Strange

This morning as I was getting Dellaina dressed, the phone rang. Our home phone doesn't really work, so most real calls come in on our cell phones, but I decided to go answer it. I pick up and the message is already playing (the answering machine must have already picked up) "collect call from 'Mason' from the Henry County Jail. This is a correctional facility" In my mind, I'm debating whether or not I should accept the call for someone I don't know, because he's wasted his one phone call and I feel guilty hanging up on him, but also guilty answering when obviously I'm not who he meant to call. But, also, what if he just randomly calls people to see if he can find someone to talk to? I'm the type of person that might talk to someone that was that desperate. Also, I'm replaying to make sure it wasn't my brother's voice and I need to answer the call. I ended up hanging up and the answering machine continued (I heard the rest of the message later) so I was hoping it recognized it was an answering machine and gave him a chance to try again and maybe he got the number right.

In the car on the way to lunch I heard a male version of Britney's Toxic. It was interesting. My info said something about "nine" and I assumed it was "Nine Inch Nails" but I was disappointed if that was the case, because it wasn't gruff enough, but then Tyler helped me look it up and we found it was actually "Local H" which I also saw scroll across but didn't know what it meant. Apparently it's a band? Who knew.

Another random act I have been meaning to post: there is a house that burned down just off the main highway across the street from our neighborhood. There is still a barn in the back and the other week, Tyler & I noticed a big orange, road construction barrel sitting on the peak of said barn! It's such a funny sight and obviously a teenage prank. Fairly clever, highly dangerous and curious as to how it was pulled off. The other day, we were driving by and I realized there was also a little scooter (Razor) jammed up under the barrel. Even more curious.

Here's a sad article for those of us that care and worry about the environment about a government funded program turning the ocean into a landfill. Bad idea, hmm, you think?! You know what they say about good intentions. . .

All of my normal bloggers haven't posted in a few days either and I felt I needed to come up with something since I can't occupy myself reading their blogs!

Numerous Randomness

So, yesterday around lunch, Kirby decided we were in a holding pattern waiting on clients and he was bored enough, so did we want to go see a movie! I haven't been to see a movie in a theatre in at least 2 years! I was super excited. There weren't a lot of choices that really jumped out, but I had wanted to see Music & Lyrics with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. It definitely seemed more my speed than I Told You So with Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore or any of the scary movies that I don't do. I do want to see The Departed, too, but Kirby had already seen it. There was some Pan's Labyrinth that one review called porn?! That peaked the guys interest, but not mine so much to be going with my boss and co-worker! Anyhoo, Music & Lyrics it was and it was your typical cute romantic comedy. It was funny and an interesting concept to be submersed in the music industry, kind of from the behind the scenes or more of the process of song writing (it started and ended with a music video) All in all it was definitely a good choice over sitting at work any day!

In other news, we didn't quite make our deadline of Valentine's Day for our challenge, but it did make another big jump yesterday! We'll keep it open, because we're so close to fulfilling it! So, if you haven't yet, please check out the last project that is left to be funded by clicking on the thermometer on the right and see if you can contribute anything towards it! Thanks!

Is anyone else watching American Idol? Does it seem like it's all about diversity this year to anyone else? That's all I'm going to say.

I'm still in the middle of the homeowners' association nightmare. That's all I feel like sharing on the subject, other than just to say it's eating up a lot of my other time and writing!

Greg brought me a shirt back from Caesar's Palace, where they stayed. I was tempted to post about it earlier in the week under the title "My Husband ran off to Vegas. . and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." But, I really like it, so I refrained. sort of. It's just cute and understated, but exactly what I was looking for. I just think of Vegas as over the top and it would be hard to find subtle shirts. Like in Nascar.

Speaking of, Nascar starts back up this weekend with the Daytona 500. My dad called Greg yesterday to invite us to come down to the lake to watch it on the big screen. That was a clever ploy on his part.

Granny is coming up tomorrow to stay with Dellaina. She has a teacher planning day off and wanted to come spend time with the little doodlebug.

