But this template is so not me. I was getting annoyed with my old one because the white text was hard to read. And I liked this one until I noticed the two funky chicks at the top. Now, the template is called Funky Chicks, but I didn't realize it actually featured Funky Chicks on it. Somehow they were camouflaged amid the cute green flowers and swirls. And what are they doing anyway? Is the one in the back picking a piece of lint off the girl's elbow in front? And what are they, like seven feet tall? Size Zero?
This is definitely not the template of a mom who is getting "computer hips" and spent the day working in stretch pants and an Old Navy t-shirt. I am definitely not a Funky Chick. But I am too lazy to change my template tonight. So, until then, enjoy. Imagine this blog is managed by some hip, young early-twenty something who drinks fashionable...well, whatever the heck it is hip young people are drinking these days. I think I'll go have some diluted Juicy Juice.
CB.
(PS - I learned on the radio this morning that is text speak for "Ciao Baby." But I'm sure you already knew that.)
Update
I'm sure you've been asking yourself, "What have those Claggetts been up to lately?" Here's you answer:
Hudson
Hudson is sooo much fun right now. He is talking like crazy. One third of the time he's jabbering, one third of the time he's attempting to say actual words, and one third of the time he's saying daddy and mommy (which sounds like "mom-meee," and just melts my heart).
New words (at least I think they're new) include shoe, Nana, Meme (I think this is the babysitter, Emily), Ready-Set-Go (which sounds like "re...se...go"), A-B-C (taught by Nana) and many other words that don't come to mind right now. If he's in the mood, he'll attempt to say anything you ask. He also tries to say "please," but it sounds like "sees." Short and sweet.
He can also do several things we ask of him like shut the door, brush his hair, get his shoes, and throw something in the trash. (Really, I'm blogging about this? Yes, I am. I'm afraid if I don't write it down somewhere, I'll forget, and this is the only place I'm recording him milestones these days.) He can also identify his head, nose, eyes, ears, month, stomach, hands, legs, and feet. Much of this is thanks to his amazing home daycare where they have been learning their body parts. That place is awesome!
He is getting busier and busier and prefers to be outside where I think he's wander all the way to town if we'd let him keep walking. I know I say this in every post about him, but he just keeps getting more and more fun. Oh, and he also eats and eats. Out sitter said today he is eating as much as the three-year olds. Between Chris and Hudson (and especially if we had another son) I'm afraid one of us may have to get a second job to keep these boys full.
Chris
Chris is asleep on the couch right now. It's 9 p.m. The man just runs until he drops. He is working four ten-hour days right now which is great because he has three day weekends, but hard because he is totally wiped from the heat and work by the time he arrives home.
We had our 8 year anniversary yesterday. I cannot believe it's been eight years. It's really hard to believe we were married nearly seven years before we had Hudson. We spend that time working hard at work and on our house/land. We had a lot of fun, but now I wish we had spend more time relaxing and less time working because with a baby there is even less time to relax. However, something tells me we would do it all over again if we had the choice. As much as we try, it's really not either of our personalities to kick back and relax.
We did have the chance to celebrate, though. My parents kept Hudson Friday and Saturday night, so Friday night we went out to dinner. It was nice being able to enjoy a quiet meal without entertaining/pacifying a baby. Don't get me wrong; we enjoy our meals with Hudson. He's just at that age now where restaurants are not his thing...Too old to quietly consume whatever we put in front of him, and too young to reason as to why he should be seen and not heard. The bright side is I'm sure we're saving a ton of money not eating out on a regular basis.
Chris is also about to finally finish the efficiency apartment he's been building in our shop. The project has been slowly progressing for a year now, and our affection for it grew dim a long time ago. Somewhere along the line we have both inadvertently taken to calling it, "That stupid apartment." So, now it's "I have to go buy some trim for that stupid apartment," or "I need to go hook up the electrical in that stupid apartment," or "When are you going to be done with that stupid apartment?" I suppose we could call it worse things, but we're going to have to work on a better name for it as Hudson's vocabulary progresses.
