Random of the Randomest

Be prepared. It's random.

• I miss seeing how many "k" email messages are. Like, back in my hotmail days I could measure how juicy an email was going to be by how many k - like 6k, 7k - it was.
• Come to think of it, hotmail probably still does this. I have found my first fault with Gmail.
• Any of you who have not seen the light and switched to Gmail need to have a serious talk with me.
• Am I a snob when I automatically demote people in my mind for having anything other than Gmail? Like they're not "with it" in the internet world?
• I am thrilled with the unsolicited advice about my washcloth epidemic. However, I ignored them all, bought a new fresh pack at Target today, and ceremoniously dumped the rest. (Okay... Really I just threw them in the dumpster.)
• Ironically enough, I have been planning a blog about how I'm doing my part to consume less & discard less. I guess my washcloth story negates all of my other efforts to be earth friendly, so don't be looking for that blog anytime soon. (Plastic bags, Jessie!?)
• Nevertheless, I now use the fewest # of bags possible at the grocery store, often forgoing bags total. Just my little way of hugging Mother Earth.
• I managed to walk through Target without entering the little girl's clothing section today. A small tear slid down my cheek as I turned my head, but my wallet thanked me.
• Adrie started licking me to be funny. You should see her little mischevious face as she sneaks up on me to do it.
• She also smiles and sweetly says "Candy? Candy? Please?" at the most random of times.
• After attending/hosting 3 different parties this week, she has been begging all day "Party? Party?" She now knows that a party means fun friends and great food. My kind of girl.
• Out of the blue she looked up at me today and said "Eric? Eric. In a white shirt. He's sleeping. He's awake!" (Little Mermaid storyline...)
• Lastly - I'll leave you with a fun picture of how we get ready in the mornings. She is such a little mini-me, trying to copy my every action - including underwear.

Ewwwww

I'm suffering from an epidemic of stinky washcloths at my house. Fresh out of the wash, they smell sweet and clean - until the second they get wet. Ugh. I hate that smell more than I can tell you.

I threw out all but the really clean-looking ones. I bought a slew of new ones. But dang it, I guess those germs survive pure bleach and scalding water. I think the old washcloths must haze the new washcloths while bored in the drawer for days on end. I'm going to attempt throwing them ALL away and starting fresh.

Don't go to IKEA when you only have 20 minutes. And don't try searching for a small bin of washcloths in a store the size of California during that 20 minutes.

My washcloth renewal is going to have to wait for another day.

Oh Baby Adrie

She tells stories! Observe: "Ice cream! Yummy yummy. Eh fall. Fall. Dirty. Yuck. I sad. It fall." She told me this story repeatedly Tuesday night after her first ever creamsicle ended in disaster.

Driving home last night I hear this little conversation in the backseat, where she's holding a little toy kitty: "Oh, hurt? Are you okay? Sad? Sorry. [*kiss*] All better? Happy? Okay."

Her newest: "You scared me!" She still folds her arms whenever she says the word "scared", like she's giving herself a little hug.

She sings along to You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and I Love to See the Temple. We sing that one every morning when we drive by it - it's our game to look for it and she gets really excited when we see it. "Oh, preeee" (pretty). She also does "There was a little house in the middle of the woods", "Patty-cake", and "The Wheels on the Bus" with me. Oh yeah - and she dances and sings "Un-uh Sea, Un-uh Sea..." over and over.

Speaking of the Little Mermaid, she can name every character from Ariel to Sebastian to Flounder to Eric. And Ursula. (This is where she folds her arms and says "scared! scared!")

I laugh every time she says "Hi guys!" to people. And she's in the habit of saying "Bye" to everything - like "Bye Friends." "Bye Pool."

She counts! I'll demonstrate our pattern- Adrie in Pink, Me in Green: "One, two..." "Three" "Four, Five..." "Six..." "Six, Seben" "Eight" "Eight" "Nine" "Ten!" And much hand clapping ensues. When I ask her how many she has (if there are two or less!) she always tells me "one" or "two!"

I am so in love with her!

I really should be in bed

I just have to document the fantastic weekend we had with family! Adrie is in love with her Grandma and Grandpa, and asked for them every time she woke up in the morning or from a nap. Mom and I had a fun whirlwind sewing project to make this darling dress, and we got to do a head full of curlers for church today. We also enjoyed late night talks as sisters, a full production Sunday meal with Grandma Williams, and cookies (of course!) We love you guys, thanks for visiting us!

"More Milk"

Tonight we visited Discovery Park for the first time, and had a blast. I'll post a few pictures down the side of this mass block of text. Stay tuned for the good park story at the end.

Adrie goes to bed easily, but lately cries about ten minutes into it - and when I go in to see what's wrong, she says "More Milk." This happens more and more frequently, and sometimes in the middle of the night, so I've decided it's the 2 year-old version of the 7 year-old "Dad, I need a drink" in order to get attention at bedtime. It's sort of cute, and I'm happy that she wants to see me, so I guess I'm spoiling her but oh well. I did refuse to give her a third drink of milk tonight and rocked her instead. She threw up last week once after her 2nd glass of milk, so I learned that lesson quickly.

It's starting to feel like fall. I'm not ready for summer to be over yet.

