Gobble Gobble and Ho Ho Ho

I miss blogging. There probably isn't a day that goes by that I don't have at least one if not two or three thoughts that could each inspire a reasonable blog post - and I didn't even write Nate's 2 1/2 year post yet... but time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping... into the future? No, not so much. Into my job, my second job, and I would say grad school but I've been neglecting that entirely. (Bad, bad, bad.) It's my day job, my online tutoring 2nd job, and housework. Ridiculous.

My job has been busy and frustrating in a lot of ways, but I'm strongly committed to not talking about work in a disparaging way online since I think it's not a very smart thing to do. Everyone has complaints about their jobs and in some jobs some complaints are standard (meetings suck, travel can be annoying, grading papers or writing lesson plans is time-consuming and frustrating) but complaining about those things rarely feels constructive to me. Two days ago I read an old post I wrote when I first got this job and all the hopefulness I had, all the potential I believed there was - it made me break down and sob because none of it has come to pass. All the things I thought would be great have either turned out to be false or have changed since I first started my job four years ago. I haven't ever held a job this long without any type of advancement/promotion and it's beginning to crush my soul.

I adore grad school and continue to feel sad that my second run through isn't as lovely as my first was, where I was in school full-time and working as a TA. That sort of life wouldn't be feasible for me now (hello bills, child, etc) but the way in which I was allowed to focus on grad school AS my job then was just beautiful and there isn't a week that goes by that I don't miss it. I pretty much suck as a student now because I just cannot put in the time my work deserves/requires. I feel like the grad school equivalent of the students I tutor at work and I don't like it.

I just need more time... or less to do. Not having my weekends 100% free for grad school work doesn't help. My weekends are 100% Nate - and while I love it, it doesn't get my work done. And this spring I'm supposed to finish my final paper for my Ed.M., which is in essence my dissertation proposal - so, you know, no small potatoes. I'm going to have to figure out some kind of miracle this spring in order to pull this off.

The nice thing is, though, that I've been able to put all of this stress aside a lot of the time and enjoy the here-and-now when it presents itself. Thanksgiving was really enjoyable yesterday - just sitting with my family and eating and talking and laughing and playing with the kids. And I'm excited for Christmas this year, more so than I have been the last two years. We're no better off financially than the past two years, so maybe I'm just getting used to it, I don't know. But I'm feeling Christmas-y and looking forward to putting up our tree this weekend, especially since it's the first year Nate will really enjoy it AND (hopefully) not have the impetus to wreck it.

And I just really need to write more. I have this tiny little dusty corner of the Intarwebz for myself; I should make use of it.

Hey June, don't let the door hit ya...

I love some of the euphemisms that we use in English. Like, "Boy, today has been A DAY." Well, yes, every day is a day. But we know that it means it's been a remarkably bad day.

In that vein, June has been a month. It has been/is one of those times where it might be okay if one area of life wasn't exploding. We talk about work/life balance, but really, isn't work part of your life? You're lying to yourself if you say otherwise. Even I, who very diligently does not speak much about work outside of work, do things in my time away from work specifically because of my work obligations. I plan meals, childcare arrangements, time off, allocate funds, and so on.

Well, lately that balance has been hanging on by a thread. My job has been very busy and life at home has been a bit busy. I'm thankful that everything going on now did not happen during April/May when I was swamped with grad school work so I do have more time than I did last month to take care of things.

I hate being vague because 1) it annoys me immensely when others do it and 2) I'm not very good at it, but I really can't go into detail with what's been keeping us busy at home. My marriage is fine, my family is fine, our collective health is fine, so it's nothing big like that - just an ongoing annoyance and distraction. I think we're getting close to being done with it, though, and I will be extremely grateful to move on from what has been a mentally exhausting stretch of time.

I have better hopes for July, though I know stating that here is equivalent to going outside and yelling, "Wow, my life is going to be SO GOOD now! Nothing can go wrong!" and having something fall on me as I walk away. My life isn't going to be SO GOOD. But it's going to be better. It's not as good as I thought it would be three, five, seven years ago, but it'll be better than it's been this month.

