Fall for Greenville: Pictures

Culinary Stage (above)

The family in front of the Reedy River

Livers on the suspension bridge over the Reedy River

Livers behind a tree

Two random, unrelated thoughts of the moment

Much as I expected, I suck at blogging. However, I will try to get back in the groove.

First of all, I am not all that impressed with people of the world right now. I will be one of the first to say that I am absolutely horrible at keeping in touch with people, but I figured that with Facebook and MySpace that I could at least give it a whirl. Maybe it's the fact that I'm the only one of my friends in almost all social circles that I run in who has a child, which makes it more difficult to related with, or the fact that I HAVE been out of the loop with some people for quite awhile, but most people suck at the communication. I send emails and leave voice mails for those that I am actually interested in keeping in touch with, but nothing. I understand that some people are incredibly busy. I get that. But throw me a freaking bone here. This is what I get for trying....

Also, I could punt one of my dogs right now. I don't know which is the culprit, but after coming home from a relaxing lunch and afternoon Friday with my Mom and cousin I find that one of them had vomited on MY spot on the sofa. I've washed, scrubbed, FeBrezed, Urine-goned, and detergented the spot to death, but it still smells like butt crack.

Not so happy right now; however, tomorrow is the start of a brand new week and it IS fall, and it actually feels like it tonight, so maybe there is hope...

Big Mac!

Excuse me as I thieve this hilarity from my husband's blog...

Wow, I'm apparently not that terrible of a parent...

5 Mistakes Parents Make with Newborns...and How to Avoid Them

Today CNN.com posted the above article. To my delight I realize that I must have semi-decent new mothering instincts.

(1) Don't let a newborn sleep though the night. - Livers didn't let me, for the most part. A four hour stretch in the beginning was considered lucky. However, I do not miss having to set the alarm to get up to feed her.
(2) Not feeding on demand. - Nope, when she was hungry, she ate. Or she'd let me have it.
(3) Taking newborns in crowded places. - We went out occasionally, but not much until she was 6 weeks. (I freaked out about germs, so I was careful.) However, she didn't make her first trip to Walmart till a month ago. That place is scary, as are some of the people who go there.
(4) Keeping a newborn cooped up at home. - I love to walk and couldn't wait to take her around the block. It would've happened sooner if she hadn't been born in the middle of freakin' winter. And if we hadn't gone out, I would've gone insane.
(5) Not trusting your instincts. - Livers and I have a very good relationship for a mother and an 8-month-old, and a lot of it I'm sure has to do that I've grown good at reading her signals and knowing what she wants.

So if all this means I'm a good mother, than I at least am doing something right.

My new favorite time wasters

As mentioned in an earlier post, I am a bit behind the times as far as what's new to do on the internet. (Is AIM still popular? I have no idea...) However, I have belatedly found some new time wasters of my own. First of all is Facebook. My brother had been talking about it for awhile and, like usual, I ignored him. However, I finally decided to give it a whirl when I reconnected with a friend I had been out of touch with for a couple of years and he told me he used it often. Man, have I been out of the loop. EVERYONE uses this thing. And nicely it's not as cheesy and teenie bopperish as MySpace. Being married and a new mom it's hard to keep in touch with people, and I finally have a way to make a half-assed attempt at contact with the outside world.

Second new-to-me time waster is Flickr. I really enjoy photography, but due to time contraints and not having a decent camera I am currently more of a looker of photos than a producer of them. Flickr is awesome. I have a strange fetish for rainbows, and I really like looking at how they can appear in the world, and it's fun to me to look on Flickr and see what other people have discovered for me. Hopefully I will one day be able to afford a really nice camera and have the time to go out and use it so that I can really get involved in this photography thing.

Further proof that parents never should give in to their children

Florida couple gives birth to sextuplets

Make note of the very first line of the article: "A Florida couple who used fertility drugs after their daughter asked for a sibling are the new parents of sextuplets."

And so it begins....

A couple of days ago I told my daughter to take a good long look at her father, because it was the last time she would be seeing him for awhile. Why would I say such a cruel thing? Because it is officially that time of year again:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL, WEEK 1

I know I sound harsh, and I shouldn't. I have actually come to really enjoy the fervor that is football season, and I take pride in the fact that, thanks to J, I actually can pass for semi-knowledgeable about current football. There's something about this time of year that is exciting, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that with football comes my favorite season. Anyways, highlights:

- The wonderful trouncing of Michigan by Appalachian State
- A poor umpire gets knocked back to the Stone Age during the Wake Forest-Boston College game
- Stupid Boston College won. (I hate them more than Tiger fans hate Gamecocks).
- Virginia Tech shows that they will, in fact, overcome

And then I went to bed. Unlike J, I could not watch 14 straight hours of football.

Living the American dream, one pinched penny at a time

America's Cheapest Family

One of the greatest things for me about being a mother is having the blessing of an opportunity to stay at home with my baby everyday. However, with this blessing comes sacrifice. I can be a shopaholic. Now, don't get me wrong, I am perfectly capable of saving. I still count one of my crowning achievements in life as working 60 hours a week between my sophomore and junior years at college at two jobs in order to save up for the mack daddy of laptops. But put me into Target with an empty shopping cart and it's like putting a bottle of Jack Daniels in front of a raging alcoholic.

Seeing this video is an inspiration to me. How a family that big can do this comfortably is amazing to me. With a little bit of work perhaps I can be a little more like the Economitas family. Now if I can only get J to go grocery shopping with me using walkie talkies...

Bad-ass Tahitian Wave

Jeremy showed me this video on Yahoo! This is amazing. I've always been fascinated (and afraid) of waves, and this one is a nightmare waiting to happen. That someone rode it and survived is beyond me.

Teahupoo: The Ultimate Wave

"She says baby, It's 3 AM and I must be...."

....walking the floors with an overattached, cranky, and wide-awake seven and a half month old. This was my night last night and it SUCKED. It felt like I had an itty-bitty newborn, but no, it was my daughter, Livers. I'm trying to get her on a more reasonable, baby-friendly schedule, which means moving bedtime back slowly. I'm assuming she didn't like this, because at 3 in the morning she woke up and would NOT go back to sleep. Let's hope this is an anomaly...

Way to Go, Grandma!

"Study: Seniors having more sex than you think"

Just the article I need to read before bedtime. Nightmares, anyone?

Late Night Humor

Props from Ben Woody. I nearly pooped my pants.

Welcome to the World of Blogging!

It would appear that I have finally made it to the 21st century. Within the past few weeks I finally got a MySpace page and now a blog! Maybe it's that I'm not longer in college and have ventured into the world of parenthood, but I feel so old. I figured that a bit of a technological update would give me the boost I need to feel in touch with virtual reality. We'll have to see if this whole blogging thing sticks. (I am notorious for starting things like journaling to only have it fall by the waist side within a matter of weeks.)