To Do

Ok, so I don't have the brain power to write an entertaining, witty post but I want to honor my "commitment" to posting every day (hardee har har) for NaBloPoMo (yes, I know I missed a day the other day). So therefore you, my faithful readers, get a peek at my "To Do" list. Thrilling, I know.

~ Make dentist appointment for kids for January.

~ Probably should make a dentist for myself and hubby too.

~ Call Sam's new school to get him on their roster & to try to meet his teacher and get a tour.

~ Order carpet for house; remember to change color choice!

~ Return library books.

~ Finish painting the stripe in Sam's room.

~ Paint master bathroom.

~ Paint master bedroom.

~ Order or buy Zoe some long sleeved shirts/sweaters.

~ Make vet appointment for Chewie.

~ Mail hair to Locks of Love

~ Mail book for Paperbackswap

~ Get flu shot

~ Clean out kids' closets/dressers for outgrown stuff.

~ Take kids' clothes to consignment store.

~ Balance checkbook & pay bills.

~ Figure out Thanksgiving plans and what I need to cook/bake.

~ Call Dr. and get prescription for HIGH DOSES OF XANAX.


Help me.

Arrival

I became an auntie again today.

It's an old schtick to me really. I first gained this title in 1986, when I was a mere 14 years old. I again was blessed in 1992, then 1994 and again 1997. I got three nephews in succession, then finally a niece. I remember all their birthdays and can tell you how much each one weighed.

Today, a new nephew joined the family. Kieran Roderick finally made his grand entrance at 6:41pm, weighing in at 7lbs even and standing 20" tall.

I've spent the evening waiting for him at the hospital, which would have been fine had it been the hospital he was actually born at. But no, I'm at my hospital, the one I work at, 90 miles away from him. This? Is killing me. Killing me dead.

For there's nothing I like better than brand new, straight from heaven, babies. I love their pruney pink skin, their fresh & powdery smell, their confused and startled movements. I love the feel of their feather-light weight in my arms and hearing their tiny sounds. (sigh...) I just love babies and have since I was a very young girl.

So this small boy that has just arrived already has a place in my heart even though I've only seen his sweet little face in a fuzzy black & white cell-phone picture. I can't wait to get my hands on him and kiss those sweet peach-fuzz cheeks.

Kieran, Auntie Kate loves you and will always have cookies when you come over. Welcome to the family sweet one!

Somewhat Shaken

I had an interesting experience today. I still don't quite know what to make of it.

Zoë and I did some shopping today at Costco and since it was lunchtime when we finished, I grabbed a hotdog for us to share. We found an empty table, sat down and proceeded to eat. At the table to our left there was an older man sitting there, leaning back against the table. He was just sitting there and didn't have any food or purchases with him. I looked over to see him handing a little girl a balloon animal. When he saw us looking his way, he looked at Zoë and asked "Would she like one?". Zoë nodded her head shyly and he proceeded to pull a balloon out of his coat pocket and quickly make her a purple teddy bear. We thanked him and smiled, with him smiling back with a gleam in his eye, then we finished our lunch. I couldn't help but think that the man reminded me of my favorite uncle who passed away two and a half years ago. Because he was sitting alone at the table with no food, a couple came along and asked if they could share his table, to which he replied, "Of course. I'm just waiting for my wife." Since we were done eating, I stood up and said "We were just leaving. You can have our's if you like." We gathered our garbage and went over to our shopping cart, which was about five feet away. I turned back towards the man to smile and say thanks again, still thinking how much he reminded me of my uncle.

And he was gone. As in, vanished.

I couldn't believe my eyes and actually blinked rather purposefully several times, not believing what I wasn't seeing. I turned in a full circle, scanning the entire area for the man, who couldn't have gone far in the 30 seconds that had passed. He wasn't near the checkouts, he hadn't gone up to the food counter, he wasn't heading for the exit. He was nowhere. Even as I frantically searched for him, a little voice in my head said "You're not going to find him Kate."

I'm still not really sure what to make of it. Was it my beloved Uncle's spirit? Or a weird coincidence? I don't really know. But today I was reminded of how much I loved him, how much I miss him and his bear hugs, and how anything is possible.

