Cutting It Close

My car passed inspection! The line wasn't very long at all and they inspected it so quickly that for a moment I thought it must have failed something. I did have a moment of panic when I pulled my insurance and registration cards out of the glove compartment and the registration said "valid through 1/2008." I think my heart literally skipped a beat and I suddenly felt ill. How could I not have renewed my registration? How could I have gone a WHOLE YEAR past the expiration date without ever realizing it? Further searching found the current card -- whew! However the expiration on that read -- you guessed it -- "valid through 1/2009" which meant I had until today to renew it. No big deal, I thought. I'll just get online and do it. But I didn't do it on Thursday (have I mentioned before that I'm a procrastinator?) Then I honestly and truly forgot all about it until last night. My Man pulled up the website for me last night but because I never received a renewal form in the mail (no wonder I forgot all about it!) I couldn't do it online. Then I really panicked because I thought I would have to wait until Monday and probably have to pay a late fee or something. My Man did a little searching and found that the DMV would be open this morning -- whew again! I packed up the Boogie and headed over there early expecting a long wait since it's the weekend and the last day of the month. But I was in and out in about ten minutes. And the scary receptionist of prior experiences was in a good mood. :) Praise the Lord for working everything out!

After that we went to the library to find some new DVDs for toddler viewing, then picked up My Man for an excursion to Chick-fil-A and Target. At Chick-fil-A we met a family in the play area with a little girl just four days younger than the Boogie. The play area was clean and there were hardly any kids there so it was a pleasant experience for all. The little girls played very nicely together.

This afternoon my BFF in Montana called me! We talked for over an hour. I haven't seen her since I got married. :( Today I did my best to convince her that she and her husband, Mr. Cowboy, need to come to the East Coast to visit. We have lots of mutual friends out this way and apparently Mr. Cowboy has some family not too far from here, too. Chica, if you are reading this, you NEED TO COME TO NEW JERSEY. We would have so much fun. If you come I promise we will take you to NYC and Philly and the shore.

Here's the Boogie talking to her Lela, I believe. Apparently she thinks Lela is outside somewhere. (I was on the phone with my BFF which is why my comments make no sense.)

The Boogie makes me so happy. I love her cute little face and her adorable grin and her cheerfulness. I love all the things she is learning to say. I love hearing her sing to herself all day long. I love how her clean face shines and how good she smells fresh out of a bath. I love when she sees me and says, "Mama!" as she runs across the room into my arms. I love feeling her little arms hug my neck tight. I love how she lays in her crib and says "I luh you" around the binky in her mouth and makes a kissy noise at me. At night when I am easing into sleep I think about the things she did that day and it literally makes me smile and laugh in the darkness. I love her so much it makes my heart ache with happiness sometimes. She is such an amazing little person and I thank God daily for allowing us to have her in our lives.

Snow Day ... Sort Of

Yesterday morning when My Man was leaving for work it looked like this outside:
His little car in the background:

From our windows at 4:30 a.m.:

It was so pretty but made me very nervous to think about My Man driving to work at 4:15 in the morning. I was sure the roads wouldn't be clear. Thank the Lord for cell phones, right? My Man texted me when he arrived safely at work so I wouldn't worry. I spent his whole drive time praying for his safety.

When the Boogie and I got up (much, much later) I had every plan to take her outside to play in the snow. Right before I started bundling us both up I peeked outside and it was raining! So much for that. It rained off and on all day and the rest of the time it was drearily foggy. We stayed inside. Most of the snow was melted by the end of the day.

The other thing of any excitement that happened yesterday was that the puppy downstairs barked and cried off and on all day. He would go at it anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour and a half straight and then stop for a while. He probably wore his little self out. I did feel badly for him down there all by himself -- I know he's just a baby and he just got taken from his mom and litter. All the same I don't care to listen to anyone's dog bark all day so when Downstairs Neighbor came home I went down to nicely "complain". I tried to be as nice and understanding as could be but suggested a couple of times that he could maybe make other arrangements for the puppy during the day. We'll see what happens next. It didn't really bother me too much yesterday but I would imagine that if it goes on day after day all of us stay-at-home-moms in the building will get pretty tired of it.

