At Least TRY To Keep It On The Paper Child!

How great is this internet fad? We (okay, I) LOVE it! I mean, seriously, something that once piqued the interest of us all has morphed into the medium in which we communicate, entertain, inquire, and more! Some of us are even paying our bills online too! Yea, I think this thing may stick around!

Well, singlehandedly I am trying to make the 'net even better. I woke and realized that E's artwork could be captured online (Aha!) for the purposes of sharing AND archiving.

Two minutes on the scanning bed and voila...her first finger painting project ever, made earlier this year:

Her second. Clearly she was feeling a bit more confident with the paints on this go:

And lastly, her third. Hmm, I really see a transition here. She must be in her "blue period".

Ha ha....LOVE this 'net!

The New Deal

Even though we haven’t been on here a ton lately, there have been a lot of things going on in the background. A quick summary of the mess:

HAVE happened since last post (list condensed):

· Our Rocketship is at a full-on run almost all the time – usually with a scream as she trots down the hall. Have you ever been behind an annoying driver that was either on the gas or on the brake? Yea, she’s pretty much like that – standing or running.

· We went to the Cider Mill last weekend. E met her girlfriend Emily and the two were quite the pair running around sitting on pumpkins, going down slides, riding ponies and eating sugary donuts (mmmmm!). This is such a tradition here isn’t it? You could tell a LOT of people had the same idea because it was PACKED!

· I have pretty much been sucked in to Facebook. Yes, I know, I know, I put up the largest wall of resistance for the longest time, but remember even the toughest of stone will yield to the constant drip of water – or in this case Facebook. It is EVERYWHERE, is it not? About a year ago a friend commented that she couldn’t live just one day without hearing someone mention the site. This statement is completely true! I have to admit though, and I do it here quietly, FB is pretty interesting. If you can get by the whole “everybody knows everything-ness” of it, it can be very informative.

· E can get into ALL the doors in the house! We have those handles that are like little levers and she is in and out of everything. Funny actually because I can remember exactly we were when we decided to have those handles installed instead of traditional “knobs”. I kick myself now, but it probably would have only bought us a few more months at best.

· Our (read: My) Craigslist addiction is in full swing. Yes, partly responsible for the scarcity of content on this blog lately is the big CL. We have made many purchases this summer. I have also been working to clean out the garage and basement of unwanted items through both CL and eBay (yes, eBay, we are back together…at least until my monthly statement comes due!). We have also been selling quite a bit lately. It must be my personality type, but I just love meeting strangers through this “virtual garage sale”.

HAVE NOT happened since last post:

· Wipeout has NOT called me. Grrr…waiting patiently here!

· I have not had any job offers, yet. I am still at home, for now. There have been some great opportunities though recently and I personally feel as though I am very, very close.

· Christmas shopping (ugh!) has not begun yet even though I have seen decorations out in some stores already (including full Christmas card displays!). As usual, we will wait until there is more panic in the air. Soon the local radio station will begin broadcasting “Wall-to-Wall” Christmas music until December 26th. Last year they started BEFORE Halloween if you can believe it!

Rock That Horse, Girl!

All she needs now are plastic cowgirl boots and a plastic 10-gallon hat!

What's that? Plastic chaps?

Now, let's not get carried away...

Thai Meet Ellena, Ellena Meet Thai

So it's true, all those stories you may have heard about engineers and their love of Thai food. Wherever I have worked at, this has been the case. In some places there were certain days of the workweek devoted to Thai, as in "Oh, it's Thai-Thursday again Jim and I didn't even notice. Your turn to drive this week!"

I am also a culprit. Love it. The hotter, the better. One of the things I sacrificed when I boarded the ship to the land of unemployment was sweet, deliciously-wonderful Thai goodness.

This all changed recently. The family packed up last weekend for an "outing" to a local restaurant we had never been to. When we got there, we naturally asked if there were any child boosters on hand. Alas, there were not! But I am proud to say that our little Rocketship stood on her chair for the entire meal! She loved the appetizers, the soup and especially her noodles! Man, does she love noodles! She will definitely want to be coming back and we will be happy to take her!

Yep, 'nother one hooked Thailand. Happy?

Hope For Today, And Always

Today's hope is for our great country and anyone affected, directly or indirectly, by the attacks that occurred eight years ago today. Naturally, everyone remembers where they were "when", but how many of us also remember that many lives are still disrupted to this day? Please take a moment and lift these people up in prayer today.

We will never forget you...ever.

Explained: Cat Probability

This is, of course, according to Cheeseburger, one of our favorite internet hot spots. We (read: I) can't get enough actually now that I think about it!

Dog lovers: revert to Hot Dog for all your canine wittiness needs.

You Are A Fruitcake...Welcome To The Family!

Dear Ellena,

Today I think you should know that your mother and I have always had a pact together - yes, even before you were born - to embrace our child/children for who they really are and also for who they become. We intend to continue doing so. Always. And in these current days it seems even so much more important for us to remember this agreement. This is because as you grow and develop, we can really start to see the inner you breaking out from within.

You see, on some days you are a complete goof (most of the time actually - friends will blame one of your parents for carrying the elusive dominant goof gene!). On others, you are so into dressing up. Sometimes you are a bit needy (acceptable - and expected actually). Some days you are content to play by yourself for hours (this really helps me on my job search, btw) and others you desire to have us by your side all day. We love this about you. You are a different little person every day.

For whatever reason (not questioned), you really like to wear pajamas, a ballet princess skirt, moo shoes (a size too big still!), an outside long-sleeved hoodie (even though it is 80 degrees out) and the brown hat that was accidentally shrunk in the laundry...for hours! And then dance around and make silly faces. No problems here. We embrace your quirkiness.

Here you are on a shy day (yes, actually caught on camera! This is so very rare actually. You just backed up and leaned against the wall. Cute skirt!

And Yes, I guess in hindsight it was a mistake to let you feed yourself the spaghettio's. Oh well...no regrets here, it was still fun! And you were having fun too, just check out that smile!

We love you. And yes, you fit right in.