Big Day!

David crawled forward today for the first time! Here was about 30 seconds after we saw it first, after i started controlling my crying:)

Evil Corporations

So i've been hearing the words "Evil Corporations" used quite a bit lately. This seems unfair to me. It seems like successful businesses are under fire simply because they are successful. Walmart is a big corporation constantly getting yelled at for selling products that are recalled. i think that it would be good if the manufacturers would not make products with lead, and pay their workers better, and possibly be manufacturers in America. However, that would make the products much more expensive, wouldn't it? People are obsessed with getting the lowest possible prices on everything. They feel entitled to it. They don't seem to make the connection that getting something dirt cheap only means the quality is probably not so good. People love to say "They just don't make things the way they used to." That is true-ish, but honestly, maybe if people were willing to pay a bit more for things, their stuff would last longer. Also, many electronics have so many more features now than they did say, 20 years ago, that those hundreds of tiny parts have a lot more chance of going wrong. It's just the way it is. It seems like American consumers are in control of the economy and are the reason certain companies are so successful, like Walmart. People talk about "evil corporations with low-grade products" but are the ones that flock to the store for the $15 bluetooth headsets, then bring them back because they are "pieces of crap", then blame the store for carrying the product when it really is they who are forcing the store to carry a terrible product by refusing to pay a normal amount for a complicated piece of technology. Well, what do you expect? It bugs me. Walmart sells the cheapo Mattel products made in China because it works. People buy it, Walmart makes a few cents. If you want to signal big companies that they need to sell higher-quality items, start buying things from Discovery toys, Britax, Pyrex, Siemens, or other high-end things. If the market shows that people are willing to pay a bit more for better craftsmanship or things made in USA or even "Vegan" goods, it's the biggest voice that will affect the "evil corporations". People should put their money where their mouths are.

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Now playing: Clifford Curzon - Piano - Sonata in B flat maj, D960: II Andante sostenuto
via FoxyTunes

Another David post

David has started saying "dadadada" as babies do, but more importantly has begun almost repeating me. i'll say "Hi dada!" and he makes sounds that are very similar to that phrase, and it's the cutest thing.
He's also rolling on the floor and crawling backwards. The exersaucer now does nothing for him, but he can roll around for hours. We installed a safety gate as he can now get to the top of the stairs from the other side of the room at a scary fast rate.
He's perfect in public, and is quite sociable now that we have him sitting directly in the little child part of the cart. He looks around and smiles and hams it up whenever he gets attention, a frequent occurance.
i went into his room when he woke up yesterday morning, and he was standing up, holding onto the bars of his crib! i've never seen him stand up by himself before. Well, we lowered the crib. i was just so impressed that he stood up by himself. i've never seen him show much interest in that before.
He had his first orange sherbet today. Pretty sure there isn't dairy in it, and the Dr. said it would be ok to give him what we eat, so i gave him some of my dessert. He loved it! And then he had a crazy sugar high and i felt really bad because he couldn't sit still, and then 1/2 hr later took a 3 hr nap.
i made my own baby food for the first time the other day. Peaches, pears, bananas and mangoes. i didn't like having to cook all of them except for the bananas. It took a while. But it will be cheaper/better for him than buying gerber, right? Man, though, it takes a LOT of fruit to get a small amount of baby food.


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Now playing: Claudio Abbado; London Symphony Orchestra - Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite - 3. The Princesses' Round
via FoxyTunes

The Prius

Kris and i are looking into getting a different vehicle for me, and even though there is no chance of our affording a hybrid, it's interesting to think about owning one. i found this article on Slate and thought it was interesting, but i actually also really enjoyed reading the the "Messages from the Fray" about the article.

This week's Friday 5

This is not actually THIS week's Friday 5, but because i missed it last week and preferred last week's questions to this week's, i just answered last week's. As always, i got it from friday5.org.

1. What’s something you suspect you regularly overpay for? eyebrow waxes. Well, i don't get them often, but at Fantastic Sam's they're 11.99 now, more than their haircuts usually cost.
2. What’s something you suspect you regularly underpay for? formula, organic milk, lots of things, because my mom is kind enough to think of us when she shops at Sam's.
3. What’s taking up more of your time than it should? Getting my credit cards and social security card changed to my new last name. (it's been over a year. i should really get them all done.)
4. What’s causing you stress only because you let it? What i suspect others think of me.
5. If all your karma were based on your positive and negative attitudes, would it be in good shape, in bad shape, or perfectly in balance? somewhere between bad shape and balanced.