Today it's clear and sunny but plenty cold. Of course my car has to be inspected this month and of course I waited until the end of the month. That means that I have to go today and take the Boogie with me. At least the inspection station has a little booth that we can wait inside. It's a little bit warmer in there. All of you who DON'T live in New Jersey and DON'T have vehicle inspections, be thankful! And please pray that I pass. :)

How To Make Chex Muddy Buddies

You will need:
-9 c. Chex cereals (corn, rice and/or wheat)
-1 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
-1/2 c. peanut butter
-1/4 c. butter
-1/4 tsp. vanilla
-1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Pour cereal into large bowl and set aside. Combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in 1 quart microwavable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until smooth (stir after 1 minute). Stir in vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal and stir until all pieces are evenly coated.

Pour cereal mixture into large container (with seal) with powdered sugar. Seal securely. Shake until all pieces are well coated.

Spread on wax paper to cool. Store in an airtight container (super yummy if you put it in the freezer for a bit.) Makes 9 cups.

No Puppies!

Did I say that the Boogie needs a pet? I was very, very wrong. She does not need one. She especially does not need a puppy. I especially do not need a puppy.

My last post was Wednesday. On Thursday morning as I was leaving, I noticed a trail of dog food from the back door of our building leading to or from Downstairs Neighbor's car. The lease we signed (and BIL/SIL1 signed and the R family signed so I'm assuming everyone in this building has signed) specifies NO PETS. Previous Downstairs Neighbor (who moved out after Christmas -- current DN was previous DN's roommate) had a cat which we all ignored as it was quiet and apparently trained to use a litter box. Dogs are not cats, though. They bark. This was definitely dog food. That night BIL1 said he had seen the puppy outside with DN's girlfriend. Very small. Very cute. Definitely canine.

Yesterday morning I woke up to whining and barking. After a couple of minutes I wondered if DN had left it there by itself, but then I could hear him talking to it and the barking stopped. When the Boogie and I got back from a walk after lunch we saw DN outside with the puppy. It was very very cute. It had short gray fur with some white patches. Its little tail wagged its whole body. It tried to kiss the Boogie. The Boogie was entranced. It was adorable. Until last night.

Last night the puppy woke me up around midnight. It seemed to be in a crate in the room directly below ours. It was whining. It was barking. It was thumping around in its crate. I heard DN walking around and heard his voice, I guess talking to the puppy. It did not quiet down. It got louder. After about ten minutes I got up, put on my robe, and went downstairs. I knocked on the door. I waited. No answer. I rang the bell. I waited. No answer. I could hear the puppy barking and whining. I knew DNs were awake. Who could sleep through the puppy noise? I knew they could hear the doorbell. I started getting mad because they were ignoring me. I rang the doorbell four times in a row which, I'll admit, was probably overkill. The puppy stopped barking. Downstairs Neighbor came to the door apologizing profusely. "I'm so sorry," he said, "I've got it under control now." (As if he had been trying to stop it the whole time. Yeah, right. I was wise to him.) He went on to say that his girlfriend was staying over and it was her puppy. I said, "okay," and went back up to bed. I calmed down and went back to sleep. There hasn't been any more puppy noise since. It's none of my business if DN wants to keep a puppy in his apartment. That's between him and the landlord. Honestly I couldn't care less if he has a puppy ... until it does something to disturb me. I guess that's why there's a No Pets clause in the lease. And I was reminded why I don't want a puppy now. Some day, sure. When we have a house with a yard and our kids are old enough to walk the dog and clean up after it and sleep with it themselves.

