I remembered my password!

I am back! after years of either not being able to post or having forgotten my password to get to my blog!  I missed you bloggy blog blog! 

I am now a mom to 4 (FOUR!!!) great kids and still madly in love with my Beloved Husband. Happily settled down into domesticity with a 7 bedroom house that was once a public school building, kids, cat, dog, lizard, and hopefully in the next week or two I will hear if I am eligible to be a breastfeeding peer counselor through my local WIC office.

My kids are now 14 (15 day after Christmas), 11,  3 (4 in January) and 15months. Boy, girl, boy, girl, how awesome is that!

Anyway, the littlest one just woke from her nap, so I am hitting publish.  it is so good to be back!

quick update

just a quick update as i just have a few moments of internet time.

*we have been in the USA since dec 16th.

*right now internet is spotty or nonexistant at the moment--planets have to align or somesuch.

*we are in the process of moving all of our things from storage and my parents' home to our new rental home. distance between said storage and parents' home to rental home--400miles of wintery, blizzardy, Iowa-Minnesota roads...makes for interesting travel.

*rental house has old furnace that had been off for several months before we started moving in--commence fiasco of getting furnace guy to fix old furnace andthen we have frozen water pipes.

*water pipes thaw--fix burst pipes, turn water on, bathroom floods from broken toilet. fix toilet, need to rip out carpet in bathroom (who puts CARPET in the bathroom--gross!)---don't worry folks, any moolah we spend gets knocked off our rent.

*K starts new job working awake overnights during moving in fiasco--little sleep makes for tired crabby K. K likes her new job, though :)

*M falls and sprains his wrist. Learns about the American system of DIY medical care as we cannot afford a doctor bill. We miss the UK's National Health Service.

*L starts new school and LOVES it! She is adjusting well and making friends and loving riding a real yellow school bus to school.

*Z turned 12 and spent his Christmas vacation with us and had a great time being together.

*A turned a year and remains an inquisitive happy little boy.

*In all the hub-bub of moving, starting a new job, starting a new school, and birthdays, and holidays, we also added taekwando classes to our busy life. So far it is L and M starting out but eventually K will too, we just need a babysitter for A.

*I love this busy life and wouldn't change it for the world!

And now the baby wants his nay-nays to help him take a nap so I must go, and I am not sure when I will be back, I miss all my peeps in the blogosphere

take care for now my friends!

5 am

I am up, wide awake at 5 am. Actually I woke up at 3:41 to be exact as that was when M's alarm went off for him to get up for work. I think that the reason why I cannot fall back asleep is that I am so excited, nervous, happy, worried, and have a bazillion things running through my mind to do before we move and saying all the farewells to people and things.

I keep thinking "a week from today, we'll be at the hotel, airport, plane, the USA......." I don't feel bad for me I feel bad for M and his folks and them saying farewell.


and Alex is awake so I must go

Five things I miss about America

At Noble Savage, she wrote a post that sings to this American expat's heart. It also smacks of a top 5 list a la High Fidelity

Here is her list that she did expand on, but you will need to go to her blog to read expansions:
1.My family and friends
2. Wide open spaces
3. Autumn
4. Good, affordable food
5. That wondrous, zany American outlook on life

Mine actually follows closely:

1. I miss Miss MISS my family and friends. Although I call my mom just about every weekday, and my Hillbilly Duhn several times a week, hugging phones is NOTHING like hugging the real live human being on the other end of the line. I crave the day we all are reunited.

2. Driving. I love driving long distances and driving at night. I have been driving since I was 12 mminus the year between moving from the acreage and drivers Ed and the 2 years I have been in the UK making it 17 years in total I have been driving and loving it. I am such a car buff and as much as I am trying to be eco-friendly, I just can not stop loving cars, driving and driving long straight wide roads. Motor oil runs in these veins.

3. American food. I like an indian take away now and again, fish and chips and the tradional English sunday roast, but gosh darn it I want me a valasic dill pickle without any sugar, a corn dog, a miller genuine draft, a root beer float that doesn't cost $3 a can to make, as well as flavored coffees that you don't have to go to a specialty tea shop to buy, and tex mex foods. I would love an apple and a pumpkin pie, and a bone-in wood smoked ham. (I am hungry now, lol)

4. Halloween. Halloween is my fah-vorite holiday evah! I look forwards to Halloween like a little kid looks forwards to his birthday. Where I am at Halloween is barely celebrated and is more of a time where people hide away from trouble youth "yobs and hoodies", lock their doors, turn off their lights and pretend to not be home. Well crap, no wonder the youth are pissy, the candy that they sell to give out sucks. "Here have a packet of pink and white marshmallows!" bleeeh. So as another Halloween passed by like a much anticipated birthday that no one could be bothered to remember--I yearn for a fun filled Halloween with all the kids next year back in the USA.

