The Greatest American Hero

Did you ever watch this show?  It was on back in the 80s, when I was growing up.  My brother David and I watched it almost religiously, and we both had T-shirts from the show.  We called it the Ralph show because that was the main character's name.  He was Ralph Hinkley, a high school special education teacher (but the kids are more like inner-city, hardened, don't care stereotypes).  Ralph is played by William Katt, his girlfriend Pam is played by Connie Sellecca, and there's another guy, an FBI guy named Bill Maxwell played by Robert Culp. 

Essentially what happens is that on a field trip to the desert with his class, Ralph runs into Bill in a little diner, then out in the desert crazy things start happening; the car breaks down and so forth.  It turns out aliens have decided that Ralph should be a super hero and Bill is going to help him fix all these problems down on Earth.  Bill's first thought is to take care of the Russians, but then he later changes his mind.  Anyway, Ralph gets this suit and an instruction manual, which falls out in the desert, so he has to learn the suit's secrets by trial and error.  So the show has a really humorous aspect to it, as he is this bumbling superhero. 

If you ever watched it, and want to see it, I know that Amazon.com has it and my mom got my copy of "The Best Of" at Target.  So it's out there.  If you never saw it, I would suggest borrowing it rather than buying it, because without the memories of watching it years ago, it might not be the same.  But for me, it's great!


Also, I don't get paid by anyone to say any of this stuff, and I don't get paid by Amazon or Target, that just happens to be where I saw the DVDs.  This is all just my opinion.  Other people might hate this show.

Buttons

Karina loves to play with my stash of buttons.  I have a box full of them that she likes to dump out and sort.  She's so good about cleaning up when she's done, and I reinforce that every time she plays with them.  I always tell her what a good job she's doing cleaning up and that is why I know she gets to play with the buttons again. 

Today, she wanted to play with them, so I brought them into my room so I could get dressed and brush my teeth.  Of course, she was still in her little footy pajamas--she never wants to get dressed anymore.  Anyway, she dumped them out while I was brushing my teeth, and when I was done I sat down to play with her.  After a while, she was finished, and kept grabbing her foot.  I thought she had stepped on a button and maybe hurt her foot.  So I asked if her foot hurt, and if I needed to kiss it.  No, she said, but she kept grabbing it.  Finally, I took her foot in my hand, and was rubbing it, when I realized it:  there were buttons in the foot of her pajamas!

Apparently, she had put some down her jammies or else some went down when she dumped out the box.  We took her jammies off and there were about ten buttons down there.  She thought this was sooo funny, and had to put her special Lambkin into her pajamas and put buttons down the jammies with him, too.  It was just so funny, and she kept laughing and saying, "buttons!"

That girl has just the best sense of humor ever.  She certainly didn't get it from me!

Snow for her birthday

 Our cars, covered.

 Karina goes right into the snow!

 Happy child!

 My street.

 Falling down in the snow and not caring--I remember being like this as a kid in the snow!

It's way over the tops of her boots.  You can't even see them!

Christmas Day

 Don't know what she's doing.  Crawling on the floor at Grandma's house.

 She's been wanting these shoes forever.  She couldn't wait to put them on!  Every time we'd go to Payless, she'd want to try them on.

 Train set from Grandpa was a big hit!

 She was so excited when she opened it!

 Also the large truck set from Grandpa--see how strong she is??

 The stash.

 The first thing she went for was her puzzles, and she kept going back to them.

Biggest best toy from Grandma--doll stroller.  Best things to put in it?  Trucks!

Christmas Eve Pictures

I think I do better posting pictures when I don't promise to do so.  Here are two from Christmas Eve.