Yesterday was a really beautiful day. The temperature rose to the low-fifties and it was clear and sunny. The Boogie and I went for a stroll. She walked very slowly. She wanted to pick up every leaf and twig and seed pod she saw. Thankfully she ignored the trash. A truck went by and she exclaimed, "car!"
"No, honey," I said, "that's a truck." (I didn't even know she knew "car.")
"Truck," she repeated. Then she correctly identified every car and truck that passed by! That's my smartie-pants. Her newest thing is to say "oh, my" about everything. If she's excited it's with an upward inflection: "Oh, my!" If she is being dramatic it's a little slower with a downward inflection: "Ohhh, my ..." She is just so funny and she makes me laugh all the time!

Oh, Puppy

I think this child needs a pet. Too bad we live in an apartment ...

How The Boogie Got Her Name

To answer Miss Sherri's questions, the Boogie does indeed know how to say "uh-oh." She accompanies it with "oh, no!" and was proclaiming both as she destroyed her mini-blind. Since she also says those things when she is chucking binkies, burpies, and stuffed toys out of her crib, I paid no attention. Next time I will know better than to ignore her.

When I was pregnant with the Boogie, I was very excited to feel her first movements. I distinctly remember it. We were driving somewhere and I felt a flutter. When I felt it again a moment later I looked at My Man and exclaimed, "I think I just felt the baby move!" As she got bigger so did the movements, changing from little flutters to pokes and then jabs and then kicks. Towards the end she advanced from kicking to somersaulting, cartwheeling, and running marathons. In fact I think it was all-out gym class in there from time to time. The worst was when she would stretch. I would feel her bony little knee pressing against my ribs and see her hand trying to poke through my skin at the bottom of my very round stomach. When she would do that I would yelp, "Ouch! you. little. booger!" My Man thought it was hilariously funny and started referring to her as Booger. He said he was going to call her that after she was born, too. "Oh, no you're not," I told him, "that's no nickname for a brand-new baby." But sure enough, he did ... for a whole day. Then it got shortened to Boogie. By the time we got home from the hospital she was the Boogie and has been ever since.

Naptime Naughtiness

Look at what the Boogie did yesterday when she was supposed to be sleeping.
I knew she was awake. I was right in the other room and I could hear her looking out the window but I had no idea she had broken the blind because the curtains are always pulled closed. In fact, I didn't realize it was broken until I checked on her before I went to bed last night and thought that the shadow on the curtain looked odd.

She never did take a nap yesterday, which meant I didn't either. But there's always next Sunday!

Fun At Ikea And Other Places

Yesterday I worked all afternoon. It was fun! It tickles me when patients come in and say, "Oh, you must be new here." I enjoy seeing how befuddled they get when I tell them that I've worked there for 2 1/2 years. It's like they're thinking, "Wait! She's worked here for two years? Then I must have seen her before." Then they're sort of embarrassed because they think they didn't remember me when actually they probably never did see me before.

While I worked The Boogie spent the afternoon with her Mom Mom and Pop Pop. My Man came home after work and worked out on the elliptical, and then headed to 52 for dinner. After dinner they came to pick me up from the office and we drove to Ikea in Philly. I "heart" Ikea. It's so fun to go there because we can buy a lot of things without spending a lot of money. It makes me feel like this:

We came home with six new plastic plates ($.49 each), a plastic stool ($3.49) and a really cute stuffed elephant ($4.99) for the Boogie, a box of straws ($1.99), a machine-washable rug for right in front of our door ($2.99), and this duvet cover that I have been eyeing for months. It's a nice (inexpensive) new look for our bedroom. Our old duvet cover came from Ikea three years ago. It is red with a white leafy pattern all over it. I really liked it when we bought it and I still like it but I haven't been able to find the same shade of red for curtains or sheets to match it. This one just has a little bit of red and goes with the curtains and sheets we already have. So that's why I "heart" Ikea! Plus it's fun to just walk around and check everything out.

