited. Very cute. If you hold your fingers in front of her, she'll pull on them to pull herself up to a sitting position. She's also holding her head up really well and likes to 'stand' when we hold her up. Such a strong little girl.

My '99 Honda Civic passed 100K miles yesterday on the way back from the doctor. It's a great car and it is still going strong (knock on wood).

I'm at work quite early with the intent to work out at the end of the day. Whew, I'm tired. No one will notice if I just curl up here, right?

i'm in a very bad mood

I Heart Drew Barrymore

The woman has a great sense of humor.

Snow!

It's snowing again. All the schools around here are closed. It's estimated we'll get from 4 - 8" today. And looking at the weather map, the storm is just sitting on top of us with little movement. I have a feeling we'll get closer to a foot by the time I try to drive home. Thank Jeebus for snow tires and living 3 miles from work. The crazy thing? It was in the 50s last week. I even went for a walk with a coworker and we didn't wear jackets.

How Republicans Support the Troops

This is a prime example of how Republicans support the troops.

"WASHINGTON - Troops and civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq were exposed to contaminated water last year and employees for the responsible contractor, Halliburton, couldn't get their company to inform camp residents, according to interviews and internal company documents."

Remember? Halliburton got a no-bid contract to provide services in Iraq. You're doin' a heckuva job.

Three Months!

Sophie, today you turned 3 months. And we can tell because you have become a bit cranky at night and sometimes during the day as you adjust to all the new things you are learning. Plus, it certainly feels like you are going through a growth spurt. You can now grab onto things within your reach. And then you promptly put whatever it is in your hand into your mouth.

The objects hanging from the play mat arches are your arch nemeses because they just. won't. get. into. your. mouth. You just recently went through a silent phase of a few days. We're not worried because just today you were squealing and laughing and talking again. And according to 'Wonder Weeks', this is right on schedule with your 'smooth transition' phase. Your cousin Galen was here today and it's fun to watch what he's up to because he is 6 weeks older than you. We think all his talking and squealing inspired you. You are holding your head up really well and starting to get the cause and effect of shaking toys and kicking your new play mat chimes. You love, love, love to play Airplane! with me and Daddy. You know that we are just going to swoop you down for kisses and you hold your mouth wide open in anticipation. You also are working your leg muscles by standing up in our laps when we support you. You are very strong and you like it when we bounce and dance with you.

Tonight was another cranky night but Daddy has had a cold and you might be getting it as well. We absolutely and completely adore you without question. You can cry and cry and cry because you are sick and miserable and we will always hug you and rub your back and snuggle with you until you feel better.

You are a lovely, chubby baby full of giggles and toothy grins and love.

Happy 3 months!

Love, Mommy

The Great Molly Ivens

Woo! You go girl! The rest of the article is here: www.workingforchange.com

'Oh come on, people -- get a grip on the concept of leadership. Look at this war -- from the lies that led us into it, to the lies they continue to dump on us daily.

You sit there in Washington so frightened of the big, bad Republican machine you have no idea what people are thinking. I'm telling you right now, Tom DeLay is going to lose in his district. If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to OWN the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely.

Do it all, go long, go for public campaign financing for Congress. I'm serious as a stroke about this -- that is the only reform that will work, and you know it, as well as everyone else who's ever studied this. Do all the goo-goo stuff everybody has made fun of all these years: embrace redistricting reform, electoral reform, House rules changes, the whole package. Put up, or shut up. Own this issue, or let Jack Abramoff politics continue to run your town.'

Frickin' Eggs

Because I just mangled my 15th straight hard boiled egg, I FINALLY looked up how to frickin' boil a frickin' egg. Yes, I can make a killer Tower of Terror or a fantabulous wedding cake, but I can't ever get the got-dang frickin' peel to come off without pulling off half of the white. And all I eat from the eggs is the whites so this really janks my chain and I stand there seething and thinking I should just throw the gosh forsaken thing away but then I remember about the protein and the baby at home and how I'm going to work out after work and not so much about how I like to eat eggs because I don't so much. I certainly don't seek them out but feel more obligated to eat them. (yes, I'm trying to work on my swearing). Anyhoo, from the ubiquitious Julia Childs: The Perfect Boiled Egg.

In other news, I got here an hour early today (7 frickin' AM!) so that I could have time to work out in the exercise room here after work. They just got a new elliptical trainer and I love the ellipticals. The only way I could work this into my baby-needs-boobs schedule was to get here earlier. So, here I am. It's very disconcerting to wake up and drive to work in the dark. Also amazing to see how many people are on the road - what are all these people doing out so early?

