In Case You Didn't Know...Christmas is Coming.

Since Baby Ween has come on the scene many of the events of our lives happen whether I'm ready for them or not. This year Christmas is one of those events. We got the tree up early in December but never really got around to decorating it. I had almost decided it was a waste of time to hang ornaments this close to Christmas but I gave in last Monday night (12/15) and hung about 15 ornaments. I didn't get the cards in the mail until last Friday (12/19), but most should arrive before Santa does. I was out of wrapping paper when I went to wrap the gifts, so I had to go to Target on Saturday (12/20) to get what I needed. Right now the stocking are still empty but I'm hoping to find things to stuff them with tomorrow (12/23).

I don't think I've ever been this behind the holiday eight-ball before. But none of the hub-bub matters to Baby Ween. She's been enjoying the tree and gets upset when it isn't plugged in. She LOVES the electric train my mom has around her tree and plays engineer every time she's there. She has decided she likes cookies, real ones, not those animal crackers we've been calling "cookies" all this time. Chocolate chip, sugar cookies with sprinkles you name it she loves them. She also loves the two stuffed snowmen that used to sit on either side of our fireplace. Right now one of them is stuffed in the kitchen cabinet where she keeps her favorite toys and the other is in her bed so she can sleep with him along with Penguin, Chilly (the other penguin), teddy and bunny.

I imagine I will complete all my chores before Christmas morning rolls around and the show will go on. It just won't be exactly the way I envisioned it.

Merry Christmas to All.

The Soon-to-be First Family...

I work for a racist. This is not a shock to me, not by a long shot. But I'm finding it harder to stomach all the time. He makes rude remarks because he thinks he's being funny. Kind of like Chase Utley thinking he was funny when he dropped the f-bomb during his World Series speech.

I don't have a problem if you have different politcal views then me. What I have a problem with is ignorance and disrespect. Even John McCain can appreciate the calibur of man that Barrack Obama is and the way he engaged people and got them to vote. It's just a shame he didn't run his campaign that way. He tried, like everyday Americans, to make people afraid of Obama. A coworker asked what I "knew" about Obama, how I could vote for him when "we didn't know anything about him". I asked what he "knew" about McCain. Well he's a war hero and a long time Senator. So that makes him a safe choice? I didn't think we were a country formed on being safe. Wouldn't the safe thing have been to stay under British rule instead of breaking out on our own?

I'm not about fear - I don't abide by people using their religion or any other means to scare the populus into doing something. It worked for George Bush after 9-11. If you don't give up some personal freedoms the terrorists are going to come back. People said okay - it's called the Patriot Act. Elizabeth Dole tried it in this election to hold onto her Senate seat. She claimed her opponent was in the pockets of the "Godless Americans" group. Elizabeth Dole lost her seat because enough people saw through what she was trying to do. Unfortunately, a fair share most certainly believed her.

I don't know what's ahead for the next four years but perhaps we've opened some minds. Perhaps we've finally put to bed the notion that white men are the only people who can run this country.

Age 29, A Fine Time to Retire...

My cowboy boyfriend Justin McBride has announced that he will be retiring from bull riding after the World Finals this year. I guess when you make $5,018,529.24 for 10 years of work you can do that. He's the reason I liked to watch bull riding. Not only was he easy on the eyes, but he had mad skills when it came to riding. It just won't be the same without him.

The Pumpkin Patch

We took Baby Ween to the pumpkin patch this weekend.
We told her to "Eye, Eye" the pumpkin (which is our baby
speak for "hug the pumpkin") and she did it in such a totally
cute way that a foreign exchange college student from Lehigh
took her picture too.

A Scrappin We Will Go...

Last weekend was "Croptoberfest" for my local Creative Memories consultant so I went to her two day event at a local church. There I was able to scrap from 6:30 to Midnight on Friday and 8:30 to 4:30 on Saturday. I've gone to this event a time or two before but this time was most productive. I finished or almost finished 19 pages. Some for Elizabeth's first year book and some for our Family Calendar Book for 2007. I still have plenty to do and new projects are flying into my head all the time. I feel I'm doing a much better job being organized this year so I'm hoping to continue my productivity into the winter and maybe get started on our Family Calendar book for 2008. It is October 2008 after all, I'd better get busy.

