Brenden in the Field

Brenden in the Field
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Hooray, new pictures!! Ileana is sending me a cd of the photos that were taken on her new camera and brother Jon's camera from Christmas. She sent me a few which were posted on Flickr. I love this photo: this was from a day where Ilu, Andrea and I walked over to the old house, then walked over near the pond. I carried Brenden for a while, which I'm happy to say was not exhausting (it would have been 6 months ago). When I set him down he toddled on back to the new house, which you can see in the background.

I think one of my favorite moments on Christmas day was hearing my dad laugh during dinner. He was laughing at Brenden, who, at 2 in the afternoon, had refused to nap. Poor B was in his high chair and nodding off while stubbornly trying to stuff more food into his face. The deep need to sleep won out and Jon took him upstairs to nap after using a finger to sweep his mouth for stray food. Jon said the poor kid was so out of it he never even flinched when he stuck his finger in his mouth.

So my diet and exercise plan is working fine. I'm at 131 which is nice, and I can actually see some of my abdominal muscles again. I still have a lot of flab (which Brenden likes to play with, ew), and while I have a long way to go to regain my strength, I am progressing at a fairly rapid clip. And in case you are wondering, no you can't lose weight and gain muscle, but gaining strength does not necessarily mean gaining muscle. I might write more about my dieting plan later, if I actually stick to it.

Brenden worked hard this weekend and can now properly say 'kitty'. He also said 'Elmo!' and can point to his nose, tongue, and chin if I ask him. We're working on 'ear', 'hand', and 'toe'. He likes to say 'pabaa!' 'pabaa!' (his new attempt at spongebob) when we watch the show. When the fish comes on during the opening song, he opens and closes his mouth just like a fish. It's cute.

Unbaa! Unbaa!

spongebob squarepants
Originally uploaded by max remmelts.

Letter to Brenden Month 19:

Hey, Bud. Christmas was fun but exhausting as your physical skills develop but your common sense remains dormant. I suppose in order to have common sense you have to be able to have coherent thoughts, and in order to think coherently you need to be able to speak.

I could swear you are juuuuust on the verge of getting the idea of language. I was thrilled while we were in Oklahoma that you were able to recognize both brother Jon's cat Lucy and Andrea's cat Geidi as "Kitty!" (pronounced 'tseetee'). And I was so proud when your dad called me up yesterday to tell me you had said "Spongebob!" (pronounced 'unbaa'). I'm so proud!! *Sniff!*

We also think we heard you say something that rhymes with "sockplucker" which tells me we shouldn't be watching "Deadwood" while you're in the room.

And the coolest thing is when I ask for a smooch, you plant one on my cheek. Sometimes you headbutt me, but that's okay.

A photo from a year ago

Tour Time
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

'06 in Review (the highlights):

January: Brenden stands up!
February: Brenden and I visit Oklahoma.
March: Saw Walk the Line. It certainly wasn't Brenden's hospital stay!
April: Opening the pool (slow month!).
May: Vacation in Oklahoma and Helly and Alan's Wedding (not so slow month).
June: Brenden's first birthday.
July: Brenden's first haircut (another slow month).
August: Sinus surgery (the highlight there were the Lortabs) and Tennessee vacation.
September: Vasquez passed away (not a highlight but memorable enough). I miss my kitty.
October: Took Brenden to his first birthday party.
November: House remodeling.
December: Christmas in Oklahoma.

Wow, do I have a dull life! Actually that's good and I'm not complaining. If I asked for an interesting life, I'd probably be teleported to Baghdad or something.

Last year's resolutions were to watch more movies and be nicer to my husband. I think I accomplished those, but I still need to work on them both.

Here are this year's resolutions:
1)Eat less (DUH!). I weigh 133 right now. I'd like to get to 125.

2)Exercise more. I simply want to return to the shape I was in just before getting pregnant with Brenden.

3)Maintain a budget, the details of which I shall not bore you.

Happy new Year, everyone. This is my third attempt at writing a blog entry in the last week; I haven't been busy as much as too tired.

christmas in Oklahoma was great - I spent most of my time chasing Brenden. He didn't react well to being in a new place and he tended to wake up constantly, which meant that everyone else in the house woke up constantly as well. The last 3 days we were there I had Jon go sleep in the garage loft with Andrew and Jonathan and I kept B in bed with me. He was sleeping pretty well by the time we left. Everyone was pretty gracious about Brenden's hyperactive nature. They also showered him with Christmas loot. Pictures to eventually follow and more on that below.

I really didn't do anything while we were there. I read some - I reread "Into Thin Air" which is a fascinating account of a disastrous season of climbing on Mount Everest, and made progress through "Olympos", by Dan Simmons. I really can't think of anything else I did.

I spent most of the holidays dealing with the tail-end of the cold B gave me. I wrote several paragraphs detailing what I blew out of my nose and comparing it to a jellyfish invasion but decided better and deleted it.

I didn't get much for Christmas but on the other hand I didn't really want much. I got some nifty bunny slippers, some nice hoodies and a comfy robe. Hell, I tried to hold back a couple of hundred dollars from the stock sale check when my company went private, but I *still* couldn't find anything I wanted. I put it on the airplane instead. All I want for Christmas is to be the hell out of debt!

Actually, I fell in love with my brother Jonathan's camera. It's a slim Canon digital. Ileana got one for Christmas. Both husband Jon and I loved their cameras so much I didn't really use my old digital one while we were there. So we have tons of pictures but I have to beg Ilu and brother Jon to send them to me.

I think the best part of Christmas, besides seeing Ilu and Dad, was spending time with Andrew and brother Jon. I really haven't spent much time with them since they were kids. Andrew is a big movie nut and it was funny listening to him and Andrea argue about stupid movies. Is this stuff genetic? Also: Drunken Boykin Monopoly was a hoot.

I have lots more to blog, but I'll have to write later. I should get to work.

6 months ago

crawl
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Our holiday preparations are pretty much in place: we leave for Oklahoma to my dad's place this Saturday. It will be us three, my sister and her husband Eddie, and brothers Andrew and Jonathan (dad and Ilu's kids. I say kids but they are both grown too). With all them kids you think dad would have more grandchildren. All of us are slackers!

Brenden and I had a rough weekend. He was sick with a cold and a lot of coughing - he would wake himself up then wake me up. I could get him back to sleep with a little water, rocking, and meds, but then it would take me forever to get back to sleep. I have some kind of bug now - so far I'm not sure what it is, maybe another sinus infection.

Speaking of my sinuses, I am occasionally experiencing good days, where I can smell without loading up on medications. This development is encouraging. I'm sure it has a lot to do with getting rid of the carpeting. I'm also trying to be scrupulous when it comes to my meds.

I also have a quick "what we're watching" update: the Discovery Channel has been showing a 6-part series "Everest: Beyond the Limit" which has been fascinating viewing: apparently Mount Everest has become so damn popular to try to climb that the most dangerous things are the traffic jams. The series, of which the last ep which airs tonight, follows one group as they attempt the climb - the coolest things are the Sherpa-cams. The entire series will be shown concurrently starting at 5pm (eastern, I presume) New Year's eve, if you want to set your TiVos. If you read "Into Thin Air" you might like this series.

Yippie-kay-yay!

yahoo
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

A meme from Nancy:

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence
3. Post the text of next 3 sentences on your blog
4. Name of the book and the author
5. Tag three people

The Book: Dynamic HTML, by Danny Goodman

The text:
For Internet Explorer 4, the TextRange object and related functionality is guaranteed to work only on Windows platforms. The macintosh version of I.E. 4.0., for example, does not support the TextRange at all. Plan your deployment accordingly.

I'm not going to tag anyone. My dear sweet Neptune, I need to read something for fun!

Big B, little B, what begins with B?

Big B, little B, what begins with B?
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Short butts- I mean bits

Last night Jon and I watched Super Size Me, an amusing/scary documentary about fast food. He didn't tell me anything I didn't know, except he went into explicit detail about why fast food is bad, mmmkay. But remind me, when it's time for my son to go to school, to investigate for myself what kind of crap they're feeding him. I remember what our high school served: starches, covered in starches, with a side of starch. And ketchup, which was our vegetable.