5. Hearing my own Accent. Something about being able to not translate things in my head from British to American and back again is so nice. A trunk is a trunk, not a boot. Chips are chips, not fries, and toe-may-toe not toe-maah-oh for tomato.

I am going to be cheeky and put a sixth because it is actually a tie between number 5 and this one.
6. Affordable clothing that fits Plus size. I needn't say more than that.

flat out like a lizard...Dudes!

Holy Blog Of Doom, Batman! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since people stopped clapping and Tinkerbelle died... You would not believe that my hands were chopped off and I was waiting for bionic ones. Dudes!

I am flat out like a lizard drinking after setting fire to people wearing Crocs, learning to fart the theme to "Neighbours", just generally being a delightful mistress to my husband, my day is a magical flight from the time the light through yonder window breaks to when I am begging my kid to go to sleep or so help me G-d that kid will be decorating my wall, 'Duct tape still life'. I am totally loving it, dudes. I wish you could be here to share it.

I swear on the bones of my ancestors I will update you with my nefarious activities as soon as I get a chance. You wanna test me? Unless of course the pool with the cocktail bar is heated!

The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator helped me write this post.

I Am Not Violent--Honest!

Wow! just Wow! Have you, dear reader, ever had a dream and/or nightmare that makes you say "What the heck?! Where'd that come from?! Do I have issues?!" but then at the same time you think "Dang that felt good, though!" That was happened this morning during my hour extra sleep-in that I had when M watched Alex for me.

My very violent dream was listening to a certain person who is from M's past complaing about her pregnancy, that she has it soooooo baaaaad, and everytime I turned to walk away, she started saying "look at me, look at me! look how baaaaad I have life--waaaah!" I told her to shut the f*** up and that I wanted to get away from her ugly whiney face. She blocked my way so I told her again in a deep and growly voice that she had better move other wise I'd haul off and hit her. "But you can't hit me, I'm pregnant" "But your face isn't" and BOOM I punched her right in her big schnoze. Her face caved in like when one would push in a barbie-doll's nose towards the back of her empty doll head and then comes back to normal position. So I punched her nose over and over again BOOM BOOM BOOM and then spat in her face as I turned and walked away saying "I told you to move outta my way you c**t."

Oh.My.Goodness!!! I guess I had some pent up agression ishooos, but those of you who know me I would NEVER do something like that. Heck, how many times have I picked up a spider and put it outside so I don't smoosh it. I don't spank my kids, and I don't even argue or fight well. The only kinda violent thing that I do is wrestle-play with M and the kids. So that dream was as polar opposite to me as night as to day.

...odd that I feel ookie and relieved at the same time...

Dream analizers--am I going fruit loopy?

Swiped from SophieKat Knits

If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now (even if we don't speak often or ever), please post a comment with a completely made up, fictional memory of you and me.

It can be anything you want - good or bad - but it has to be fake.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph in your blog and see what your friends come up with.

Thanks Sophiekat

(~~) OCTOBER IS (~~)

MY Favorite Month!!!
In honor of my favorite month, here is a list of happenings on the days

http://www.brownielocks.com/.

1
Balloons Around The World
Child Health Day
Fire Pup Day
International Day of Older Persons
World Vegetarian Day
2
Guardian Angels Day
Phileas Fogg's Wager Day
National Custodial Workers Day
World Farm Animals Day
3
Lee's National Denim Day
National Diversity Day
World Smile Day
4
Ten-Four Day
World Card Making Day
5
Country Inn & Bed and Breakfast Day
Intergeneration Day
World Communion Day
World Teachers Day

