Friday, January 30, 2004
We've been having a bit of trouble recently with bathing Sophie. Totally out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, she started sobbing uncontrollably at the mere sight of the bathtub. We'd fill it and plop her in, only to have her immediately slither back out. Tub toys didn't help, water temperature made no difference, desensitization attempts (i.e. putting her in an EMPTY tub) were a waste of time. Babies are supposed to be fresh and sweet-smelling, so we've been bathing her through her tears and escape efforts. It is not a pleasant experience to have to force your child to endure something that obviously upsets her.
Sophie had a bad reaction to new formula this morning, meaning that she puked up an entire 8 ounce bottle during what was supposed to be her morning nap. I went into her room to see why she was crying and discovered that everything in her crib - including Sophie herself - was SOAKED. This necessitated washing everything in the crib - again, including Sophie. By the time I finished holding and soothing her, I decided that I might as well bring Sophie into the shower with me and wash us both at the same time.
Strangely enough, she absolutely LOVED the shower. Didn't even mind the water occasionally splashing her face. Had no objections to sitting by herself in the back of the shower while I bathed. Not a whimper or whine. So I guess I'm stuck with a shower buddy from now on. It seems a better alternative than the bathtub nightmare.
On a related and even more bizarre note, Sophie - who says maybe a dozen words these days - pointed at my chest post-shower and said quite clearly, "boobies". (We have no idea where that came from. Grammom swears her innocence in the matter.) So you heard it here first: my 12-month-old is a budding pervert!
# posted by Amanda at 11:05 PM |
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Thursday, January 29, 2004
My office was closed through Wednesday and is opening late today because of the snow and ice. I haven't left my street since Saturday's pre-storm shopping trip with K. The past several days have been filled with conversations with friends, cleaning, baking (Sophie's newest word is cookie, which comes out as a staticky-sounding "c-c-c") and pottery.
I spent three and a half hours in the pottery studio yesterday, split nearly evenly between morning and evening. The current project is bowls to be donated to a charity event. Something clicked during the evening visit and I churned out five good pieces. Well, good for me, anyway. I'm still basically a beginner.
After finishing with the wheel last night, I had some time to poke around asking questions. My pottery mentor explained that quite a bit of her equipment was purchased at an estate sale several years ago. The previous owner, a woman named Dorothy, had developed Alzheimer's disease and eventually had to give up pottery. For a long time after bringing home Dorothy's tools, whenever she began a new piece my mentor would say out loud, "Don't worry, Dorothy. Someone is using your wheel." This, I think, reflects an understanding of an artist that only another artist can have.
# posted by Amanda at 8:36 AM |
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Tuesday, January 27, 2004
I think I promised the story behind the recent drama? It's ready for your reading enjoyment now, complete with emails and LiveJournal excerpts to add to your understanding of the issue. It's available to everyone by email request only.
# posted by Amanda at 11:36 AM |
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Monday, January 26, 2004
Upon hearing selected paraphrased bits of this, Sean replied, and I quote: "I think it's okay for children to see naked people, as long as it's not people they know." Allllllrighty then!
# posted by Amanda at 7:24 PM |
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Sunday, January 25, 2004
I'm finding that there are lots of benefits to K, aside from the obvious. She's in the know in so many ways, and fearless to boot, which has already proven to be quite the handy little resource for my more vindictive inclinations. It's a bit like hanging with the mob, and once you're in, you're committed for life. What can I say, it's either gonna be sweet or suicidal to have a friend on the inside.
# posted by Amanda at 10:21 PM |
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Thursday, January 22, 2004
A new Cheezwerks poll! I'm considering entering a "Baby's First Christmas" photo contest with one of the photos below. The contest specifies to "...send [the magazine] a photograph depicting your child's seasonal spirit." Whaddaya think? Vote below!
# posted by Amanda at 11:45 PM |
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Great news! CarBen LLC is donating one year of webhosting as a prize for the Postcards from Penguins photo contest! So the contest winner will receive free webhosting AND an Amazon.com gift certificate! C'mon, you know you wanna enter!
# posted by Amanda at 12:29 PM |
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Have you heard Howard Dean's response to the Iowa results? The one where he tells his supporters that they're going to "go to Washington DC and take back the White House", and then he cackles like a lunatic? Y'all, does he sound like a politician, or a WWE personality?
I'm thinking that he should change his campaign slogan to "CAN YOU SMELL WHAT HOWARD DEAN IS COOKIN'?!"
# posted by Amanda at 8:59 AM |
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Tuesday, January 20, 2004
On my way to the freezer for more ice cream (okay, just for more of the peanut butter swirl in the ice cream), I tripped over the same cat twice. Then I had the following chat with her:
"Zoe, why must you to try to kill me? If I die, who will feed you? You and the other cats will be forced to live off my carcass, and when that runs out, one of you will be cannibalized by the others. You're the fattest, so it will probably be you." Zoe responded with her wide-eyed blinky look and trademark yowl.
Talking to cats is bad enough; lecturing them is a sign that I really need to get out of the house more often.