Cowboy Boots & Hats Invade Atlantic City....

I gave Matt tickets to see Brooks & Dunn in Atlantic City for his birthday back in May. The concert was last Friday and the only disappointing part was that they only played for an hour and a half. They could sing for days on the material they have. I would have been happier with two hours but as Matt pointed out, they are getting old. Ronnie Dunn seemed to be nursing his voice along a little bit at times and he botched the words to "It's Getting Better All the Time" during their little acoustic set. But I'm willing to overlook that.

They sang old favorites like "Brand New Man", "My Maria", "Lost & Found", "Boot Scootin Boogie", "Mama Don't Get Dressed Up For Nothing", "Rock My World Little Country Girl" & "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone".

They played "Cowboy Town" and "Put A Girl In It" from their new album. Much of the show was very similar to previous concerts of their's that we've seen but I enjoy them every time.

James Otto opened for them and I had no idea who he was. I've heard his music on the radio but I have never seen him. What was most amusing about him was he came out wearing these girl sunglasses as Matt would say and during the first or second song he did something that knocked them off his face. Then he had to play the rest of the show without them. I think he looked better with them on. He also kept telling everyone to stand up, which got annoying after a while. I paid $75 for my seat and my ass is going to be in it. I'm not 22 anymore.

All in all a great show and a great night. I think I will put a private show by Brooks & Dunn on the list of things I want when I become filthy rich.

I'm the Sad Blob...

I started this week with such high hopes. I'd had a lovely visit with friends from college on Sunday. After talking with them I was happy. I was going to try and relax about all the things I worry about and just get on with enjoying my family and my life.

Then I came to work Monday morning and our one and only designer, whom I work wonderfully well with together, told me he was quitting. In the time it took to absorb this news a horrific thought came to mind...they are going to bring back the awful designer who'd been my nemisis. The sales/design relationship has been great the last two years I couldn't bear the thought of going back to the way it was. I guess my stomach couldn't bear it either because around 4:00pm I started with terrible stomach pains. It just went on and on. I could barely drive home and seriously thought I was going to die. Well after 4 hours in the ER and IV dose acid killers I was back at home trying to think happy thoughts.

I had another attack last night, right before crawling into bed. Mercifully it only lasted a half hour. Today the owners told everyone else about the designer leaving. I'm still trying to think happy thoughts and I'm praying I have no more attacks.

So quickly my happiness was replaced by more doubt, worry and now horrible physical side effects. I know that this too shall pass. I just don't know how long I'm going to last.

At Least 10 Days to Blow and No Where to Go...

I fear that Matt and I will never go on vacation again. Neither of us can be out of the office for one or two days without work piling up to an unmanagable amount. The aggravation we feel when we come back to work has obliterated any happiness garnered from a few days of time off. It's easier to stay in hell, then leave and have to come back.

And So She Grows....

I finally got around to gathering her heights & weights and filling this out. Her 15 month appointment is coming up in a few days. I'm anxious to see how much taller she is. She won't let me do that type of measuring at home.

She is a Fashion Plate...

I had a little time to kill this weekend so I went through Baby Ween's summer wardrobe to see just how out of hand my baby clothes shopping sickness had become. I discovered the following:

(1) - "Dance Puppets Dance" Onsie

(2) - Pair Shorts

(3) - Bathing Suits

(3) - "Dressy" Dresses

(4) - All in One Romper Outfits

(5) - Sleeveless Top & Capri Pant Sets

(5) - Skorts

(6) - Pair of Footed PJ's

(7) - Dresses (with the matching little panties)

(8) - Random T-Shirts

(8) - Random Onsies

(8) - Tank Top Style Sunsuits

(13) - Miscellenous Outfits

(Plus 10 Plain White Onsie's for Layering)

In my defense some of the above items were gifts for her first birthday so I didn't buy all of them. Plus she has very generous Grammy's. I'm going to try to do better with her Fall wardrobe. Though I might already be off to a rocky start. Everything is just so cute....

Wife in the North - A Review

"Wife in the North" by Judith O'Reilly was given to me by librarything.com as an advance copy for review. It took longer to read then I thought it would because I had a hard time getting started. As a fan of books written by British authors I rarely have a problem with the smattering of regional terminology they throw in but this book had me stumbling. Perhaps I was stumbling over the pace of the writing more then anything.