6
Jackie Mayer Rehab Day
Mad Hatter Day
National German-American Day
Physician Assistant (PA) Day
World Habitat Day
7

...Nothin' on this day--make up your own day!
8
Alvin C. York Day
Cosmopolite's Day
International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction
International Top Spinning Day
National Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work & School Day
Native Americans' Day
Yom Kipper
9
Leif Erickson Day
National Depression Screening Day
World Post Day
World Sight Day
10
Emergency Nurses Day
National Cake Decorating Day
Naval Academy Day
World Mental Health Day
11
General Pulaski Memorial Day
International Newspaper Carrier Day
National Coming Out Day
Reptile Awareness Day
Universal Music Day
12
Clergy (Pastor) Appreciation Day
International Moment of Frustration Scream Day
13
Columbus Day
Ironman Competition
National Kick Butt Day
Navy Birthday
14
Be Bald and Be Free Day
15
National Grouch Day
Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce
White Cane Safety Day
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day
16
Department Store Day
Dictionary Day
Get to Know Your Customers Day
Get Smart About Credit Day
International Credit Union Day
World Food Day
National Boss's Day
Boss's Day
17
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Mammography Day
Mulligan Day
18
Sweetest Day
World Menopause Day
World Toy Camera Day
19
Evaluate Your Life Day
Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day
20
Birth of the Bab
World Osteoporosis Day
21
...Nothin on this day either..Make up your own day!
22
Day of International Concern About Young People and Gun Violence
International Day of Radiant Peace
International Stuttering Awareness Day
23
National Mole Day
24
Lung Health Day
United Nations Day
World Development Information Day
Bandanna Day
25
Make A Difference Day
26
World Priest Day
Mother-in-Law Day
27
Cranky Co-workers Day
Navy Day
28
Diwali
National Chocolates Day
St. Jude's Day
29
Internet Day
30
Create A Great Funeral Day
Haunted Refrigerator Night
National Candy Corn Day

National Sing Happy Birthday to Kim Day
31
Books for Treats Day
Frankenstein Friday
National Caramel Apple Day
National Knock-Knock Jokes Day
National Magic Day
National UNICEF Day
Halloween
Samhain

Happy Halloween!

What *I* do to be "Green"

On the subject of being "green" (my brain wanders off on a tangent thinking 'hey world! when has *my* favorite color become such a buzz word that it is now fashionable to be? *I* was into green as a favorite color as a child-but anywho...) I was off surfing green natural living blogs and quite a few had ways for you, the anonymous reader, to do, steps to take, and pointing the "you shall be eco-friendly finger" away from themselves. As my very wise Mother has always told me that it isn't nice to point and that when I pointed at someone or thing, I had three fingers pointing right back at me.....Ha! I see you pointing away from you and checking out your hand to see that indeed Mr.Tall, Mr. Ring, and Miss Pinkie are pointing right back atcha!

My things, in no particular order:

1. I breastfeed--free milk in fun containers!

2. I cloth diaper my baby. Had I had what is available now when my 11 1/2 year old and my nearly 8 year old were babies, you bet your fluffy butt they would have been in them too. And as soon as my family are settled, I am scouring thrift stores, craigslist and freecycle to find a sewing machine and sewing my own out of 2nd hand towels and sewing 2nd hand fleece for covers!

3. I wear my baby. Not so much a huge green thing but more of a natural/attachment parenting thing. However, it is greenish in that very little resources are used in making a simple no-sew piece of cloth wrap, and my little guy rarely needs a coat if it is cold out as he is wraped up safe and warm next to me under my coat and cutting down on the need to buy extra clothing. To watch some videos or look at diagrams on babywearing go to http://www.mamatoto.org/ No more strollers for this family!

4. I'm a happy thrifter. I love me a big old thrift store, a garage/yard/rummage sale, and with the advent of the interwebz craigslist, freecycle, and ReUseIt. I love discovering things, and making old things useful again. I scored 35 all-in-one diapers in size 1 and 2 and 12 cotton pre-folds on freecycle Yippee! I want to turn around and give the AIO's away right before we move so another mother/family can cloth diaper even if it is part time cloth. There is also the joy of giving away on freecycle as M and I gave away some baby items that we were done using or barely used to a family that despirately wanted them and how happy they were to recieve them. Craigslist is great too because it is where we found our minivan.

5. I ride the bus. Because of M's job, I get free bus transportation. Now I know that public transport is not glamorous by any means and sometimes one must put up with the buttmunches that play crappy tinny music on crappy tinny speakers on their phones rather than listening to their music like everyone else does by using their headphones, or the occational eedjit who thinks they can smoke and no one will smell it (it is illegal to smoke on busses, public transport, bus stop shelters, well just about any public place here in England) HOWEVER, I get to do some good old people watching in. Unfortunately, no matter where we move to in the States, we will have to give up the public transport, as nothing is within walking distance. For now it is the bus! yay!