Brenden is 18 months old and was given several dozen Hotwheels as a gift. Yes, I let him play with them, under my supervision. Really the only danger they pose is for us adults. Hotwheel + slick floor = twisted ankles.

I'm losing weight again - I have been dieting since the end of October with mixed results. I am happy that I'm still on it despite the holidays and the abundance of free candy left over from Halloween at work. I now weigh 135, which means I am now taking off the weight that I gained just before I got pregnant. I have been exercising by walking and Jon and I have started back on weights. While one of us does our reps, the other one plays with/corrals/bribes Brenden.

Family Portrait

Family Portrait
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

What we've been watching:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: Not as good as the first one, but a welcome addition to our DVD collection. Why? Pirates! Sword fights!! Monsters that gave Jon and I nightmares!!! No, really. We both had seriously vivid dreams about Davey Jones and his crew the night after we watched it.

Nacho Libre: Rented because we both like Jack Black, who should receive an Oscar for the actor having the most fun with his career. The movie itself was... odd. It's helpful to know about Mexican wrestling (which is a hoot, especially if you have watched only WWF in the past).

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: Nifty concept (retro sci-fi), but Meh execution. I like Jude Law, but he's a bit too androgynous for some of the roles he takes especially this one. The movie has some nifty Giant Freakin Robots, which is always a plus.

In the series world, everything seems to be on hiatus or in repeats. Battlestar Galactica is still showing first runs and this season might be the best one ever. Last night's episode, where Kat's past catches up to her, made me cry, and the episode before that where Starbuck and Apollo resolve some old issues by literally beating the crap out of each other was terrific. And I'm glad to see Colonel Tigh back on the job!

Veronica Mars shifted format slightly for the 3rd season (don't worry, no spoilers here) and I think is still trying to adjust. Veronica's in college now and instead of one big mystery per season, the writers have changed it up into 3 mystery arcs. The first mystery was put to bed and I have mixed feelings about this arc. Still I'm going to stick with this show because the first two seasons were so awesome.

Mememememe!

Using our new kitchen
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Hey, One word Meme time:

1. Yourself: lazy
2. Your spouse: hyper
3. Your hair: long
4. Your mother: retired
5. Your father: grilling
6. Your favorite item: camera
7. Your dream last night: Ugh
8. Your favorite drink: Guinness
9. Your dream car: Mustang
10. The room you are in: cubicle
11. Your ex: gone
12. Your fear: incompetence
13. What you want to be in 10 years: rich
14. Who you hung out with last night: family
15. What you're not: organised
16. Muffins: chocolate
17: One of your wish list items: robe
18: Time: fugit
19. The last thing you did: read
20. What you are wearing: jeans
21. Your favorite weather: warm
22. Your favorite book: worn
23. The last thing you ate: cheese
24. Your life: nice
25. Your mood: active
26. Your best friend: husband
27. What you're thinking about right now: coffee
28. Your car: Saturn
29. What you are doing at the moment: coffee
30. Your summer: fun
31. Your relationship status: better
32. What is on your TV: Pirates
33. What is the weather like: cold
34. When was the last time you laughed: seven

Brenden being Curious

Brenden being Curious
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Short and perhaps not so sweet this month:

Letter to Brenden 18 Months
Hooray, my sweet little fella; you are now a whole year and one half! Many websites, blogs, and discussion boards state that the terrible twos often start early and you are no exception. What you are displaying is frustration, often because you have to deal with the word "NO!" many, many times during the day. You attempt to vent your frustration by throwing or hitting things, or hitting me - you tried to pull that on your dad once.

Once.

Naturally, these actions invoke another spate of "NO!"s from your loving parents and you don't know what to do. Welcome to Earth.

Up, up and away!

Squee!
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

What we've been watching (the Good, the Bad, the Ugly but not in that order:

The Bad: Strangers With Candy - this movie may be the straw that broke the camel's back. I had to review it and I am still trying to come up with 700 words to say "It's not my cup of tea". Bleh.

The Ugly: BloodRayne - I know better than to watch an Uwe Boll film, but I ended up watching this because of an unfortunate exchange of information with my husband. He was going through the OnDemand movies, reading the descriptions and stopped on Bloodrayne. I said "Hey did you know Michelle Rodriguez and Kristina Lokken are dating?". Bad move - he immediately turned on the movie, despite my assurances that it sucks. I really don't know if they are dating for real, they might just be best buds. Still, more power to them if they are.

As for Bloodrayne, it was actually entertainingly bad, with a whole bevy of embarrassed actors including Sir Ben Kingsley. The Queen is going to take his knighthood away if he keeps slumming in crap like this. The best was a perfectly miscast Micheal Madsen as some sort of medeival vampire hunter. Rodriguez and Lokken are simply unfortunately here, but at least it looks like they got more out of the movie than a paycheck.

The (really, really) good: Superman Returns I loved this movie! I'm very glad I saw the 2 original Christopher Reeve Supermans recently because this movie takes up where they left off (thankfully ignoring the 3rd and 4th movies). Superman has been away for 5 years, unsuccessfully trying to find remnants of his homeworld. When he returns he finds things have changed radically - Metropolis and Lois Lane have moved on, having found a way to live without the man of steel. Bryan Singer directed - he did the first 2 X-Men movies and I don't blame him for dropping X-Men for something as iconic as Superman (although the X-Men franchise suffered from his loss).

Singer plays off the original 2 movies like I mentioned as well as the comics, and he gives the movie his own touches. The one I liked best are all the characters (except perhaps Jimmy Olsen) have more dimensions. Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) benefits the most. He's still the evil genius buffoon, but he's actually somewhat scary in this movie. Lois Lane is still your standard feisty reporter, but she is prickly and hurt as old wounds open when Superman returns. And Superman himself (played by Brandon Routh who is spooky in his resemblance to Christopher Reeve yet doesn't do an impersonation) seems so lost and alone even as he saves countless lives. Singer gives Superman an ethereal quality (as well as overtly touching on the Christ/Atlas/Prometheus imagery). It also doesn't hurt that Routh is almost disturbingly beautiful.

If I have quibbles the movie drags in places, and my biggest problem with the movie I can't really discuss because that would be spoiling it. Let's just say that Jon and I had a mini-argument about why Superman can't have a relationship with a human woman and it degenerated fast into territory that Kevin Smith would be proud of.

File this under "No shit, Sherlock!"

Giggle Break
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Your Movie Buff Quotient: 88%

You are a movie buff of the most obsessive variety. If a movie exists, chances are that you've seen it. You're an expert on movie facts and trivia. It's hard to stump you with a question about film.

Are You a Movie Buff?

New living room

New living room
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

If you take a surf on over to my Flickr account you'll see a whole passel of pictures of the house. I hope Helly doesn't gnash her teeth too much: getting it done so quickly cost us pretty close to five figures, way more than we wanted to spend. Nonetheless, I'm loving our living room. It looks like a living room now, instead of an Inquisition tortute chamber.

All rooms except now have laminate floors, and now is a good time to compare and contrast laminate vs. carpet:

Laminate flooring is good because:

• Easier to keep clean
  
• Easier to spot and avoid stepping in cat puke
  
• Children learn the laws of physics quicker
  
• Good excuse to buy bunny slippers
  
• Looks wonderful and isn't as expensive as hardwood flooring
  

Laminate flooring is bad because:

• Harder to be lazy and ignore the dust drifts and cat puke.
  
• Child's lack of understanding of the laws of physics leads to more bumps on head.
  
• Sound isn't absorbed as well so house is now noisier.
  
• Cold on the tootsies.
  
• Cat hates cold floor therefore takes up residence on pillows or head.
  
• Cat spins his wheels madly when trying to run away from small marauders.
  

70's brown shag carpet is good because:

• Hides spills, cat puke, cat hair and dirt well.
  
• Warm on the tootsies.
  
• Child somewhat protected from spills.
  
• Cat can fall asleep wherever he wants.
  

70's brown shag carpet is bad because:

• Won't find the cat puke until you step in it.
  