 Karina and her daddy

My little model.  She folded her hands like that herself.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday

I hope everyone (who celebrates Christmas) had a wonderful day yesterday.  We certainly did.  Santa was very good to Karina; he brought her lots of toys and she's been playing nonstop.  Today is her 2nd birthday.  I can't believe it.  The best birthday gift ever?  SNOW.  Tons of it.  Oh yeah, we're on the east coast getting slammed by the snow.  We've got easily about 6-8 inches out there, maybe more than that.  We took Karina out to play in it before lunch, and it was up to her knees!  She didn't care, she dove right in, blazing new trails and falling in it and just having the best time.  Bill and I tried to keep up with her.  She was ready to go for a walk in it!  She was out of our yard and walking down the sidewalk!  We only let her go to the corner of our cul de sac (just one house down) because it was still snowing and neither he nor I have boots of any kind!  Karina does, but they were no match for the amount of snow we had.  I let her pants go outside the boots, and left her jammies on inside the boots, so her feet were nice and warm and she didn't actually get very wet, either.  Her pajamas are fleece, which is fairly water repellent so it worked out well.  Plus she stayed warm.  We took a ton of pictures, but of course I haven't edited any of them.  I always promise to do so and share and then I forget, so no promises this time.  :-)

It is still coming down and the winter storm advisory goes until 7pm...5 1/2 hours from now!  We were supposed to be at my aunt's house for our family Christmas/Karina's birthday, but that's now put off til who knows when.  Not next weekend because of New Year's but maybe the following?  I don't know.  But it's been quite a weekend! 

I hope you are all safe and sound and warm today! 

Did you ever do something dumb and regret it forever?

I have.

I hate doing stupid things.  Today, I told a story that's harmless in and of itself, but in the context of the company and their respective life experiences, it was not a good choice.  I don't know what possessed me, and by the time I realized what was happening, I was already telling the bad part.  Stupid!!  I hate when I do that.  Now I feel so bad that I told this dumb, meaningless story, and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it...except kick myself for it forever.

Why forever?  Because that is just what I do.  I have always had an overactive guilty conscience, and I can already tell this is one of those moments I will always regret.  I'm sure my company will forget all about it, if she hasn't already, but I will be angry at myself every time I think of it. 

Let me give you another example of something utterly stupid that I said years ago and still to this day regret.When I was in high school, at a very small school, we had two proms, junior and senior, but both juniors and seniors attended both.  That's because the school was so small.  Juniors hosted the prom and seniors were their guests.  I was determined to go to my Junior Prom, even though I didn't have a boyfriend and had never even been on a date (I was exceedingly popular you see).  My one guy friend was not planning to go.  So I ended up asking an old friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a long time.  He is the son of one of my mom's good friends, and we are the same age.  She used to babysit him, so we go way back. 
Everything was fine.  We went to the prom, we ate and danced.  It was great.  He was a gentleman all the way.  Me, I apparently had no social skills whatsoever, because when we stopped in the hall to talk to a friend of mine (not a close friend by any means, but still, we were friendly) I put my foot into my mouth and bit down. 

You see, both the girl (who I'll just call Susan since I don't want to embarrass her again) and I came from families where money was tight.  I lived with my grandparents because my parents divorced and my mom couldn't pay the bills alone.  Susan's family also had money issues; their mom didn't work and they had quite a few children.  Now what Susan did have going for her was a large circle of friends.  Thus, she borrowed her prom dress from one of those friends (you see where I'm going with this don't you?  It hurts already).  I did not have many friends, and the ones I did have had not been to prom or were not my size.  So my mom bought my dress.  So there we were, talking, or trying to talk, in this hallway (I'll never forget it) and I couldn't think of anything to say.  So instead of just being quiet, which I should have done, I said, "Susan, did you borrow your shoes, too?"  I could hear the words coming out and I could not stop them.  Why was I saying this?  I wanted to DIE.  I was embarrassed, mad at myself, you name it, I was feeling it.  I did apologize to her the next school day, and she brushed it off, but I felt horrible.  I still feel horrible.  I made myself sound like an arrogant, stuck-up, mannerless swine, when all I really wanted to do was have something to say to someone at that dance other than my date.

There, proof that I will regret what happened today FOREVER.  You can't stop me.  It's just how I am.  If I could find a way to go back in time and whack my stupid self upside the head before I ever said that unbelievably thoughtless comment to Susan, believe me, I would do it in a millisecond. 

