Merry Miscellany: January 2009

Sleep Talking

Lucky you, my small but dedicated group of loyal blog readers. Two posts in one night! So, I was just wrapping up my post below. I'm at one end of the couch with my laptop and Chris is at the other end sleeping. Aw, how sweet. Anyway, sometimes Chris says the funniest things in his sleep, and if you attempt to answer or question what he's saying, he'll sometimes carry on a brief and insanely ridiculous conversation. Since Chris doesn't read my blog, I'll share tonight's riveting conversation.

Chris: "I saw you."

Me: "You saw me?"

Chris: "Yeah."

Me: "Where was I?"

Chris: "Uptown."

Me: "Uptown?"

Chris: "Yeah. You were upchucking."

And that's it. He's back sleeping. Really? Just to clarify, I have not been upchucking uptown lately. Now, about a year ago when I was prego with Hudson I upchucked everywhere...at work, at church, while driving down the interstate. But although I upchucked up to four or five times a day, I don't think I ever upchucked uptown.

Chris, on the other hand, probably upchucked uptown a lot in high school and his freshman year of college, and that wasn't because his body was the host for the most adorable little sea monkey. Of course I tamed his ornery ways. There will be no upchucking uptown as long as we're hooked up. (Which will be for forever, of course. He is, after all, my knight in shining hoodie.)

My Knight in Shining Hoodie

If I'm looking to blame someone - and I am - it's really the meteorologists' fault. The OKC weathermen get so worked up about every gust of wind, drop of drizzle, mesocyclone, hook echo, wall cloud, flake of snow or hint of sleet, I never know if the weather really is going to get nasty or if they're just getting all worked up for nothing. I swear when a "ominous looking cloud" stops rotating and dissipates, the disappointment in their voices is palpable. The same can be said for the "late breaking" and "eye witness" news reporters who stand along the roadside and exclaim how treacherous the roads are, nearly impassable, really, as motorists in the background zip by at 65+ miles an hour.

So you can understand why, when everyone was allowed to leave work at 3 p.m. because of the roads (which they never do, by the way), I was in no hurry. I was sure the road were fine, and I had enough work to keep me busy until 10 p.m. I finally made it out around 4:00.

And as expected, the turnpike and interstate were slick, but easily passable at about 45 mph. It was a nice drive home, actually. And it turned out that Chris was only about a mile in front of me on his way home with Hudson.

That all changed when we exited I-35 and started heading back toward our addition. The roads were getting slicker but were still okay, that is until we entered our addition. We pass a few ponds on the way to our house, and both are located at the bottom of hills (which I guess makes sense). The problem is that with icy roads you have to go slow down the hill for fear of skidding off into the pond, yet pick up enough momentum to make it back up the hill or risk sliding back into the pond.

I did good going down, not so good coming back up. I lost my momentum right before the top of the hill and started sliding backwards. I really panicked. There was no stopping my car for about five or six seconds...I was tapping on the breaks, turning my wheels, nothing worked. Finally, I came to rest on the hill about six inches from a neighbor's brick mailbox. A few more tries up the hill and I was about two inches from it. I finally called Chris, who after spinning in a complete circle in front of our driveway, made it home safe and sound.

It was clear that Chris couldn't get another vehicle out on the streets, so his only option was his tractor, which meant leaving Hudson in the house in his crib, which he did. So, while Hudson was napping, mommy and daddy were about a quarter mile away trying to un-stuck mommy's car. Which didn't work. It was just too slick.

So, we headed home, my beloved Highlander parked on the side of the street (I hope I hope I hope no one hits it. I really love that car.). Should you have happened to be a neighbor looking out your window tonight, you would have seen Chris driving his tractor back home with me, sitting on his lap in my heels, hose, skirt, dress coat, the whole shebang, hanging on to my purse and him for dear life. If we weren't in such a hurry to get back to the baby it would have been a hilarious situation. As we rounded the corner to our street even the tractor started sliding, so I bailed and decided to walk the rest of the way, thinking that at least one of us had to live to raise our son.

I still had to laugh a bit on our way home. I never dreamed my Knight in Shining Armor would be wearing worn jeans and an old hoodie and rescue me on his rusted old 1953 tractor, but he saved me all the same. And that's more than I can say for Gary England.

Well Said

Today was a nice day to be home. I got to watch all the inauguration activities as they happened - all except for the actual swearing in of Barack Obama. I saw that his turn was up, so I hurried up and ran a trash bag out to the garage. When I came back in the crowd was applauding. I guess I didn't realize how fast the actual swearing in is. It's amazing that the campaign lasts two years, while it only takes about 30 seconds to actually be sworn in as President.

I wasn't crazy about either candidate, but I went with McCain because I don't agree with many of Obama's moral stances. That being said, Obama is president and I along with the rest of the nation have high hopes for his presidency and will be praying for him and his family. I really was shocked in watching the coverage to see how deeply so many were affected by his becoming president.

I don't have anything poetic to say about this historic day (not that I do about usual days), but I really loved what Terry Rush had to say about today from a Christian perspective. If you haven't read it, take a look.