On a seemingly lighter note, the one really great thing to come out of June has been Songza. Are you on board? It's my absolutely favorite music app ever, by far. I have it on my iPad and iPhone and listen to it at work every day. It's a "concierge" music app, meaning it offers you selections based on the time of day and what you indicate you're doing.

I got to what I'm listening to right now by choosing Work (with lyrics), Pop, Safe For Work. And so far the playlist has been 80% music I actually already own or know and like (R.E.M., Natalie Merchant, Radiohead, Coldplay, Ben Folds Five, U2, Mazzy Star). Like Pandora, you give songs a thumbs up or thumbs down so Songza learns what you like. I really, really love it. It's available for iPhone/iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire - and it's FREE. Go get it, seriously. It seems like such a light note, but good music can really make a difference when everything in life is meeting you with the resistance of gale force winds.

From the mouths of babes...

Or the mouth of one babe, in particular... There are so many things Nate says now that make me laugh or smile. On the talking spectrum, he's right where he should be, which means he knows a lot of words but isn't putting together sentences the same way I see little girls his age doing. He still babbles a lot and it's clear that he thinks he's saying sentences, and he talks ALL DAY LONG.

Wheeee!

Amongst all that chattiness, there are a few things that make Tom and I crack up to ourselves long after Nate's gone to bed.

Lock - Nate pronounces lock as "yock," which makes me snicker when I think about it. It's so cute sounding. And he is obsessed with locks - he wants to close all doors, all the time. He also wants to make sure I remember to lock the car when we park it. When I take him out of his car seat, he starts going, "Yock! Yock! Mommy? Yock?"

Sock - This one is pronounced with an "f" - fock. I think that says enough.

Backpack - Mack Mack - LOVE it. He now understands that the backpack is used to carry stuff, so he takes toys with him when we go to my in-law's house.

Fix it - This is a common request after he throws some toy and all the pieces come apart. "Mommy? Mommy? Fix it!" He also thinks putting the key in the ignition in the car is fixing the car. After I buckle him into his car seat (and he says, "Buckle! Buckle!"), he starts saying, "Mommy! A key! A key! Fix it!" I guess the car is broken without the key. Really kinda makes sense, right?

Cool - This is Nate's latest exclamation. He uses it correctly and appropriately, which cracks me up. He'll be playing with his toys, have one of them do something, and then go, "Cool!"

Oh Man! - This one definitely came from Dora the Explorer. Ugh. But it's just funny when he says it.

Night night - Every time Nate sees a bed, he says, "A bed! Night night!" (This was extra funny in IKEA the other day.) For the past few weeks, Nate has been waking up in the middle of the night, usually between 12:30am and 5am, at which point he comes to our room and falls back asleep with us in our bed. One night last week, though, he woke up at 11:30pm, when we were still awake. He stumbled into our room, squinting at the light still on. He walked over to our lamp, turned it off, said, "Night night!" and crawled into our bed and fell asleep. We were laughing SO hard; we couldn't help it. Even after we both also laid down, we kept giggling for a while.

A phone - Nate loves all phones. When we recently went to the Verizon store to get my iPhone, he just ran around going, "A phone! A phone! A phone! A phone!" because, well, you know - there were phones everywhere. He was out of control.

Mom - He usually still says Mommy, but sometimes he says, "Mooo-oooom." What??? NO. He better stick with "Mommy" for at least a few more years. (Somehow, Tom is still Dada, not even Daddy, even though Nate was saying Dada long before he was saying Mama.)

Uncle Kenny - It took Nate a long time to call my brother something considering he lives with us. A few times he tried to say Kenny and it came out "keh-yee" but I guess that didn't work for him because he's taken to calling him Kiki (kee-kee). CRACKS ME UP every time. I told my brother that I bet he never guessed in a million years that he'd be called Kiki regularly without some reassignment surgery.