Now don't go and judge me, and don't try to make me let it go, because I never will.  It's just not going to happen, I'm sorry to say.  I know nobody's perfect, but I have high standards for myself.  I like to be a nice person, and that's what I hate the most.  Those two things, they weren't nice.  Not intentionally, but still.  Not nice. 

Hexavalent Chromium in water article

This article was on the front page of my Yahoo when I turned on the computer.  I want to post it for everyone because it is very scary to me.  I know people in some of these cities!  And I happen to know that some bottled water comes directly from the municipal water supply of Albuquerque. 

Here is the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101220/ts_yblog_thelookout/study-tap-water-in-31-cities-contains-cancer-causing-chemical

In case you don't have time to read it right now (it's not long, though), here is the list of cities:

• Honolulu, HI
• Bend, OR
• Sacramento, CA
• San Jose, CA
• Los Angeles, CA
• Riverside, CA
• Las Vegas, NV
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Scottsdale, AZ
• Phoenix, AZ
• Albuquerque, NM
• Norman, OK
• Omaha, NE
• Madison, WI
• Milwaukee, WI
• Chicago, IL
• Ann Arbor, MI
• Louisville, KY
• Cincinnati, OH
• Buffalo, NY
• Syracuse, NY
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Villanova, PA
• Boston, MA
• New Haven, CT
• New York, NY
• Bethesda, MD
• Washington, DC
• Atlanta, GA
• Tallahassee, FL
• Miami, FL

Christmas Essay

Christmas of 2008 was the most memorable of my life.  I was pregnant with my daughter Karina and past my due date.  I had desperately hoped she would come early so her birthday would not interfere with the holiday, but even a scheduled induction did not work.  I gave up on her ever arriving.  By Christmas Day, I had resigned myself to carrying my child in my uterus until at least college.  My husband and I opened gifts, including one very special one for me: a pair of pink origami baby booties he had specially ordered.  I spent most of the day lounging in our recliner and my mom's rocker.  Finally, after the days events were over, I settled in for the night, watched a little television, and turned off the light around 9:30pm.  I know that's early for many people, but for me being very pregnant and having had a busy Christmas day, it was late.  I was still awake around 10, when I felt a funny twitch.  I thought it was just the usual bubbling all pregnant moms get.  Then it happened again.  As usual, I started timing it just to be sure.  There it was again.  But it wasn't very regular, and my bedside alarm clock wasn't very effective for timing.  The twitches varied between 8 and 10 minutes apart.  I finally got up and went downstairs to have my husband help me time them.  Five minutes.  He called my doctor, even while I insisted that I was not in labor and our daughter was never coming out.  Our doctor said it was time to head to the hospital.  So, I got up and got dressed, and Bill ran frantically downstairs to make a sandwich (he never ate it) and pack the car.  By the time I came downstairs, I could tell they were definitely contractions, and they hurt.  I wasn't in denial anymore!  Off we went to the hospital, and by the time we got there they were 2 minutes apart and really hurt.  I thought the baby would arrive imminently.  Once again, she had other plans.  She was not born until 10pm December 26th.  And I did not sleep at all.  By the time she was born, all I could say to anyone was, "I just want to go to sleep".  I remember only bits and pieces of the evening, but the next day, my whole extended family came by to see us.  I missed our family Christmas that year, but it was worth it.

This isn't the kind of Christmas event that could be recreated, and to be honest, I wouldn't want to, but celebrating Karina's birthday each year does honor it.  When Christmas rolls around each year, I start thinking how unreal it is that she exists at all, and that she is a year older. 

It was the most amazing, memorable, and wonderful Christmas of my life.  Even though she wasn't born on Christmas Day, Christmas will always hold the memory of going into labor with her.  There couldn't have been a better gift.  Before she was born, I couldn't imagine life with her.  Now, I can't imagine it without her.



“This post was written for an entry into the baby clothes holiday writing contest.  One lucky blogger will win a $50 Amazon gift card!  For a chance to win see the baby clothes blog for more information.”