Dellaina has been crying in the mornings when I leave her at school. I'm sorry I ever complained about her loving it and not looking back! (Which actually, I liked that part, but in the afternoons, I wanted her to want to be happy to see me and want to go home!) Yesterday, it was crazy when I went to drop her off. All of the kids were crying and screaming! I couldn't leave her, so I was there for nearly 30 minutes, just sitting on the floor holding and playing with her and some of the other kids as they got their diapers changed. Georgia had put each one in a separate crib to separate them while she changed diapers. They were rocking the cribs against the wall. It was madness. She & I were just laughing that crazy laugh where you know any second you're just going to go insane. Things were definitely calmed down by the time I left and soon after she said the older kids went back to their room. When I went to pick her up, there was a teacher from one of the older kids rooms and she seemed overwhelmed! She said they were all having a little breakdown (because she was new/unfamiliar), but they liked music! When she turned the music on, they started dancing. I noticed when I got home, Dellaina had a piece of tape on her back with her name on it! I thought that was funny for the other teacher to be able to keep up with them. Ella actually smiled at me yesterday afternoon, so that was a victory for me! Aden and Amber and Piper all give me hugs, so I think she's learning I'm not so scary. It was very quiet this morning, as it was only the kids that are supposed to be in the room and a few weren't there yet. Guess that's all for now.

Before I could get this posted, I learned from Emily & Daniel that there is a new salmonella outbreak in Peanut Butter!?! We eat PB even more than spinach, what's going on?! Apparently it's Great Value (Wal-mart) and Peter Pan brands.

Surf's Up

Yesterday morning when I got Dellaina out of her crib, she had some serious bed hair going on! Her little curls in the front were sticking up and swooped back like a wave. It was so cute and funny. I pointed it out to everyone at day care. By the end of the day, it was still in a wave curl and I had Greg take some pictures to capture it for the blog.

I read two articles this morning that I thought were interesting, but now I'm not so sure, but I still had plans to post them, so here you go. The first was about actual scientific research that has been done on the 5-second rule! The other was about a growing number of troops are being denied clearance for overseas duty because they are in so much debt and are considered a security risk! They can be distracted by such poor financial situations and are supposedly more susceptible to bribery and treason.

We're headed down to the lake tonight. I'm looking forward to it. There's something about going down to the lake to hang out with my family that relaxes me. Even though it's a two hour drive and we won't get there until really late tonight. Emily & Daniel are coming down, so it will be fun to hang out with them. Check out their new blog! One more means of procrastination for me, yea! Hopefully, Emily & I will get some scrapbooking done.

Table foods

Dellaina is eating lots of "real" food these days. Because she's been in the Beginners room for a month or more now (the air conditioning is finally fixed and we're told they'll be back in their room tomorrow morning) she's been getting lots of snacks and even the school lunch. Both yesterday and today they said she ate so well, they didn't give her the normal cereal and jar food I brought in; just the table food and her bottle. She loved the beef stroganoff (seriously?!) noodles yesterday and had popcorn chicken (two servings!) today. I'm not sure how she really ate popcorn chicken with only two tiny, crooked teeth barely sticking up, but ok. Apparently she would take her chicken and dip it in her mashed potatoes and then eat it! She's had things like cinnamon toast, chocolate chip cookies, graham crackers, Goldfish, real fruit, spaghetti and others at school. We've been giving her more things at home, too. Last night we were having a Chicken Helper Enchilada meal that I thought we'd had before. It was rice and chicken and I gave her some before I even had a bite. Once I did take a bite, I realized it was pretty spicy and I watched as she would take a bite, kind of squint, cry/yell and then shovel some more in! After another bite of my own and my lips were burning, I took hers up and gave her some bread to eat. She'd mouth on bites and end up spitting most of them back out, but I think it helped with the spice! She really enjoys eating as this great picture shows!

I read today that the Runaway Bride is now suing her ex-fiance! The nerve! I bet he just keeps kicking himself for ever getting involved with such a nut. Oh wait, she keeps kicking him.

