Current George Words

d'OW! = "NO!"
choo choo TWEEE! = "choo choo train" or "car" or "anything with wheels"
Da-eeee = "Daddy"
Mamamamamam = "Mommy"
Maow = "Kitty"
Keeee = "Kitty"

Everyone's A Little Bit Racist

I would love to see Avenue Q live. Besides the infamous "Internet is for P--n" song*, my favorite tune from this great musical is "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist." Why? Because it points out the stupidity of the liberal PC crowd.

Lately I've been hearing a lot about race in the news, on the internet, and in magazines. A Newsweek article suggests that babies are racist at 6 months, Joe Wilson makes a rude but correct comment during President Obama's speech to Congress and is labeled a racist (the topic being healthcare and non-citizens), people who are outspoken against Obama and his "changes" are being labeled racist.

I have a question for you liberals that I ask my toddler when he won't stop whining. Do you need somebody to call the WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmbulance? It seems there is a large piece of wood that needs to be removed by your proctologist.

I am about as white and pasty as could possibly be.

But...

When I moved to a new town in the 3rd grade the first friend I made at my new school was...drum roll please...black. I try to think back and remember any of my schoolmates as a young child and I only remember fun things we did, not what they looked like. In fact, when I checked through some old school photos the only thing I really noticed was the hair (late 80's, early 90's...wow).

Fast forward to when I moved to Texas. I was a little shocked to discover there were only three black families in my hometown (the town's name might have something to do with it although unintentional). I was intimidated...to be surrounded by white people.

In college I had friends of just about every skin color. A good friend of mine is black, but I don't even notice it most of the time. To me, he's a friend, just like all my others. He's also very funny and an excellent cook.

Why am I telling you all this? Because believe it or not, I am a white conservative Christian and I am NOT racist. Agist (against teenagers) and sexist (against stupid woman drivers), yes. Racist, no. I could ask any one of the conservative people I know about race, listen to their comments, see their actions, and I see absolutely no hint of racism. Disgust of stupidity, but that affects people of any color.

So to you liberal nuts out there, get over yourselves. Please.



/end rant



*This is actually a very humorous song that really makes more of a statement of fact than anything. Some might find it offensive. If you think you might be offended, please don't look it up.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Ah, here we are again. Yes, I'm squeezing this in under the wire.

7 Quick Takes is hosted by Jen @ Conversion Diary.

--1--

First of all we must never forget what today is the 8th anniversary of. I don't have the words to express how I feel about 9/11 and so just ask you to say a prayer.

--2--

My sister called me yesterday! I haven't talked to her in months because we're both horrible at communicating. It was good to hear her voice and I was amazed by how much we had in common in only an hour's worth of conversation. I say this because Becky and I are like night and day. She is seven years older than I am and has a completely different set of beliefs. For one, she is Unitarian and I am an Anglican currently discerning a call to join the Tiber swim team. She also has much more liberal views than I do although I think we have similar beliefs for the extremely important issues.

--3--

During that conversation talked about how some parents we know (not naming names here or implying anything!) let their toddlers run rampant and get away with just about anything. I am not intending to be snide or snarky here, just that it's something to think about. It is pretty interesting to discover just what kind of impact our parenting style has on our children. Hmmm.

--4--

Lily seems to be getting better. Although I have not posted it here, my facebook friends know what I am talking about. We came home from vacation to find that Lily had tapeworms. A visit to the vet and one application of a topical medication and she's even a bit less lethargic. She's actually been very lovey lately which is unusual for this cranky old lady.

--5--

Speaking of vacation, Mississippi is great. We went up to MSU to visit Alex and spent the rest of the time pretty much relaxing while George chased Grandma's cats around the house.

--6--

Did anyone notice my hint about a possibility of joining the "Tiber Swim Team"? This is something I have been mulling over quite a bit over the last year. More to come on this subject, I promise.