Knock knock - Sometimes Nate will knock on Ken's door. Other times he just stands at the door and screams, "Knock knock! Kiki! Knock knock! Kiki!" Hysterical.

A - Everything is singular right now. Ken is "a kiki," every phone is "a phone," every cookie is "a cookie."

What - We have this little game in the car where I say, "Say whaaaat?" and Nate goes, "Whaaat!" And then we both giggle. I love it.

Blue - Pronounced "BOOOOO!" Even though he knows several colors (white, purple, red), he calls all of them blue right now. He also calls Blue from Blue's Clues "Boooo!" (It's also one of his favorite shows right now.)

Hold on - Every time we walk down our back steps, I tell Nate to hold on to the handrail. He always does, but now he also yells, "HOLD ON!" with every step down he takes. (I'm laughing just thinking about it. It's so funny. At least I know he's listening.)

Pizza - Pronounced "Izza!" (Eat-za) My parents babysat Nate last Saturday while I was at a conference and ordered pizza for dinner as a treat for Nate. When the pizza arrived, he yelled, "Izza!" and ran to the table and scrambled into his seat, sat up tall and said, "Eeeeat! Eeeeat!" He knows what he likes.

Climb - Nate has to use a stool to get into his bed (it's just a smidge too tall for him) and I guess I said, "Climb into bed" a bunch of times because now every time he does climb into bed, he says, "Climb! Climb!" He also likes to carry his stool around the house and try to reach new things (light switches, window sills). He gets up on it and goes, "Climb!" He also says it at the playground as he climbs the structures. It's hard to describe how he says it - it's kind of like "kyime." Very cute.

Color - Nate says "kuh-goo" to mean color or crayon. I have no idea why/how it works out that way, but I think it's adorable.

I really can't state enough just how much I love all of this. It's still challenging when Nate's trying to tell me something and I don't yet understand what he means, but looking at a list like this makes me realize just how much we actually communicate now and how awesome it is. This list is just a snippet of all the things he says - the funnier things. We really do have a chatty little boy, and it's fantastic.

22 & 23 Months

Dear Nate,

Today you turn 23 months old. Obviously, this means you'll be TWO YEARS OLD a month from today - but instead of getting wistful about that right now, let's talk about the last two months, which have been PACKED with all kinds of new adventures.

The biggest new adventure has been your big boy bed! Two weeks ago you started climbing out of your crib on a daily basis, so rather than risk having you get injured, we decided it was time to move you to a bed. There are built-in bunk beds in your room (the ladder has been stowed away since we moved in, though) so we moved you straight into a twin size bed instead of getting a toddler bed in the interim.

It's been a bit of a bumpy transition. You've been waking up at 6am nearly every day and won't go back to sleep unless I come in your room (instead you get out of bed and stand behind your closed door screaming because you can't open it). Little by little, I think you'll start sleeping later. Overall, you're doing really well. Nap time is still a struggle most days, especially Saturday, but we're working on it.

Then, of course, there was our trip to the emergency room this past weekend. But you are quite a little trooper. No one would know you had a dislocated elbow this weekend.

If we dig back a little further to last month, you had an even less happy encounter: the Easter bunny! Last year you were so happy to sit on that big, fuzzy lap. This year? Not so much.

But that's okay. I know it'll be better in a few years. You just love to be on the go now and don't appreciate being told to sit in one place for any period of time unless there's food in front of you. You still love to eat, but continue to be a bit picky. It's been challenging to find nutritious foods that you'll eat without hesitation, but we're learning. And you're still growing, so I think everything is okay. You weighed 33 lbs at the hospital this weekend and are wearing all 2T clothes and a few 3T shirts. All four of your two year molars are at least partially in, so you are officially done breaking in any new teeth until you get your adult teeth!

And you take great care of your teeth, too. In your Easter basket from Grandma and Grandpa, you got two new toothbrushes, which you demanded be opened immediately so you could use them - which you did. You spent the next hour walking around, using both brushes simultaneously. You LOVE brushing your teeth (although you mostly love playing with the water in the sink - but you do actually brush your teeth well).