O'Reilly's memoir tells the tale of relocating her family to the northern reaches of the British countryside from the city of London. They left because of her husbands deep desire to live there, but much of his time was spent working in London. Leaving O'Reilly for weeks at a time to assimilate herself and their three small children into the farming, ranching, fox hunting community they were now a part of. To say she struggled is an understatement. Though after running out of gas for the third time I think I would have taken that chore upon myself. I enjoyed her candid stories of child rearing and it's often exhaustive effects. It made me feel better about the ever changing landscape of childrearing that I am a part of now.

I believe everyone could relate to something this author went through. Parenting small children, caring for aging and ill parents, a drastic change of lifestyle, a major house rennovation, making new friends while trying to fit old ones into a wholly different life and almost losing oneself in the bargain. It was time well spent and I will happily pass the book along to anyone who wants to read it.

So Sporty...

Here's my Baby Ween wearing her cute little Converse.

"Above the Ridgers" at their best...

This was the look that must have been on my face when I crossed the parking lot at the grocery store today. I was on my lunch hour and I come out of the store and hear...

"Come back here you little asshole."

I didn't want to look, but I did. There was a mom trailing behind her two small kids as they walked back to their car. I just couldn't believe she said that to the little boy. I couldn't believe she said it to him in public. I don't even want to think about what she says when no one is around to hear her.

Stylin Baby Ween

Okay, as you all know by now I am a shopper. Now that Baby Ween has come along it's gotten worse. I could probably count on one hand the new items I have purchased for myself in the last 14 months but Baby Ween has a wardrobe that would rival a fashion model. Over the weekend I was looking for brown shoes for her for the fall. But when I walked down the aisle to see if I missed anything I saw these. So back to the bench we went and Baby Ween tried them on. She fussed through most of it but we came away with two pairs of shoes. I can't wait to get a picture of her wearing them.

Re-Connecting...

When Baby Ween was in the NICU at CHOP there was a baby across the room from her that I will call "B". Like Baby Ween he had surgery right after he was born but he had additional issues that Baby Ween didn't have. "B's" mom and her sister sat by his bedside all the days that Matt and I sat with Baby Ween but we never talked. They knew where we were from because they heard us talking to the hospital staff. One day "B's" grandpop talked to Matt for a few minutes and it turned out that they were from Matt's hometown. On the day we left CHOP we said goodbye to eachother and that was that. Through several coincidences it turned out "B's" mom worked with someone we knew at a local hotel. We had a party at that hotel on Saturday night for the sister-in-law's 40th birthday and "B's" mom was there.

Almost fourteen months after our babies were born we finally got to talk. It turns out "B" left CHOP the same day we did. He's been back several times for some continuing care but he is doing well, crawling and growing bigger everyday. Baby Ween strolled around the party while "B's" mom and I talked. We agreed they've both come so far from those first days and that the time has gone by so fast. I was happy that I got to talk to her and that her son is doing well. She was happy to see BW doing so well too. I hope our paths cross again and that things continue to go well for her and her little boy. It was nice seeing her again, under much better circumstances this time around.

In The Bitter Barn...

When someone is upset at work (usually the women) the owner of the place asks if we're in the bitter barn - well yeah I am. Does anyone want to know why? Oh, probably not but I'm going to tell you anyway. I'm mad because....

• We don't have money to pay our vendors so they've stopped delivering the materials we need to make product for our customers. And we don't know when or where the money we need is going to come from.


• Many of our customers think they are the only ones we have and that we are just sitting around waiting for them to send work our way. They don't understand that sometimes we're busy taking care of other customers and can't drop what we're doing and move them to the front of the line all the time. Then they make it seem like we're providing bad customer service. WE CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH PEOPLE!!!!!


• We just had a vendor, who promised us completion of a project in two weeks - tell us they don't even have the coating compound we need and that it will be "a couple of weeks" before they get it - then it's another two weeks to actually coat our project. Our customer needs the items on August 15th and they are going to freak out when we call and tell them we can't deliver.


• Of male customers who don't like hearing what I have to say about their projects because I have a vagina so I have to get another man at my company to tell them the exact same thing I already said.


• We are in a severe paper towel and toilet paper shortage
• We don't have a working copier and I need to make copies on my home printer to keep doing my work.