--7--

And last but not least...Most of you probably know Sean was laid off last month (this is what prompted the Mississippi vacation). As of this posting, he is still unemployed. However, he has been getting several calls a day from headhunters, he has gone on several interviews, and he and a friend have even started their own internet image consulting business (more on this later). Please keep him, our family, and his business partner, Charles, in your prayers.

Went to Visit Nana and THIS is What Happens...

I think Sean is not going to allow me to take George up to my mom's any more, every time we go it seems like he ends up with a cut or a bruise. And Mom feels so bad about it. But accidents happen. George is a boy (and boys will be boys) and Mom's house isn't childproofed at all. I feel like I don't get a moment's rest trying to keep him out of cabinets and drawers.


Owie. This is in the car just after he got treated at Cook Children's Urgent Care Center in Hurst.

George threw a tantrum at Nana's and hurled himself onto the base of my mother's motorized wheelchair. One of the metal supports on the chair has a bit of a sharp edge to it and that's the part his forehead connected with. It bled like crazy (all head wounds do) but ended up only being superficial. At the urgent care center they cleaned him up and put DermaBond over it to seal the cut and help it heal. He sobbed quietly while it was being done but not a peep afterward.

What a brave little guy!

And a special great big THANK YOU to the Cook staff (Dr, nurses, registration, etc.). They are so great with kids and turned a potentially scary situation into one of the best "hospital" visits I've ever had. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And God bless you!

7 Quick Takes Friday

Trying to get back on the ball, here are my 7 Quick Takes.

--1--

I really don't like storms, and it is rather difficult to get a cranky toddler back to sleep when I yank him out of his bed scared to death of the tornado siren and what it means and then find out that the tornado was several miles south and we're just getting a bit of rain and wind.

--2--

This week has been a half-hearted attempt at cleaning up my office. Stuff is mostly organized, but it still looks like chaos.

--3--

I feel so sorry for my family that lives in western Washington. There has been a nasty record-breaking heat wave up there for the last couple of weeks and I doubt any of them have A/C. Here in Texas A/C is a must, in Washington...not so much.

--4--

Dairy Queen's Tagalong Blizzards are delicious. 'nuff said.

--5--

I am so tired of the drama going on in TEC. In addition I am sick of liberal bitchiness and whining in general, whether it has to do with GLBTQRSWHATEVER, the Obamessiah, environmentalnazis, etc. The list of businesses one should boycott to show disapproval of them spending money on immoral causes is so long now I don't even remember which way is up. Conversely, I'm getting tired of hearing from ultra-conservatives how I'm supposed to live my life. Can I crawl into a cave now?

--6--

Wow, I must be in a funk right now. Maybe it has something to do with George first getting his thumb stuck in a toy and getting the first layer of skin ripped off getting it out and then a few minutes later falling down the stairs. Poor thing has had a rough morning. The picture below is post-thumb first-aid and stair-falling and even shows a glimpse of those evil stairs...

--7--

Speaking of George, I shall end on a super-positive note. He pooped in his potty on Wednesday! I'm sure before I realize it he will be potty trained and off to college. Such a smart kid. :D

Being a Mommy is Rewarding

You know you're doing something right when the child who has resisted being read to his entire short life so far walks over to the bookshelf, grabs "Kitten's First Full Moon" (borrowed from the library) and tries to climb into your lap so you can read to him. Of course he still wanted to turn the pages before I could finish reading them but he wanted me to read to him! I think I almost started to cry.

Maybe we can get into a routine now of reading a bedtime story together every night?

Another sign of his development that brings joy to my heart is his recognition of body parts. It used to be that he knew where his nose and belly-button were but asked where any other body part was and that little pudgy finger would go right back to the tip of his nose! Now he knows where his mouth and eyes are and is even getting "ears" right about half the time.

On a side note, the cutest thing happened today. We were getting ready to drive to Dairy Queen (Tagalong Blizzard = absolute yum!) when Sean asked George to "go tell Mommy that it's time to go." George walked down the hallway, stopped in the doorway of the playroom where my computer is, and proudly told me "Ah bababoo. Pfffffaba boo." He then turned around and walked back to Sean who stood there slack-jawed in amazement for a moment.