Me
All the changes I've been thinking and occasionally blogging about (I think) have finally come about.
I finished my last day at Express on Friday. I think my first day there was August 2, 2002, so I completed a full seven years. I cannot believe that; it all seemed to go by so fast. Working in the marketing/communications/sales department there was always an exciting job.
Some of the odd but interesting highlights? I was featured in the New York Times (complete with a huge photo) in 2002 in an article about graduates taking internships while looking for full-time work. I attended a few NASCAR races when we sponsored a few different NASCAR drivers. I coordinated dozens of Clydesdale events and accommodated the crew and horses at some interesting trips which includes the infamous Chicago South Side St. Patrick's Day parade. I think only the crew, the horses, myself and a co-worker were the only ones feeling the 30 degree weather because we were also the only ones sober at 10 o'clock in the morning.
I traveled all over the country, and I had the opportunity to hear and see some notable celebrities and speakers at our annual conferences including Colin Powell, Lou Holtz, Vince Gill, and Jessica Simpson. Yes, quite an eclectic bunch, but they weren't all at the same meeting. But the most notable thing about Express was our team. We were all smart, good at our jobs, and enjoyed our work. And we all liked each other. Most of us were friends. I'm not sure I'll ever work with such an amazing team again.
Monday began my first day working at home. I spent the morning finishing my syllabus for Public Information Methods, the PR class I'll teach in the fall at UCO. Then, the afternoon was spend working on the speech for Express's founders which I'm writing for contract work. Express seems optimistic about using me for future speech writing and other event-related support, and I had another great call with a soon-to-be-client this afternoon, so it looks like I'll be profitable and productive as a freelance speechwriter/writer/marketing and PR consultant and an adjunct instructor. I'm amazed, thankful, and humbled.
And that, I think, is the most exciting thing about trusting in God and following the path he directs. I would have never dreamed six months ago that I'd have left Express and stepped out on my own. Eighteen months ago I could hardly see past the morning-afternoon-evening sickness to imagine I'd have such a precious blue-eyed, redheaded baby boy. Ten years ago I couldn't imagine celebrating my eighth anniversary with a hardworking and ornery yet thoughtful and caring husband. I think we all end up looking back at some point and saying, "Oh, so that's why that happened!" It makes me look to the future with excitement and curiosity about what He has in store for us next.
All in all, life is very, very good.
Hudson
Hudson is sooo much fun right now. He is talking like crazy. One third of the time he's jabbering, one third of the time he's attempting to say actual words, and one third of the time he's saying daddy and mommy (which sounds like "mom-meee," and just melts my heart).
New words (at least I think they're new) include shoe, Nana, Meme (I think this is the babysitter, Emily), Ready-Set-Go (which sounds like "re...se...go"), A-B-C (taught by Nana) and many other words that don't come to mind right now. If he's in the mood, he'll attempt to say anything you ask. He also tries to say "please," but it sounds like "sees." Short and sweet.
He can also do several things we ask of him like shut the door, brush his hair, get his shoes, and throw something in the trash. (Really, I'm blogging about this? Yes, I am. I'm afraid if I don't write it down somewhere, I'll forget, and this is the only place I'm recording him milestones these days.) He can also identify his head, nose, eyes, ears, month, stomach, hands, legs, and feet. Much of this is thanks to his amazing home daycare where they have been learning their body parts. That place is awesome!
He is getting busier and busier and prefers to be outside where I think he's wander all the way to town if we'd let him keep walking. I know I say this in every post about him, but he just keeps getting more and more fun. Oh, and he also eats and eats. Out sitter said today he is eating as much as the three-year olds. Between Chris and Hudson (and especially if we had another son) I'm afraid one of us may have to get a second job to keep these boys full.