Learning to be frugal

Lately my husband and i have been trying to save money. We aren't in a great place right now, financially, and are trying to prepare for the unexpected that could make us even worse off. Here's some things i've started trying to do.

• We found out that electronics, when plugged in but not running, take up a bunch of energy. So we plugged our several family room electronics, (all but our tivo and wireless internet router, which have to be left on) into an energy saver power strip and turn off the strip when we're not using those things. The good thing about this, is you have to get up to turn on the switch. So i end up watching tv less, because if i have to get up to turn the danged thing on, i usually just go downstairs and bring up laundry or clean or read to David or something productive, since i'm already up.
• We've started keeping our blinds closed. This is actually a point of contention with us, because i love it to be bright and sunny, but it warms up the house, and the A/C has to work harder to keep up with the programmed temp. Now to me, the simple answer is "turn off the A/C", but this is not an option to my warm-blooded husband. At least on days like today when it was already 78 degrees by 7:45 AM. We also keep our ceiling fan on.
  
• This is a small thing, but i've started saving all the napkins they give you in fast food restaurants. You know how they hand you like 20 of them for one cheeseburger? Well, that's good for quite a few meals at our house, and they work for things like wiping off dribbled peaches from the chin of an adorable 6-month-old boy. It saves both napkins and paper towels, which aren't too expensive, but still add up.
• i'm trying to take shorter showers, and making them a little chillier. This sucks. i hate it. But it's a good thing to do, because our water bill is pretty high. i also only shower every other day unless i did something strenuous and am smelly.
  
• Along the water line, we use cold water in our clothes washer (it works just fine) and i'm trying to only wash clothes when they are actually dirty. Jeans can be worn a bunch of times, for instance. Or i might wear a dress shirt just for a few hours on Sunday morning, so i hang it up instead of tossing it in the laundry bag. This reduces unecessary wear on our clothes as well as the washer, bringing down the amount of times we have to use it.
  
• When the kitchen trash bag is full, i bring the can out to the dumpster and dump out the trash, but not the bag, making the bag last at least a week, instead of using 4-5/week like we had been. Trash bags are not cheap.
• i tried using only 1/2 of a baby wipe. This did not work. Baby wipes are an area where i don't want to skimp, and i'm sure David thanks me for it.
• i'm trying to turn off lights whenever possible.
  
• i use Shaklee Get Clean products for my household needs. Everything in that line is non-toxic, as well as highly concentrated. It requires adding measured amounts of water and product, but works very well, is safe for David, and lasts a LONG time. i've saved probably $100 since May when i started using it, and i will still not need to order more for a long time, because it lasts so long. i originally signed up with Shaklee to help out my friend and to try to make my house safer for David, but i love it now for how much money it saves me. (Not to mention saving me from that harsh chemical smell every time i wash my mirror.)
• i water down juice. This is not only to reduce the amount of sugar i am drinking, but also to make juice last longer. i'm also buying concentrated juice, generally 33% of the cost of buying it in bottles.
• i turned my refrigerator down to a lower setting. Haven't noticed a difference, and hopefully it should save us some money.

So those are some things we're trying to do. Hopefully they'll help, (we started most of them just a couple days ago) and they really won't be too much of a sacrifice.

An email i wrote to my mom earlier today

Just letting you know, i've got a baby for sale and/or swap. Asking price: $3500 (to cover the rest of our doctor's bills) but we will come down in price because our item is broken.
Features:
A winning smile
Seems smart
Weaned
Takes cheap formula

To be repaired:
Constant dripping from eyes/nose/mouth areas
Smells a bit
Very loud at inconvenient and all times
Lately has had a constant "whiny" sound

State Fair

There is only one good reason to live in Minnesota as opposed to, say, ANYWHERE ELSE, which is the MN State Fair. Today is opening day, so my mom and i will be going, as per our tradition of several years. i am very excited. Enjoy your day, fellow-blog people, while i eat my corn dog and mini donuts and veggie fries. Yum.