• Will destroy your sinuses and cause you thousands in medical expenses, even if you have insurance.
  
• Looks like crap.
  

So there you have it. I have noticed little effect on my sinuses yet because I still have a sinus infection (appointment w. doc today), plus I'm still taking meds that keep my nose clear so I don't know yet if I can ease off on taking them. Once I get completely infection-free we'll see.

Brenden's room

Bs room
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Well my estimate on getting the house finished was optimistic. Maybe Friday. Ugh, it will have to be Friday because after that we will have run out of money. Jon and I have successfully avoided credit card debt and we're not going to start now.

I never did comment on the elections, did I? Well I was disappointed when Daniel Craig was selected. When the Broccolis were talking about a 'younger' Bond, I was expecting very young, like mid-20's. I was hoping they'd consider Mathew MacFadyen. Technically Craig is younger than Pierce Brosnan, but he's still not what I pictured. Oh, okay, Daniel Craig is not very good looking. At least he doesn't do it for me. I have to admit, though, no Bond ever did it for me except maybe Timothy Dalton and he lasted for only 2 movies.

But the reviews for Casino Royale indicate that this might be the Bond movie I've been hoping for all my life. I'm not really exagerrating - Dr. No came out 2 years before I was born and I can recall seeing every Bond movie that came out in the theater since The Man with the Golden Gun. Yes, I saw every single Roger Moore Bond, the best of which was The Spy who Loved Me. It was all downhill from there but I sat through them all.

When Dalton took over, I was so optimistic. The Living Daylights is still one of my favorites - the script seemed to care about the story and characters (well, in the context of James Bond movies). License to Kill, however was a total mess so exit Mr. Dalton. Pierce Brosnan I like so I was happy to see his Bond movies starting with Goldeneye but they slowly deteriorated and he lasted for 4 movies - I saw every single one of these in the theater, though.

So here we are at Casino Royale, a new Bond with reportedly all the crap jettisoned and I'll probably have to catch it on DVD because Monkey boy is just not ready to sit in a theater seat for 2 hours.

Stripped Room

strippedroom
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Bare nekkid walls!

This process is going much faster than planned. This shot was taken Monday; Todd used the panelling you see here as templates because the wall panelling is the same dimensions as the drywall. They were able to hang almost all the drywall yesterday and even got a good deal mudded (whatever that means - all I know is they aren't far from painting which should be happening today).

This photo also doesn't show that most of the rest of the carpeting is gone (hooray!).

More photos to follow eventually.

More writing

writing3
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Oh! I should add: yesterday when I picked him up from daycare, I led him to the car holding his hand, opened the door, and he got in all by hisself and sat down in his chair! He patiently waited as I buckled him in. This might not sound important, but I have always carried him to the car and placed him in his seat. He's been fighting me lately and now I know why: he wants more independence.

This coming Monday Todd our contractor is coming back and he and Jonathan are going to tackle the living room. This part of the job includes taking the panelling up and putting up drywall. Brenden and I will be banished to the bedrooms (which I need to take photos of because they are beatiful! If not a little stark. I need to put some pictures up, or something. Maybe some dogs playing poker.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

writing
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden likes scribbling. Note to myself - stock up on crayons and drawing paper. I haven't seen him sit still in once place for this long since he learned to crawl.

This is the kitchen floor, by the way, which I know looks filthy. It's because of all the home improvement stuff. I can't wait until this floor is replaced!

What we're watching:

Brenden tried to feed his cookie monster doll a vanilla wafer last night. We TiVo Sesame Street for him and it's showing. I can't get that frickin' song out of my head: "La la, la la! La la, la la! Elmo's World!"

Battlestar Galactica continues to hurt: Starbuck and Tigh were playing "Who's the biggest asshole in the fleet" when Admiral Adama called them on it. Starbuck couldn't take having her surrogate dad refer to her as a "cancer" so she is trying to pull her crap together. Tigh, who was forced to kill his wife, is apparently going to try to drink himself to death.

Catch Me if you Can is a movie about a teenager in the late 60's who conned and wrote bad checks all over the U.S. and Europe. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks star. This movie is only worth seeing because it's based on a true story. And a performance by Christopher Walken that wasn't phoned in (for once).

Speaking of Tom Hanks, I saw Big a few nights ago. Damn he was young. Fun movie.

We saw Mission: Impossible III last night. It was the best of the 3 movies, but I know that's not saying much. Still it wasn't bad for an overblown action movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the bad guy and he does so awesomely. I must say the IMF agency is the worst government agency ever! Every movie has featured a bad guy who was a member of IMF. They're even more compromised than the Los Angeles division of CTU, and that is saying something.

Letter to Brenden Month 17

eating
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I came to the realization recently, Brenden, that you are a highly active child and will need many different places and things to roam, investigate, and climb upon. Sometimes I wish you would just sit down and watch some TV quietly, but then I feel guilty because the last thing the world needs is another couch potato. You do like books, which is great - especially books with photos in them. You like to point to a picture and I'll tell you what it is. You seem pretty hung up on that picture of an airplane. I wonder why?

You aren't adding any new words to your vocabulary but I'm guessing that language hasn't really clicked with you yet. You do like to imitate hand gestures and facial expressions - no, I'm not going to teach you sign language because your daycare provider wouldn't know what the hell you were trying to say so that could only be confusing.

I'm really not sure yet about what I'm going to do about finding more outlets for your active nature. I take you outside when I can, but it's so hard to keep you away from things you want to investigate but really shouldn't (pools, cars, sharp pointy things in the garage, barking dogs, etc). The world is your jungle gym.

Program Notes:

surfing
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Warm up your TiVos:

Iron Chef America will feature a battle featuring Giada Di Laurentis versus Rachel Ray. I just bring this up because of some comments on someone's blog about these two. They will be paired with Iron Chefs Bobby Flay and Mario Battali, respectively. The ingredient is cranberries (November 12th @ 9, 8 central ).

Spongebob until you drop - Nickelodeon will be counting down the top 100 Spongebob Squarepants episodes, ending with the premiere of the Spongebob Squarepants movie, which I loved. This all starts Thursday at 8.

Mom with Brenden

Mom w B 6
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Do you like the parallel in this picture? You would think it was staged. Trust me; no one stages Monkey boy and gets away with it!

Speaking of - he has a head cold, plus an ear infection in both ears. That explains why he's been shoving things in them. D'oh!

He's taking an antibiotic and a decongestant. Fortunately I don't have to fight him to take those - I feed the meds to him through a syringe designed for dispensing medication and he cooperates happily. Matter of fact, I usually have to wrestle with him to get the damn thing out of his mouth.

Fall in Oklahoma 4

Fall in Oklahoma 4
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

This is just my entry to keep up with the Nanoo Nanoo blog more month. Not much to say. Brenden is sick so I'm going to pick him up in a little bit - hope I can get through to the doctor's office today. Poor little monkey boy.

Attack of the Monkey Boy

Attack of the Monkey Boy
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Blog more, huh? What do I have to blog about today? How about how everyone on the face of the planet underestimates how much they will spend on large home improvement projects? I don't want to talk about it.

Here's a haflway decent view of the north side of our living room.

Hello!

Hello!
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

November is write more month - many bloggers are pledging to post at least once a day. I'm not sure I'll be able to do that much but I'll take a whack at it.

I bought 5 bags of candy and we still ran out last night. We watched King Kong, Peter Jackson's remake of the highly beloved and rarely seen 30's film. The good things: lotsa kewl action, Jack Black, and excellent CGI work behind the animating of the 25-foot ape. He was a very sympathetic creature. The bad things: it was too frackin' long!!! Usually I don't have a problem with butt-numbing films unless you actually notice that your butt is numb before the movie ends. I hate to say it Pete, you could have cut down your story and it would have been just as effective. The movie was just an onslaught and I was worn out by the time Kong fell off the Empire State Building. Sorry if I spoiled that for you.