Chris
Chris is asleep on the couch right now. It's 9 p.m. The man just runs until he drops. He is working four ten-hour days right now which is great because he has three day weekends, but hard because he is totally wiped from the heat and work by the time he arrives home.
We had our 8 year anniversary yesterday. I cannot believe it's been eight years. It's really hard to believe we were married nearly seven years before we had Hudson. We spend that time working hard at work and on our house/land. We had a lot of fun, but now I wish we had spend more time relaxing and less time working because with a baby there is even less time to relax. However, something tells me we would do it all over again if we had the choice. As much as we try, it's really not either of our personalities to kick back and relax.
We did have the chance to celebrate, though. My parents kept Hudson Friday and Saturday night, so Friday night we went out to dinner. It was nice being able to enjoy a quiet meal without entertaining/pacifying a baby. Don't get me wrong; we enjoy our meals with Hudson. He's just at that age now where restaurants are not his thing...Too old to quietly consume whatever we put in front of him, and too young to reason as to why he should be seen and not heard. The bright side is I'm sure we're saving a ton of money not eating out on a regular basis.
Chris is also about to finally finish the efficiency apartment he's been building in our shop. The project has been slowly progressing for a year now, and our affection for it grew dim a long time ago. Somewhere along the line we have both inadvertently taken to calling it, "That stupid apartment." So, now it's "I have to go buy some trim for that stupid apartment," or "I need to go hook up the electrical in that stupid apartment," or "When are you going to be done with that stupid apartment?" I suppose we could call it worse things, but we're going to have to work on a better name for it as Hudson's vocabulary progresses.
Me
All the changes I've been thinking and occasionally blogging about (I think) have finally come about.
I finished my last day at Express on Friday. I think my first day there was August 2, 2002, so I completed a full seven years. I cannot believe that; it all seemed to go by so fast. Working in the marketing/communications/sales department there was always an exciting job.
Some of the odd but interesting highlights? I was featured in the New York Times (complete with a huge photo) in 2002 in an article about graduates taking internships while looking for full-time work. I attended a few NASCAR races when we sponsored a few different NASCAR drivers. I coordinated dozens of Clydesdale events and accommodated the crew and horses at some interesting trips which includes the infamous Chicago South Side St. Patrick's Day parade. I think only the crew, the horses, myself and a co-worker were the only ones feeling the 30 degree weather because we were also the only ones sober at 10 o'clock in the morning.
I traveled all over the country, and I had the opportunity to hear and see some notable celebrities and speakers at our annual conferences including Colin Powell, Lou Holtz, Vince Gill, and Jessica Simpson. Yes, quite an eclectic bunch, but they weren't all at the same meeting. But the most notable thing about Express was our team. We were all smart, good at our jobs, and enjoyed our work. And we all liked each other. Most of us were friends. I'm not sure I'll ever work with such an amazing team again.
Monday began my first day working at home. I spent the morning finishing my syllabus for Public Information Methods, the PR class I'll teach in the fall at UCO. Then, the afternoon was spend working on the speech for Express's founders which I'm writing for contract work. Express seems optimistic about using me for future speech writing and other event-related support, and I had another great call with a soon-to-be-client this afternoon, so it looks like I'll be profitable and productive as a freelance speechwriter/writer/marketing and PR consultant and an adjunct instructor. I'm amazed, thankful, and humbled.
And that, I think, is the most exciting thing about trusting in God and following the path he directs. I would have never dreamed six months ago that I'd have left Express and stepped out on my own. Eighteen months ago I could hardly see past the morning-afternoon-evening sickness to imagine I'd have such a precious blue-eyed, redheaded baby boy. Ten years ago I couldn't imagine celebrating my eighth anniversary with a hardworking and ornery yet thoughtful and caring husband. I think we all end up looking back at some point and saying, "Oh, so that's why that happened!" It makes me look to the future with excitement and curiosity about what He has in store for us next.
All in all, life is very, very good.