Ain't that something?

Libraries are Great!

George and I made our first trip to the local library this morning. Since moving in almost a year ago, I finally quit being lazy and went. On Wednesday mornings during the summer, the library offers a "storytime" for children ages 0-5. I have now discovered that this is a great opportunity to get us out of the house and *gasp* interact with other people. As a plus, I also got a library card.

I keep forgetting how rewarding libraries are and as a consequence I don't get out to them very often. However, the nearest branch is super kid-friendly and have the nicest librarians I have ever run across. When we lived in Dallas we would occasionally go to the local branch nearest our apartment and I always felt awkward bringing an infant, even one as quiet as George. It didn't help that we seemed to always get the "evil eye" from the librarian at the front desk.

At the branch nearest our home I felt very welcome. George is a bit noisier now that he's a toddler, and has a tendency to want to run off. I didn't get a single disapproving look! In fact, some of the other patrons, mostly other "storytime" goers, offered sympathetic smiles and even greeted George. What a difference it is to feel welcomed. I am becoming more and more convinced that we made a good choice in buying a home in this area.

Splinters

I am posting this from my phone, so please forgive me for the brevity.

This post is a question for mommies of toddlers...Do you have tips for removing nearly invisible splinters from your toddler's foot?

Poor George had a shard of glass in the ball of his foot from a minor accident involving a drinking glass and the floor and Sean had to hold him down so I could dig it out. We gave him some baby Tylenol beforehand but he was clearly in a lot of pain and squirmed like crazy.

Tips?

7 Quick Takes Friday

Okay, I'm jumping on the Quick Takes wagon starting today, thanks to Jen from Conversion Diary.

1. A pizza slicer is great for cutting toddler-sized pieces of sandwiches, especially grilled cheese. This handy tool makes lunch prep a breeze. Just make sure the sandwich has been properly smushed. A sandwich is no good unless smushed.

2. I spent the last two weeks without getting on my computer. Although I have stayed connected via my new 'net-capable phone, I have noticed that life really does exist outside of the interwebs.

3. The time I normally spend online has been spent on a couple of projects. The first is a dollhouse that my mother bought for me as a child and never got around to building.


4. The other project is an entertainment center and mantel for our living room. Progress has been made since this picture was taken and is nearing completion.


5. I want to meet the genius who created Crayola Color Wonder products. George loves the finger paints and markers and I love that there is no mess besides slightly sticky hands after fingerpainting. Plus, all Crayola products are non-toxic!

6. Fresh homemade guacamole is super easy to make and tastes great. After spending a weekend in Comanche, my friend Melisa showed me how to make it and I decided to try it out last night. If only avocados weren't so pricey!

Super Easy Guac:
2 ripe avocados
a couple of squirts of lemon juice
1/2 ripe tomato, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
approximately a tablespoon of chives
approximately a tablespoon of dried cilantro
Mush avocados in a bowl with a fork, add other ingredients, mix thoroughly. Serve with chips. The only non-fresh ingredient I used was dried cilantro since I couldn't find fresh at the grocery store.

7. Speaking of our trip to Comanche, we spent the morning of the 13th in Dublin snacking on free Dr. Pepper birthday cake, free milk, and of course...free Dublin Dr. Pepper! Yes, I brought back cake and frosting mix for Dublin Dr. Pepper cake. And a couple of cases of Dublin Dr. Pepper.

Mommyblogging

Ack, what is a "Mommyblog" without some mommyblogging? I think I need to take this blog in a whole new direction, or at least get it back on track. Lets see if I can get a good thing going here.

For this purpose, I will start with a 7 Quick Takes since today is Friday.

Me 1, Credit Card Company 0

If all else fails, threaten legal action.