After Ikea we went to the airport to pick up Mr. B's fiancee (naturally he would have preferred to pick her up himself but had to work.) Her name is Miss A. After they get married I will change her name to Mrs. B ... maybe. Or maybe she'll just stay Miss A! Why confuse things, right? I'm already confused trying to remember to write My Man instead of DH. (And now that I've done that I feel the need to give all the SILs and BILs more personalized nicknames ... more confusion!) ANYWAY we had never met her except through Facebook so I was a little bit worried about how we would recognize her but she saw us first and recognized the Boogie right away from all the pictures Mr. B has sent to her. She is very nice and we are pleased to finally meet her after hearing so much about her from Mr. B.

Today was My Man's Saturday off for this month. It was wonderful to sleep in late this morning. When the Boogie woke up we just brought her into bed with us and snuggled with her! We were going to go out to breakfast using a gift certificate we had, but I must have thrown it away because we couldn't find it anywhere. :( My poor Man. He was really looking forward to going out. (I felt very badly about it. I must have thrown it out with the electric bill we couldn't find last week. That's what happens when I get fed up with papers laying around. I end up accidentally throwing away something important.) But he cooked us a tasty breakfast at home and then we ran some errands.

At Target there is a Starbucks conveniently located right by the front door. Starbucks is not my favorite but some days, like today, I just need to have a white chocolate mocha. I started drinking it and found a hair! EEWWWWW!! I took it right back and the barista acted properly horrified and immediately made me a fresh mocha and gave me a voucher for a free drink. It was kind of gross but at least the barista looked like a clean person so it was probably a clean hair. And I get a free drink for my inconvenience ... as long as I don't get all crazy and start purging and accidentally throw away my voucher.

We had a gift card for Target so we bought this lamp for our living room. It's very nice with glass shades and everything. It has a nifty reading light on the side, too. Finally we have enough light in our living room! Thank you Mom3 and Pop3!

From Target we headed to Shop Rite which was a total zoo. I thought it was bad when I went shopping on New Year's Eve, but it was much worse today, I guess because of the Eagles game tomorrow. Thankfully all we needed was coffee creamer and clementine oranges. I bought a box of them earlier this week and we finished it off in three days, so today we went back and got two more boxes. They are very addictive and delicious. It probably wouldn't be good for us to eat so many of them all the time, but they're only available for a limited time and I figure that they're fruit and vitamin C so it's okay to binge for a week or so. :)

After we got home Mr. B and Miss A stopped by to visit for a bit. They brought a big stuffed Care Bear and some sweet Valentine's clothes for the Boogie. She wanted to put on the stripey pink hoodie right away and had to wear it for the rest of the day. Miss A and I compared notes and I am even more firmly convinced that My Man and Mr. B were twinz in another life. I think we are going out for lunch with them tomorrow afternoon and then watching the football game together. To be honest, I probably won't watch the game. Football is so confusing to me and I hate all the time-outs. They just make the game drag on and on and on ... give me baseball any day. It is sounding like the game might be projected huge onto the wall over at 52 so I may just bring the Boogie home for naps. She and I both have colds and can use some extra sleep, I think. And in case you forgot, I love naps. Naps are my favorite!

Boogie Video

I take back what I said before about an inch of snow. It wasn't even that much. It's melting now and the roads are clear, so that makes me happy. Snow looks so lovely while it's falling, but that's pretty much the only thing I like about it.

I don't believe I've introduced you to our newest friend. I'll call him Mr. B. He recently joined our church and he and My Man hit it off right away. To be honest, I think they were twinz in another life. The Boogie adores him, as you can see. He often puts her up on his shoulders and she has a strange fascination with his hair which always makes me laugh.

Here we sit having a little chat.

And here is some fun time with Daddy. I apologize for the loud laughter on my part. I guess I was holding the phone too close to me. I love how she comes down the hall and peeks around the corner looking for him.

Snow, Snow, Snow

It has been snowing all morning and we must have at least ... one inch. So what did I just see when I looked out the window? A man across the street, snowblowing the sidewalk clear. Because, you know, no one could possibly walk on it with all that snow on it.