The work in the house is going slowly but steadily. Jon has put the flooring down in the back bathroom and the bedroom and it looks good. I was very surprised at just how dingy the ceiling looked when it was painted and I could contrast the old with the new. the ceiling was old-dishwater grey. Blech! Both Jon and Todd, the contractor, are getting all of the rest of the house finished before tackling the panelling in the living room. At the rate the rest of the house is taking, they may not be getting to it until next week. It's worth it because the care taken with everything is worth it. Photos are forthcoming, because the transformation of the rooms done so far have been astonishing.

Despite Brenden's sugar highs last night, he slept pretty well. His sleeping patterns had been disrupted because of the time change so none of us had gotten enough sleep the last couple of days. Brenden is officially a Smartie junkie. I may never get him to eat a green bean in his lifetime (not that I won't try).

No Costume this Year

Bee Crying
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Yeah, it's a slow day today. I've been asked several times what Brenden is going to wear for Halloween, and the answer is 'nothing'. I'm going to let him run around naked while I hand out candy tomorrow. Seriously, no costumes this year. Maybe next year if he wants.

I was thinking about finding him an all-white cotton outfit w/sweatpants & hoodie. I'd spatter red food dye on it and then with a sharpie, put big dots in the middle of the spatters. Then when everyone asks me what he's supposed to be I'd say "an extra in a Hong Kong gangster movie" but a) it's not that funny and b) it's too 1990's.

Fall in Oklahoma 2

Fall in Oklahoma 2
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

More Brenden stuff: As I was getting him ready for bed last night, he protested when I put him in his crib. I picked him up again, and got a bright idea: I took the 2 stuffed ducks out of his crib (all the time I'm carrying B) and went to one of his toy chests and took out a stuffed tiger. I offered it to him and he managed to hug it and me enthusiastically. I took him back to his crib and set him down; he immediately put the tiger in a complete bear hug and started to, uh, make sweet love to it. I put a blanket over the lovebirds and left them alone. I never heard a peep out of him after that. Every Calvin needs a Hobbes.

Oh, yeah: and this story. I don't know how it is around the rest of the country but the political way of dealing with the Methamphetamine problem here is severely restricting the sale of products containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. When you do buy them you have to go to the pharmacy counter. Most places I go simply take your name & address and want to see your driver's license.

Saturday I went to buy some Claratin-D, a product I'm fond of when my sinus headaches get bad which between the paint fumes and the changing seasons have been killer lately. The pharmacist takes my information and then takes my license and is apparently making some sort of computer check on my id.

Several minutes go by and the pharmacist apologizes and says the computer check is going slow. More time passes and Brenden is getting restless in his shopping cart seat so I ask for my license back. I'm pretty angry right then even though I know the pharmacist is simply following instructions. I do chew on her butt a bit just to vent, but I felt somewhat bad about doing that. She didn't make the rules and she certainly doesn't run the crappy-assed database Alabama had thrown together to track pseudoephedrine purchases.

But for JEBUS'S SAKE!!! 5 people came up to the pharmacy window, asked for refills, and NEVER HAD THEIR LICENSE TAKEN FOR A COMPUTER CHECK! Next time I see my doctor I'm going to ask for a prescription.

Till the cows come home

Fall in Oklahoma 3
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Ileana sent me some photos from the farm in Oklahoma. I like the Fall - it's not unpleasantly cold and the afternoons are pleasant and walking around is nice, especially with all the trees turning color.

Dooce, A.K.A. Heather Armstrong writes a wickedly funny and popular blog. Some friends pointed me to her blog when I became pregnant because she suffers from chronic depression. Today she linked to this article about depression. The guy who wrote the article is right: "depression" is a horribly poor word for that disease. Maybe in the sense of "tropical depression" because you get to listen to a lot of howling, but in your head instead of the wind.

I have done fine since the worst effects of depression dissipated after my pregnancy. I have been off of medication for over a year and have felt no need to go back. I do have bad days occasionally, but to extend the article's metaphor, those days are mild thunderstorms and not the hurricane I was in while I was pregnant. And mine was a category 1. I can't begin to imagine how someone can live in a category 5 for that long and survive.

In happier news, Brenden said "tattoo" today, while pointing at his dad's tattoo. He also likes to stick a finger in our bellybuttons and say "beebeebeebee!" because we beep his bellybutton all the time.

Having fun pressing buttons

Having fun pressing buttons
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

It has begun!

Our house is being painted as I speak but it's much more than painting - many walls were covered with wallpaper that were never primed, which translates to holes being ripped into the drywall when you try to remove the stuff. So those holes have to be patched and sanded as well. What a mess.

I am happy with the color I chose for the walls - so far our bedroom and bathroom have been painted and they look nice. No floors have been put in yet. I have taken plenty of 'before' pictures (and have yet to post them) and will take plenty of 'after' photos when the time comes. Here's a nice photo of the paneling in the living room, which should cease to exist sometimes next week.

In the meantime Brenden has mastered the art of turning door knobs so every door knob in the house now has one of those childproof knobs on it. He hates me, I know he does.



There are reasons why I love Battlestar Galactica and why Lost annoys me, and it all has to do with the characters.

In Battlestar Galactica the characters are flawed. Hella-mega flawed. Roslin tried to throw an election. Adama jr. and sr. have jeapoardized their entire species trying to rescue a comrade. Starbuck is a reckless boozehound, Tigh and Zarek are terrorists (from different wars), and we won't even begin to walk through Baltar's flaws. Yet I love them one and all because when they hurt, I hurt. Last Friday's ep (Exodus, pt. 2) was so awesome I doubt they will be able to match it the rest of the season.

It was more than the nerdy ecstacy of the Galactica jumping into New Caprica's atmosphere and freefalling while unleashing all those Vipers on unsuspecting Cylons. It was more than the Pegasus coming to the Galactica's rescue and taking two Cylon base stars out with it. What made that show ring was a broken Colonel Tigh and Starbuck's realization that she had been had in the most horrible way imaginable. The few remaining humans had been rescued from the Cylon camp and that was cause to cheer, but my two favorite characters are in more pain than I can bear.

So why does Lost annoy me? I don't like anyone. I sat through 8 seasons of indecipherable plotlines of The X-Files because I loved Mulder and Scully. I will keep watching Lost, but it better let me emphathize with someone ASAP because it's beginning to piss me off.

Skiffy shite

Tardis
Originally uploaded by Darkest Before Dawn.

I'm so very grateful that the Skiffy network is broadcasting the new Dr. Who episodes for us old nerds. I saw my first Dr. Who episode on WGN, sometime in the late 70's. That's so strange - I thought my memory has to be off but it's true because I recall watching the show on PBS in early 1979 and I know I had seen some episodes before that.

I also like that BBC gave the show new sensibilities and has started to deal with questions we fans have had for a long time: just why does and immortal (so far) being go gallavanting around the space-time continuum with a varied assortment of simian life-forms, typically those who are young, pretty, and British? Ok, so he's lonely.

I viewed the latest (U.S.) episode last night, which was very sad because we got to meet (or revisit) one of the good Doc's former companions, Sarah Jane Smith. (She has a startling resemblance to Mary McDonnell, and I was amused that my favorite recapper Jacob noticed the same on Television Without Pity.) She and the doctor run into each other while investigating some school shennanigans being masterminded by Anthony Stewart Head, whom some people might remember from those old Taster's Choice commercials.

Anyway, she and the doctor have a nice reunion, then Rose, the doc's current companion gets all shirty towards Sarah, until after some talking she discovers her insecurity is more rightly pointed at the good doctor. More important than why does he pick them up, why does he show his companions the universe then dump them so soon? Well that turns out to be a duh, too; because humans grow old and die while the doc just regenerates. I guess he dumps them after a couple of years or so so they can at least try to have a life after moving through time and space. The very sad part about this episode is it seems Sarah Jane had no life after the doctor ditched her. She is still nosy, but she never married.

She got to keep the disco dog, though.

Another boring post

Mom B and BFK
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden stumbled and split his lower lip against the nightstand in the bedroom yesterday. I was folding clothes. Poor kid bled everywhere, especially on me, but he'll live. Despite the volume of blood there's only a tiny cut on his lip. He got over it pretty fast, too.