6. We live frugally. I stop and consider every purchase. Do I need this or do I want this item. Can I use an alternate item/way/item at home to do the same thing? For instance, I have always had it in my head to bake bread I needed a bread pan and not so! I now can whip up a lovely braided herbed bread in a few hours. No need for a bread pan. If it something that I need, can I source it locally or buy it from work at home mothers. My baby's fun yet super functional diaper wraps I buy from English moms who also source their items locally. Less items bought, less resources used.

7. We use reusuable shopping bags. Yes we have to remember to bring the bags with us, but the majority of the bags that we have are easier on the hands and fingers than plastic carrier bags.

8. We have a super energy and water efficient washing machine. It is a front loader, and I thought that Id hate a front loader because I was so used to the ginormous American style top loader, but when the clothes come out, not only are they clean, but nearly dry, which is great for number 9.

9. We hang up everything to dry. When I first moved here I was amazed that there weren't laundry rooms in the apartment buildings and gasp horror how do you wash and dry your clothes?! There are nifty compact racks to hang and dry clothes, there are airing rooms with clothes lines and there are airing cupboards here. A little extra work but hey, our shirts and trousers and jeans are already on hangers so easy to put away.

I can't think of a number 10 right now, but if I do later, I'll pop that in another post.

Time to make supper--Scottish Angus beef burgers, British baked potatoes, and British salad leaves and Tomatoes grown in my Mother-in-Law's back garden greenhouse. YUM!

Who said "Going Green" has to be Expensive-Non-toxic Home Made Laundry Soap

First, before we go into the recipe, I need to give props where props are due, as I totally swiped this from one of my favorite bloggers and super funny and awesome woman whom I got to share being pregnant with~~Aubrey at http://thisblessedlife-aubrey.blogspot.com/

"Ingredients needed to make 4 gallons:
4 quarts water1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax (sodium borate)
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda (not baking soda)
1/2 a grated bar of Fels Naptha(I found these 3 soap products easily in the laundry soaps aisle at my regular ol' grocery store)

Supplies needed:
one pot used specifically for making soaps & cleaners in
a grater,
& something to stir the melting soap with a bucket larger than 3 gallons
ideally, 3 old 100 ounce laundry soap containers to store your new soap in
a funnel to get soap into said containers

Step 1: Put 4 quarts of water in your pot.
Add the grated half bar of Fels Naptha soap, the 1/2 cup Borax, and the 1/2 cup of washing soda.
Heat on medium heat.
Stir occasionally until all the soap has melted.

Step 2: Then, pour it into your bucket & leave it for about an hour to cool off. I used my empty diaper pail as my bucket.

Step 3: Once it's cooled off, add 3 gallons of very hot water to your bucket & stir thoroughly.
Step 4: Use your funnel and pour your new laundry soap into your storage containers. They will gel up as they cool & resemble everyday laundry detergent. Use about 1/2 cup per full load of laundry.

Voila!

And here's the breakdown:
I spent $14.25 total at Winco (grocery store) on a 55 oz. box of Arm & Hammer washing soda ($3.14), a 76 oz. box of 20 Mule Team Borax ($3.27), and 7 bars of Fels Naptha soap ($1.12 each). This will allow me to make a total of 56 gallons of laundry soap (!!). To compare, one 150 oz. container of Whisk laundry detergent (a little over *one* gallon) costs $13.00 at the same store.
I've been using this soap for a few weeks now & it's been working just as well as any of the overpriced detergents from the store. :)"

Please go and read Aubrey's blog, and see the pictures that go along with this recipe http://thisblessedlife-aubrey.blogspot.com/

I am sooo going to do this once we move to the States. (I'd do it now, but we are trying to use up, get rid, pare down on extra items as we aren't sure when we could be moving) I imagine that this laundry soap could have essential oils, like tea tree or lavender, added to it if one would like some fragrance, other wise it is truely fragrance free, and not fragrance masked like most "color-free fragrance-free" laundry soaps out on the market. I also imagine that this is an excellent laundry soap for cloth diapers, as it is fragrance and soap residues that gather in the fibers, and makes that ammonia-y soap build-up smell.

reason 4,657,245,478,463,456,346,767,345 to be excited to move back to the States-Home made laundry soap!!! Hurrah!

MMMmm It's Been A Long Time!