Your first time walking Buster with Mommy... You were SO excited and happy!

Your vocabulary is getting bigger every week and you've begun to know some letters. Yesterday you (accurately) pointed out the letters A, B, C, E, K, M, and O - and even connected some words to them - "B! Boo! (blue)" "M! Me me me!" You basically point out these letters everywhere we go. I think your favorite colors are blue and green, although you call both of them blue ("Boo!").

Your favorite new item is the "mack mack" (backpack) the Easter bunny brought you on Sunday.

For the past two days, you've put it on and tried to leave with me when I left for work. I think maybe you think that owning a backpack means you get to work with Mommy? (Since I take a backpack to work almost every day to carry my schoolbooks in case I have time for them.) I think you'll be very excited to put it on Thursday to take it with you to Grandma's house for the day, even if you don't quite get the concept yet of using it to carry things with you.

Other things you absolutely love right now: playing with your LeapFrog tablet, helping Dada get the dogs ready for their walk, giving the dogs their treats after their walk, pointing out where our jackets are and which one belongs to who, pointing out the cars in the driveway and which one belongs to who, telling me that the door is for going "outside, away," saying, "Oh man!" ALL THE TIME, telling me where my coffee cup is ("foffee! foffee!"), telling me that every bed is "a bed, night night," eating raisins, asking for milk (even if it's water or juice), helping me unload and close the dishwasher, helping put clothes in the dryer... do you see a theme? You love to help, to do whatever we're doing, and to tell us the purpose of everything around. I love watching you figure it all out and how you surprise us with a new word every day sometimes.

I can't believe you'll be two years old next month, although we already say we have a two year old because you're such a big boy to us. We love everything about you. Even the 6am wake-up screams aren't so bad because when we open that door, you are so sweet and happy to see us and start your day or snuggle back to sleep. Every minute with you is a joy, truly. We love you!

Love,

Mommy & Dada

Nate's (and our) 1st trip to the ER

I know it was bound to happen sometime. Apparently emergency room visits are all the rage with parents of young children. However, the hubby and I have very little emergency room experience. I think I went once as a kid (twisted ankle) and I think the hubby went once (scratched cornea - yowch). So we were ill-prepared for this.

On Saturday, I was playing with Nate. He likes to stand behind us on the couch, have us hold his hands over our shoulders and rock front and back or side to side - kind of like a piggy back ride, but while sitting. After a certain seeming non-extraordinary moment, he said, "Ow" and pouted and was holding his wrist - so I thought maybe I had held too tightly onto his wrist. By this point, he was two hours overdue for a nap, though (he doesn't nap well, sometimes at all, on Saturdays) so we figured maybe he was cranky because of that and didn't really hurt much. So at 3pm, the hubby put him down for a nap.

We were scheduled to go to dinner at 5pm for my brother's birthday, so around 4:15 I went in to wake Nate up. As soon as he woke up, he started crying - hard. And he just kept crying. I sat in the glider with him and he was sort of clutching his left arm a little, but also not moving it at all. He would move his right arm just fine, but his left arm he kept bent and close to his body. If I tried to lift it (slowly and gently), he would cry, "Owww!" and then cry more.

So we called our pediatrician's weekend service and they said it sounded like "nursemaid's elbow" (which I had never heard of and had to Google) and that we should go to the ER, so we did.

This is where the lack of ER expertise came in because the hubby dropped off Nate and I while he went to go park the car (Nate was already feeling better by this time - his arm probably really hurt early because he spent over an hour sleeping on it, poor thing). I walked in and realized I had no idea what to do. It was nothing like it is on TV - no bloody people lying around, no gurneys running through. Plus, this was specifically the pediatric emergency room - so mainly there were kids and teenagers sitting around, looking bored, watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on the flat screen.

Nate's "bracelet," Curious George, and my striped sleeve

So I walked up to the desk and probably just said, "Uhhh.. um." But they, of course, knew what to do - took our information, gave Nate a hospital bracelet (which he liked - he likes bracelets) and then we sat in front of the TV and I gave him the coloring supplies I had planned to bring with us to dinner.