Big Day Tomorrow!

It is David's six-month checkup tomorrow. i'm excited to bring him because his Dr. is the best type: the kind who gushes over him enough for me to feel sufficiently proud of my offspring until the next checkup. We bought a new baby carrier, thanks to a hefty donation from my mom. Here it is, it's pretty sweet:
Our new carrier
His little feets were sticking out of his old one pretty far, and we knew that after this checkup, he'd most likely measure longer than 29" (the height maximum for our old carrier) so with our coupon we decided to buy one last weekend. He loves it! We don't even have activities for him in the little activity cup, but no matter, he just flips the top open and closed the whole car ride. He used to scream when we'd put him in his old one but i think he likes how open our current one is, and how much more freedom of movement he has. Now that he has outgrown his carrier with its own sunshade, though, we will need to invest in back and side window tint things for both cars, so the sun doesn't get in his eyes, if the sun ever comes back out.
So here are some new things about David since his last checkup:
He rolls around like a madman. If there is something around him that he wants, like a toy or a remote within 10 feet of him while he's on the floor, he will get it. If he can't quite roll to it, he gets on his belly and swivels until he can get whatever it is. Lord help me when he starts to crawl: an imminent danger.
He has "conversations" with us. He makes a noise, usually a high-pitched singing noise, and we kinda do it back. He gets the happiest look on his face, and makes the noise again. This can go on for a very long time.
He likes cereals and vegetables. Granted, we haven't tried him on a lot of either, mostly because i keep thinking i'll buy vegetables and puree them myself, but then end up eating them myself. But what baby food we have given him, (carrots and squash) he quite enjoys. And rice cereal, well he likes it better than my dad likes steak. He'd eat truckloads of it if we'd let him. The books say to watch for the signs of when a child is full, like he'll lose interest, or look away, but with rice cereal, he either watches expectantly, mouth wide open for you to spoon some more in there, or he cries when you put the bowl back on the table.
He's figured out how to very successfully hold his own bottle. Even when he drops it or changes positions, his motor skills have improved enough to be able to bring the nipple part back to his mouth.
He's learning to manipulate attention. If he's in his exer-saucer and squeals with delight and jumps around and makes lots of delighted noise, he knows we're going to look at him and laugh and say "Yay David!"
He's a big squiggly worm now, too. It almost requires two people just to change his diaper, the little scamp:)
He knows that remotes and phones, specifically cell phones, are magical and charges at them whenever he gets the chance. i was hoping that would be another 6 months or so before it happened.
He has his two dear little bottom teeth. They are simply charming, especially when he gives me that big huge smile that warms my heart.
His hair is back to normal: no more weird bald spots or anything. It looks like he is turning out a strawberry blond, at least for now, much to his daddy's chagrin. Kris swears up and down that he is brunette, but he is a dark blond, and only a light brunette once he puts all his hair product in. Now that his son is a blond and definitely did not get it from me, Kris is beginning to admit to his "blond roots":)
Oh! He's almost waving now! He's begun to wave at himself, and when we wave at him, he gets this puzzled look on his face, looks down at his hand, and starts waving to himself again. He's almost there. It's darling.

i really like this baby. He's a good 'un. Yesterday when Kris and i got back from the game and dinner and saw David for the first time in about 5 hours, David cracked a smile for Kris, but when he saw me, he got this big huge smile on his face, like "Yay! This is the best thing that has ever happened to me ever!"

One more favorite thing about him, (sorry about all the gushing.) When i walk into his room after one of his naps, his room smells like honeysuckle. For some reason when he sleeps, he emits this sweet smell, and it's one of my favorite things about him so far. It's just wonderful. Ok, that is enough of my sickly-sweet post about my child. If you made it this far, good for you, and if you couldn't stomach it all the way down to the end, i completely understand:)

Johan.

i like Johan Santana a lot. He is mostly very reliable and good, but his hitting teammates are not supporting him as best as they could/should. i can't blame him if he's getting pissed off about it, which you can sort of tell from time to time, that he is tired of pitching amazing games for a team that refuses to hit a ball. However, yesterday Kris and i went to the game as our anniversary celebration, and man, Johan was ON FIRE! He pitched 17 strikeouts, the record for the Twins. The air was electric, and it was the perfect game for a celebration. It was a very good time, though the walk back to the Metro Transit station was a very soggy one:)