It's a Big Ad!

It's a big ad! (via goldenfiddle.com)

Wacky Uses

Wacky Uses for every day products.

Thursday

I'm so creative with my titles, aren't I?

Stamp Night was fun last night (hello ladies!). We had really yummy Thai (scallops in red curry sauce and Thai iced coffee for me) food and then some even more yummy desserts. I also managed to complete 10 cards for Valentine's Day. I didn't stamp anything, either. I used some cute kids Valentine's postcards and then attached them to pretty card stock and decorated with red glitter. Easy peasy.

Aaron got Sophie to sleep with little fuss. This was the first time getting her to sleep without me there to feed her. She seems to be adapting to the bottle pretty well.

In other randomness, I'm starting to shed my hair again. Before I got pregnant, I shed a lot. Or maybe it was more obvious because my hair is long and dark. And then while pregnant - maybe I'd lose one hair a week. Now? It's coming out in clumps to make up for all that lost time. I was warned about this by my sister, but it's pretty freaky when it starts happening. Maybe the hair on my legs will fall out and I won't have to shave!

Wednesday

Tonight's stamp night with the ladies. Aaron's going to put Sophie to bed for me so that I might actually get something done tonight. We will be working on Valentine's Day cards - so if all goes well, I might have some beauties to send. Let me know if you need to feel the love.

It is really crappy outside. Complete downpouring of rain and it's very gray and the rain is loud and stormy and it's very hard to get anything done when I feel like I might just fall asleep at my desk. If anyone from work is reading this, I'm just kidding.

Did you know that Google is dangerous? My hands and more specifically, my knuckles, have been feeling very sore and very stiff when I wake up. And it's hard to make a fist until I work at it a few times. Also my shoulders hurt - not the muscle, but more where the socket is - but that I can maybe chalk up to carrying around an increasingly chunkalicious baby. But the knuckle joint soreness? Weird. This is a new thing for me. It makes me feel old to be constantly rubbing my knuckles and have trouble opening pill bottles (vitamins, people, vitamins). Also, I am stiff and sore when I stand up and walk somewhere after sitting for an extended period of time. And tired, but that is probably because of Sophie. So when I do a search of the knuckle/joint soreness/tired thing, Google is telling me that maybe I have rheumatoid arthritis.

Which makes me not want to go to the doctor to find out. Yes, I'm getting ahead of myself. Blah, blah, I should go, blah.

In other news, have you seen the cuteness?

Completely Edible

Tower of Terror

Jacqueline!

Kym and Nathan's (Aaron's sister and her husband) new baby Jacqueline made her debut late last night!

7 pounds 1 ounce, 19 inches long.

On a lighter note

This is the funniest thing I've read today:

"Just a tip – if you’ve got some weird sickness that fucks up your digestive system and makes you shit water every hour on the hour, don’t drink a good portion of a 26er of Malibu rum and a 2 litre carton of fruit juices and then think it’s okay to fart in bed. Chances are, it’s not a fart."

Supporting the Troops

Support the Troops

(via AmericaBlog)

"Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action."

Bird Flu: Death in the Air

Very interesting article about Bird Flu. I sincerely hope scientists in our country are doing the same research and not just waiting until people start dying.

Oh, great:

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) let it be known that the virus had been isolated. American newspapers got hold of the story early and described Mill Hill as only one of the labs working on it. Mr Douglas and his colleagues were furious. "It was as if we were just another bunch of people working away in the background, but that's not true. We are the only ones in the world who have grown this virus. A lot of people are asking for it now, obviously. The Americans are going to be last on the list, I can tell you."

The Internet is for Porn

From [N]: World of Warcraft show tune, For Porn.

ZZZZzzz

And we're home again. While it had been in the 50s on Thursday and Friday and Saturday, it suddenly dropped to 10 degrees late Saturday night. Sleet, freezing rain, snow, thunder, lightning and then we woke up to maybe 6 inches or so. It was really hard to tell how much snow we actually got because it was so windy that there were huge drifts and then bare spots. Really, really, really cold and blustery and blizzardy when we woke up. I was considering calling in sick tomorrow but it stopped snowing and the cars were dug out and scraped off and I decided that home might be nice. We are all a bit pooped out. We stayed up playing cards last night after Sophie fell asleep and then got to bed just as she woke up from her long snooze. And then our nephew and niece were up at some ungodly hour to remind everyone that there was a Christmas tree and stockings and presents and WHY wasn't everyone up already? Well, actually, Sophie was up, too. How we ended up with an early bird, I'll never know.