"Kuh-goo!" (that's how Nate says "color" or "crayon")

Nate was really great in the waiting room. He was really interested in the automatic door (he's obsessed with all doors needing to be closed, so seeing a door that closed itself was a highlight for him). He said hi to the other kids and was just generally running around if he wasn't watching TV or coloring.

 
That looks like a toddler with a dislocated elbow, right?

We were eventually moved to the second waiting area, where we kept Nate entertained with episodes of Thomas on our phones. Eventually the doctor saw us, flexed Nate's arm three times and told us it was nursemaid's elbow. I asked her if she'd have to set it and she said, "I just did." OH. Well, okay then. No wonder Nate just cried for a minute (I figured it was just because it hurt).

Waiting for the Motrin to kick in so we can go home

She had us give Nate some Motrin and then we had to sit around for 20 minutes waiting to make sure he could use the arm (if he couldn't, it might have been a fracture). Nate seemed too nervous to use the arm. He'd use it when he wasn't thinking about it, but as soon as we asked him to, he'd refuse. Eventually the open door in the waiting room got the better of him, though, and using his formerly injured arm, he pulled it shut (one of those heavy hospital doors with a rubber doorstop). The doctor saw that and said, "Well, okay. I think you can go home now."

The next morning (Easter morning), Nate woke up like nothing had happened. He was happy and energetic and seemed to have no memory of being hurt. He was his regular self and was totally happy to open up his Easter backpack ("mack mack!") and eat some Easter treats.

So there it was. Nate's first trip to the ER. Our first parental trip to the ER. Fairly uneventful and not too scary (no blood or anything). Nerve-wracking, for sure, and it sucked that we had to miss my brother's birthday dinner, but at least it wasn't anything worse and we're very lucky to not have had to do this before. I would like to avoid doing it again but I have a feeling this won't be our one and only ER visit. At least next time we'll know the drill.

Tech Irony

I've had Instagram envy forever. I downloaded it on my iPad, but it's just not the same on there - you need it on your phone, as you're on the go.

So my joy was enormous when Instagram announced on Tuesday that it was now available for Android. I mean, really, I was SO happy about this. Sure, it's just an app and a little thing to do during the day, but it's a small thing I really love. I was thrilled.

Then, yesterday, my phone took a tumble down the stairs at work. It was instantly kaput. I couldn't get it to turn on, the parts of the battery cover that keep it in place popped off. I stood there, jaw dropped, for a good minute.

So after work, the hubby, Nate and I took a trip to the Verizon store and (much to my Android-loving husband's chagrin) I got an iPhone. I tried out a bunch of phones (and if you like Android phones, I recommend the Rezound - it's gorgeous) but the iPhone really fits best with the sort of tech user I am and will sync with the apps I have on my iPad.

I could tell the sales guy was so not excited about this sale. Nate was wreaking havoc everywhere and the sales guy was also clearly not an Apple fan, so he wasn't too smiley for us. Nate terrorized the store. He had skipped his nap and he was hungry and thirsty, so he was just wild - running all over, making a TON of noise. At some point I leaned over to the hubby and said, "Man. We are THOSE parents today." (i.e. the ones everyone else looks at and thinks, "Geez, can't you control your child?" Trust me, we were trying our best.)

We were in such a rush to get to the store and home in time for dinner that we didn't pack any snacks or anything for Nate and he had only had a light snack before leaving, so he was hungry. Bad parent planning. We picked up dinner on the way home (Chipotle as consolation for the hubby) and Nate was in his car seat going, "Eat! Eat! Eat!" which he's never done before - actually ASKING to eat that strongly. Poor kid was so hungry and thirsty. He scarfed down his quesadilla, rice, and beans - covering himself with all of it in the process, so then he also had a bath with lots of bubbles, which is one of his greatest joys in life. I, however, left my new phone in the kitchen. I was not about to take any more chances. Technology and I aren't always friends and I didn't need to see my iPhone go for a swim.