I've decided to simplify life and try to be home more. I'm excited about it. So come visit me in the evenings - I should be home for real this time! Adrie seems to need me more and more, and I'm happy to be the primary influence in her life even though I'm not with her 24/7. It's sort of like the more independent she is physically, the more emotionally she wants me. I love it. I can't believe how great it is to have a little sidekick.

I made pigs in a blanket with Vienna Sausages from my food storage. Too weird - I don't recommend it.

Today I ate scrambled eggs with cheese, tortilla soup, 3 orange fantas, 1 caffeine-free Coke, and a LOT of cookies (no-bakes and jubilee jumbles), 4 cream puffs, and LOTS of Cheezits (my mouth is full right now. Orange Fanta #4 to my right. I love being a grown up.

I forgot to post this great pic from our last 'shoot.' See her wolf?

Anyway, of all the nice, normal swings at the park, she chose the one with THIS sign:

Oh well, she had a blast, and I had a good laugh.

She sort of looks like she needs it in this picture, huh!

Life is good!

I'm havin' a Party!

Come Visit! I have the perfect excuse to showcase my new house (yes I've been madly doing the finishing touches on decorating in preparation) while championing a worthy cause - children's books!

Thursday August 14th

Alaina's House

7:00-8:30 pm

So come visit with neighbors, make a new friend, have a little dessert, and see examples and a catalogue of some amazing children's books. I purchased a handful for Adrie months ago and they have become some of our favorites. Not only are the books durable (for little ones), I was impressed how they are specifically designed to be educational on a variety of levels. They have books for ALL youth ages, as well as play kits (paper dolls, anyone?) and more.

This is not an exclusive party - anyone nearby that wants to come, come! The more the merrier. If you don't know where my house is, call me - my phone number's listed on my Photography Blog.

I just love a good excuse for a party :)

Google Reader

I'm going to sign up soon. There are so many of you doing so many great things and I'm missing them because I only know how to surf blogs the old-fashioned way. To all of you I love - and YES, that probably means YOU reading this, I will sometime soon be in the loop.

Anybody nearby want to give me a tutorial?

Productivity.

Here I am breaking my computer curfew again. Dang. I'll hurry.

I am one of those twisted types that gets a real thrill out of accomplishing things on my 'checklist.' Wanna know what I did this week, a lot of them today?

• Rotated my mattress
• Finally got the missing door to my IKEA computer center
• Installed above-mentioned door on computer center
• Got a rock chip fixed on my windshield
• Switched my homeowners insurance to my new house
• Wrote long-overdue thank you notes
• Visited the post office to buy stupid 1 cent stamps
• Mailed all the thank you notes
• Hung up some more stuff in my guest bathroom
• Used Gorilla glue to add strings to MORE stuff to hang up in guest bathroom.

I am gonna sleep well tonight!

Still left to do:

• Process Mary's darling kids pictures from weeks ago
• Process Mallory's Senior Pictures from Oregon

On a side note, DON'T drink 32 oz of water between 6 and 10 pm if you want to sleep well that night.

Evening Thoughts

• I made a rule I can only check my email twice per day. It's both painful and freeing. I'm more efficient at work, and more focused on activities with Adrie at home.
• They are putting in an Olive Garden just up the street from my house. I'm craving it already.
• The weather has been GORGEOUS here for two days - I feel like I'm back in Portland!
• Since I wrote about Olive Garden my mouth is watering with thoughts of their salad.
• I did my first photo shoot in my "studio" (empty bedroom). It went rather well. See here if you're curious.
• I really love texting Jessie late at night and laughing about the fact we are like 40 feet away from each other. Don't you just love condo living?
• I listen to my own blog playlist at work. It's GREAT. Who invented that idea?! Brilliant.
• I try to stick to my 10 pm computer/internet curfew and I'm breaking it by 18 minutes tonight. Goodnight!

What you've all been waiting for!

Okay maybe it's only what I've been waiting for, but here you have them.

Thank you Sunday for giving me time to photoshop what I want to.

Thank you Mallory & Kendall for being on the other end of the camera.

an Adrie Update is a Necessity today!

• "Soh-y" (Sorry)
• "Ah-Be-er?" (All better?) She states this in SO many circumstances, like dropping her doll, washing off her sticky hands, and getting over being hurt.
• "Lie down." She insists on laying down in the strangest of places, like the sidewalk and shopping cart.
• "Myself! Myself!" She insisted on climbing out of the car today, as well as into her highchair by herself. Heaven help us.
• "Happy!" or "Happy?" (I snap at her more often than I'd like to stop whining and "be happy")
• "Fun!" and "Funny!" She is pretty accurate with this one.
• "Can-nee!" (Candy) or "Meh-cine!" (Medicine.) After discouraging her from liking medicine she still brings it to me, begging "Yucky Meh-cine!" She carried an unopened bottle of pink Benadryl around yesterday for a good ten minutes, trying the lid and begging.
• "Bye." She dismisses me from out of a room, etc. by waving and insisting "Bye Mom."
• She strings words together a lot more - like "Mom funny" or "Adrie lie down."
• She can spend humongous amounts of time putting her shoes on, taking them off, practicing with another set, etc. It takes her forever but she usually gets it, with the shoes on the correct feet!
• "Boots." She calls my high heels boots, and often brings them to me to put on.

I'm not gonna lie...

...I sort of wish I were going to a Breaking Dawn party tonight.