Tuesday, September 30, 2008

How many licks...


Well - if you are teething and have a cold...all that extra drool comes in handy.

More cuteness...

Luxurious PB&J eating


Funny face
In addition to being the general "Oh, I'm excited" face, this is the face she makes when she hears Daddy coming up the stairs at the end of the day.


Do you think she knows shes cute? (I'm fairly sure she does)


Binkie Gluttony

Tessa is a Binkie addict. She firmly believes that you can not have to many binkies - all in bed with you - at the same time.


The only time this addiction is not cute (okay, total lie, still cute, just annoying) is at 3am when she is crying for her binkie and after a mad scramble to find Binkie A, you realize she has Binkie B stuck on her pointer finger and just forgot about it...

Monday, September 22, 2008

Too Big for her Britches

Tessa is turning into such a toddler! I'd like to pleasure you with some anecdotes...

The other day I was deep in a phone conversation for work, pacing the length of the condo as I talked. After dodging Tessa a number of times I realized that she was following me, with her hand to her ear babbling to herself.

She's started pretending. Over the weekend she feed Aaron with a fork a whole serving of who knows what from the empty lid of a Pam cooking spray container.

Because the cat dishes were empty I let her play with them (I know, not enforcing positive behavior!) and found her kneeling over them, biting the side as if eating from them.

Same thing happened with Quincy's water fountain (if you don't know what I'm talking about, don't ask), except it wasn't empty and she was wearing Daddy's knit hat. She ended up with a stripe of water from the crown of her head to her belly button.

While I was eager looking forward to so many milestones, rolling over, crawling, walking. I was NOT looking forward to climbing. I know it makes me seem selfish to hear that I would not help her learn to climb, if she started trying to pull up on a chair I would pick her up and set her there. NO DEVELOPMENT OF BICEPS FOR ME PLEASE! But alas, you can't stand in the way of progress and now she can climb up and sit on a chair, as smug as you please. So now a lot of my day is spent saying "Sit down...sit. Sit down...Tessa, on your bum...sit." She has yet to try climbing on the counter - and I am counting my lucky stars as long as that lasts.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I vote for civility over politics

Am I the only person reading about/watching/discussing politics that thinks that there is just a bit too much (ie a lot of) HATE floating around out there? Since when did having a different opinion than someone mean you had to despise their very existence? I hardly think that an election is about making a choice between a white night and a dark lord. I hardly think that every slip of the tongue or funny looking tie indicates a voluminous character flaw that must be touted and shouted from every roof top.

This vengeful dialogue must be the reason that when I go to vote I have a looming feeling of anxiety and ... distrust. What if the person I chose, who by then - because the "other side" has been slinging vile and angry accusations with the same ferocity that "my guy" has been at them - I have serious doubts about, is really a shyster who has fooled me and others who vote for him and when he wins he will slough off his human form and reveal his true reptilian and evil soul? And even worse...what if the other guy wins?!

I crave information, debate and conversation, even persuasive argument - that is not full of revulsion and fury. I want to be able to hear each candidate state his political and philosophical leanings, his priorities, emphasize his character as well as his humanity and then step aside to let the other do the same. Sure, they can debate, but please, use logic and civility, not propaganda and sarcasm. Note this - I nearly always disbelieve a person who speaks of "the other" guy with hatred. I don't discuss politics very often because it seems like I am frequently blindsided by such statements, and if I try to advocate for rationality I become "one of them." (Oh what a saint I make myself out to be!)

In my fantasy world, if the person I didn't choose happens to win I'll think to myself - "Well, its a good thing that some of my Senators and Congresspeople, as well as those in other states, share my opinion, and can advocate for the causes that I hold dear - and its a good thing that our Founding Fathers set up at system of checks and balances so that the Executive office does not hold all power. And its a good thing that this might only last 4 years, and can not go longer than 8 years. And maybe I can trust the majority of the population to at least have chosen someone with character who, though his opinions differ greatly from mine at least has the best interests of the people he serves at heart."

Of course that would be easier to believe if the candidates themselves weren't so easily...

...hold on, I've got to go clean up cat puke.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Toasted Pan

I'm a pretty decent cook. I'd humbly put my skill level at around the 65th percentile...

But that doesn't stop me from doing things like setting the frying pan on fire - twice - while trying to make fried eggs for breakfast.