At some point it dawned on me - only I, SO excited about Instagram for Android, waiting for it all this time, would then destroy her Android phone the very next day and get the phone that's had Instagram all along. But I'm glad all my Android friends can be on there now, too. I can't wait for the hubby to get on it.

Are you on Instagram? Do you love it? Do you use their camera or a different one and then import it into Instagram?

Wednesday Ramblings

I love Greek yogurt because it's given back to me the ability to eat "fruit on the bottom" yogurt. The kind I grew up eating has way too much sugar in it, but the Greek yogurt ones are tolerable and higher in protein.

Every time I hear INXS on the radio, I feel a little sad about the loss of Michael Hutchence.

I let Nate help me walk Buster for the first time this week. He giggled the WHOLE walk (we walked two blocks and back) and especially giggled when Buster stopped to "do his business." I guess potty humor is potty humor even when it's dog on grass humor? (I hate potty humor, for the record. My husband thinks this makes me an anomaly. I just don't like it.)

walking the dog, hand in hand holding the leash

I got an 89 on a paper I got back yesterday. No matter how old you are or how long you've been in school, that is a maddening grade to get.

Instagram is finally available for Android!! I adore Instagram (I've been using it on my iPad for a while), but my pictures aren't terrific, mostly because I don't go many places or do many things other than work, school, and home. But it's fun for finding the fun or beautiful moments in those seemingly simple things. (I'm bookishpenguin on there.)

I never wrote a 22 month letter to Nate. I keep debating writing one and back-dating it but that would be ridiculous. See next week for a combination 22/23 month letter.

This Saturday I have off, as usual, but the hubby also has off because we have a family birthday dinner to go to that evening (my "little" brother is turning 30!). We're both so excited to have a day off together. At the same time, I'm almost dreading it because it's just going to make it all the clearer how much it sucks that we don't usually have any days off together. It'll be a year next month on this schedule, which is kind of crazy to think about. A whole year of being married with a toddler and not having any regular days off together is exhausting mentally and physically. But we're hanging in.

To quote my grandmother's most famous lines in our family: It's not easy. But you do what you can.

Question Time

My friend, Nicole, has a blog - Constructive Compulsion - and it is probably the best-written blog I read. She works as an editor and I tremble at the thought of ever having her look at something I've written because I'm pretty sure she'd smile at me while tearing it to shreds. Not in a mean way, mind you - but in the "this medicine is good for you" and "why don't you know this with all your degrees" kind of way.

But anyway, she has her first meme up and I figured I'd have a go at it. What blogger doesn't love to talk about herself/himself? (One who doesn't really have a blog, probably.)

The Rules:
1. Post the rules
2. Share 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions posted to you from your tagger
4. Come up with 11 new questions for the people you tag
5. Tag your peeps on Twitter, Facebook, or on your blog

11 Random Things About Me:

1. I like to put french fries on my cheeseburger.

2. I am obsessed with Kate Middleton (aka the Duchess of Cambridge).

3. I cannot stand an unmade bed. I've made my half of it while my husband was still sleeping in the other half.

4. I did actually sit at my desk at work and cry the day R.E.M. announced their official breakup.

5. I still do math on my fingers.

6. I am fairly anti-hand sanitizer (the whole creation of supergerms thing), but am completely addicted to the smell of it.

7. There probably isn't more than a day that goes by where I don't think about how much I would love to live in England or France.

8. I avoid most creamy white condiments/foods (mayo, ranch dressing, rice pudding, sour cream, cream cheese). They skeeve me out but I can deal with some of them in some states - like dessert (sour cream, cream cheese). So the mayo on fries in Europe would be an issue. (Or maybe I'd stop eating fries. Bonus.)

9. I own probably around 50 pairs of shoes but I wear fewer than 10 of those pairs throughout the year.

10. I hate the movie The Notebook. I'm missing the genetic marker that says women have to love that movie. I reeeeally, really hate it.