Big Fat Kitty jumped on the nightstand sometime later on (I was still trying to fold clothes in the bedroom) and Brenden rushed up to him and wagged a finger at him and yelled "No no no no no!". For the rest of the day he did the same thing to the cat no matter where kitty jumped. I guess it's wrong of me to have one set of rules for Big Fat Kitty and another for Monkey boy.

I'm getting major T.V. fixes now that Lost, Dr. Who, and Battlestar Galactica are back on, not to mention Veronica Mars, The Office and new South Park. Quick observations:

1: I like Lost better without so many damn commercial interruptions.

2: David Tennant is a good Doctor, but I miss Chris Eccleston.

3: Battlestar Galactica is still my favorite show. I could do without Fat Apollo, though.

4: I made my Veronica Mars observation yesterday. I really like how Veronica is allowed to be an asshole and I'm also really glad that her boyfriend Duncan has left (stupid baby subplot nonwithstanding). Logan might be a psychotic jackass, but at least he's an interesting psychotic jackass. And it's nice to see Charisma Carpenter get some work!

5: I actually like Michael on The Office. Of course if he were my boss I would have to kill him.

6: South Park has always been hit-or-miss. Not much else to say about that, but Blizzard must have been in 7th heaven for that 20-minute World of Warcraft commercial (which also explained in excruciating detail why I don't play multiplayer games).

Silly Face

Silly Face
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's a rare Sunday blogpost because Brenden is tolerating me being out of the living room for a little bit.

I had *yet another* sinus infection, but went to my way cool allergy doc instead of my overworked family physician who can't remember me from visit to visit. He put me on an aggressive antibiotic treatment and it seems to be working because I can smell things now without having to O.D. on Afrin. I am currently stripping wallpaper when I can and using a steamer (only way to go) so the whole house smells like old wallpaper glue.

I'm such a whiner.

We're halfway through season 2 of Veronica Mars and I must say it's a shocker what gets past the censors on that show.

Month 16

Trip2
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden and Jon had a great time in Massachusetts, even though neither got much sleep. I actually didn't have much fun - I started peeling wallpaper from around the house. Oh, that reminds me:

I don't think I mentioned this, but when we decided about the laminate flooring, we also decided to repaint the whole house - this included yanking all the paneling from the living room and replacing it with drywall. We also need to repaint the ceilings because a) smokers lived there and b) we have some water stains from problems fixed a while back.

Jon has hired a contractor who is going to let Jon work with him to do everything. I'll do what I can, but for the most part I'm going to be keeping Brenden out of their way.

Speaking of B: Letter to Brenden Month 16:

Well, darling; you are getting more clever and aware. I have noticed no new words in your vocabulary recently, but I do love how if I say "no!" and you continue with whatever you are doing, if I get in your face and ask "what did I just say?" You go "no no no!" and clap your hands. Usually that's enough to make you stop.

I took you to your first Birthday Party. I thought you are a little young for such events, but it was for a girl in your same daycare and I thought it might be fun. For the most part you had a blast. Kylie's parents had rented one of those big jumping castles. You didn't go in until all the bigger kids had gone for food and then I had a tough time getting you out of there. You do love flinging yourself at bouncy things.

We also went for a hayride, which involved sitting on bales of hay in an open trailer pulled by a gigantic tractor. We passed some horses and I was all "YEEEEEEEK!" but then I felt bad because you really wanted to look at one up close. Some of the other kids started feeding hay to the horses, and you saw this and grabbed a little twig and held it up to a horse. I don't think he saw it. I was going to give you more hay to hold but the tractor decided to move at that point. I'm glad to see an animal that big didn't scare you, although I would like you to know that if you ever see a bear that's not behind a cage don't try to feed it, ok? It's probably a good idea to leave it alone altogether.

I wonder if it might be time for a trip to a zoo.

Sleeping on the Quilt

Sleeping on the Quilt
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

This week will be an interesting week because monkeyboy is with monkeyman Jon up in Massachusetts where they are visiting family. I simply don't have any vacation time left this year. Everyone keeps saying "oh, you'll miss him so much" and I'm all "Hooray!". They're coming back Thursday, and I'm sure they'll be able to handle 4 days without me. Hey, I love my kid but I need a break. What am I going to do? Drink like a pirate and watch flesh-eating zombie movies, that's what.

Speaking of watching, Jon and I finished season 2 of Lost so we'll watch season 3 as it's broadcast. Kinda bummed by some of the outcomes of season 2, but I like a show that keeps me guessing, even though I'm better at guessing than some of the main characters, apparently. Only Sayid seems to have any common sense.

Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica starts this Friday, woo-hoo! We're almost done with season 1 of Veronica Mars but I have to wait until Jon comes home to watch the last disk. I guess I could always resort to Television Without Pity to figure out who killed Lilly Kane but that would be cheating. Both Jon and I are still wierded out by Logan and Veronica getting together. I'm TiVo-ing season 3 and I'll just store them until we catch up.

I think I told this story before but I wanted to tell it again:

Back in college I was living in sin with my boyfriend when one day he went out for a jog and returned with this very small black and white kitten. Will had a thing for cats and we already had 7 or 8 living around the house. I bitched at him; "why the hell did you bring another cat home?!!?"

He said "well I was jogging by this girl getting in a car and she had this little guy with her. She asked me if it was ours and I said 'no', so she said she was taking it to the pound so I said 'give her to me'".

How could I argue with that?

But anyway, this little cat was so small she probably shouldn't have been away from her mother. I ended up feeding her wet food. None of the other cats were given wet food, so when it came time to eat, she would be on my lap eating out of a little plate. I would be knocking back the other cats with my free arm so they couldn't get at the food. In that way she and I bonded.

Thank you everyone once again for the well-wishes and sympathy. I picked up Vasquez's ashes today and have decided to hang onto them for now. They are in a nice wooden urn that will go in a high place well beyond monkeyboy's reach.

I lost an old friend

Cute Pooky
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

What do you say when you lose a cat you have had half your life?
She was old and not able to eat and I decided to let her go before things got worse.

I will miss you.

Vasquez : Sometime in 1986-September 26, 2006

Big B little b what begins with B?

Big B
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Hooray I finally uploaded some photos! This one and some of the others kind of surprised me - all of a sudden I can tell what he's going to look like when he graduates from 'toddler' to 'boy'.

I have had the worst time with insomnia lately. It might just be my sore throat, but I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night. I feel tired, but not sleepy if that makes sense. If I tried to go to sleep right now it wouldn't happen.

Brenden can say 'gee-gee' now, which means 'cookie'. Actually it sounds more like 'Gigi', if you were pretentious or French.

TLAPD

TLAPD
Originally uploaded by poppycedes.

Brenden is just fine now. I have a sore throat, however.

I am starting to notice that B has a larger vocabulary than I'm giving him credit for. I noticed this weekend when he was pointing at Big Fat Kitty and saying "tze-tze!". He has done that several times. I need to pay more attention to what he says, but somewhere along the line he became aware that things have names. I still don't know what he calls me, however. He can say "mama" but for him that means "will someone please get me out of this crib?".

I'm going to go buy the Wallace and Gromit movie. It is Brenden's first official favorite movie - he doesn't sit still to watch anything but he will when Curse of the Were-Rabbit is on. He'll also laugh like a loon. I found out that there's a version on DVD out there that includes the 3 original Wallace and Gromit shorts.

And by the way, today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I truly think they need to move this day to like the 3rd Saturday of September then re-label it as "Drink Like a Pirate Day". I believe it would become a truly celebrated holiday. I mean, come on. Cinco de Mayo wasn't celebrated by us Gringos until we discovered Corona, right?

ARRR!

Dad and Brenden

Dad and Brenden
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I have a camera full of pictures of Brenden that I should have posted this weekend. I had a lot of things planned for this weekend, but I got a little sidetracked because poor monkeyboy is sick.

He was a little fussy and just didn't look ok when I picked him up from daycare. Sonya said he wasn't himself but he wasn't running a fever. My mom and her husband came by later that afternoon (they were in town for a car show - Price makes a little money on the side by selling car guages at these shows) and I begged out of going to dinner for them because poor B was being clingy and was obviously worn out. Still no fever at that point.