Lots of good food and laughing and an over-tired baby who is maybe teething and quite slobbery and fussy.

And our neighbors only shoveled the bottom half of the shared driveway. Thanks, assholes. Like Aaron doesn't always snow blow your part of the driveway. We trudged through about 4 inches of snow in our dress shoes with a baby in the freezing cold.

Swishy

I'm feeling quite fancy today. I'm wearing my newish skirt and it has great movement. I don't have to iron it, I can wear it with my combat-esque boots AND it's long enough so no one can tell that I haven't shaved my legs in MONTHS. (hey, it's winter and I have a baby and... shut it)

Also? I'm on the downward slide of a sugar crash. To be followed by food coma. And a nap. Under my desk.

Buzzing

On chocolate and brownies and M&Ms and chocolate-covered biscotti and a Dunkaccino (not quite sure what that is...). Not only did people bring in birthday goodies for a coworker, but today is the company-wide Pig-out! I ended up not making cookies and made the yummy pretzel thingies instead. Only with the dark chocolate Hershey's Kisses. ZZZING! YUMMM! WHHIRR!

I also made the layers for the brownie tower of terror for the birthday celebration tomorrow. Three tiered layers of Duncan Hines brownies (Triple Chocolate Decadence and Dark Fudge with Chocolate Chunk). Tonight I will frost them with dark chocolate frosting and add blue M&Ms for decoration. OOOH, YEAH.

My sister called me a bitch for always making a lot of cookies for these family weekends so I didn't make cookies. But wait until she gets a load of the cake! I might also make the dark chocolate pretzel thingies for this weekend because really, they are good for you. Dark chocolate and pretzels! And M&Ms are too colorful and yummy to be bad for you.

The weather has actually been quite pleasant around here. Yesterday was practically in the 50s and we went for a walk without coats. So luxurious!

I hope you have a fabulous weekend.

NY Times

Excellent rant about the NY Times and the spy on Americans scandal. (via Lady Bunny)

Jehovah's Witness

How to keep a Jehovah's Witness from knocking on your door.

NOT IT!

Calling Aaron at 12:54 PM on Thursday

Erika: allo?

Aaron: ya

Erika: so
my dad thinks Otto's chin thing may be like a zit

Aaron: k

Erika: he said to rub some hydrogen peroxide on it to clean it up

Aaron: ok

Erika: then try to pick the scab off

Aaron: ok

Erika: and then squeeze out the pus

Aaron: ok

Erika: using a pad with hydrogen peroxide
cats apparently get zits on their chins

Aaron: You're in charge of that.

Erika: because it is one place they can't clean
oh no

Aaron: I'll clip his nails
I can't do everything you know

Erika: the one who is home automatically gets dibs
NOT IT

Aaron: bull shit
I'm taking care of sophie

Erika: them's the dibs/not it rules
look it up

Call ended with Aaron at 12:56 PM on Thursday

Now, why would he hang up on me?!

Christmas!

This weekend is my family's official Christmas celebration. Complete with stockings and presents and lots of food that is very bad for us. Santa is going to make the long trek down from the North Pole just for us.

The only bummer is that it is also a girls' weekend. We have been friends since high school and earlier (I've been friends with one woman since Kindergarten) and try to get together once a year for a weekend of laughing and eating and drinking and stories. I might have to sneak out with Sophie and head over to say hello. Luckily, this year's weekend is up in the hills near my parents' house.

I have a lot of baking to do tonight and tomorrow night. Birthday cake for my sister and sister-in-law. I think I'm going to make a layered brownie cake. And cookies for general Christmas consumption as well as cookies for our company's Pig-out potluck lunch. I might also try to make daymented's party pretzels because - Yum! In addition to laundry and organizing for the weekend.

Hmm. Maybe all the bad-for-you food at Christmas is because of me?

Burnt Belly Nubbin

Um. I was changing Sophie earlier and noticed a round dark brown thing on the back of my hand. Like a small wart. I quickly figured out that it was PART OF HER NUBBIN! ON MY HAND! And it was STICKY! Sticking TO MY HAND! I flailed about until it soared off into the great blue yonder. Which means there is a burnt belly nubbin somewhere in the nursery.