A Few Pics from the Past Week

Is there anything more precious than a

peacefully sleeping baby?

Sleepy Silly

Fun in the bath

"Uh, mom, are you going to help me or are you just gonna stand there and snap pictures?"

Gotta love that death grip that Jen has on Riley's arm...You never can tell if she is gonna pat him or grab him. She really loves him though (and Hudson loves her too!).

Was I really just complaining to my cousin a few weeks ago about a blog I "lurk" on where the mom posts 15 different photos of her kids in one post? I mean, who wants to see 15 slightly different photos of the same kid? I don't know how many times motherhood has cause me to 'eat my words.' Oh, and since this is my unofficial scrapbook (since I haven't written (or is it wrote???) anything down since Hudson was, like, six weeks old, I need to record that Hudson started clapping on Friday (Jan. 16). It's soooo cute. Don't lose any sleep over it though...I'll post a video of it soon!

Responsibilities, Blog Stalking, And a Really Embarrassing Story

A few years ago our entire team at work read "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. The book provides a link to a survey you can take to "discover" or rather, put a name to, your top five strengths. If I remember correctly, Buckingham worked with the Gallup organization to develop this survey, and it's amazingly accurate (though you have to purchase a book to get the code to do the survey). One of my five strengths is "Responsibility." Long point short, responsibility means that I have that overwhelming sense of well, um, responsibility, to finish things I start (or something along those lines).

I don't know if there is a strength for committing to doing everything where there is a need. That didn't fall in my top five if there is. And if there is I'm not sure what they'd call it. And I'm thinking that may be a weakness rather than a strength. But whatever that is, I have that and Responsibility.

Which means if there's a sign-up sheet going around at work or at church and a lot of blanks left on it, I'll sign up. And then I'll stress about why I signed up and what I have to do and the fact that I don't have time to do it in the first place. But I will definitely not shirk those responsibilities because I committed and because no matter how hard I try I'm not very good at being irresponsible.

Which is probably part of why I'm doing a blog entry when I really don't have much to say. It's driving me nuts that I haven't posted since January 1. Oh, I have fleeting ideas and opinions and every now and then I'll get all fired up about something and think, "I'm going to blog about that!" but then I finish the laundry, cook dinner, put Hudson to bed, get ready for work the next day and then all my energy and passion fizzles and I just spend the evening reading your blogs and your friends blogs that you have on your blog roll.

Yes, I am a blog lurker (that, at least, was the proper term used when I took my "Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts" master's level class at UCO about three years ago. Yes, there was a master's level class on blogs. But that was before blogs were as popular as they are today. Its also why this blog was born. And no, I'm still not crystal clear on what a Wiki is. But I do use Wikipedia a lot.). Anyhow, a lot of people use the term "blog stalker." I think that's a little harsh. Stalking sounds as if I'm feverishly waiting for strangers to update their blogs so I can read about their lives. Lurking just sound like, well, like I just happened to be online and see that you updated your blog and decided well, why not see what the [fill in complete strangers' names here] have been up to. (And according to my prof, if you read a blog but never post a comment, your a blog lurker.)

I do slightly fear how I might react if I run into the real life people whose blogs I regularly read, say, in Wal-Mart. Staring at this family thinking, wow, they look realllly familiar, and then realize it's because I've read every online update about them for the past year and they have no earthly idea who I am! Or do I introduce myself?

"Hi! You have no idea who I am, but my name is Julie and I just love your blog! I found it one day when I was reading a friend's blog and they have your blog listed on theirs, so I just started reading it and I haven't quit since! You have the cutest family! I just loved that post about little Jimmy losing his first tooth! And that Sally, she's a doll! Oh, and I was so sad to hear about your great aunt. She sounded like such a nice lady. So, are you guys gonna take that trip to Disney World that you've been talking about? I think you should do it...And don't forget to post tons of pics!"

No, of course I wouldn't do that. Because then the next time I would go to read their blog it would be set to private, and then I'd have to start all over with a new family.

Plus, I learned my lesson about boundaries and complete strangers a long time ago. My cousin Jessica just loves to tell the story (at least twice a year) about the time we were at church camp and we were sitting behind Jon (her future hubby) and his then church-camp girlfriend who had, as I remember it, the prettiest, shiniest, thickest, longest hair. I don't know if it was the 110 degree heat or that euphoria that you get at church camp, but I guess I thought it would perfectly logical to just reach up and touch her hair. Of course Miss Church Camp Cutie turned around to see what little sea urchin had just touched her shiny mane, and, according to Jessica, I said something along the lines of "You have the prettiest hair. I just had to touch it." I'll have to rely that Jessica's telling the truth about this story because for some odd reason I think my subconscious has blocked it out.

Anyhow, apparently the girl looked at me like I was a weirdo - can't imagine why - and I learned the valuable life lesson that some lines just shouldn't be crossed. And if someone has a really great blog or a really interesting family or maybe just really pretty hair - you should admire it from afar. Really far.

Preferably online.

PS - And speaking of reading others' blogs, I updated my blog roll (to the left) for the first time since taking my blogging class. If you'd prefer complete strangers not begin lurking on your blog, please let me know and I'll remove you from my list.