A Brand New Week

Remember what Anne Shirley said in Anne of Green Gables? Something about tomorrow being a new day with no mistakes in it? Isn't it nice to be at the beginning of a brand-new week, all shiny and empty, ready to be filled with what you put into it?

SIL1 has kindly loaned us her elliptical which could not be squeezed into their apartment anymore. It has taken residence in our bedroom and will start earning its keep this week! DH needs to lose some weight, so we're going to make a few changes to our diet and start holding each other accountable to exercise. I'm still doing Pilates (though I did slow down quite a bit over the holidays) and can tell a difference in my stamina. :) The next thing will be to find the Pilates ball that's packed away somewhere so I can start using it to ramp up my workout!

The Boogie has a new thing where when we ask her, "Are you ready to go night-night?" she says "okay," runs into her room, shoves a binky into her mouth if she can reach one in the crib, and climbs up onto the crib side and waits for us to come put her in. If we take too long she starts yelling, "Help, please!" which sounds more like " 'el, kee!" She has been in bed for thirty minutes tonight and is still singing softly to herself in her room.

I've decided that I don't want to refer to my Dear Husband as DH anymore. Not that he isn't my Dear Husband (because he most certainly is) but I want to use something a little more personal. I've been thinking about it for a long time and couldn't decide on anything I liked. I rarely call him by his name. He's just Babe. But I can't refer to him as Babe here because it looks like I'm writing about a pig or a big blue ox. Today I asked him what he would like me to call him and he came up with several silly names, none of which I liked. Or so I thought at first. Sometimes when I do something that exasperates him a little bit he exclaims good-naturedly, "Woman!" It tickles me when he does that. So he suggested that I call him Man. That seemed ... vague. And rather cold. And definitely impersonal. However if I put a little word right in front of it suddenly it sounded right. Therefore from now on I think I am going to call him My Man. I may slip up for a while at first while I'm getting used to it. We'll see how it goes. :)

Good-night, y'all. My shiny new empty week will start off much better if it's preceded by a good solid sleep.

Ooh, I've Been Tagged!

Thanks Jackie! How sad is it that I'm excited about this? Ha ha. I really do have a life. :)

Here are the rules of this tag:
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.
5. No Cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

The Boogie was four months old. I wanted to paint her toenails, so I did! Weren't they cute? I love baby feet. You can just see her chubby knee, too. She was fresh out of a bath and delicious.

Now I will tag:
1. Joy
2. Laura
3. Abbie
4. Dustin

The Hated Chore

When the sink is full of dishes, you know they are dirty because you ate off of them, or cooked with them, or drank out of them. You wash them and dry them and put them in the cupboard where they stay clean until you use them again.

Carpet has dirt tracked on it, or crumbs spilled on it, or pine needles fall on it (from your tree that is still up two weeks after Christmas.) You pull out the vacuum and use it and voila! Clean carpet! And it stays clean until shoes are not wiped properly, or you foolishly let the toddler carry around a cup full of Goldfish crackers that she dumps on the floor and then steps on, or you barely nudge the tree and needles come showering off of it.

The bathroom mirror is splattered with water droplets from when your Dear Husband did his hair this morning. The shower tiles are soap-scummy from the showers your family has taken. There is hair on the floor and face-powder on the sink from making yourself beautiful. A few minutes in there with some Windex, 409, paper towels, and a Dustbuster and it's all shiny again. And it stays that way until someone takes another shower.