So yes, I definitely lose points for endangering the life of myself, my child and my cat, and the property of 3 families. But I regain some by not giving in and going to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. I pulled out a second frying pan (as the first one is probably going to be sent to the great stove top in the sky), did NOT turn the burner to the very highest setting, and made some very delicious, completely un-runny (thats a good thing in my book) fried eggs. And I enjoyed them very much.


(Oh yes, I also gain points back for only thinking about taking a picture because it would be great on the blog before putting the fire (okay, both fires) out.)

Friday, September 5, 2008

Bunch of photos (to make up for the recent derth)

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Definitely my Child
Definitely my Mother's Grandchild

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This blog's kazillionth photo of Tessa and Daddy sleeping

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Forget that I look a bit crazed - its a fun picture

I'm still gagging

Over the fact that last night Miss T ate cat food (the wet kind from the packet) that had been sitting out all day (10 hours at least).

I mean the cat himself wouldn't eat it when it was fresh.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Surprise Heating Oil "Discount"

I am Thankful this Thursday that -

Because we decided not to replace our furnace (hum...that in itself should be my Thankful...) and so we had to fill up our oil tank after months and months of letting it get emptier and emptier...it is 275 gallons and home heating oil is around $4.00...YIKES.

Luckily our 1st floor neighbors are friends with the people that deliver our oil so they convinced them to split the minimum 100 gallon delivery between our two units. So we got 50 gallons and $200 bill. Not as bad (although, yes, at some point we will need to by MORE oil).

The "discount" part!? Well apparently last spring I paid extra on the last bill, since I figured we'd be buying more and had been behind all winter. I forgot about it and when I got my followup bill from the oil company it was for $70.oo less than the original bill, because of that overpayment! YEAH!

Since I forgot about that I'm counting it as free money. Lutidootidootido (that is singing)

Monday, September 1, 2008

The Cape

Aaron was in the mood for a 5 day weekend (who isn't?) so he took Thursday & Friday off, in addition to the Monday coming up.

We headed to the Cape on Thursday so that we could beat the weekend traffic and crowds. We learned that Tessa does not like long (3 hour) car rides and has a temper! But she recovered quickly whenever we stopped the car and really had a lot of fun exploring the hotel room and turning the TV off and on (repeat...)

On Thursday night we just drove around and looked at cute cottages, stopping at a beach to stretch our legs. Fish and Chips for dinner - yum.

Then on Friday we spent the whole day at Nausett Beach. The day started out overcast but cleared up and was a perfect beach day. If you were flying over the east coast on Friday and looked down at Cape Cod - those three flashes of reflected light were the U** family frolicking on the beach. We slathered on the SPF 50 because after all, if you don't even have a base tan by Labor Day, there really is no point (that and skin cancer just doesn't seem like a fun time). You may want to don your polarized specs to view the pictures in this post.

Aaron and I took turns playing in the waves. You know, its been two years since I actually got IN the water when we've gone to the beach. This time Aaron let/made me go first and I remembered that it is a lot of fun! Of course the only reason I really got fully immersed is that a wave knocked me over but after that there was no stopping me.

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Me clearing my eyes after the first wave knocked me over.

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Aaron just about to catch a wave.

Aaron also had a lot of fun, as he is a wave aficionado. There was one scary part of the day though - I was laying on the beach (not tanning, just laying, remember the SPF 50) reading a magazine while Tessa finally slept and suddenly a loud noise made me look up and directly at Aaron, who was in the water on the opposite side of me that he'd been all day. And he was way, way out there, and he was swimming towards shore (floating on a body board) but not moving. Then suddenly he turned and started swimming parallel to shore - which is what you are supposed to do when you are caught in a rip tide. YIKES! I was all ready to run to a lifeguard but eventually he started moving towards shore. Whew!

Well - it was scary for me - but when he got back to shore he just kept playing in the water and I didn't find out till later that he had started on the right of our beach site and was carried to the left about about 2x as far out as he had intended.

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Our beach spot - we got there early enough that we were on the "front row" and Tessa could watch the people play all day.
Say Awww..... at how Tessa is leaning against my shoulder.
(P.S. Can you find the photoshopping in this picture?)

She wasn't terribly interested in this water with the big waves. But she did play a little bit right at the water line. This next picture is funny because she was posing so sweetly on the body board - but you can see the water climbing up the sand as a bigger than average wave picked the board up and carried it ONE INCH - which led to some serious crying and snuggling needed.
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Here are my "scenery" pictures
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