# posted by Amanda at 10:56 PM |
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Good:
- "play date" #1
- "play date" #2
- small but yummy Indian restaurants
- Johnny Depp in eyeliner (actually, this rates as "very good")
- ice cream cones in January
- pretty pictures
- having another full social calendar next weekend
Bad:
- WalMart at noon on a Sunday (although I suspect that time and day are irrelevant)
- Kate Beckinsale fighting werewolves in a back-lacing leather catsuit and heels
- returning home from date #1 at 12:20 AM Sunday to find a frantic voicemail from my mom
- having to wait 8 hours to call back, only to find out that everything was okay (grrrrr!)
- recurring drama...more about this coming soon
# posted by Amanda at 7:47 AM |
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Thursday, January 15, 2004
For those of you who have tiny tykes or who need a gift idea for a baby shower/birthday/just because, I highly recommend Robeez shoes. Soft leather moccasins for infants and toddlers! They don't slip off, the mobile kiddo doesn't trip over them, and - best of all - there are so many colors and designs to choose from, which is oh-so-important with baby girls. Sophie is currently wearing Bunny Pink.
# posted by Amanda at 12:26 PM |
1 comments
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
 Here's the deal: I ordered a dozen 18" tall inflatable penguins for Sophie's birthday, and now I'm stuck with 2/3 of them. As it turns out, my grandparents didn't have as much use for inflatable party favors as I had hoped - go figure! The penguins are cute and served the decorative purpose for which they were intended as well as the alternate purpose of terrifying the dog ("Run, poodle, run!"). Unfortunately, Sophie is only keeping two so the rest must move on to new homes.
Introducing "Postcards from Penguins": A Photo Contest!
The mission is very simple: take an inflatable penguin on an outing and photograph him/her having a grand ol' time. That could be anything from nightclubbing to riding roller coasters to hobnobbing with celebs, as long as the penguin is having fun. Then, email or mail (address coming soon) the photo to me by 11:59 PM EST on February 14th, 2004. Entries will be judged by a panel of extremely qualified connoisseurs of fun. First place winner will receive a $10 (ten US dollars) Amazon.com gift certificate.
Don't have an inflatable penguin? I have five (5) that I will mail to the first five continental US-residing people who email to request one. (One free penguin per person, folks. Don't forget to include your shipping address in your email. You're free to pass the penguin along to your friends or family when you're done with it.) Or you can buy your own. I got mine at Off the Deep End's Inflat-o-rama, but be advised that they have a minimum order requirement so you might wanna split an order among friends. You can also try a penguin pool toy at Mystic Alley or an Inflatable Tux (the Linux penguin) at softwarenirvana.com.
The rules (as of this moment) are as follows:
1. Keep it clean. Don't get any dirty little ideas in your head just because these penguins are inflatable. If your dog Skookums takes an unnatural liking to your penguin and the passion swells between them, let them have their dignity---don't send me pictures of their romantic rendezvous.
2. Keep it humane. The penguin should be having a GOOD time, not an obviously terrifying experience. I reserve the right to disqualify any pictures that show injury and/or probable death to your penguin. In particularly disturbing cases, I might even contact the authorities to report penguin abuse. Let's not have that happen, mmmkay?
3. Keep it legal. Don't contribute to the delinquency of a penguin (or anyone else).
4. Keep it real. Y'all are on the honor system that the pictures submitted of fabulous penguin fun are in fact genuine. Anything that is obviously fabricated in Photoshop or other graphics programs will be disqualified YET posted for public ridicule. Don't test me on that, I'm a mean little thing.
5. All entries should include the name and contact info (email or postal address) of the entrant. This is so I can send you your prize if you win the contest.
6. Contest begins immediately and ends at 11:59 PM EST on 2/14/2004. Contest entries that are suitable for public viewing (that should be 100% of them...see Rules 1 & 2) will be posted here no later than 11:59 PM EST on 2/16/2004. Winner will be announced no later than 11:59 PM EST on 2/16/2004.
7. The point of this contest is purely to have fun. Enjoy it!
Now, go forth and play with penguins!
# posted by Amanda at 9:59 PM |
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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
...and then she had an idea, a terrible idea.
Stay tuned! *mischievous smile*
# posted by Amanda at 12:00 PM |
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Saturday, January 10, 2004
Long day, currently sofa-slugging openmouthed in front of the telly. Trading Spaces happens to be on and the remote control happens to be just out of my reach. Have you seen Paige Davis' muscles?! GOOD GAWD. The woman is simply not human.
Did you know that Ty Pennington has his very own web site? Well, he does. Complete with beefcake photos and things to buy. I'm kinda appalled. Then again, as my sofa buddy just pointed out, if Handyman Johnny Hotpants had a website I'd be all over that.
Mmm, guilty.
# posted by Amanda at 11:18 PM |
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Friday, January 09, 2004
Note to self: If someone glances at your sweater and asks if you're cold, it's a rhetorical question AND a hint to wear thicker tops.
# posted by Amanda at 12:51 PM |
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Thursday, January 08, 2004
Wellll, maybe I'm the tiniest bit country. I do stop for a short time every day to admire the horses near my work.