Note to self: warn Aaron about nubbin before he walks in there with bare feet Never Mind.

Tooth Implant

So, I've mentioned in the past that I had to get an implant to replace a missing front tooth. I got the initial implant when we were still in California. That implant got infected and they opened it up, cleaned it out and then it was healed for a while. Until we got to Massachusetts and it got infected again. I went to a quack dentist to have it looked at and he made it worse. I finally found a good dentist and a good surgeon and they took the tooth out but left the implant and opened it all up and cleaned it all out and added some more bone because the infection ate a lot of the bone. Anyhoo, I was supposed to get a new tooth put in while I was pregnant but because it involved lots of novocaine and stress and adrenaline, I canceled the appointment until after she was born.

That appointment was today. And because I had been thinking about Sophie and her weird belly button nubbin, I really hadn't thought about today's appointment. So now I'm sitting here feeling like I got hit by a Mack truck (albeit a very small, very determined Mack truck with the side thingies that the zit-scarred guy from 'Grease' uses to rip open the sides of John Travolta's car during the big race) and looking like I got attacked. Stitches and bloodiness and swollen lip and an exposed metal thingy to which the tooth will eventually attach.

There are few things worse than having your face all numb and yet feeling and hearing someone cut into your gums with a scalpel. The novocaine shots were pretty bad and the stitching at the end gave me the oogies. After all this, I walked down the hall to the dentist's office (the surgeon and dentist have separate practices) to schedule the appointment. I was wondering why the receptionist was looking at me so funny until I went to the bathroom after leaving the office and noticed that I had blood streaks all over my nose and chin and cheeks. Now, WHY didn't they wipe all this off while I was at the surgeon's office? Ugh. I'm glad I took the rest of the day off because now I'm in a very crappy mood. And the novocaine is wearing off and everything hurts and I don't know what I'm going to eat and Aaron is leaving pretty soon to go to school so that he can write his paper for tonight's class because he promised (with a handshake and everything) that he would get an A in this class (there's a penalty if he doesn't get an A but my mom and his mom read this and they really wouldn't want to know). Luckily Sophie is adorable and snuggly.

So, that's my day.

Belly button Update

Well, now the pediatric surgeon cauterized her belly button. This time she did not take it as well. Silver nitrate burns, people. That's why they call it cauterizing. She turned bright red and screamed and cried. Heartbreaking. We have to go back in two weeks to see if it worked. If it didn't, they are going to cauterize it again. Poor little thing. It was a bad time of day for her, never mind the mean doctor with the burning Qtips. Aaron and I both decided that we never want to be pediatric surgeons. Because almost every exam room was filled with the cries and screams of little kids. What an awful job - to hear that every day. Sophie slept on the way back (it's about an hour from home) and we even managed to go grocery shopping before arriving at the house. The appointment was in Springfield - a poorly-designed, dirty city. And the doctor's office was in this weird, old building that seemed a bit like a crappy hotel. The office itself was fine and modern-looking, but the hallway and the elevator that was about to snap off its cables and the smelliness in general were too much. I don't blame her for crying.

Delurking Week!

It's officially delurking week - but why not end the suspense and just delurk today?

Surgeons!

Today is Sophie's pediatric surgeon appointment at which they are going to inspect her belly button. Which, surprisingly, is looking a lot better. It almost looks normal with no pink nubbin sticking out. It will be interesting to see what they say. Also interesting? To see how she does at 3:30pm. Morning appointments work a lot better.

Cuteness

Click on the photos for more.

Weekend

So, I went shopping today to get the last of the Christmas presents because our official Christmas is next weekend. Which is weird and good because it extends the holidays AND a lot of things go on sale after Christmas. Which I should have remembered before buying most of our presents before the sales. Anyhoo, Sophinator stayed home with her favorite person in the whole, wide world - Aaron. I also bought a fake tree the day after Christmas and it's going to stay up until after this next weekend. To try and keep us in the mood. Sophie doesn't know the difference yet, anyway.

She gets more and more fun every day. She's much more reactive and smiley and she can hold her head up pretty well. Which makes it easier to carry her around. The only problem? She gets heavier and heavier each day.

Aaron has one more class to complete before he officially graduates. It's basically a writing class (oh, great) and the book they get to read? 'High Fidelity' by Nick Hornsby. That should help him stay interested.