Now look around you at the flat surfaces in your home. The top of the dresser merely holds up a few bottles of perfume, some candles, a couple of pictures and some jewelry. The bookshelves have books in them, but what about that little area right in front of the books on each shelf? It has no real purpose in life except to display a few knick-knacks. The desk -- there's a computer and printer on it, a telephone and a couple of speakers. You don't eat off of it. You don't do any schoolwork that would leave pencil erasures on it. Yet all of these places get dusty. And then you must dust them. It is a thankless job. You take everything off the dresser, wiping each bottle and picture frame clean as you go, then spray your cloth with Pledge and get rid of that dust. You put everything back and don't so much as look at the dresser top until a couple of days later -- and it's dusty again! You remove those knick-knacks from in front of the books on the shelf, dust it off, replace the knick-knacks and tomorrow when you want something to read what will you find on the shelf? A fine layer of dust on the surface. You didn't do anything to make it dusty. No one did. It just happened. So you decide that you are through with dusting! Forget it! You won't waste your time with such a pointless chore! Until a couple of weeks from now when dust is getting thick on everything and you can't stand it anymore ...

So grab that can of Pledge and repeat after me as you wipe, "I hate dusting. I loathe dusting. I despise dusting." Then stand very still and watch the dust slowly settle back down on the surface you just cleaned.

And Then She Said ...

Last night the three of us were rough housing a bit and amid the Boogie's giggles she poked DH in the stomach and said, "I gotchu!" This morning she handed me something accompanied with a "he' go!" When I took off her slipper during a diaper change and tossed it away she asked, "where it go?" While I folded laundry this afternoon she ran into our room, stamped her little foot, and said, "Eww! It 'tink!" I honestly and truly don't know where that one came from. She is saying something new every single day! Tonight when I called my mom I asked the Boogie, "Do you want to talk to Lela?" She was so excited she was trembling. I put Mom on speakerphone and the Boogie was yelling into the phone, jabbering away excitedly, her little body quivering as she clenched and unclenched her fists. It was hysterical. Next time I'll try to get some video. I was laughing so hard I was crying.

My apartment is clean, at last. The floors have been vacuumed and swept and mopped. The kitchen has been wiped down. Most importantly, the toys have been sorted through and put away neatly. Ahhhh it feels so good.

Blogging Slump

I am not motivated to blog lately. I think it's the post-holiday slump I go into. I'm not motivated to do anything. Oh, wait, how is that different from the rest of the year? Ha ha ha.

On New Year's Eve we went to church and afterwards everyone was invited to 52 for some food, Pilgrim's Progress, and Wii. Actually we didn't stay for all of it. The Boogie needed to go to bed so we left after the food. I heard that the movie was really good, though (just FYI.)

The next morning we slept in, of course, and then headed to Delaware with a few others of the family to see FIL's parents, Mom3 and Pop3. The LCs call them Mom Mom Mom and Pop Pop Pop but the written version is abbreviated. :) We ate lasagna and birthday cake to celebrate BIL1 and Pop3's birthdays. We sat around and told stories and reminisced, and the Jersey ladies of the family verbally remodeled our church. It was a really fun day!

I did not make any New Year's resolutions. I do, however, have some thoughts about what I want to see happen this year. There are some things I want to see happen this month, for that matter. Nothing major or overwhelming to think about. Baby steps, baby steps.

The Boogie. Oh, that child. She is amazing me every day with new words and phrases. If she needs help with something she says, "It's stuck. Help, please." (Actually it sounds more like, "Ee tuck. 'El, kee." But I'm her mom and can understand her language, though not speak it.) The other day I asked her where her slippers were and she said, "I don' know!" If I drop something she says, "Uh, oh. Oh no! Are you okay?" She says "up, please" and "out, please" and "get down." She comes into the bathroom when I'm doing my hair and make-up, points to the medicine cabinet and asks, "brush?" indicating her desire for good oral hygiene. :p She runs down the hallway and calls " 'ome on!" or " 'ome 'ere!" She pretends to be a puppy or a kitten by crawling about on all fours, panting and barking or meowing. Since we are rarely (make that almost never) around animals, my only guess is that she picked that up from the older LCs. When we put on her coat and shoes she goes to the door and says, "Let's go!" Her newest thing is to chuckle and say, "That's funny." It doesn't sound much like "that's funny." In fact it took us a while to figure out what she meant. But sure enough, that's what she's saying. She sure is a cute little thing!