So back in April I paid off one of my credit cards with part of my tax refund and canceled it because of the outrageous finance charges. I got a bill of almost $80 from them this month and called to find out what was going on. After arguing with the customer care rep for about ten minutes straight she finally explained that even though I canceled the card and closed the account they were still billing for finance charges. After the date the card was paid in full and account closed.

So I asked the lady "So what you're telling me is that even though the account is closed and paid in full, your company is still charging me a fee? That doesn't sound very legal." She quickly asked me to hold so she could "see what she could do". Not five minutes later her manager gets on the phone and informs me that my balance is now $0.00 and I should not receive another bill.

On one hand I'm relieved but on the other I wonder just how many people this company is trying to screw over?

The Presence of Children During Worship

Last weekend I took George with me on a trip to Comanche to help my best friend, Melisa, and her family get settled into their new home. Melisa's husband, Fr. Tim, is the new vicar of the parishes in Comanche and Dublin. We were both a bit nervous about the reaction to having an infant and a toddler would be to these tiny parishes that have no young children.

I think Melisa was as pleasantly shocked as I was when we received numerous compliments on our children. The most common phrase I heard was "It's so nice to have babies here again, when are you coming back?" Maybe shocked isn't a strong enough word. I was floored. When George started fussing, I got a few sympathetic smiles before he calmed down.

What a difference to my home parish! I found it rather ironic that although St. Alban's has many children, the attitude towards children in church is nearly the opposite. During most of the service the older kids are in Children's Chapel, a separate room where they learn watered-down versions of the day's Gospel. The younger children, toddlers and preschoolers, are in the nursery during most if not all of the service.

For a while, I had tried to keep George in the sanctuary during the whole service so that he would begin to understand the importance of Mass at the earliest age possible. Unfortunately, that was not what he had in mind. He's a toddler, and acted like any normal toddler would when someone tries to get them to sit still for a long period of time. He wouldn't throw a screaming tantrum, but would fuss loudly for a few seconds at a time.

I don't want to sound uncharitable towards my fellow parishioners so I will not go into details of the reactions towards my son in the past couple of months. Suffice it to say that I have felt most unwelcome in the last few weeks for being the mother of a normal toddler.

I think some parishes have gotten so used to children that the tolerance level for normal baby noises is extremely low, while parishes that don't have many children around are so grateful for the presence of babies that they welcome the noise.

If you have thoughts or opinions about this, please share them.

They grow up so fast...

Last week we converted George's crib to a toddler bed because he had been very good about falling asleep when we laid him down drowsy. After a couple of spills onto the hardwood floor, Sean laid down a couple of pillows.

This morning I had George in his room and upstairs hallway playing while I worked on the newsletter. Around noon I realized that I wasn't hearing any noise, so I snuck into his room and what did I see? George was sitting on the floor with his head laying on the bed with a pool of drool under his face. He looked up at me drowsily and I gently swung his legs onto the mattress. After tucking his quilt around him the result is the above picture.

I'm still a little amazed that he put himself down for a nap and even tried to get into bed. Must have been too tired to climb all the way.

A Blessed Easter to You!

What a joyful time of the year. This Easter, amid all of the stress, has helped me to count my blessings. George and Sean, our safe home, food in our mouths, and extended family that love us unceasingly. And our friends. My heart is breaking because two of my best friends are moving away in a few months, but I am reminded to enjoy the time we have left.

Have a Blessed Easter, Y'all!

And We're...Walking...

It finally happened, George started to walk last night. Now he does not want to be still at all, but on his feet exploring the world. This morning we went to Calloway's to get ideas for the front yard, and he was delighted to see all the pretty flowers on his level. This afternoon we played out in the front yard where he got to explore the grass. Of course he takes a few spills but a kiss from Mama makes everything better. Yup.

You Know You're Anglican When...

...dressing your child, you get him to raise his arms for his shirt by saying "raise them up" and then fight the urge to continue..."if they fall, and in their hearts keep thy peace which passes all understanding..."

...someone quotes from either Star Wars or Spaceballs with "May the Force/Schwartz be with you" and you reply with "and also with you" or "and with thy spirit"...