Tomorrow he's off to play war games with his little WWII figures. I'll be home bonding with the little monkey and maybe doing some reading if she snoozes.

In other news, I've been assigned the task of purchasing a digital camcorder for work so we can start emailing customers/reps things that have to do with our business. This also means that we need to get some video editing software to edit the video. Any suggestions? I'm fairly savvy and work with the Adobe CS package on a daily basis in addition to Quark and Homesite. But I have no video editing experience. And, since I'm the marketing department, this is going to fall mostly in my lap. We'll need to get the video onto CDs and DVDs (both) as well as eventually put some of the video on our website. So software that can do all of that, please. Anyway, any suggestions would be helpful.

Domestic Spying

Check out the new DNC ad about the illegal domestic spying program, authorized by King George. The ending is especially good.

Randomness

So, as I wrote yesterday, Sophie's belly button still hasn't healed and we've now been given the number of a pediatric surgeon's office in Springfield. Ugh. I'm going to try and set something up for next week. Our doctor said it isn't urgent as we're keeping the area clean, but that it needs to be dealt with. The cauterizing didn't work because that umbilical nubbin? Is quite persistent.

Sophie woke me up last night giggling in her sleep. She's done this right from the beginning and I can only wonder - what does a little baby find so funny? I'd love, love, love to know.

Also? Remember that high blood pressure problem I had? That I couldn't figure out why I had it? It's because I'm a complete idiot. I had been eating a lot of soups - like Progresso and Campbell's and only recently did I check the sodium content. Holy Snowball! Not only was I eating more than 1/2 my daily serving of sodium in one sitting - but some of those cans say 2 frickin' servings! How many people split up a can into 2 servings? Geez - no wonder I had high blood pressure. I thought I was being all healthy by eating soup, but no! I put myself on bed rest instead! I need to get the blood pressure checked again because I'm sure it's gone down just from not eating those stupid soups.

It's gray and crappy outside right now. Sort of drizzling/snowing. The snow from Monday melted and then turned our driveway into an ice rink. And then we got a little dusting of snow last night and it is helpfully hiding the ice so you forget and almost wipeout on the driveway when you are trying to get into the car to go to work. Makes you want to come to Massachusetts, doesn't it?

The time has come, the Walrus said

To talk about belly buttons. Well, just a bit on belly buttons and then on to some juicy happenings. Sophie has a follow-up appointment today to have her doctor look at her belly button. That hasn't healed. Or rather, the little stump hasn't fallen off after he cauterized it. So he will probably try tying it off at today's appointment.

In other news - have you heard about Abramoff? A lot more here. And, Newt Gingrich (yes, Newt Gingrich) is calling for a new leader of the House. To replace Delay, who is embroiled in many ethics scandals at this point.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Let's hope that all this corruption affects the November 2006 elections and we win back Congress.

Oh geez, just when you thought it couldn't get worse?

Bush to bypass torture ban?

Want to know why Bush wants Alito on the Supreme Court? Because Alito believes in absolute presidential power. Bush is NOT king. He does not deserve this kind of power. No one does. That is why it is a democracy. Not a frickin' monarchy.

Complete Tease

And we got about 2 inches of really heavy snow. It seems to have stayed a bit south of us. It's still pretty gray outside so maybe we'll get a bit more. Man, I hate the anticipation of a big storm that just completely peters out. Everything around here is closed - maybe they thought we'd get more?

My aunt Chris sent some photos from non-Christmas. Click on the photo for more:

White Stuff

And not the fun kind. Big snowstorm tonight and tomorrow - estimates of up to 12-14 inches by tomorrow afternoon. Maybe more if the clouds move slower than expected. I'm lucky we have snow tires, that my husband is willing to get up early to blow the driveway (oh yeah), and that I live 3 miles from work. Aaron and Sophie were going to go to UMass tomorrow to drop off a copy of his honors thesis (It's DONE!) but it's going to have to wait.

On a side note, I loathe the term "Nor'easter". It had to have been coined by someone making fun of New Englanders but who was also quite ignorant. Because the "r" wouldn't be pronounced, would it? Have you ever been to Boston or Maine or New Hampshire or Vermont? It'd be more like "Nawth Eastah".

We went for a long walk into and beyond town on Sunday with the Sophster strapped on to Aaron in the Bjorn. She just chilled and took it all in stride. Today she tried, unsuccessfully, to engage Otto in conversation. She is, however, coming very close to saying: "AARGH!" like a good pirate baby.