A Dog and a Tire

Today is the day we go to my mom's house for dinner.  We usually go right after Karina gets up from her nap.  Today was no different except she's still on out of town time, and it was 4pm and she still hadn't woken up.  So, I opened her door, went in and woke her up.  It was so late, I didn't bother changing her diaper, but just put on her shoes and socks and our coats and we went on out to the car to go to Mom's.  Where we live, we're in the middle of a really cold spell.  It's been hovering around freezing during the days, and even colder at night.  As soon as I turned out of our cul-de-sac, I saw this little Yorkie dog running along the sidewalk and in the road.  I realized it was my neighbor Susie's dog Muffy.  This dog was freezing, and running everywhere, so I pulled over--I don't normally do this, by the way--got out, picked up the dog, and walked over to Susie's house, right across from where I parked.  I got to the driveway, and looked at the dog's tag.  It was not Muffy.  It was some dog named Silly Dilly.  So, then what was I going to do?  I called the number on the dog's tag, and a lady answered.  I told her I had found her dog running loose, and asked where she lived so I could bring the dog to her.  She told me and I agreed to wait for her, since she was about five minutes from home.  I put the dog in the car, got in, and started down the street, and then I saw her house number.  It was my backyard neighbors, John and Wanda!  Bill and I talk to them pretty often, especially when we are taking regular walks with Karina.  They have a little baby boy about a year younger than Karina.  I never even knew they had a dog!  We did also help them rescue a baby bird once, too, by loaning them our ladder when I happened to look out my kitchen window across the backyard and saw them trying to put a bird in the tree without a ladder.  Our cul-de-sac is oddly shaped, so we have a backyard fence we share with John and Wanda who actually live on the street that's perpendicular to ours.  We also have a next-door neighbor whose house is on the corner of our street and the other one.  I know it's hard to picture.  Sorry.  So I pulled up to John and Wanda's house and the babysitter (adult) came out and I told her what had happened.  I hope she called Wanda back to tell her the dog was safe so she didn't drive all the way back.  I hope I see them soon to tell them it was me who found the dog!

Then as I was walking back to my car, I saw that the rear passenger side tire was totally flat.  Well, almost totally.  I then had to call my mom back again to tell her I had no idea when I'd get there because now I had to put air in  my tire and hope it would hold air til I could get there.  Crazy.  If I hadn't rescued the dog, I wouldn't have seen the flat tire.  Who knows when I would have noticed it?  Not good for driving around with my little one! 

So that was my exciting day.  I'm glad I didn't just ignore the little pooch though.  Those little Yorkies aren't meant for 33 degree weather. 


*Names of neighbors and dogs have been changed.

Family Visit

We recently visited family out of state.  My husband's sister lives in a rural area with her husband and their teenage daughter.  To avoid the holiday traffic rush, we decided to visit them in between the two major holidays.  The trip went well and Karina was awesome on the plane.  She played and squirmed and was as good as anyone could ever expect an almost two-year-old to be. 

Once we arrived, our schedule disintegrated, but she still did okay.  Naptime was adjusted as was bedtime, and sleeping on the trundle bed worked out for the most part.  Karina would wake up each night and want me, so I would put her in bed with me, but it was easy because she was right there.  Aside from a noisy bird and some noisy husbands a few nights, the visit was very nice. 

We took Karina to a park and walked around a little pond.  We saw some old houses and an old schoolhouse that was used up until the 50s.  Then on Sunday, it turned bitter cold.  The high was 29.  For us, that's really cold, and I realize that's nothing for some people, but for us, it's very cold.  We didn't do too much during the weekend but visited.  I think Karina was homesick after a few days, but since we weren't gone long, it worked out.  She was just a bit more clingy than usual.  Bill definitely enjoyed the time with his family, and it was cute seeing Karina lead her aunt, uncle, and cousin around to do her bidding. 

I am very glad to be home, though.  I missed having my own transportation, our schedule, and all of Karina's things.  And I think she missed them, too.