...you coordinate the color of your Sunday clothes with the Church calendar...





yes. I have.

Lent

May you have a blessed and holy Lent. George sends his love.


edit: Yes, shame on me for taking pictures with my phone during the Ash Wednesday service....but if I hadn't, you wouldn't get to see this adorable face all ashed up. He had pretty much wiped most of it off by the time we left.

Just Because

Oh no! She caught me...

Mom, I can do it myself!

See?

Yawn...time for a nap.

and because Mom couldn't resist....the "look"

What a Birthday

This has been. I've spent most of it on the couch, curled under a blanket, heat patch on my back, desperately trying to find a position that does NOT cause excruciating pain to shoot through my back and legs, and playing Fallout3. A few trips upstairs to tend to George (who, unfortunately, has been playing or sleeping in his crib ALL day), and that's it.

It hurts to walk, it hurts to breathe, it hurts to sit, it hurts to stand up, it hurts to bend over. It hurts even more to walk up the stairs or pick up George. The Dr. at CareNow (that I spent 3 hours at on Valentine's Day, so romantic, huh?) said I don't have kidney stones. That's the good news.

Bad news? She thinks it's just a strained muscle.

I have had strained muscles before. It didn't hurt like this.

The painkiller, Tramadol, she gave me (along with the muscle relaxer) knocks me out for a good 5 hours. However, Sean went into work today so I am home alone with George. I would rather put up with the pain than be unconscious if he happened to get hurt or hungry. Driving is also a no-no. If I were to have one of those muscle spasms while I was driving (especially since now it's starting to creep down my right leg), I could possible get into a wreck. So here I sit, too tired to go back downstairs, trying to decide whether or not to get dressed (yes, at almost 6pm), again trying to find a sitting position that doesn't induce a spasm.

When I blow out my candles, I'mma wish for a new back.

Rock-A-Bye Baby

There is not much that tops rocking George to sleep. The books say that rocking your baby to sleep every night is a bad habit and they become accustomed to it. If you know me, you know I am not a big fan of the books.

No matter how hectic the day or how frustrating his temper tantrums were, when I hear the not so little snores coming from the creature in my arms I am at peace. His closed eyes and pursed lips are so kissable that I must restrain myself for fear of waking him up. Then I kiss his forehead anyway.

A soft grunt and he snuggles against me, still snoring.

Patience is a Virtue

I was all set to write an inflammatory post about my frustrating experience at the post office today, but I had to give George his bottle and rock him to sleep first. By the time I laid him down I remembered the conversation in prayer that I had with God last night.

After participating in all sorts of interweb activities that ended around 12:30, I went to bed frustrated and agitated about all sorts of things. Finances, expensive and time-consuming home improvement, worries about George being sick all weighed heavily on my mind while I coughed like crazy from the cold that has been bugging me all week. I realized that I had been lax in my prayers lately and had begun to rely on myself more than God.

Without going into the specifics of my worries (this blog isn't exactly a confessional booth), I began pouring my heart out in prayer. I whispered to God of the sins I had committed, of the opportunities for prayer I had passed up in the last few weeks, and then I thought one last time of all the bills and paperwork that needed tending. In that moment, I realized that none of it was important enough for me to stress out about.

"Lord," I said, "I don't have the strength to worry about these things. I am too weak to be burdened by this stress, and with You, I know I don't have to be burdened so. Here You go. Take my stress, take my worries, take it away from me, I give it to You. I will no longer worry about such trivial matters. I will wake up tomorrow morning refreshed by Your grace and I will deal with what needs to be dealt with but I will not worry over it."

My days have been centered around me (or George) lately, and it has gotten me nowhere. It dawned on me during that prayerful conversation that I needed to center my days around God. If I make Him the center, things will fall into place. All of a sudden my entire body relaxed and I was barely able to eke out an "Amen" and sign of the cross before drifting off to sleep.