Last week at the gym there was a girl/woman that came to class for the first time. I always try to say hello and be encouraging and this girl jumped on my friendliness and started complaining about this other girl in the class! Tonight, she came back and she made more comments to me like we were old friends. I just find it odd that someone completely new would have the nerve to dis on someone they don't even know to someone else they don't even know that could quite possibly be friends with said first unknown person. I do know where she is coming from, I thought some of the same things the first time I ever saw this woman in class, but I sure didn't express them to someone else in the class. Although, I did know what people were laughing about when they'd eye each other and make expressions about her. But, now, I know the woman (granted, not her name!) a little better and I like her more and realize she's just there having fun. Who am I to deny her from dancing the punches if that's what she wants to do. She's had some martial arts training, I'm fairly certain and she modifies some things at times (which is what the new girl was complaining about throwing her off) but what the new girl said, "she just thinks she's better than everyone, that's what bothers me" is just a confidence that's not actually cocky once you get to know her. She does know what she's doing and she's having fun with it. She's not trying to show off. I've started adding kicks instead of knee lifts in places to make sure I get the workout I want and enjoy it more. I like to kick. And if I'm going to kick it's not going to be at your knee. Some people probably think I'm trying to show off how high I can kick or something, but that's not it, so I understand it more now.

One more Dellaina report and then I'm off to bed. In addition to eating more table foods, she's also getting into things more. I've gotten a call the past two days about her bonking her head. Yesterday, I talked to Kathy and she's like, "it's funny actually, I mean, um, not really, but kind of"' and tells me how Dellaina was crawling after a ball and was so intent that she ran head first into the wall! Ok, that is kind of funny. Today, she was crawling and ran into something else. So, she's on the move and bumping he way along. Playing with the boys. . .what a big, tough little girl! They are more intrigued by her now that she's on the move and can come after them and their toys and especially now that she's throwing real food down on the floor!

Prunes

So, I am going to attempt a short post for a change!
Yesterday, I read a headline that the SAT score rankings in GA were looking up. I was encouraged, then, the subheadline said, our scores hadn't actually improved, but we were no longer ranked last or second to last. Is this really something to be proud of? We didn't get smarter, but some other states got dumber?!

This next topic may be too much for some, but I'm sharing anyway. Dellaina was really constipated over the weekend and really straining, sometimes without much coming out. When she did manage to squeeze something out it was fairly small and hard. So, we got her some baby food prunes! She ate them for the first time yesterday at day care and had a blow out later in the day where they had to change her outfit! Then, Greg gave her some more for dinner last night and this morning they had moved right through her again, let me tell you! That was one nasty diaper. So, now, I hate to keep giving them to her, because they seem to have done the trick, but when you introduce a new food, you are supposed to keep feeding it to her for a few days to make sure she doesn't have an allergic reaction to it. So, I guess she will just be a pooping machine for the next few days! I don't know if it was the applesauce we tried at the end of last week that got her constipated in the first place, but we'll know to mix the two next time! Speaking of prunes. . the oldest living person died earlier this week. I know no one wants to die, but living to 116 where it's considered important enough to write that you can eat your food unassisted just isn't my idea of fulfilling. But, I cannot imagine all that she has seen and experienced in over 100 years. Unbelievable. Can you imagine her family? Not to be callous, but after 100, they had to be thinking time was running out and she kept ticking another 16 years!

Now kids will not learn

What "My Very Enthusiastic Mother Just Served Us Nine" of. . .How sad. (I've written this post 4 times now, because blogger keeps losing it somehow) A friend sent me this link and it totally threw me for a loop! Can they really do this? Who knew there was so much drama and debate? I feel like I've been lied to and all the things I knew to be true are changing. It reminds me of the time in 5th grade when we learned you could actually subtract larger numbers from smaller ones because there was a whole universe of negative numbers that had been hidden from us before. I remember feeling so angry at all the teachers that had told me it could not be done and trying to wrap my brain around this radically new concept. I had been happy and content living in my totally positive world. Dellaina is shocked that they'd get rid of Pluto, too!

odds and ends

How can someone lose such an important part of history? Aren't these things treasured and guarded? Or at the very least, not just thrown in a pile somewhere. Wouldn't you think someone would want them and keep up with them better? How exactly do you go about misplacing 700 boxes?! Come on, people! I love the last line of the article, "we're looking for paperwork to see where they last were." That sounds like a brilliant idea. If the person who had them last cannot remember where they put them, what are the odds that they recorded it?!