Delivery

Guess what arrived today??

CABINETS!

The pictures don't do the kitchen ones justice - they're GORGEOUS. I'm so excited. The cabinets you see there in the middle of the room? Ya, that's my enormous island. That sucker is EIGHT FEET LONG, which I knew it would be, but to see it and not just refer to "my 8-foot island"...wow. It's gonna be big. No wonder the piece of rock I want to put on top of it is so danged expensive! One small snafu is that the cabinet that holds my double ovens is drastically too small. The opening is about 5.5" too short vertically and needs to be about 5" wider, too. Josh confirmed that he sent the right information to the cabinet guy so it's their mistake. Which hopefully will be rectified SOON and at no cost.

Edited to add: My "editor" informed me that the oven opening is 15 inches too small, not five. Thanks honey!

In painting news, I still have a ways to go but am hoping to tackle it again tomorrow for several hours. The great news is that my attempt at cleaning up the stripe in Sam's room was successful! When I'd originally painted, the orange and the blue bled underneath the tape so when I peeled it off, the white wasn't a crisply defined stripe, but had fuzzy edges. After a tip from a painter, I outlined the white stripe with tape, smeared caulking over the edges, then painted the white. The caulking sealed the tape to the wall so that the paint wouldn't bleed down under the tape. Here's how it turned out:

A little bit of extra work, but well worth it. It looks pretty sharp. I only did one wall to test my technique, so now I need to do the rest of the room.

It's really starting to come together, although there are still a ton of things to do. We should be moving in before Christmas although I sometimes wonder how that would be possible with all that's left to do.

No Wonder

I've finally come to terms with my haircut and am even starting to like it. I've gotten lots of compliments on it and the initial shock has worn off.

Because I've made my peace, I decided this morning that I'm ready to send off my hair to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. I figured I better check to make sure I had the prerequisite 8" of hair so I went and fetched my detached pony tails and my measuring tape. And I'll be damned.

The Hacker cut off WAY more than 8".

As you can see from Exhibit A above, I'm even being generous in my measuring, positioning the tape at the top of the rubberband, and not the hair. Stretched out, the top ponytail measures almost 12" (!@?!!) and the bottom is definitely 10". To say I am a little pissed right now is quite possibly the understatement of the year. No farking wonder I was so upset about my haircut! I specifically told her to cut 8" and NO MORE. I'm not sure what Neaderthal measuring stick she was using, but IT. WAS. WRONG.

She just lost herself a client.

BUT. Because I've ended up with longer ponytails than I wanted, I now meet the requirements for Locks of Love (which was 10" of hair and my original plan). So at least something good has come out of this.

Sharing the Love

One of my favorite bloggers posted a little tidbit the other day about a project called Operation Christmas Child. It's a project designed to give underpriveleged kids a surprise at Christmas. You can read about it more here. Basically, you pack a shoe-box full of goodies, include $7 to cover shipping costs, then drop it off at a designated location. Cool, huh?

I've been talking with my kids alot about how blessed we already are, how we truly don't need a bunch of new toys (aka every single thing they see) even if we do want them; how there are so many kids in our own country that won't wake up on Christmas morning with presents under the tree and how we can help make their Christmas a happy one.

I remember as a kid my church youth group distributed boxes of food to needy families at Thanksgiving one year. I must have been about 9 or 10 years old but I very clearly remember the surprise and sheer joy on the family's faces when we knocked on their door with a box of food. It was such an amazing feeling to bring such happiness, and make such a difference, to a family with such a simple act as sharing food. I want my kids to have that same memory, even though we will never see the faces of the ones receiving our gifts. It doesn't matter. It still will feel good.

Boxes need to be dropped off November 17-24th so this week my kids and I will be putting together at least one box to donate. Money isn't so tight that we can't brighten a little one's Christmas morning. And it never will be.

Fall Fun

I went browsing thru old pictures trying to find something to post about tonight and came across these from November 2006. Sam and Daddy were raking leaves in the backyard and having a blast.


They're some of my favorite pictures because even though they aren't technically great shots, they so totally capture the beauty and joy of being a kid.

And the more often I can see this kind of face...

...the more I'm reminded how blessed I am.