One of Those

Today has been one of those days. You know, where Fuel's Bad Day keeps playing in your head, followed by Free Bird, and you empathize a little too much with Abigail Salmon.

Fuel - Bad Day (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: Fuel

There was a bright spot today, and his name is Zazzles. Or Portal. I still haven't decided :). In March my sweet sweet kitty of 12 years breathed her last breath. Belle's death hit me very hard and after a few months grieving I have been ready to let another feline into my heart. Matt has kindly allowed me to get a cat for my birthday :). We've picked him out, just waiting for his neutering to take place and we'll be bringing him home to the family tomorrow! Check him out. What do you think his name should be?

Is he not gorgeous?

Sweetest personality ever.

The girls might be excited. Might.

Meet-n-Greet went well :)

Name suggestions:


Zazzles


Portal

Soon

Life around here's been a-changin'. We now have less than a month before we move to Knoxville to start over. Boxes are being packed, every room is a shell; dismantled piece by piece.

Part of me is terrified; terrified that our life won't change enough, will change too much, that we are making a bad decision. I've always ignored that terrified little voice when I've had a chance to visit or move somewhere new, maybe because I've not had that many chances to do so. Now that I have lives to consider beyond mine, are we making the wrong decision?

San Jose, Costa Rica

Backstage at Carnegie Hall, NYC

Annnnnd then the excitement takes over. Living closer (too close for them, probably ;)) to all of Matt's immediate family, closer to my sister and her husband, close to a part of the country that I've always wanted to live... well, that takes most of my concern away. I'm still left with a teensy bit of guilt for taking my parents' grandchildren so far away from them, but even that can't temper all of my hope and excitement.

I've been trying to not get my hopes up, not expect anything, and just focus on the present in terms of moving. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that some of my depression and worries will alleviate with our new locale.It will be so nice to get move on, work towards a stress free point where we can start reaching for our ideas and dreams again.  Matt has been super excited too; he has missed living close to his family. Aly asks nearly every day when we're moving to "Ten'see."

A Fine Frenzy - Electric Twist

I dare you not to smile!

Disney video

Some of you may have seen this already, but I was reminded of it while Aly and I watched Snow White this morning. Make sure to turn off the player at the bottom of the screen so you can hear the song accompanying the video, it fits perfectly ;).

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Stomach is the Universe

Lorelei's birthday party was *finally* this weekend. Although I always get stressed out with birthday parties and holiday functions that I host, I'm happy to have done them when it's all said and done. My family was big help, coming out and cleaning so I could focus on cooking and decorating. Is it Thanksgiving yet? I'm feeling very thankful.

Anyway, party seemed to be a big hit. Lorelei came out of her shell after about 15 minutes and charmed everyone, and the house was awash with kids laughing and running, oohs and aahs over Jessica's cake, and general social activity. Our little family loved it. Although the rain did start once everyone got there and made the inside rather than out the place to be, everyone seemed to have a good time. Even Matt slicing his hand open didn't deter the fun. The gift part was especially fun; all the kids helped Lorelei and me open her presents. Everyone who came brought such great gifts; Lorelei is one lucky little girl.

A truly remarkable thing happened when we watched Lorelei eat her piece of cake. She picked it up (this was a man sized piece), and somehow consumed it without taking a break, or even chewing for that matter. Here's a video from Matt's phone.

The rest of the weekend went really well, also. Wes & Carole stayed with us Saturday night, and it was awesome being able to spend time with them. We've all missed them lots since they moved away. On Sunday Lorelei and I went to a wedding shower for Mandy, who amassed much loot. The other highlight of the day was trying out the new sprinkler (yep, at the end of summer) with the girls. Aly would run towards it, but would make wiiiide circles. Lorelei just stood there, enjoying the water. They weren't quite sure what to do but enjoyed it anyway.

Unfortunately it seems the only pictures taken of the birthday party were with Carole's camera, so until I can wheedle them away (pretty please!) I have nothing to show.

May excitement

I caaaaaann't wait! Agh, so excited! I just got a shipping notification for the new Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead and Gone, by Charlaine Harris. I preordered this months and months ago and had mostly forgotten about it. I love this series, I've been following it since I was a sophomore in college. Go get the first book, Dead until Dark, and start reading! I promise you'll be hooked! If you don't like the HBO series True Blood, that doesn't mean you won't like the books. I think that Alan Ball just took the setting, the names of the characters, and made up his own storyline.
I also am getting to go see Wicked with the sister this July. I love Broadway shows and haven't been to one in nine years, so I'm seriously overdue. This is one I've been wanting to see for a while.

Since I posted last L has mostly learned to crawl. She kind of rocks back and forth and then hops a little, then gets up on her toes, and suddenly she's a foot further than she had been. It's the oddest crawling I've ever seen, but she still has time to master it :). She also learned to sit herself up last night, but I wasn't there to see it :(. Her word/sound of choice at the moment is 'dada', though I think she might be saying it just to say something, rather than knowing the meaning behind the deconstructed noun.

A keeps saying more and more words, making more complicated sentences, and astounding us with what she's learned. This may be normal for a two year old, but a few nights ago she counted to six (skipping four, she doesn't like four). After that the rest of the night (except when we tried to get her to do it for Grandma and Granddad) she would at least count to three when I asked her to count. Her favorite word for the past few days is "Awesome!", her favorite phrases tying at "Oh Goodness!" and "Aw, man!"

I added a video of M and A, with A saying I love you to Granddad and Grandma. Yes, that's only to two people, but if you haven't seen her in a while you can watch her be shy for once.

Speaking of videos, I was looking through the ones lately and found the one Matt had shot with the web cam when L first did her bunny crawl. I would put it up, but it's kind of long, she doesn't go as far as we were hoping, and I look like a beached whale. I avoid mirrors, but this I could not avoid. I honestly did not realize I had gotten that fat, I had become that person in the supermarket that I could relate to myself and say 'At least I'm not that big' (yep, sensitive I know). So, super weight loss time. No more excuses. Any time I'm feeling tired and don't want to cook, or want to eat the Puff corn M brings home, I'm going to watch this video. Then picture that cow walking down the aisle in a bridesmaid dress. Weight watchers and Slim in 6, here I come.