I woke up this morning before Sean's alarm went off and was a little shocked to realize I wasn't coughing, and I had slept through the night. The next thing I noticed was that there was no coughing coming from George's room as there had been the last few mornings. So far today I have taken out the trash, run errands, paid bills, straightened out some bills that needed straightening, and I'm about to put a loaf of pear-raisin bread in the oven all on top of taking care of George. We still have a bit of our coughs lingering but neither of us are congested any more and I haven't been hacking up green and brown phlegm.

What a blessing the Lord has given me, a fresh chance to do things right. Some might argue that George and I were going to be getting better anyway since the sickness had run its course. If you want to believe that, go ahead. But I know that the peace I felt last night and throughout today (except for the short time this afternoon when I began to give in to the temptation of anger) comes from the Lord.

Besides, I made bread today, that has to be a miracle, right?

May the peace of the Lord be always with you.

He can STAND!

My sweet little Georgie stood yesterday, all by himself. The look on his face was priceless, it was complete shock and surprise. I wish I had a camera on hand to capture the complete WTF? moment. I am certain that within a week George will be walking. And then I'll never catch up with him. At least he can't crawl out of his crib yet, whew. Poor thing is sick, too. He has this phlegmy cough that breaks my heart to hear.

In other news, the kitchen is half done, the track lighting is up and the walls are orange. Yes, orange. It looks much better than the barf-green that was there before. Now my kitchen walls look like a pumpkin.

Dodge Charger

*note: this is not the actual car, but a public domain image of a similar one

Since Sean's car is in the shop getting repaired because some moron neighbor hit it and didn't have the guts to leave a note, GEICO in all its wonderful insurance goodiness has graciously (yes, it's part of our policy. shhhhh, I want to think I'm special) given us a rental to use for the weekend. Sean had his choice between a Chevy Impala that was available immediately or the Dodge Charger that would take an extra ten minutes to get ready. Of course he chose the muscle car. Who wouldn't?

Before any of you get all uppity about me being excited about a Dodge, remember that this is just a rental. We didn't buy it, and we wouldn't buy one for ourselves if we had a choice. I actually detest Dodge vehicles (that includes Plymouth and Chrysler) because although they are cool and have nifty features, they quickly fall apart because they're made with very cheap parts that wear out quickly.

But since this is a rental, I can get all excited. This baby is HELLA fun to drive! It has guts. It roars. It purrs. It looks awesome. But it's going back Wednesday. Bah.

Comments

I deleted an essay-like comment today that appeared as a result of something I posted on StandFirm (see link on sidebar). This comment was entirely political, rather whiny, and posted to an entry about George's latest accomplishment. I deleted it because it was entirely inappropriate for the subject matter of my post about George.

If someone has something they want to say (even if I don't agree with it), I'm not likely to moderate comments as long as they are: posted to an appropriate topic (for future reference, any post about my son is NOT an appropriate place to whine about church politics), not spam, not containing foul language, and generally not downright hateful or vulgar.

If you feel that it is extremely important to contact me, a little bit of searching will come up with one of my email addresses. I am on Facebook. I am the newsletter editor for St. Alban's (a very easy to find email address). I am not some mysterious anonymous person on the interwebs who you can only contact by leaving an essay on a post about my son.

I do not want to have to remove the option for anonymous commentors, nor do I want to turn on comment moderation (I don't get enough traffic to worry about spam, and I get notifications via email for comments left here). If I have to though, I will. Now play nice.

Dallas March for Life

I am exhausted, but it was well worth it. George and I participated in the Dallas March for Life today. There were some tears from the moving speeches at the rally and friendships struck among the marchers. I have no idea how many people were there, but it was really great to see all the young faces.

Go Go Speed Racer

George and I just got back from getting the mail. Yes, we both walked down to the mailbox. The mailbox that is five houses down from us. George pushed his Sit 'n Stand walker all the way down to the mailbox and back. He was sooooo excited! My baby's gettin' so big. :D

...Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us...