# posted by Amanda at 12:19 PM |
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Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Don't let the description fool you: I may be a Southern girl, but that does not make me country. On the contrary, I'd much rather be in a city, large or small, with ample overpriced shopping and caffeination opportunities. I'll take rats over snakes anyday.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I ended up in rural Maryland, with a house whose main selling point - wooded acreage - has spawned all new phobias. I'm aware that toilet snakes are probably just an urban legend, but in the 15 months I've lived in this house not ONCE have I used the bathroom without first checking for something scaly coiled around the rim. Also, since I encountered the black widow spider in my flowers, I have developed a unique yardcare technique that I call "Gardening Scared", which basically means that if I can't get someone else to do it, the yardwork doesn't get done at all. At least $100 in flowers baked to a crisp out on the driveway last summer because I was too panicky to actually plant them. And the planned lush backyard 'mingo habitat? Uh uh. The mingoes are wintering in the garage.
With the exception of spiders bigger than pro basketball players, none of the lovely Southern Maryland fauna had made its way inside the house. Until yesterday, that is. Sometime last night I went into the basement offices (the current home of Ali Cat) to check my email, noticed a weird gray lump on the floor, moved just close enough to see that the lump was mouse-shaped, and went screaming out of the basement and up the steps.
People, let me tell ya, I have owned pet mice, hamsters and chinchillas, and the fact of the matter is that the critters are a whole lot cuter when they're running on a wheel in a cage than when they are dying on your basement floor. As it turns out, the mouse was not quite dead when we found it, but was in severe shock from being roughly handled by the cat. Sean scooped it up and it died a short time later. I'm told by our animal expert (Sean's sister) that we shouldn't feel bad about that. So I'm trying not to.
Two things I know, however:
(1) Now we have to figure out how the little bugger got inside the house, and make sure he didn't bring any friends,
and (2) Ali just might be the solution to the mole colony issue in the yard. If that's the case, she has just earned her way back into my good graces.
# posted by Amanda at 12:59 PM |
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Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Whatever problem Knowspam.net seemed to be having this morning is fixed now. Unfortunately, any email sent to me today before 12:20 pm EST was gobbled up. *poof* gone. If you love me, please resend your email.
# posted by Amanda at 1:02 PM |
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Happy 1st birthday, Sophie!
Hard to believe my baby is 12 months old already...*sniffle*
# posted by Amanda at 6:56 AM |
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Monday, January 05, 2004
One year ago at this very minute, I was:
- feeling uncharacteristically calm
- still eating for two [read: ten] and looking forward to devouring a sausage and black olive pizza
- convinced that Cheezwerks' first nastygram (a.k.a. not-a-fan mail) was the most drama I'd experience all weekend
- mildly amused by a seemingly premature Babycenter bulletin referring to "my newborn"
- blissfully ignorant of the snowfall occuring in the vicinity of my hospital, which was located over an hour away, or of the fact that a couple of our friends had just commented about how funny it would be if I went into labor that night
- wondering what the heck a mysteriously sedentary Lady Spawn [fetal Sophie] was doing in there
- completely unaware that in slightly more than 12 hours, I'd be meeting the most amazingly beautiful, brilliant and lovable little person in the world.
All of that changed the very next minute, leading up to---
# posted by Amanda at 6:25 PM |
0 comments
Saturday, January 03, 2004
I've been sitting on a little secret: I have a new series of artwork that is on the cusp of being ready for viewing. It's unlike anything I have posted in the past, and in fact will not be posted on Cheezwerks in its entirety. Personally, I think it's an impressive, um, body of work. Email me if you're interested. :)
# posted by Amanda at 11:07 AM |
0 comments
Friday, January 02, 2004
...they let me shop without a helmet
I've been having a "comfortable waistband" type of week. If you don't know what that means, you're probably a guy or a very young female and won't appreciate the rest of this post, either. Run along, now.
Around lunchtime on New Year's Eve, I decided that sweatpants weren't really festive enough for a New Year's gathering and headed to the closest clothing store (Old Navy) to find casual-yet-stretchy black pants. After about 10 exasperated minutes of poking through racks of clothes that come in only two styles ("low rise" and "I can see your buttcrack"), I found a pair of sale black stretch velvet bootcut pants with a wide flat waistband. Bingo! Having no time for the fitting room, I marched straight to the checkout line.
When I tried them on at home, the only weirdness was a slightly floppy waistband. My waist is disproportionately small, though less so now than before the baby, and I'm used to having extra room in the waistband area. Anyway, these pants were a super bargain so I just decided to wear them paired with a longish sweater. New Year's gathering went fine, pants were comfortable, yadda yadda.
Today while doing laundry, I fished the new pants out of the hamper, went to check the care label inside the waistband and discovered that I had not only purchased but publicly worn maternity pants. On a non-pregnant body that intends to stay that way. The scream I uttered at that moment sent several of the pets fleeing for safety.
Hereafter I will at least check the label a little more closely before buying and wearing something. In the meantime, if anyone needs a pair of size small slightly used black velvet maternity pants, you've come to the right place.
# posted by Amanda at 5:59 PM |
0 comments
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