In the Original Greek, 'tragedy' literally means 'Goat Song'

Keep Matt in your prayers for the next week and a half. Two routes, Prentiss and Ellisville, have come available in his district, both of which would be a step up for him. The one (Ellisville) he prefers is uncontested at the moment, but he's heard someone higher on the food chain wants it. Prentiss is rumored as well to have someone higher planning to bid on it. If that happens then he could bid on the other guys' previous routes, but one (Petal Wal-Mart) would be snatched up pretty quickly and the other (Camp Shelby) would be very unpredictable in hours and pay. Anything would be better at the moment in terms of hours and pay, but we of course are hoping, praying, finger-crossing that Camp Shelby guy will change his mind and Matt can get Ellisville's route. Matt's currently working 70 hours a week on average, which leaves very little time for anything else.



My beautiful sister is getting married this weekend. She's been super stressed trying to get this wedding together whilst working and moving from Memphis to Nashville, and I can't wait to see this over for her. I know the wedding will be beautiful and creative, everything Mandy touches always is, and I am anticipating the experience. There will be masks, children in Halloween outfits, mustaches on a stick, pumpkins, live music, and Creole food. You know you're jealous.

My experiment with crocheting has turned slightly obsessive. At any point in the day you can find me trolling the Etsy website looking for patterns or whipping my little hook around some beautiful yarn. I've made Aly an amigurumi elephant (will post a picture as soon as I attach a smile to its little face), a gift for Carole (the very first thing I made, awww), a scarf for Aly, been working on other gifts, a scarf for Matt, and me some fingerless gloves. It's been satisfying my little crafty urges. Beware, at any moment you may open your mail to see a handmade little something. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Warrens Should Be Seen and Not Heard

There's always that couple/family at the restaurant that you try to Jedi mind trick into leaving ASAP. You know, the couple that won't stop playing kissy face or talking on their cell phones too loudly, or the family with the screaming baby and wild kids.

Tonight, that was us. We were the family that everyone kept staring at, muttering about. Tonight we decided to go out to eat at O'Charley's. We don't actually go out to eat too often, more like bringing the food inside the house, so Lorelei and Aly are a bit out of practice. Thanks to Aly, Lorelei has begun a raptor screeching scream that can mean anything from 'I'm enjoying myself' to 'Give me more!' The screech is so piercing that I know the neighbors have to believe I'm abusing them, and I keep waiting for social services to show up/my eardrums to burst. But I digress.

While we were waiting oh-so-patiently for our food to arrive, there was that miraculous, simultaneous lull of conversation that makes any public area sound like the strictest library. Lorelei chose at that time to let loose her screech. It might not be the loudest and shrillest that she's ever produced, but at that moment it felt like it. Heads turned. We tried to distract her with croutons, but she wasn't too enthralled. Every few minutes she'd screech again, so eventually I gave up and went to pick her up. People watched me, so of course I stumbled with the unbuckling and pulling her free. Matt tried to help, and ended up spilling his drink across the table. More stares. The servers around us ignored us at that moment, so Matt was left to sop up the beverage with the two silverware napkins before they disintegrated while I stood, bouncing Lorelei, wearing Dr. Pepper soiled pants. Meanwhile, Aly couldn't sit still, snatching croutons and lettuce from my salad, and announcing to the world every thought that entered her mind.

I think the cooks let us know their opinion of the debacle, for when our food arrived the rolls resembled hockey pucks and my rice was completely burned. Fun. Times.

The Happy Hooker

Har har, how wonderful is that title? It's the name of the new crocheting book I got today, well, half of it, and crazily enough, the least offense half of the title :). The past weekend I just couldn't wait on Amazon's slowocity, so I went out and got a few hooks and a crochet for beginners book. I definitely don't recommend Complete Crochet. I couldn't even figure out how to do a slip knot, the very first thing you do, from the book, much less any of the crochet stitches or chains. I had to rely on good ole interwebs to direct me, and even then (maybe I was looking away at that point) both the video and the book told me to crochet incorrectly.

With the book I got today, I've gone from my incorrect versions of slip stitch, single, double, and triple crochets to the correct versions, plus a few extras. What I learned over the weekend and week < today. Needless to say, the other book/internet bit it. I'm hoping that I can become comfortable and decent enough to be able to actually make wearable/I'm not ashamed/bragable gifts by Christmas time. But I'm really enjoying it, so that is all that matters, right? Right.

In Aly news, she + potty training = me going through the five stages of grief. Seriously, I realized it today. First was denial, denying that she was using pee as an excuse to get out of naps and punishment, that she was any moment going to revert back to the exceptional little girl who only had two accidents in her first two days (yeah, took her that long to see how she could work it to her advantage). Then came anger, when I realized what Aly was doing and couldn't see a way to stop her from manipulating her bladder control. Then depression (3 & 4 mixed up for me), as I seemingly nonstop cleaned up wet panties and shampooed furniture and saw no way out. Now we're on to bargaining, where we're offering her a Barbie if she can get through ONE day without an accident (deliberate, mainly). Good trade in my eyes; one barbie = one day of sanity. No Barbies so far, but she did really well this afternoon so the bribe might be sinking in. Other than that she's doing great, can mostly sing her ABC's, vocabulary keeps jumping by leaps and bounds, loving to play pretend, can count to 13, and drew an 'A' a few days ago.

She went bowling for the first time this past weekend. My brother's soon-to-be stepdaughter Hailee had her birthday party at the bowling alley and Aly and I participated. The first bowl she tried to do all by herself, slinging the ball at a snail's pace. When the ball didn't roll fast enough she bolted after it, promptly falling midstride. After that we threw it 'together,' and Aly led for most of the game, with a score of 90 something! Woo!

Lorelei is getting steadier on her feet, now able to be dragged along after Aly without being literally dragged. She's learned to wave (if she likes you), can fit blocks together, loves figuring out how things work. There are times that it is very apparent that she's trying to say actual words, but mostly gibberish abounds.

Matt is working all the time it seems. His days keep getting longer and longer, with him going through a neverending cycle of work, sleep, work... you get the idea. He had a really good past weekend, though; spending a few hours at a gaming party with some friends and coworkers and then having a friend over Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, these type of weekends come along once in a blue moon for him, so when we can get a spare moment together job searching will certainly be on the agenda. Pray for both him and Bill as they try to find jobs more cohesive with family life.

I wish I had pictures of the girls to show you, but unfortunately Lorelei broke off an essential piece of camera flash and no pictures have been taken since. I just don't like using the camera without the flash, the difference is like night and day (ha!) to me, but I suppose I'll have to get used to it unless we can figure out how to fix the flash. Suggestions?

Discouraged

As the title indicates, I'm starting to feel a bit disheartened. Aly did so well Tuesday and Wednesday, each having one accident, that I guess I got too confident. I realized on each of the accidents she had panties on, and she seems to think of her panties as a diaper. So yesterday and today I tried putting leggings and panties on her more, getting it into her head that they aren't diapers. Yesterday she had three accidents, and even then I wasn't too discouraged because she still seemed to get the point, and I knew the realization would come. Today... has not been fun. She has seemed to regress big time, almost like my first attempt at potty training her, before she was even two. Before noon (and she woke up at 8) she had 5 accidents. Since then she's done better, only one so far, but still not the most uplifting day. She has gone to the bathroom every time I've put her on it, which is the only encouraging part. I knew this wouldn't happen in a day or two, I guess I just didn't think she'd do so well to go back so far. Bleh.