I read a very sad story in one of my CafeMom groups today about a woman pregnant with twins who was killed in a tragic car accident along with her unborn babies on Christmas Eve. The mom who posted this story was full of anger towards the woman who caused the accident, and the resulting conversation between us got me thinking about praying for those who have wronged us.

Most of us pray for those we love. We pray for family members who are ill, we praise God when something good happens. We pray for our friends, and we even pray for people we don't know who are suffering. But how often do we pray for those who cause the suffering?

It is very easy to say "I hate that person for what they have done" whether it be a terroristic world leader, our own president (former, current, or -elect), a criminal, or even someone close to us who has grievously wronged us. But how easy is it to forgive them? How easy is it to pray for them?

Forgiveness is not an automatic "Pass Go - Collect $200." It does not mean that we should automatically be BFF with the person. It means that we have acknowledged that a wrong has been committed, accept that it can't be taken back, and move forward. Whether moving forward involves reconcilement or estrangement is up to the situation and people involved.

But forgiveness is only a part of the command to "love our enemies." We should also pray for them. It can be as simple as "Please Lord, let that driver who just cut me off realize what he has done and repent" or "Please Lord, don't let that reckless and dangerous driver cause a fatal accident." I am learning how to pray for someone who has wronged me, my family, and my extended family. I don't ever want to see this person again, and especially don't want him near my son, but I ask that he come to know the error of his ways--that he will see how he is hurting those around him.

When I pray these prayers, I begin to feel a bit better about the situation. I put the problem in God's hands and it ends up being one more burden that I no longer have to carry.

"Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."

Renters? Ugh

I have good news and bad news.

Good news: Our neighbors are moving. These are the people who have three generations plus extended family living in a 3 bedroom house and approximately 6 cars. One of these cars used to be parked in front of our house when we moved in (and the owner seemed very upset when I told him he couldn't keep parking it there because I'd like my own guests to be able to park in front of my house), and another was hit by our moving truck (the driver ended up getting arrested for oustanding warrants, long story. I know I was supposed to post about it but didn't get around to it. Sorry). This makes me happy because all those cars will finally be gone. Yay.

Bad news: There's a big "For Lease" sign in front of their house. This means they're not selling it, but renting it. Oh goody.

I don't want to paint all renters in a bad light, Sean and I had rented from the time we were married until we bought this house. However, we were of the rare breed of good renters. We took care of our homes, were polite to our neighbors, and always left our apartments in better condition than we found it (I even repaired nail holes in the walls left by previous renters). Not so with most renters. If our apartment neighbors were any indication, renters tend to not care about the building they live in. They tend to throw loud obnoxious parties because they can just rent somewhere else if they get kicked out. They have no investment in where they live.

I'm not worried about the property value, we bought this house for way less than what it is worth, have put in new floors, new appliances, done cosmetic repairs, and could sell it for more than the purchase price even if our neighbors were running a crack house. Well, maybe. No matter, I don't plan on selling it anyway.

What I'm worried about is what kind of people this is going to attract? Are there going to be even MORE cars parked out front? Will they have loud obnoxious parties? Are they going to be neglectful and burn the place down?

Maybe we'll get lucky and they're doing a "lease-to-own". Better that than letting it sit vacant for a year.

Update on George

It turns out George is just fine. I, on the other hand, am not. Apparently his cough is a lingering remnant of his cold. Mine has turned into an ear infection. Bah.

Good news, though, I finally got my new computer (with Vista) set up and have started transferring files from my laptop. I think next I get to install Office 2007.

It is freezing outside. Literally. Yuck.

And oh yeah! I have my Etsy store up!

Poor Baby

Is sick. My sweet little Georgie has had a cough for a week, and last night it got so bad that when I was rocking him to sleep he'd wake up every couple of minutes coughing. I could hear the phlegm in his throat. Today I have a sore throat and if I feel this crappy I can only assume how awful he feels. I think we've all been passing around a cold for the last week or so.

I'm going to call the pediatrician as soon as her office opens today and make an appointment to bring him in. Updates on his condition will be posted.