Living over in the UK, I have missed certain foods that I had all. the. time back in the States. There are also certain sodas, like the ones in the following pictures that can't be found, that is, until now! M and my Mother-in-Law and I found these American goodies at a candy store of all places that was selling American food as novelty items. M bought me a can of A&W root beer, a can of Mountain Dew, a jar of Jif peanut butter (they do have PB here but it tastes funny like it is "almost peanut butter") and real Welch's grape jelly! Woot! What time is it?! It's peanut butter jelly time! MIL bought me a can of Mountain Dew as well. The cost...well I'll get to that later.

To me nothing tastes more like summer than an A&W root beer float, and now that summer is ironically over here in the UK, I finally had my first root beer float of the season.

Proof that there is MD here! YAY!
Peanut butter jelly time! peanut butter jelly time! peanut butter jelly time!
It has been over a year since I have seen items like these together.
oh, root beer, how I have missed thee!
soon, vanilla ice cream, you will married to your perfect mate
oh, dear dear pint glass, you are the vessel of devine delight for me this night
do you, root beer, take vanilla ice cream, to mix in creamy foamy yummy goodness? to be chock full of calories that will go straight to my adipose tissues?

Look at that crown! Mmmm bliss!
It was worth the wait!

Oh and the cost for all this American novelty food and drinks- Sodas at £1.45 (or $2.54 a can) Jelly at £5.69 (or $9.98 for 18oz) and the peanut butter £4.39 (or $7.70 for 18oz) for a total of £14.43 or $25.30!!! So indeed, they are treats. Oh and a box of Lucky Charms was £7.69 or $13.50! Wow!

She's Free!

L can ride her bike without training wheels now! She can go where ever she pleases (with in reason, of course) I am so proud and so happy! I loved the freedom that bike riding gave me. It was my 5th birthday that my parents gave me my "Desert Rose" bike, complete with banana seat and basket. The basket didn't last long, but as soon as I could, I learnt to ride that bike and it was my friend for 5 solid years. It had many tire changes, fixed chains, oiled chains, and new paint jobs. It took me to and from 3 different schools from 6 different houses, and around 3 different towns and one farm, to and from midweek sunday school, and caught A LOT of air time over the bajillion dirt ramps and curbs I'd jump. It took me to friends' homes and around the block a million times, and numerous adventures. It took me straight to Skinned Knee-ville and Road Rash Town and (gasp) Thunked Noggin City where there were no such things as helmets. I'd crash and burn, but would ride that banana-seated bike, with my wounds bleeding, scabs healing, bumps and all with pride.

I saved that bike for many years at my grandparents' farm for if I had a little girl and she'd want to ride my banana seated bike, but alas, my aunt Toni, in her infinate wisdom, deemed it only suitable for the junkman and threw it away about 5 years ago. (sigh)

So my Dear Dear L, enjoy all the adventures that your 2 wheeled freedom will take you. Enjoy the ride!

Baby Sign Language

Nods to Alex's Auntie diana, this site, My Baby Can Talk is awesome to learn some basic American Sign Language (ASL) and then start using it around and to babies. Babies, even those with perfect hearing, benefit from sign, and some even start to communicate with signs before they can pronounce the words.

We use the signs "eat, Mommy, Daddy, play, diaper, toilet, kitty, and bath" with Alex and although he has yet to sign them back to us, there is definite recognition of the signs at what we are talking about. I have chosen to use the sign "eat" rather than milk as the sign for milk looks like milking a cow. I am not a cow, nor drinking another species' milk (bovine) should be normal for human babies. Alex gets excited when we use the sign for eat, and will quite literally go from crying to giggling in a blink of an eye, quickly followed by a good long breastfeeding session.

I am really happy with the baby signing and I plan on learning a lot more signs to teach Alex AND Z and L.

TV Ramblings

So here I am, flipping through channels and I paused for a second on Boobwatch, er, I mean Baywatch and it actually got me thinking (cut to gratuitous Pam running slow motion shot) No no no Not THAT way! I thought about all the "Hit" TV shows that I never watched and if I really "missed" out on popular culture.

I have never watched a full episode of afore mentioned Boobwatch, or Full House or even Beverly Hills 90210, not even a smidgen of Melrose Place. I have lived quite happily not watching Survivor or its spin offs. Couldn't stand Fear Factor the one time I saw it. I can't stand A Baby Story or any of the like, and I'd rather poke my eyes out than to watch more than a moment of Friends-another show I have never watched a full episode.