As evidenced by my career field, I've always been intrigued by marketing and advertising. I loved learning about subliminal advertising and prided myself to know campaign slogans, etc. Now, I don't really watch ads on TV anymore, because of the wonderful invention of TiVo and I skip around on the radio when ads come on for too long, but I still try to keep up with major campaigns and love the process of it all, especially when campaigns really come together and are effective at getting the message across. Therefore, I was alternately interested and appalled by these tactics. Check out the 10 Unbelievable Ad Placements under the Guerilla Advertising box for past wild tricks.

I stopped in to see Dellaina after picking up my car this afternoon. She was asleep in her swing, so I was sort of glad not to disturb her and have to leave again. Hopefully, it won't be long before I can leave and get her anyway.

Bam Bam

I saw this article yesterday and was a little disturbed. But, we all knew Jell-o had elephant toenails in it already, right?

Sometimes we look at Dellaina and she just looks so big and grown up; like a little person. She's been in the 80-90 percentiles for height and weight and head size! We laugh sometimes and call her Bam-Bam because we think she's going to be a little more goofy and destructive rather than small, petite and demure. For Emily's wedding, she had set up a nursery for the babies and kids at the reception and we'd taken a lot of Dellaina's toys and things to be used. Some are still in Athens, so I haven't had her little musical play mat that I normally put her on when I jump in the shower. So, I had moved her swing in front of the shower door, so she could still see me while I got in, hoping that would be enough to appease her. She talks a little bit and fusses a little bit and then I realize she's gotten quiet. So, I peek around the curtain and she is leaning over the tray of her swing, grunting and grabbing hold of the support bar and has pulled herself over to it so that the swing is pulled out of whack. I'm not sure if I'm doing this picture justice, but it was really quite amusing. She looks up at me, like, "oh, hey mama. nothing to see here" and she lets go and the swing flops back down into place. I just laugh and think, oh yes, we are in for a wild ride. So sweet and innocent!

Just got to give a shout out: Happy Birthday, Niki! Hope you are having a blast Down Under.

Capital Punishment

Talk about cruel and unusual, who would make a dog guard stuffed animals?! It's no wonder he'd finally had enough and went running as if a kid in a candy store, only he was a dog in a child's museum of teddy bears! I'm just glad he didn't attack any kids, that's what I thought when I first read the headline, hopefully the dog won't be harmed for ripping apart teddy bears, no matter how valuable! It just makes me laugh to think about what fun he must have had. I can see Hank sitting there twitching, waiting to get his teeth in some of those animals and finally just not being able to stand it anymore and going "beserk!"

Dinner went well last night, once I finally made it. Dellaina took a nose dive off the couch reaching for a toy she'd dropped and I just couldn't stop it, it was like I was moving in slow motion, and she wasn't. Horrible. She cried and had a red bump on her forehead for a while, but otherwise seems to be ok. Good thing babies bounce. This morning my forehead on my right side has been sore to the touch for some reason (I don't remember hitting it on anything) and I've decided it's just sympathy pains to remind me of Dellaina's bump. I winch twice every time I touch it when I push my hair out of my face, once for the actual pain and again when I remember her tumble. So, we left late and then the roads had changed a lot since I'd been down there last and I mis-read the directions, so I was a good 30 minutes late. The food was delicious, though! So, I'd recommend Ray's on the River if anyone is looking for a nice meal (pricey, but yummy) with a cute view. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was mostly seafood. I guess the River part threw me off. We were right on the river and it was pretty cool to look out. There were people in a swing and dogs on the other bank. I'm not sure I'd want my house staring at a restaurant, but it'd be pretty cool to live there anyway. Dellaina did really well in the restaurant, but she SCREAMED the WHOLE ride home! I even pulled over at one point to check on her and put her pacifier back, but she'd spit it out and was screaming again by the time I'd gotten back around to the driver's side. She was just tired and fighting it, but I can totally understand how people lose it if their child screams like that all the time. I'm lucky she's so good most of the time and don't have to endure endless tirades and screaming fits!
It's almost lunchtime. . leftovers, yummy!