News for this week

So David turned 6 months old today. i have read in several places that "you can't spoil a child before they are 6 months old." So i guess starting today if i rock him if he's just being a jerk and whining for no reason, he'll get spoiled:) He has his 6-month checkup next Tuesday, where we'll probably find out he is over 19 lbs and therefore has outgrown his infant carrier, and we'll need to buy new ones. We should maybe think about doing this tomorrow because i have coupons at Babies 'r us that expire on the 19th. i wish buying secondhand baby seats was a safer thing to do, but baby seats are just the kinds of things you really need to buy new, in case the second hand ones had been recalled, or had been in car accidents, or just aren't safe anymore according to those people that decide what is and isn't safe in the car.
Last weekend MN got dumped on with rain and hail, and in Bloomington, where my parents live, there were hundreds of downed trees, as well as on 3 AM Sat morning their power went out, and stayed out until Tuesday afternoon. They got a generator, but it was only a particular wattage that could handle their refrigerators and chest freezer, and not something like their A/C, so the family pretty much lived at my house a lot of the weekend. It was very fun and very exciting for me to have a break from the monotony of everything, though it was bad news for them. Having them here also provided us with a babysitter while we finally went and saw Harry Potter, which i really enjoyed and even stayed awake through the whole time. It wasn't so depressing as the last HP, because even though someone you like dies in this one, at least it's an adult and not a boy like the last movie.
Monday is Kris' and my first anniversary. We're hoping to find someone to watch David on Sunday so Kris and i can do something, but really, we're super broke (news to me as of yesterday morning) and i really don't think we'd be able to pull off going anywhere we'd have to spend money, especially with having to buy new car seats and paying off our mortgage and doctor's bills and student loans, all of which are conveniently due at the end of the month. However, this was not meant to be a depressing paragraph, so i'll veer away from the topic of money. Our first year of marriage has been fabulously wonderful. People say the first year is the hardest, and if this is true, then i'm super glad i got married! i'd say we learned a lot about each other, but that's not totally true because we'd known each other so long there wasn't much else to find out. The only things i've learned is that he takes really long showers and is very anal about the way he hangs up his clothes (with three different colors of hangers, each color with its own purpose.) But we've had all sorts of fun fixing things up, or taking walks around Shakopee, playing with David, eating pizzas all the time, and we in general extremely good companions. Also at my new church he's subbed for drummers on occasion, letting us finally play together in church again. It's been a very good year. We had ourselves one great baby, and have had friends over for dinner, usually lasagna, and have all sorts of fun inside jokes. It's great living with my best friend. i love him:) My heart is getting all melty on the inside. i'd go tell him i love him, but as he just got back from work at 2 AM this morning, i'll wait until at least 10 AM to do this.
This is very jumbly. If i find i ever have a real issue to post about, it'll be good and not as free form train of thought as this post has been.

Friday Five for 08.17.08

1. What were your after-school hours usually like when you were in high school? Full of jazz band or some other type of musical ensemble.
   
2. What are the first moments like when you finally get home after a long day? Put my purse down, make sure to put my keys somewhere where i'll have trouble finding them later, then scramble to make a screaming David a bottle because normally whenever we get home it's time for him to eat.
   
3. Where do your thoughts normally turn after the December/January holidays have passed? Last year it was, "when will i get this baby out of me?" but in general i get a bit depressed because Christmas is pretty much the best part of the year. i start wishing for spring right afterwards but there are months between New year's and spring around here.
   
4. When did you last allow someone to cut in front of you in line? i do it all the time. The last particular time was probably when the people coming from 169 South had to merge into my lane on 13 North.
   
5. What are you going to do right after you finish answering these questions? Maybe write another post, maybe put laundry in the dryer.
   