He fell asleep in my arms while I was chatting with mom, so I put him down for a nap and when he woke up, he had a 101 fever. And thus started the ultra long weekend as I didn't sleep much because I kept dosing B on tylenol and feeding him cold Pedialyte and sneaking into his room to make sure his temperature didn't get too high.

On Friday night his temp spiked its highest at 103.2. I was ready to take him to the hospital but a new dose of tylenol plus ice-cold pedialyte and a tepid bath eventually broke his fever around 9 pm. I still could not sleep and he woke up at 1 with a fever of 101. I got him to bed around 2:30 and I caught maybe 3 hours of sleep. Saturday: lather, rinse, repeat.

Sunday I was so exhausted Jon came home for 4 - 5 hours and I caught a nap. Brenden was still playing rollercoaster fever but it never got above 102. When he came home after work I immediately went to bed and didn't wake up until around 4:30 am. Jon and Brenden were in the comfy chair and B was working on some more pedialyte.

I know what you are thinking: 3 days of this; shouldn't you take him to the doctor? Jon is taking B to an appointment at 9:30 am. But anyways, Jon looked as exhausted as I had been, and just before I left for work this morning. I thanked him profusely, but he didn't smile until I told him: "You know what? You're one hell of a dad." He is.

I did get one thing accomplished, huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh.

The things I miss

Where I used to live
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

My friend Nancy has posted a blog entry about things she misses, both in Eugene, Oregon, and her current hometown of Athens, Georgia. It made me want to write one about the things I miss.

First off, see this photo? If you haven't messed around with Google Earth, you are missing out on a lot of fun. This screen cap from Google Earth is of my old stompin' grounds when I lived in Puerto Rico. To the left is a cemetary. Then there's an L- shaped building to the right of it. That's Beach Tower, where we lived for 7 years until 1977 when we moved to Stone Mountain in Georgia. As you can see, it's RIGHT ON THE BEACH! Yes, I miss having the ocean as my back yard. But as I recall when I lived there, I wanted to move back to the U.S. But when we moved I had a bad time adjusting and missed Puerto Rico horribly. I think it was because high school was hell for me.

So: I miss the beach. I miss not ever being cold. I miss the food, especially bacalaitos, empanadas, medianoches, and cubanos. I've had cubanos (they're sandwiches, people!) here. They're just not the same. When Jon and I went on vacation to St. John, the thing that made me happiest was being able to hear the surf AND the coquís. Eventually I want to take Brenden to Puerto Rico, but when he's a little older so he can appreciate it.

As I mentioned, high school was hell. Why? I was a NERD. I hated every moment of every day I was in that place. Well, I made one good friend - Lisa. She lives out in Los Angeles and to my delight she's moving back to Atlanta pretty soon. Here's something funny: the only reason I applied to Georgia Southern College was because that's where she was going. Through her I met Alan and his roommate Mark. My friend Nancy met and married Mark, and Nancy's high school friend Helly met her husband Alan because of Nancy. So guys, we all owe it to Lisa.

So I hated high school and therefore can't think of a bloody thing I miss about Stone Mountain. Well, there was one thing. I discovered that I could walk into Stone Mountain (about 15 minute walk) to catch the bus, then go wherever I damn well pleased in Atlanta. Like Nancy I like Public Transportation. I always took a paperback with me and read until I got to where I wanted to go.

I also miss my weekend Dungeons and Dragons games. They were with some of Lisa's older friends, who were more hippies than nerds. I won't go into details but let's just say this was the 70's. I sure do miss those sessions. Much fun!

As much as I hated high school I loved college. So much I went for 6 years (actually I stayed out a year because I joined the Army Reserves). In high school nerds are treated harshly. In college you just find other nerds and have fun because the people that picked on you the worst were back home working at McDonald's (NERDS RULE!).

What I miss most: walking everywhere, drinking that godawful $0.20 coffee at the student center, hanging out with Mark and Alan (and their roommate Glenn {hi, Glenn! Hope you are doing well!}, who became my boyfriend), being a DJ at the college radio station, pitchers of beer (18 was the drinking age back then) and playing table-top Super Mario Brothers II, and I actually, truly for once, enjoyed learning. I took the one required Algebra class, and I was stunned at how much I ended up loving it, even though I scrambled like hell to play catch up because I never paid attention in High School. I loved it so much it became kind of a mini-minor. I took Trig and Calc 1 & 2 before I ran out of electives. I LOVED math.

I could have stayed in college forever. So that's what I miss. but above all else, I miss goofing off. I get to for maybe an hour or so here or there, but for the most part, taking 2-3 weeks and JUST NOT DOING A DAMN THING is a thing of the past. I had to grow up sometime.

El Fin de Semana

El Morro
Originally uploaded by Daquella manera.

Brenden and I had a good weekend, surprisingly. He had no tantrums. I can't, however, take him shopping with me any more, at least not for a while until he gets a little older because I can't keep him in the little shopping cart seat. No matter how tight I snap the belt, he fights his way out. I can't keep him in the cart either, because he likes to investigate everything then throw it out of the cart.

but everything else was good. We're starting to interact more - I build things and he wrecks them; he'll climb into the clothes basket and I'll push him around. He'll try to climb onto our bed so I'll pick him up and fling him into the covers. He will absolutely squeal when I do that. Helpful handy tip though: do not feed a toddler chocolate Teddy Grahams then toss him onto your white down comforter.

What I'm Watching:

The weekend before I accidentally continued my Bruce Willis film festival when I caught Die Hard. Willis has improved as an actor considerably since that movie. I think it's overrated even though I admittedly enjoy it. I also caught Sin City, which is wonderfully depraved. Then I saw 5 minutes of The Hostage, got bored and decided I'd had enough of Mr. Willis for one weekend so I watched Ravenous about cannibals in the late 1800's. Great, bloody movie! Makes you see meat-eaters throught the eyes of vegetarians.

Jon and I put Veronica Mars on semi-hold because Lost Season 2 is now out on disk so we're trying to plow through them so we can start watching when season 3 begins. Speaking of, the 2nd disk is MIA so we put in disk2 of Veronica Mars and it was cracked. I don't blame Netflix; they immediately put a replacement disk in the mail but that one is MIA too. I blame the Hartselle Post Office: you guys suck!

This weekend I watched an interesting documentary:Yo soy Boricua, pa'que tu lo sepas! (I'm Boricua [Puerto Rican], just so you know), about Puerto Rico and it's relationship to the rest of the United States, and how frustrating it can be for Puerto Ricans who have to constantly deal with mainlander's ignorance. At one point Rosie Perez (who co-directed) was downright indignant about people she met who didn't even know where the island is. I understand the frustration, but most people in the U.S. can't even find Idaho on a map so don't take it so personally. Anyway, the doc was pretty good with the history and politics, but I wished it had spent more time with the people and the culture (not to mention on-island!).

I watched Summer Rental, a fairly throw-away 80's summer comedy starring John Candy (miss you). He plays a family man who takes his family on vacation to Florida by renting a summer house for a month. His family has a great time but he's miserable until he bonds with a local sailor who likes to ramp up his 'salty sea dog' image (Rip Torn, perfectly cast). 'Scully' (heh) teaches Candy how to sail. It's a stupid movie but it has a place in my heart. While I watched it I wondered if this movie is what put the bug in my ear about preferring rental homes to hotels when I go on vacation.

Brenden watched Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit with me. Ralph Fiennes supplied the voice of the villain! Much fun claymation movie. Highly recommended. If you can find them, the other Wallace and Grommit shorts are fun too.

Last and most definitely least I watched The Fantastic 4. It's a lame superhero movie. Ioan Gruffudd was in it but I like him with his accent intact and he hid it for this one.

Are You Ready to Rumble?

blue eyes
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Letter to Brenden month 15: I promise not to cheat this month, honey, as you enter into a year and a quarter of existence. You celebrated by having your full first tantrum yesterday. It was a sight to behold! You rolled around on the kitchen floor, screaming and crying, turning purple, rejecting any and all comfort. I watched, amazed, for about 2 minutes, and when you didn't let up, I started laughing.