I also never got caught up in the boy band craze that was New Kids (puke) or any of their follow-ups of 98 degrees of backup boys. Never did like M Jackson, he never Thrillered me. I never liked anything by Stevie Nicks or Tom Petty as they sound like billy goats singing and evils of all evils- they did a DUO! Blechetty Blech blech! Billy Ray never made my Achey heart break. And the Marcarena was heinous. I never found Madoona sexy-ever. She was (is) too whiney for me.

Did I miss out? Ahh but I did (do) have some TV shows that I love to watch and some are purely garbage food for the brain. I Love love love ER, I miss Dr. Green, but all in all, I love ER. I like watching anything with Gordon Ramsey in it, sometimes for recipe ideas, sometimes for the bollicking that he hands out to idiot restaurant owners, as his swearing and particular unique to Gordon hand gestures make me giggle. I really like the UK version of Big Brother and the funny and unique presenter Davina McCall (who by the way homebirthed her children and said that if she wasn't a BB TV presenter, she'd be a homebirth midwife!) I even have an entire season of BB UK on DVD. I love watching formula 1 racing with M and his family, and I cheer for Lewis Hamilton. I like Buffy and Charmed, and have yet to start watching shows like FireFly and Angel, but I want to.

And, dun dun dahh, in spite all my efforts not to want to watch, I am getting into the English TV staple of the last 40 years or so, in it's various reincarnations, Doctor Who! To borrow from another Sci-fi favorite, Resistance is futile! Z and L's dad is a big Doctor fan, Z is a huge Doctor fan and loves any Doctor toys that I send over. M, being the proper Brit that he is, grew up watching Doctor Who and as a kid, being grateful that Daleks couldn't go up stairs (not the case of newest, badder Daleks that fly now a days) and now Alex, yes the 7 month old baby, will stop whatever he is doing just to watch the opening or end credits and gets excited during the credits. So I started watching and I enjoy it as well as Torchwood.

To make up for the junk food TV that I do watch, I watch a lot of the discovery channel and history and other educational programs And I love cooking and do-it-yourself home make over programs.

And then there are days, much like today, that I like the TV off, and just sitting on the floor playing and singing and nursing my baby.

Oh, and my naughty little secret popular music like that will likely ruin all music creds with my brothers--I like to listen to Nickleback.... Oh the shame.....

Eight is Great

I hate math, but I love numbers. I like orders of numbers like odometer readings and will watch the odometer while I am driving just as it ticks over to a certain number. I like making a wish at 12:34, or looking at the clock at 11:11. I love the look of palindromes both in numbers and in words. Today is 08-08-08, and although not a true palindrome, it sure has a cool look to it.

In China, the number 8 is particularly lucky, and thus the opening to the summer olympics today. (I won't go into the politics surrounding the games in China-I focus my politicking around homebirth rights, breastfeeding rights, and the right for all to NOT be circumcized)

I hope everyone's 08-08-08 day is GRRrrrreat!!!

Obsess much?

Blech! I have become what I loathe the most on the interwebz-a troll. I discusts me to even write that, but I must cleanse myself and purge my guilt.

It started when I ran into M's ex. She had no clue who I was but I knew her straight off. She went on chatting merrily about herself, her interests yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah to those around us who'd listen. She even told where to find her on the net. So I did, later on, and right away I found a lie about M even though there had been no contact between them for a bazillion years (well more like 4 years, but still a long time) That sparked my interest to see if she was still telling lies about M. So I delved further, looking for more, found more, so looked for more. I have been looking for the past few weeks, and finally realized that I had become a troll, trolling around for dirt on her, but dirt for what? M hadn't spoken about her since shortly after I found out we were pregnant. M had obviously put the ex in the past and buried her, so why did I want dirt on her? I know that I am 1000% a better wife to M and a better mother to A, L, and Z than she is to her child (oh, and no the ex's kid isn't M's kid) So why am I spying?

So I made a choice to stop, and to let it go. Fine. good. right? Nope! Because Karma's a b!tch. I signed up to a babywearing forum, and low and behold, she's there. Whaaa! I was done with her. Granted she's not posted for a long time, but still. Blech!

(oh, just a tidbit that karma didn't like her eithe.. A lie that she told M, not once but 2x, has come back to bite her hard by 4x)

So, I am putting away my troll hat, reforming my ways, and forgetting her sorry @ss!