Just a note of thanks

It seems people are enjoying reading this, and i just wanted to say thanks for caring about my small life to subscribe and comment on it. It makes me feel glad to know this blog is something people find worth the time to read. Thanks everyone!

open question to Christians

So every night before bed, i feed David and i sing to him ("Here I am to Worship", followed by a song i wrote for David, followed by Jesus loves Me and then Jesus Loves the little Children) and then while he finishes up the bottle i pray out loud with/for him. i'm wondering if any of you think there is a certain way i should pray for him. First we thank God for the blessings of the day, including family, friends, our home, food, and of course Daddy who is at work working hard to give us a nice lifue. Then we pray for our friends and/or the people i think of who are laid on my heart at that time. Then i pray for David, that he will have sweet dreams and have a solid relationship with Christ even now. i pray that he will be kind and wise and make good decisions tomorrow, and that i will be a good example to him.
Here's my thoughts though. i then pray that he will be pure in mind spirit and body. This is basically asking that he not "repeat the sins of the father", as i have not always been appropriate in that manner until we found out about David, 3 months before the wedding. How am i supposed to pray for him to not be like me? How am i supposed to tell him, in 15 years or whatever, that i got to do exactly what i wanted to do when tempted when i was younger, but that it is unacceptable for him to do so? What right do i have to pray for purity for my child but didn't require it from myself when i was claiming to be a Christian and was on the fence about it? So i just pray for purity for him every night, but is that really enough? Or is it even too much to ask? This keeps me up at night sometimes. i'm anxious to hear what any of you think.

not much but some

i feel very blessed and happy tonight. David had a great day of being smiley and giggly. Kris and i had a happy morning and early afternoon before he left for work. i got to finish a book i've been reading and got to spend some time out on my deck, sipping a margarita and enjoying the heat, which i actually do enjoy as i am alien to Minnesota and hate cold but love extreme heat.
i'm a bit lonely tonight, however. i wish some of my friends were available or that i had somewhere to go that didn't require money. But our night at home was still nice. We watched Friends and i folded laundry and David rolled over about 100 times and was kissed by me about 10x that:) He's extremely kissable. It's a fact. i'm going to watch some Friends and doze a bit now. Hopefully Kris will get home soon and be extremely kissable too:)

Twins!

i missed watching the game today, but i saw yesterday's: Yay! We needed some wins under our belts, even though the prospects of playoffs are still pretty small, it's a good feeling to win, especially bringing out 4 runs under Sabathia yesterday in the last 2 innings! It was awesome.
Anyone know if this whole Castillo trade is a good thing? i don't know much about baseball, and especially not its politics, but trading a very solid one of our players for 2 NY minor leaguers doesn't seem like a totally smart move to me.

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A small update

Li'l David now eats carrots. He loves them! He eats them like they're going out of style. He's very wonderful, and will be 6 months old in 17 days. He got really big this past week. It really does seem like he grew quite a bit in that time, because i was rocking him in his glider chair on Saturday night, which i hadn't done since Monday, and he was definitely taking up more space in my lap. i love him.
Found out i get to play both services at my church starting during the fall, instead of just the one! i'm so happy! Not only is it more dinero to go towards a bigger vehicle for me, it is also more piano playing i get to do! i'm very blessed and happy about this whole situation. It feels just so right being there. (i'm not just saying this only because i recently found out "my boss" reads my blog, either:)) Even though i don't believe in church denominations because i think they're unbiblical and mean, if i were to subscribe to one, i'm pretty sure it would be ELCA Lutheran. This might be another post.
Kris and i bought 12 lbs. of fresh meat today for $21. i love Sam's club. Kris also was a dear and when i asked him to go get feta while i picked out meat, he came back not only with feta, (which is a luxury) but also with goat cheese (luxuryx5!) He is a very caring person.
Does anyone know what to do if you find a lot of one kind of bug in your house? We have ticks, actually. Not the kind that carry lyme disease, thank goodness, but the other kind. Kris knows the name of them. i see them crawling up our walls mostly, but we don't seem to be able to find out if there is a nest or if they congregate somewhere. We just find them crawling around random different walls. They haven't jumped on us or anything, thankfully. But do you call an exterminator? i have never lived in my own house. If i were to call Terminex or some exterminator, i also know enough about myself that if i were just calling for pricing or something, they'd get me to agree to have them come out here and do the job no matter what. i'm a big pushover. Seriously, if you want money, just try selling me something and i'll probably buy it. i try not to go into stores where people actively try to sell you things, otherwise i'll come out with something i can't afford. Wow. Tangents are silly.
Anyway, i just feel really happy right now. David is sleeping, my kitchen is clean and my dishwasher is humming. In fact, my house is pretty clean-ish right now. My father-in-law dropped by with about 1 minute's notice today and i was able to have him come in and i didn't have much to be embarassed about. Really the only thing not in its place in our house is that all our deck stuff is in our living room because the association is treating and staining the decks this week. Isn't it strange how you feel better when your house is clean? Alright, it's time for food network and bed. May God's peace find its way into the hearts of all you who read this. (yep, Lutheran. Who would have guessed it from me?)