11. My favorite joke in the whole world is:

Q: What do you call cheese that doesn't belong to you?
A: Nacho cheese (not yo cheese!)

Nicole's 11 Questions:

1. What is your favorite way to spend a lazy day?
I don't remember the last time I had a lazy day. The closest I get to a lazy day are the rare weekend days where I say, "Eff the housework for today. Today, Nate and I are going to play and have fun and I'm going to spend naptime relaxing." (This always leads to the next day being the opposite of a relaxing day, but it still works somehow.)

2. Your first concert?
Tiffany at a local community college - I think the concert was at 4pm or something.

3. Your biggest fear and how you did/would conquer it.
We're basically always one financial issue away from not being able to afford our rent. My fear is that that will happen and we'll have to move in with relatives. We're currently working really hard to pay down debts, find other ways to earn, and increase our financial stability. But it's terrifying.

4. What profession would you least like to have?
Anything that had to do with death, ever - like doctor, veterinarian... Even though a lot of it would be pleasant, it wouldn't be worth the sad times for me. I especially could never be a pediatrician.

5. Do you still draft with pen and paper, or have you gone completely digital?
Depends on how I feel. Whatever I'm working on kind of "tells me" how to start. I like taking notes and organizing ideas on paper, but when it's time to write an essay, I sit down at the computer.

6. If there were no health repercussions, what one food could you live on forever?
Pizza or pasta.

7. What kind of exotic animal would you own as a pet if you could?
I'm at a place where I'd rather have no pets. I can't think of anything exotic I'd have any interest in taking care of at this point, probably because one toddler is exotic enough. LOL

8. Three movies you will never turn off:
It's Complicated, Say Anything, and Star Trek.

9. One thing you would change about your life:
One? If I think about this in terms of things I, personally, can change without needing someone else to change or some other thing to happen (like more income), I think I would watch less television. I'm trying to work on that now, recording fewer shows, but it's hard. I like TV; it's my "space out and de-stress" go-to. But I could get better things done.

10. What is your fondest childhood memory?
I always have a hard time with this question. I have a terrible memory, so I really don't remember a lot of things. And the things I do remember usually don't have something positive related to them - or even if they were a good time, I still remember something negative about it, too. (I must have been a real charmer of a child, I know.) I remember that I enjoyed a lot of things: my 8th birthday party, my 5th grade trip to the World Trade Center, the day I got contacts, my 16th birthday down the shore - but nothing that I'd consider a "fondest" memory.

11. Worst date you've ever been on?
Well, it wasn't the worst date so much as the worst aftermath. Second date with someone, he told me he was leaving the next day for a business trip and would call me after he got back. He never called and I'm pretty sure there was no trip. LOL

I'm not going to tag anyone in particular. If you read this and you want to do it, go for it and leave me a comment so I can go check yours out! I love random questions. If you decide you want to do this, follow the rules above - post 11 random things about yourself and answer my 11 questions:

1. What was your favorite vacation and why?

2. If you could live anywhere in the world and not have to worry about things like family being far away, where would you live?

3. What reading significantly impacted your life? (Book, article, poem, anything)

4. What's one thing you hate that it seems like everyone else likes?

5. What do you daydream about?

6. What did your bedroom look like when you were younger? (Any age you want to share.)

7. What's your morning routine?

8. Is there any food you absolutely refuse to eat (other than things you may be allergic to)? Why?

9. If skill/ability/money was no issue, what would be your dream job?

10. What memory has stuck with you even though you wish you could forget it?

11. What do you want your life to look like when you're 75?

P.S. I started this blog post on Monday. That's what my life is like right now. But I promise, checking out Nicole's blog is worth it any day. Go read it, right now. Go. I am in 100% agreement with her thoughts on contemporary concert-going.

7 Quick Tuesday Takes

1. Yeah, I quit this month's NaBloPoMo. There's just too much going on with work and school to get daily posting done in a manner that I think is quality and worth both your and my time. Unlike previous NaBloPoMo months, I don't care at all that I didn't make it this time. I've got to have my priorities in order.

