Coolness

Audrie has a tap light that projects a moon and stars on her ceiling. She uses this every night and is actually on her second one. Tonight must have been the first time the little man was in her room when we turned it on.  He was absolutely fascinated with it.  Just looking up.  You could see that he was thinking, gee she is already the cat's pajamas, and now she also has the coolest stuff.  It is kind of cute how much he idolizes her.

Again

Dave has a toothache.  He has another dentist appt.on Tuesday to take care of it.
It sure seems like we spend an awful lot of time dealing with pain and illness.

Yeah Okay.

Perusing blogs today and a lady was talking about why she blogs.  She isn't in it for the sponsors or the give aways.  She just likes the sense of community that her blog brings her.  She wasn't being critical of those who use their blogs for money, just commenting that that wasn't for her.  I totally got that.  Some of those blogs that I read regularly have a lot of sponsors that they promote.  And while it is all right it really isn't why I read blogs.
So why do I blog?  It is not money making quality.  Good thing that isn't why I do it.  I like keeping a journal or diary if you will.  It is a record of what we are doing.  I have kept a journal of sorts for ever it seems.  It is just that in 2008 I went online with it.  I share it with whoever reads it.  Maybe it entertains and maybe it doesn't.  Maybe it makes someone think.  Maybe it makes me think.  I like being able to go to Picasa and look at all the pictures I have posted to the blog and see the progression of time as children change, the yard changes, people come and go.  I like the continuity.  I like giving a little bitty glimpse into who I am.
Why do I read blogs?  For entertainment.  For ideas and inspirations of things to do with the little kids.  For something that clicks in me and someone who clicks with me.  It is like reading a little tiny piece of someone's soul.  It is a sense of community when you read someone for a long time.

Happy Birthday

My dad's birthday fell this week.  He would have been 70 years-old this year.  Wow.  I must be getting old. I thought about him on the day.  I just had such a busy week that it didn't really sink in until now.
I think I really really want to hang his whip on my green wall.  I just need to find a way to do that that doesn't look tacky.  I love that whip.  When I was a child I loved to take it outside and make it snap.  Mom always told me to stop as I was going to snap my ear and it would hurt.  I snapped my ear a lot and man did it sting.  But I liked hearing that whip snap more than I disliked having my ear stung so I kept doing it.  I tried to do it as an adult and just couldn't do it anymore.  I don't know if it is my snapping skills or the fact that there isn't much left on the end of the whip. Too funny.

A First

I was at my brother's house today doing a little cleaning.  While I was taking out the garbage and recycles to the curb a car pulled up.  The man wanted to know where Pat was.  Said he saw movement and wanted  to check it out.  Well that is a dang first. Most of his neighbors know me.  Afterall I used to live in that house and I am there every other weekend now.  It was the only neighbor I haven't met.  I found it strange that this guy has never came to check me out before.  I have driven the same car for the last five years.  Guess it is good that he is looking out, but it just struck me funny.

Picture Day

I got a coupon from mypoints that offered a package of pictures from Picture People for $18.  The coupon had to be used by the end of the month.  Last year when I tried to make an appointment they were so far booked out that it was pointless.  But I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained.  So I went online and set up an appointment.  Imagine my surprise when I got an appointment this week.  For us it is quite a little commute to get to Picture People.  Our local shop closed and the only available one was in Clackamas Town Center.  $18 and pictures right away made it worth our while.
So we got everything ready and drove on over.  We had time to spare so we had dinner in the food court.  Audrie liked that.
Then we got the pictures done.  Neither child was in a smiling mood.  We were so surprised because the little man smiles at everyone.  Not today.  The shoot had to end early because neither one had the patience to finish.  But there were enough good pictures taken to be able to pick a pose for the package.  We got a together picture for that.  Then we also got a sheet each on him and her.  It was hard to pick, but we did it.
We also got the good news that the local shop is opening back up.  The closing had something to do with lease problems.  Made me happy as I really like their pictures, but I'm not willing to go to Clackamas all that often.  Now I only need to go to our mall.  :)

Not Sad

I've now done six visitation runs altogether. And every time I sit there in the lobby and the place feels so sad.  It is sad.  These are broken families in there.  There are people looking for help.  I am recognizing a few faces and  yesterday felt different.  Yesterday two different sets of parent and children went to the park.  You could see they were positively working towards getting it together.  So there is hope on top of the sadness.  And that was good to see.