Purple-Only...NOT

So for many moons I had been wanting to get my hair cut, well.. trimmed. Then I went to a short phase of wanting it in dreadlocks thinking that it would be easier to care for, but after asking a few people, found that the dreads take a good 6 months to properly lock and if the wrong shampoo is used, they can smell bad. After a recent run in with M's ex, I have decided that my hair looked too much like that's, umm I mean her's, nah I really meant that's hair, so I got my hair trimmed (dead dry spit ends off) and I now sport short gothy-bangs. That wasn't enough of a change so M and I got purple hair dye for me.

I was so psyched to have purple hair-I have never had purple hair. Yeah, well, and I still have never had purple hair. Oh, I have a purple scalp, but my hair is a mixture of black and red, so with the new bangs, I am really rocking the goth chick look :)

32 years

32 years ago, at 8:40am CST, I was born.

It took me becoming a mother for me to appreciate that it is also my mother's birthday, that at that moment she became a mother to a daughter.

Thank you Mom and Happy Birthday to you, too!

McCain: Bush-only Older

I'm not one for much politicking, other than to encourage EVERYONE I know to go and to vote, but these were just, well, they sum up how I feel perfectly. Americans, indeed the world, has had to deal with Dubya for 8 looooong years, add to that his father's term, and that is 12 years of Bush. I think we ALL have had enough of it.

In the brilliant and immortal words of Forest Gump, "My Momma always said, 'Stupid is as Stupid does.'" and "That's all I have to say about that."

Cloth Diapers-my stash-i will write explainations later

1 The explainations are mostly for those who don't cloth diaper. These are my fitted diapers with the white in terry cloth, the cream in bamboo fabric, and green in a super soft "teddy" diaper. These velcro on much like disposible diapers do. They are the absorbent part of the diaper, much like the terry cloth squares of yesteryear sans pins to fasten.

2 This is what they look like opened up, complete with an oval booster for extra absorbancy in case of a heavy wetter like Alex. Ooo! they are so soft and fuzzy and lovely against my baby's skin.

3 This is the teddy with out the booster in it, just so you can see.

4 With these kind of diapers, we use a waterproof wrap that velcros over top the diaper. Think of the rubber pants of yesteryear, but more diaper changing friendly as well as baby skin friendly. The wrap have proven to be the "fun" part in cloth diapering as you will see further on. This one is just a basic white one.

5 Diaper in!

6 This is where you imagine baby wearing the yummy softness that is this diaper!

7 All done up.

8 We also have some prefold flat diapers that we use. and the following few pictures are just showing a fold or two and wearing those in a wrap.

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12 Cloth diapering can be versatile as well. We have used a couple of boosters on some of the small wraps to go under some outfits that require slimmer, or less fluffy diapers.

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14 My pocket diapers... these are great for grandmas or other care takers as all they have to do is put them on baby without worrying if they have all the parts in the right order or right way around (poor sweet mother-in-law on one of her first solo changes got the order right, just the wrap in backwards.) These diapers have a pocket that an absorbant cloth is stuffed into before hand and are similar to a disposable in that once assembled is basically one piece.

15 Here are the blue and green diaper opened up with their absorbant cloths on the outside.

16 Partially stuffed--kind of like putting a pillow in a pillowcase.

17 And fully assembled. Once used, simply pull the cloths out and put into a dry pail with a lid and wash when you have a full load. Or, I am L.A.Z.Y. and wash the whole pocket diaper together, and separate the parts when I hang them up to dry.

18 The fun part! Wraps! This is my collection of wraps--I have some more plain white ones, but I wanna show off the better ones. This is a front view, but it is the next picture that delights me so much.

19 Fun Hineys!!! I love the floppy ears of Dudy Dog and the adorable Tractor Ron (the company we purchased them from gave them the names) The Blue Propeller Butt (our name) is made of faux velvet, but so soft. The red cow butt makes me giggle and the angels are sweet. The wraps can be worn as outer clothing on warm days when most babies are sporting white disposable butts, the wraps are dual purpose function and fun, and I love it when I buy things that have more than one use, as I feel I am getting more bang for my buck! Wraps need not be changed at every diaper change like the inner diaper, unless they are dirtied by number two.

20 Like I said before, I am lazy, but washing and drying diapers, dare I say it, is a breeze. We got into a routine and it is second nature to was and dry and fold. If *I* can do laundry like this, anyone can!

21Neatly stacked and put away with love