I'm sorry, but it was funny! It really looked like you were discovering what a tantrum was and so you were trying it on for size. I sobered up when I realized I have years of this ahead of me. Oh, joy.

For the record, you were pissed at me because I brought you indoors because you were getting fussy. So after I quit laughing I thought about it for a second, and considered laying next to you to show you how to beat your heels on the linoleum. I thought better of it, so I went and did the dishes because hon, if you don't want a hug or a cookie, there's not much else I can do until you cool down. Once I ignored you, you calmed down enough to where I could take you outside again for a nice refreshing dip in the pool with your dad.

It's hard to explain your development in the last couple of months. You are basically refining your skills (like going from fussy to full-blown conniption fit) and trying to climb everything. You are able to navigate over obstacles without me holding your hand and I'm deeply afraid that you will figure out how to get out of your crib pretty soon.

Words are still a mystery, although you have figured out how to yell "MAMA!" when you want out of your crib at 4 in the morning. Little dude, it's "DADA!" I have to work so your dad takes care of your 4 am fits whick are fortunately rare.

One thing I have noticed is that if you don't really understand the words, you get the meaning of what I am indicating. You understand more than we think you do. Dad says when he gets you ready in the morning you ask him to get his shoes and you do. I can ask you for things and you will bring them to me, too. Pretty neat. You go stupid again when I tell you to quit pressing buttons on the TV.

In closing, sweetie, your dad and I love you more and more, even as you turn more and more into a fire-breathing toddler. I know we have some rough days ahead but as long as dad and I tag-team you, I'm hoping we can wear you down before you wear us down. Are you ready to rumble?

Wierd Week

Crocodile pool, "The Gambia West-Africa"
Originally uploaded by Dennis Bouman.

Last week was a wierd one because of my job. On Tuesday while driving to work, I found out while listening to the news on the radio that one of the people killed in the Comair plane crash worked for the same company I do. She was a Project Manager - a pm pretty much orchestrates everything while getting a client from signing the contracts to actually using our products in the field. She was on her way to a site which was getting ready to go live when she died.

I didn't know her but we had emailed each other, especially in the last few weeks because I was helping with some customizations/problems with the products I specialize in for the site. I was pretty bummed about her death. She was a good PM, able to get things done with a sense of humor.

Then at the end of the week, I come in on Friday and find out that the company has been sold and is going private. The upper management may very well be blowing sunshine up our butts but they insist that they didn't spend all that time restructuring just to have someone else come in and restructure. I'll believe them because what else can I do? The fact that they are buying up all the shares at over %20 of what they were valued at on Thursday doesn't hurt either. I've been with them for a while. If my calculations are correct, and everything goes according to plan (when does it ever, of course), I will make enough money out of the deal to pay off the Cessna and placate the IRS. That means the only debt that Jon and I will have will be the house. That's it. And we don't exactly live in a mansion. So it has been kind of a wierd week at work.

It sucks about Steve Irwin, too.

R-A-M-B-L-I-N... apostrohpe....

Once I get dosed up on Afrin, I can breathe! I can smell!!! I made something with garlic and onions last night just because. I unfortunately also fried something and I can't get that fried chicken smell out of my nose.

More viewing notes:

Posiedon is a remake of the old Gene Hackman disaster movie. Instead of Hackman's Priest with and Attitude, we have Josh Lucas' Reluctant Hero and Kurt Russell's Overprotective Dad (code name:Dead Meat) leading a diverse group to the bow of an overturned ship to try to escape before it sinks. Actually in the original I don't think it ever sank - it was just a matter of getting the hell out of there. This new version added some urgency to the wanting-to-survive-ors' plight. Hey I liked it but I'm a sucker for disaster movies. This one didn't try to pretend to be anything but what it is. Hell, the only surprise was not that Kevin Dillon's Obnoxious Gambler died, but how fast it happens. And it was satisfyingly brutal, too. I'll watch anything with Kurt Russell, anyways. Just because.

I'm salivating at the thought of a remake of the Towering Inferno. This time, instead of Paul Newman as the Architect and Steve McQueen as the Fire Chief, it can be Clive Owen and Bruce Willis, respectively. I don't really care about Mr.Owen, he just has some standard good looks and I think he'll play well against Willis' no-nonsense tough-guy fireman. I'll give Harrison Ford some work - he can over William Holden's role as Wealthy Building Owner, and his beatiful Daughter A.K.A Trophy wife to the Evil Contractor who Cut Corners (Susan Blakely and Richard Chamberlain in the original) can be played by Sarah Michelle Gellar (just trying to get her work other than Japanese Horror Movies) and Josh Lucas. He played a decent guy in Posiedon but he can be an excellent scumbag. See Hulk for details.

Let's see: the O.J. Simpson role as Security Guard can be played by whatever rapper is trying to become a movie star. Forgive me, I'm just not up on that stuff. But we need more ethnicity than that, so the Mayor (originally Robert Vaughn) can be played by Laurence Fishburne and Benjamin Bratt can play the Boss (Robert Wagner) having an affair with his secretary (I forget here). And because this is the 21st century, instead of pandering to older people with the Inept Conman (Fred Astaire) and his Willing Mark (Jennifer Jones), we'll have to throw in a couple of Teen-Aged Lovers (just like what Posiedon did when they got rid of Shelley Winters' and Red Buttons' characters!) and I don't care who play them. Maybe Kurt Russell can show up as the Overprotective Dad who ultimately sacrifices himself to save both of them. Whoops, hope I didn't spoil anything.

Last but not least (or maybe least) Jennifer Lopez gets Faye Dunaway's role - she was the Career Woman Having an Affair with the Architect. They were having problems, because his Job is in X and hers is in Y. Being the 70's, Faye Dunaway left her job at the end of the movie to be with Paul Newman. I'm sure in this updated version Clive will leave his job to be with her. After all, he's the one who designed the crappy building so maybe he should try something other than being an architect.

*Whew!* I sincerely hope that someone a-googling reads the above paragraphs out of context and starts an internet rumor about a Towering Inferno remake. Anyway, where am I? Oh, yeah:

Jon and I watched Disk 1 Season 1 of Veronica Mars and it didn't suck. I'm still not stuck to it, but I liked it enough to rent the next disc. I can see why people describe Buffy the Vampire Slayer as the template for the show - girl w/a shady rep in high school, friends are nerds, missing parent, etc. There are differences - Neptune has more ethnic types. I guess that's not fair; Sunnydale had white people, vampires and demonic monsters of all shapes and colors. That's pretty ethnic. If Richard Pryor is correct, the African-Americans stayed away from Sunnydale because they had more sense than to live among bloodsuckers. But I digress.

I like the actor who plays Veronica. She seems to be doing a capable job so far. Since Buffy is the template, I'm not holding any expectations about who ends up dating whom. It looks like it's going to get messy. Also it better be in the Buffy/Babylon 5/Battlestar Galactica category of shows whose story arcs make sense and not in the same arena as 24 and The X-Files where they just make it up as they go along. Damn, I am such a dork!!!

Back from Tennessee

cessnamark
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jon, B, and I flew to the Sieverville airport last Friday in our 182. General Aviation has its advantages - we took a 5-hour drive in about 1 hour 45 minutes. Monkey Boy loved it - for about 10 minutes then he fell asleep for the whole trip. It only took him 2 minutes to fall asleep on the way back.

I didn't do much - we invited a couple we knew through skydiving and we all went to Gatlinburg on Saturday to the aquarium. It's a nifty one - you can walk through the main tanks through these plexiglass tunnels and they have sharks and other kewl fishes to stare at. Brenden had no idea what he was looking at, but because we use a baby backpack, he gets to look at everything instead of people's butts like he would if he was in a stroller.

The highlight of the visit was when Brenden winged his Spongebob sippy cup into one of the tanks. It was funny, but I was appropriately contrite when we asked some people who worked there to fish it out for us.

Saturday and Sunday I just felt awful still, but the good news was I could smell! Of course downtown Gatlinburg isn't that pleasant but hell I shouldn't complain after 2-3 years of little to no use of one of my 5 senses. I stayed in the house we rented keeping tabs on El Jefe while Glenn, Jon, and Marnie rented inner tubes and floated down a river. I didn't mind; I just laid on the couch, watched TV, and shared a box of vanilla wafers with Brenden.