My sweet night

So tonight was very good. My boss asked if i could accompany a very famous violin piece called "Adoration" for church on Sunday. Having played it on violin, i quickly agreed, as it is a beautiful piece. Really really gorgeous. Here's a story.

Once upon a time, a 2-year-old Jessica saw an orchestra play at church. She pointed to the cello section and said "Mom, I want to play that." Her mother told her that someday, she'd play it. However, her parents were very poor, and when the time came for Jessica to start playing music, (age 7) her parents could only afford to buy her a little violin, not the cello she'd been dreaming of, because her brother played violin already and had all the books, as well as an inexpensive teacher the whole family loved. So Jessica started violin under the pretense that she would not be playing that particular instrument long, and would move to her beloved cello soon. She progressed rapidly at the violin, having heard these pieces since she was a tiny baby, and got through the first two "Suzuki" books within a year. She went to her parents, inquiring as to when she could quit violin and start cello. Then her parents decided that she was too good to quit violin, and forced her to continue playing it, not starting her on cello at all. They did, however, start her on piano at this time, which she did love. She begrudgingly continued playing violin, and started playing in youth orchestra, and got involved in violin things. Over the next few years, she started playing solos in church on both instruments, but was known mainly as a violinist, because she took violin lessons at somewhat prestigious schools, Macphail school of Music, and Augsburg College music program. She kept moving up in youth orchestras, and spent her years of high school in the top two youth orchestra levels in MN. She was concert master at Kennedy High School orchestra. She played in weddings, funerals, and string quartets.

Too bad she resented the violin for not being the cello. She hated it. She found the violin to be a "naggy" instrument, not deep and beautiful like the cello, nor full and vibrant like the piano. She applied to Valparaiso University as a pianist/violinist, and was told that as a violinist she'd get much more scholarship money. So she did violin there, too, and received a LOT of money because of it. Because of being in orchestra, though, she didn't get the opportunity to sing in choir, which she wished she could do. It was hours and hours of violin playing in an orchestra less talented than the youth orchestra she'd been in in high school, though her position was considerably higher (3d chair, first violin, compared to youth orchestra where she was generally 8th chair, second violin. To be fair, in her youth orchestra, the top two violinists were accepted to Juilliard and Manhattan.) But so college found her to still not be doing what she loved, which had turned its focus from cello to piano. She still took piano lessons and played at a local church choir and accompanied voice lessons, but couldn't accompany the Valparaiso Chorale, much less sing in it, two things she really wanted to be doing. Feeling stuck doing what she never intended on doing in the first place, she transferred from Valpo to Bethel University, where she'd be closer to family, Kris, and her beloved nephew Ros. 

She never told Bethel she played violin. She recieved absolutely no music scholarships, because no schools like to give money to transfer student pianists, evidently. Interestingly enough, after telling the music faculty that she only played piano and sang, when she was auditioning to sing for Bethel choirs, she finished singing her piece and sight-singing a hymn. Here's how the conversation went:

Dr. Port: "Jessica, do you play a stringed instrument?" 

Jessica: "Why do you ask?"

Dr. Port "You sing like a string player. And you sight-sing like a violinist, actually."

She was accepted into the Bethel Women's Chorale, kind of the garbage choir of Bethel, the rejects for Bethel Choir, possibly because of lack of experience. She never figured out what singing like a string player meant. However, she didn't have to play violin anymore, and felt deliciously free. She didn't touch the violin, but for a few weddings, since she put it away when she was at Valpo her last concert, Beethoven's majestic 9th symphony. Since then, she would not admit to playing violin and would downplay its role in her life on every occasion possible.