Follow up to yesterday

I just thought you would all like to know, if you read yesterday's post about Danise, that I talked to her today and she is doing much better.  She said she wore her glasses all day today and it seemed to help whatever was wrong.  I didn't get to talk to her long because she called right before Karina's bedtime, but she did tell me that the reason Marc had to hang up for her was that when he got home, she got in the car with him, and when she shut the door, she pinched something in her spine and couldn't talk.  She has these types of things happen on a somewhat regular basis.  Because it was a spine and brain injury, she has so many issues, but it was wonderful to hear her sounding better today.  She and Marc had been out for the day doing some land cruising or whatever they call it (Marc has a Land Cruiser and he likes to go drive around.  Not my idea of fun, but hey, I don't have to go!), which means she was definitely feeling well.

Thank you for any well-wishes, prayers, or good thoughts you may have sent out into the universe for her.  They are all appreciated.

And on another note, Karina said "yes" clearly today.  She then proceeded to have a hissy fit in the store, at dinner, and when I wouldn't give her my make up brush.  I guess that's just normal toddler-ness.  I think she might be spoiled.  Must nip this quick. 

Good Day, Bad Day

Started out a great day.  I went to a huge craft fair with my friends Janice and Stephanie (and Mindy and Stella were there for a little while, but Mindy had her baby and left early).  We had the best time and I got some great gifts.  We ate lunch at Cracker Barrel (pancakes!  biscuit!  egg!  hot tea!!) and headed home.  It was fun to come home and look at the things I got and show Karina the cute nap mat with attached pillow and blanket that I got for her thinking she could take it to my sister in law's house when we go visit. 

Karina and I had pizza for dinner, and started playing, and then the phone rang and it was Danise.  Begin bad part of the day.  She was hysterical.  She has been dealing with vision problems for a long time, and I've written about it here and here, but the doctors are (from what I could gather) starting to think it's permanent and may even get worse.  She said her whole body hurts, even her skin, and she is worried that the stress is really hurting her nervous system.  I talked to her and tried to get her to calm down for a while until her husband came home.  She always worries about being a burden.  I told her that her husband and family and I aren't caring for her because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to, because we love her.  She's not a burden, and that most importantly, what she perceives as HER being hard on Marc is actually Marc being upset that he can't fix it and make her feel better.  It's not her, it's her pain.  It's so hard to explain this difference, but she needs to hear it so much.  I talked to her until suddenly Marc's voice was on the phone, and he was there with her, so we hung up.  She is so strong, and it is so hard when she can't be strong anymore.  It's hard because I'm not there.  If she lived down the street, I would have gotten in the car and been there.  But I can't fly across the country like that.  WHY CAN'T SOMEONE INVENT TELEPORTERS THAT DON'T TURN YOU INTO MIXED UP CREATURES WHEN YOU REAPPEAR???  I know that sounds silly, but think of it from my perspective:  I could be there in a second to help her.  I am very worried.  I'm worried that she might actually be in worse shape than anyone suspects. 

Well, I'm not looking for advice here, so don't worry.  There's not really anything to say about it, just that it sucks.  I'm kind of just venting.  I really wanted you readers to know that you shouldn't feel like you need to offer a solution, I just sometimes need to write it down and see it in print.  I would certainly appreciate any positive thoughts you would be willing to send her way, though.  She needs them all. 

Giveaway Blog Frustration (with ME!!)

I decided it would be brilliant to do the daily tweet entries for some of the blog giveaways for things I really like.  Never again!  I totally screwed it up and was posting the wrong tweet url!  I had to go back and delete entries and redo them, and some you can't delete, so I tried my best to make it right. 


If you are one of those blogs and you find that I have royally messed up, please, please know I was NOT trying to cheat, I'm just an idiot who doesn't completely understand Twitter and I just messed up trying to do too many at one time.  I am REALLY SORRY.  You should use your discretion as far as disqualifying me if I did not make the corrections or if I didn't do them properly.  I will totally understand. 

UGH, I am so mad at myself!

Surviving the Holidays with Little Kids

I just read a great post on the Cotton Babies blog here that is beautifully written and has a wonderful sentiment.  If you are so inclined, head over and read it.  She really nailed it, I think.