I watched The 5th Element and The Whole 9 yards, which made me realize how much I love Bruce Willis in Unbreakable but not much else. I also watched The Mummy which is fun but could have used deeper characters. I really think if they had brought a little depth to the protagonists and some symapthy to the antagonists, the movie would have been *great*. At least more memorable.

Monday I felt better and today I feel fantastic. I'm also busy as hell so sayonara.

Oh, yeah. I forgot my camera and Jon forgot his memory card for his camera, so no pictures of the trip. It's a shame, because I would have loved a photo of Brenden in his car seat strapped into the plane.

Oh! one other thing. Remember me mentioning trying to teach Brenden animal sounds? ("This is a cow! Cow! Cow goes moo! This is a duck! Duck goes quack quack!") Well he astonished all of us when I handed him his little sheep and asked: "Brenden, what does a sheep say?" He replied, "BAA!"

He didn't do that just once; he now does it repeatedly. He still hasn't learned how to quack yet.

Cowgirl bugging Mom

Cowgirl bugging Mom
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I still haven't done a Month 14 letter to Brenden and it's almost month 15:

Dear Brenden: you now have 4 molars in addition to your 8 front teeth. Stay off the coffee table!

Okay now onto something else. Since 24 and Battlestar Galactica are in hiatus for the moment, I have turned to other things. Since American Idol is in the same state (thank goodness!) I have been catching up with The Office reruns. I have seen a few episodes here and there of the British series so I caught the first season of the American version. While I'm one of those people who find Steve Carrell funny (sue me) I was on the fence about this series. But I am loving this second season. The Office is of course the Hell's eye view of working in the small-time corporate world, and it owes it's DNA not only to the wickedly funny BBC series but to of Course Mike Judge's Office Space.

Yes the series is made by Steve Carrell's Clueless Boss from the Bowels of Purgatory but I think all the characters are what makes it so funny and appealing. They are recognizable. There's the harried secretary who also spends too much time working on her wedding on office time, the slacker/practical joker who slacks too much and is obnoxious, there's the co-worker from outer space who brown noses so much it makes even the boss uncomfortable, and the temp worker who treats his job like a jail sentence.

I'm also watching The 4400 even though I'm only sort of blah about it. It's something to watch while I'm waiting for better shows to come back on.

As far as movies go I finally got to see V for Vendetta. I'm all about movies where people fight the system and I liked this one, but am a little iffy about it because of what V did to Evie. You know what I mean if you saw it. If I had found out someone did that to me I think it would have earned him at least one punch to the 'nads.

We re-watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom the other night and while I'm not fond of the constantly screaming Kate Capshaw I always defended this movie. I liked it better than the third movie and I still do, but this time around I noticed how sloppy Spielberg's direction was. There are really too many sloppily choreographed fight scenes. I've seen better in TV shows.

We tried to watch The Island last night but the DVD we had received was too scratched. So we watched Zathura instead, a cute little kid's movie about two brothers who play an old board game about outer space and end up there. It was fun, but cuts close to the bone in the beginning as a divorced dad tries to keep the peace between an older 10 year old son who is a bully, and a 6 year old son who is a spaz. The movie did great in portraying the brutality of siblings but of course when they go through an adventure together their relationship becomes more loving.

I haven't had a chance to watch the whole thing, but BBC America has been running a small series of movies which are remakes of Shakespearean plays and I taped "Much Ado About Nothing" which features my favorite redhead who plays the part of Benedick. This re-telling takes place in a television news room, with Benedick and Beatrice being bickering co-anchors, and Hero being the somewhat ditzy weathergirl. I have it TiVo'ed but I have only seen part of the ending. It looks fun, though.

I go see the hottie surgeon today. I finally have run out of happy pills, which I'm unhappy about but then again they have kind of lost their effectiveness after taking them for two weeks. I have been able to smell a little bit.

And back to Brenden: he's had a constant runny nose for a while. I suspect allergies. You know what I think? Rise in use of carpeting in homes - rise of allergy sufferers = mere coincidence? I think not! Jon, Brenden and I are flying to Gatlinburg today after work for a 3 day weekend. We're celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary. When we get back, we're going to rip up all the carpeting and replace it with faux wood flooring.

Pontificating

Pontificating
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Argh. I suppose I'm healing just fine - I'm not hawking up as much blood today as I have been. I still get headaches if not properly dosed with lortabs, which I quit taking. Poor, poor, pitiful me.

Brenden and I didn't do much this weekend. I bought him some of those big leggos so I had a lot of fun building things. He would destroy them for me, plus he seemed far more interested in pushing the large plastic container they came in. He would stop occasionally and throw things in the container, then push it all around the house some more.

He finally aggravated me to the point I decided I really needed to punish him on Sunday. He just *would not* leave the TV buttons alone! I decided I needed to be creative, because I just can't bring myself to hit him in any fashion. Theoretically I'm not against a slap on the wrist or butt, but I just don't have it in me to whack him hard enough for him to even notice. I like the idea of "Time Outs" but I can't make him sit and I don't want to throw him in his crib. It is hard enough getting him to sleep without associating his bed with punishment.

It occured to me that Mr. Ant-in-his-pants totally hates sitting still for even a few seconds, so I gave him 'time outs' by sitting on the couch with him in my lap. He would squirm and cry about it, and I annoyed him even further by lecturing him about why he couldn't get up for 60 seconds. It worked pretty well about the 4th or 5th time I did it. He'd touch a knob and I'd say "No, Brenden!" then he'd reach again and I'd say 'Do you want a time out?" and you could see him thinking about it. He understands a lot more than I tend to give him credit for.

Sleepy Time

sleepy
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Quick update:

I'm still out of it - if I take my happy pills, I'm pretty happy and useless. On the other hand, if I don't, I'm pretty grouchy and useless. I saw the hottie doc yesterday and he said everything is healing fine and do I want a refill on my pain meds?

Ha. I should have a pretty nice weekend.

Congrats to Lachele on the sale of her house, hugs and words of encouragement to Nancy on trying to find new employment, and Snakes on a motherjumpin' Plane to the deli worker who poisoned Helly.

I am still working on my spanish a bit - I can't concentrate very well but I will get back to it when I can. In the meantime I'm playing a lot of this silly Yahoo! game called Tropix: you play these silly games - everything from Sudoku to solitaire for Sand Dollars and when you get enough Dollars you can buy tropical beachfront property and decorate it. A little monkey will come an play with the things you put on your property. I find it very soothing because the background noise is ocean surf, birds, etc.

Hey, look. I could spend this post explaining to you in Dooce-like detail of what has happened to my excretory system since the operation, but I'm not. Be grateful.

Good Morning

Good Morning
Originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

oOooOh mY heAd....

Oh, I'm fine. A hell of a lot better than I thought I'd be. It *could* be the Hydrocodone, but it also might be the psychological effect of having the operation over and done with. Plus my head feels 5 pounds lighter.

I can't smell anything yet, but I know that I need to do some healing first. The way the doctor and nurses were talking, I expected to be an invalid for the next week. I really think I could work today except I probably shouldn't be operating any heavy machinery.

This photo is from this morning - as you can see the doc didn't leave any bruising. I get to take a happy pill every 4 hours. They gave me a weeks supply and I sincerely doubt that I will need them that much.

I am also irrigating my nose every 2-4 hours with sterile saline solution. I can't blow my nose but this helps keep it clean. I'm also taking another antibiotic. I hope this one will be able to do its job now that my sinuses can actually drain.

I was also prescribed a suppository, of all things, if I experienced nausea. So far, I'm fine. The only thing that makes me even remotely nauseated is the thought of shoving something up my butt.

I can feel the lastest dose of meds taking effect so I'll stop blogging now. Thank you for the well-wishes! As a reward, there's a picture on flickr that the doc gave me as a souvenier. Don't look at it too closely. If you get nauseated, I have some suppositories I'll send you if you would like.