First person again: So tonight i was looking for my old "Adoration" part, and found it and the piano part. i thought it might be fun to revisit it on violin, so i pulled my dear violin out again. And i opened it, and it wasn't something hateful at all. It was my beloved Merrick (yes I named it) and it was looking back at me like "Why have you forsaken me?" And i played Adoration on it, and despite my very rusty technique, especially my horrible vibrato, IT still played as pure and true as it could. And i apologized to it afterwards. And will continue to play it, so i can get back up to feeling like my vibrato doesn't sound like a beginner and my shifting doesn't sound like sliding again. And i feel like a more complete person. The piano part is so pretty, and i was able to play it without much pausing, and that will be great. But the real victor was my relationship with my violin. i think the reason i hated it was because maybe i thought it was taking away from my piano playing, but now that i am known as a piano player, playing violin again has brought back memories and made me realize it's wonderful. Maybe being with something 20+ hours/week makes you forget about its good qualities or something. You could probably relate that to marriage, too. Well, after coming back to it, i definitely don't want to let it go.

People that aren't musicians may not get this blog. Probably won't, actually. But i feel like i rediscovered something powerful. I  feel rediscovered, even. Man. Good stuff.

Just a bit of update

David is still teething. Thought we were safe, having gotten the one out, but it turns out one is right next to it. It feels like it will be very soon, because it seems to be making quite a ridge into his poor little gum. So he's still crying most afternoons. It's really strange: he'll be in a great mood mornings and evenings, but afternoon is teething time.

He really is the cutest thing. He's so vocal! He sings and talks so much! He's also become a grunter, and enjoys squawking and doing what Kris and i call his "Hulk" impression. He started enjoying his rice cereal last week finally, after getting the hang of the spoon, i guess, so i started him on oatmeal cereal yesterday, which he seemed to enjoy as well. i've started feeding him cereals twice a day now. He takes GREAT naps after them, but if i feed him cereal before bed, it doesn't seem to do much as far as helping him sleep longer, which apparently works for most others.

i joined "Curves" this week. i start my first routine thing on Tuesday, where they'll weigh and measure me and then teach me how to use the machines, i guess. It's not cheap, (though it's a great deal less expensive than Lifetime or Gold's) but Kris and i thought it was important both physically and mentally. i've been feeling like crap lately about my body, and i've got no energy, and i think a lot of it could do with my 25 extra lbs i've been carrying around. The Curves near me is within walking distance, too, so it'll be a nice little walk (really less than a full block) to bookend my workouts.

i have to send in my laptop for service. Unfortunately, i bought it at Comp USA (a month before i started Best Buy) and now no Comp USAs exist in MN, so i have to send it in for who knows how long. Yuck. i really don't know what i'll do without it! Maybe get stuff done....but i'm not looking forward to it. But so they tell you to back up all your files and stuff, but my comp won't let me do that, for some reason. So if they lose my documents, there is nothing that can be done about it. That freaks me out! Then i was trying to back up to my external hard drive, but that's acting up, too, and it keeps crashing my computer. i can't send it to Seagate for service, though, because it's really an internal hard drive that i've got in a Dynex external hard drive casing thing, so technically i'm using it improperly and it voids the warranty. Oy.

Well, gotta give the boy a bath. i'll post about happy things later!

Friday Five on Saturday

1. What’s a gross food you like anyway? i like Brussels sprouts, too, Kristine. They're good!
2. Who’s an unlikable person you like anyway? Can't think of any real people, but if any of you watch the show "Heroes", the "bad guy" Sylar is my fav character.
3. What’s an unpleasant task you enjoy performing anyway? Scrubbing something that's really stuck and getting it to come off. i get this small thrill:)
4. What’s a dumb song you enjoy anyway? OK, i'll admit it. i still rock out to "mmm bop" by Hanson.
5. What’s a lousy restaurant you frequent anyway? My parents go to Applebees a lot. i don't particularly like it, i only like about 1 1/2 things on the menu, but if they're paying i go! It's really not lousy though. But it's the only restaurant i go to regularly where i'd usually rather go somewhere else.

As always, got this from Friday5.org.