I'm beginning to think my expectations are too high and that's another thing that makes me sad. I know it sucks a lot of places. Everytime I turn around someone is working longer hours then they should for the pay they are getting, and other people are being told that half of the people at their company will lose their jobs in two months.

I'm 35 years old and I worry how my family is going to survive the next 40 or 50 years. I worry about health insurance, life insurance, job security, the economy, the quality of our schools & education, how EJ will get into college, how to pay for college, everything. I wonder what we'll do when Matt is 50 years old and some company decides he makes too much money and that he's replaceable. You can only plan for so many contingencies. I feel like I don't have the luxury of missing even one step without it having profound ramifications that I can't even imagine yet. I'm just too tried for all this shit.

Beefcake.....

Matt and I determined over the weekend that Baby Ween is driven to fits of hysteria by me saying "Beefcake" in the voice of Cartman.

We discovered said phenomenon after deciding that Baby Ween has got some thick legs on her. Pair those thick legs with her new baby size running shoes and she looks kind of beefcake. Cute baby beefcake not Brutus the Barber Beefcake. So I started saying "beefcake" and she cracked up. I made a video of it for posterity because I couldn't resist her baby laughs.

BEEFCAKE!!!!!!

Our Baby Ween...

About the Gemini Child

A Quick and Agile MindYour Gemini child will look up at you with bright, merry eyes, making you laugh as she makes it clear there's a lot going on in that head of hers. And if she starts talking at an early age, she's just living up to her nature! Gemini children tend to be communicative, charming, and social, but even if your Gemini child is a quieter sort, she's still quick-witted, curious, and mentally engaged with the world around her. Make sure she's always surrounded with books and puzzles to stimulate her mind, and give her plenty of space and supplies for her many projects.

Gemini children love anything new, and they tend to bounce from one activity to the next at a moment's notice. As soon as they master a new challenge, they'll grow bored with it and move on. Their mood may also change in the blink of an eye. Many Gemini children are indecisive or change their minds often. The other side of this coin is their adaptability. Gemini children often prefer variety of experience over depth of understanding, but as their parent, you can help them focus and develop a particular area of strength.

Your Gemini will excel at cerebral endeavors like reading, writing, and debate, as well as anything requiring dexterity, such as playing the piano. Due to their variety of interests, Gemini children tend to have many friends and will often be the center of the circle, naturally excelling at what we grown-ups call networking.

Well It's One Way To Get Some Time Off...

We were told on Thursday that as of Monday (8/4) we would be working a 36 hour work week and that our office will be closed Fridays. Supposedly it's only for the month of August...mmm hmmm.

I can't say that I'm surprised, nor am I really upset by the development. I'd be more upset if the company goes under, but we're all hoping, that like many times before, that doesn't happen.

I guess I'll try to get some things done these next four weeks - though with Baby Ween under foot - it might not be as productive as I hope.

R.I.P Sophia

Estelle Getty died today at the age of 84

Sophia: Look, you didn't ask me for my opinion, but I'm old, so I'm giving it anyway.

Dorothy: Hi, ma. Where are you going?
Sophia: To the boardwalk. I like to watch the old guys rearrange themselves when they come out of the water.

Dorothy: Well Blanche is certainly taking her sister's novel better than I would. I would kill my sister Gloria if she ever wrote about my sex life.
Sophia: You would kill your sister over a pamphlet?

Sophia: No offense, pussycat.
Dorothy: None taken, you cankerous little prune!

Dorothy: [Sophia has rented a porno] Hi, Ma. Whatcha watching?
Sophia: I dunno, one of those Steven Spielberger movies.
Dorothy: That's not a Steven Spielberg? *What* are they doing?
Sophia: You know what they're doing. We had that talk when you were twelve.
Dorothy: Ma, I can't believe this! You rented a dirty movie?
Sophia: Dirty is in the eye of the beholder... OK, maybe *that's* a little dirty.

Dorothy: [Sophia is busily cooking] Ma, what are you doing? You're supposed to be resting. Remember what the doctor said?
Sophia: Dorothy, I'm feeling anxious. And when I feel anxious, there's only one thing that calms me down.
Dorothy: I know, Ma. Cooking a big meal.
Sophia: No, making hot naked love in a closet. But hey, you do what you can.