2. I'm having a bad hair day today. Of course this happens on the day where I have a meeting at work with important people and a rare after-class meet-up with a friend. I'm pretty sure hair has a conspiracy marker on one of its chromosomes.

3. I have fallen down a rabbit hole - a Thomas the Tank Engine eBay Easter rabbit hole. Did you know there are specific Easter Thomas the Tank Engine models? Plus Easter eggs and baskets with Thomas on them? If you don't have a toddler in your house, you probably couldn't care less. But Thomas is a big star in our house (although, arguably, Percy might be the bigger favorite) and both Nate's Easter basket (April) and birthday party (May) are going to be Thomas intensive.

4. A couple of weeks ago, I took Nate to Barnes and Noble, only to discover they have a whole train table setup in the children's section. Nate's never seen a train table before and he froze in his tracks (get it, tracks? har har) when he saw it. He turned around, looked at me with wide eyes, and said, "Whoa." He then proceeded to play pretty nicely (for a 21 month old) with all the other kids there (who I think were mostly older than him). My immediate thought was, "Oh, leaving is not going to be fun." And it wasn't. Nate laid himself down on the floor and cried until I carried him out of there.

After that event, everyone I mentioned it to said, "Oh, does he have a train table at home?" and when I would say no, they were like, "Oh. Ohh." Like, "Your poor son."  Oops. Bad mommy feeling. But, truthfully, I hadn't thought of it before then. But now we have and with his second birthday just a smidge over two months away (holy moly), we are in the market for a train table. I think it will be the perfect gift for our two year old little man, so I have my eye on some multipurpose tables on eBay. (Oh, eBay, I ignored you for so long, but I have returned.)

5. Tomorrow is Leap Day, which I love. There's just something special about a day that only occurs once every four years. Think about how bonkers we all go for Christmas and birthdays and other holidays that only happen once a year? This dude only happens once every four years. If you don't think that's cool, ponder this: it is the birthday of both Tony Robbins and Ja Rule. Now that is day. So you just leap out of bed tomorrow, okay?

6. Tomorrow being Leap Day means Thursday is March, which I am super excited about for no other reason than the fact that it means spring is imminent. I want more days outside. I'm looking forward to taking Nate to the park. (Although last time I took him to the dog park to watch the dogs play, he stepped in dog poop, which I had to later clean out of the grooves of his sneakers with toothpicks and floss. People, PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOGS.)

7. Have you watched the winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore? You should take approximately 15 minutes of your day and watch it. It really is fantastic.

7 Quick Tuesday Takes

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1. Do I have the only destructo-toddler? I read about people who give their iPads to their toddlers to watch videos and play games and my heart lurches because if I did that, my iPad would be dropped or flung across the room within a few minutes, no doubt. Who are you people with these non-destructive toddlers?

2. Yes, there is a huge celebration today for a bunch of guys who won a big football game. Yes, we should have an even bigger celebration for the troops who have returned home. No, these ideas don't need to be oppositional. We can (and should) have them both.

3. Freezer burritos are such an awesome thing. No lunch ideas? Too tired to pack lunch? Boom! Freezer burrito, at the ready.

4. I don't understand why everyone goes bonkers over red velvet (even outside Valentine's Day, it's always one of the best selling cupcakes according to a lot of vendors). But it's just cake. Red cake. But still just cake. (And I can take or leave cake.)

5. I'm hoping to get approval to take a day off next week to get my hair cut and highlighted. It will be my first haircut in 6 1/2 months and first highlights in nine months. Here's hoping my 2012 finances and time management are better than 2011's.

6. There's a restaurant in my town that's had a "Re-Grand Opening" sign up for months. Every time I drive past it, I want to go in and yell at them, "Grand RE-OPENING! Grand RE-OPENING! You can't re-grand something!" But I haven't done it yet. I think this confirms that I'm doing a fair job of keeping myself in check.

7. I have a good feeling about February. I think it's going to be a better month than the past few have been. Ever just have a good feeling about a chunk of time?