The Power of smell

When I picked Dellaina up today, she looked sweaty because her hair was all frazzled and matted. It was from the sunscreen they had put on her because they got to go outside today (yea!), but I felt odd taking my disheveled child out looking like she did. We went by and visited Greg's work for a bit and then went to Publix (which I have had reported that the trash bags have trash bag dogs on them and I saw the Vanilla Wafers had a mouth with teeth and a little monster tail drawn on and the cheese-it's were in some cool shape, too on white backgrounds. As I posted before, I really like this new line of store brand products they have going on!) Dellaina still does so well most of the time, so it can be fun to have her with me. I know there will be a time when we can't go to the store together because we'll have tantrums or too many, "I want"'s. Apparently formula is used as a base for crack or cocaine, and gets stolen a lot, so the stores don't keep a lot on the shelves and we have to go ask at customer service and they go to some store room and get what you want (hopefully on the first try if at all) Also, the new regulations on selling the drugs with psuedoephedrin in them are really strick now! We had to buy some products for work the other day and we could only ring up 3 of the 4 at one time! 1 Tylenol product and 2 storebrand children's liquid! unreal. These restrictions aren't really restricting the meth heads are they? I think it's really going to affect our work and the ability to test this category (which has been a huge category for us in the past) if we are not able to acquire the products!

I was thinking the other day about how I don't really watch the news or keep up with happenings in the world much. But, I realized I do read some "news" stories, just not the most wide spread stuff. Did anyone see the story about the homeless man that returned the $21,000 in savings bonds he found? He got a $100 reward from the owner! So many people have sent him more money for his honesty. I thought it was a sweet story and I can't believe the guy would only give him $100 for returning $21,000. My main question, though, was how were they lost in the first place?! The article didn't go into that.

I would just like to say, I'm so glad no one went through this when I was younger. Not that I ever had anything to do with anything like this activity. ever.

I love putting on my sleeping clothes and smelling Dellaina. From when I hold her after her baths and read and rock her to sleep. It used to smell nice and clean and like me after my bath, especailly if I let my hair air dry, but now it's even better.

Sulking

Kirby just asked me if I wanted to go see Superman Returns with him and Tyler at 4:30. I haven't been to the theatre in FOREVER (I think the last time was X-Men 2 with Tyler & Kirby) and we all watch Smallville and discuss at the water cooler together, so it would be fun. Alas, I have a sick child to tend to that I would feel guilty about leaving. Not to mention Greg probably will be crashing when he gets home and it wouldn't be considerate for me to run off to a movie. Also, I have class at the gym at 5:45. I only go twice a week, so I can't afford to miss any for such trivial reasons. But dang it! Why couldn't they wait and go tomorrow more during the workday to alleviate my guilt and my workload? So, I'm pouting now. I'll be leaving early, too, then, to go pick up my sick child! And have time to get ready for class.

Speaking of good shows and spending so much time with doctors lately I've realized that I have a thing for medical shows. I love ER, House, Grey's Anatomy, Nip/Tuck, even Crossing Jordan is a bit of this medical drama category. I always liked Extreme Makeover, too. Hmm, I didn't realize I really liked surgery ones so much. It was just something I realized and wondered if it had anything to do with my dad being a doctor.

On a further medical note, my brother, Doug sent me this link to this article about stem cell research, if you have time to peruse or interest in the subject. That's a hot topic.

Other things to dish about:
Yesterday, I was driving home from picking up Dellaina and was behind a truck with those metal sides/gates that hold lawn equipment and there was a big lawn mower in the back. And there was a guy sitting on the lawn mower! Just riding along. It was fairly odd and amusing. I wish I had a picture to share.

I felt weird posting about celebrity gossip this morning when talking about Dellaina, but now that I'm on a lighter note, I suppose I can include these visuals. I think Kiera Knightly is one of the most beautiful women -- that skin! Flawless! I haven't seen Pirates, but in Love Actually, she's gorgeous and captivating. Emily think she looks just like Winona Ryder, which I give some validation to. Anyway, BUT, she has gotten pretty nasty looking lately! So bony! And what's up with Kate Bosworth? She is a skeleton with a massively disproportionate head! People quiz (not sure if it works for everyone)

One last link to promote Store brand or generic brands: the Top 5 things you should buy generic. I commented on Megan's blog not too long ago about how much I like Publix storebrand packaging. They've come out with a very clean look for their products and it's creative to me. The aluminum foil has crumpled foil animals on the front and the napkins have origami animals made from napkins. I just think it's creative. I wish I had a picture. That's all for now.

It took much too long to look up all the links and include everything and now I'm hardly leaving early!