Harry Potter is NOT Real

Ummm.... Harry Potter has migraines.

Is it just me or is this one of the saddest medical articles ever? I think this even tops Wiiitis. This team of medical researchers read the Harry Potter books and tried to give him a diagnosis... HE'S A FICTIONAL CHARACTER! FICTIONAL CHARACTER! (And when I say this, I am quoting Ben Affleck's character in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back--finger movements and silly voice.)

It's embarrassing.

I love that they mention how migraines can be hereditary, but that 'much is not known about Harry's birth parents'... OMG. Again, he is not a real person. Let's not forget that fact.

Have a Look

After finding out what the baby is, I had to buy some new stuff... What do ya think?

Freaking Out!

I'm getting more and more nervous about tomorrow. Every night for the past week or so I've been dreaming about twins, twin girls to be precise, which Caayn keeps joking will happen... One night they even had names, which I don't remember now. I'm pretty sure there is just one, since I often feel the bugger move and have been thinking if it was twins I would be feeling two of those kinds of movements. Tomorrow is a big day. June 29th. Unveiling of the much hyped iPhone as well as the unveiling of the contents of my uterus. Whoohoo!

Sully has a new obsession with booboos and bandaids. He thinks everything is a booboo and that they all need bandaids. He prefers they go across his shin. It's quite silly.

Also, I found out my dad has been trying to find me on the internet. According to my mom, who has tenative phone connections with my sister-in-law (thats a whole bucket of worms), my SIL said that while visiting my dad, he told her he had found a phone number that he thought might be mine. He wanted to know if she'd be willing to call it and see. She said no, mostly because we haven't talked since I left and she thought it would be weird. (It would be.) So now I am not picking up my phone if the phone number is one I don't know. Caayn isn't allowed to answer his phone if its one he doesn't know either. He must not be good at the hunting online thing... I did one search on one website and am 99.7% sure I found a site that will give up all my public records (for $40 bucks)... I'm sure because it lists having 2 addresses for me on the base and 1 downtown.... which is exactly my history. It's freaking me out pretty bad, I must say. I'm trying to convince Caayn to let me meet with the legal office, to see if there is anything I can do to make this stop. I'm also considering writing a letter to my dad to tell him to STOP (of course, mailing it to my mom so that she could mail it from a different state..)

*sigh* I hate feeling like such a paranoid freak. I think Caayn feels I'm overreacting, but I can't help it. It'd be one thing if my dad had any reason for doing all this. But he doesn't!! He just does it for no motive that anyone can see. That's weird. And freaky. I've only once in my life wished for someone to literally die... but I often find myself wishing my dad would. I have no plans on telling Sully he is alive, and I have no plans on him ever coming within 100 miles of my family. It's awful. Why couldn't my uncle be my dad? He's the most awesome man I have ever ever met, and I still regret every day that my mom wouldn't let my aunt and uncle legally adopt me. Ugh. What a nightmare my life can be at times. Hopefully Sully's and this next one (I don't know what to call it...) have a nice, normal life. No weird family junk. Happy memories.

Tomorrow. I'm excited. I'm gonna buy something for the baby after the ultrasound... it'll be cute. And hopefully have dinosaurs on it. Cute ones.

Also... I'm having another desire to buy an iPod... I would really have no use for it... but I want one!

Ode to Achilles

Happy birthday Achilles!

My greyhound is 3 whole years old today. We're going to go buy some Frosty Paws (dog ice cream) and some specialty dog cookies when the kid wakes up from his nap.

Obligatory how we got him story:

We got Achilles Sept 2nd, 2004. When we walked into the pet store, he was all alone in his little cubby thing, jumping up and down. I thought he was just the cutest thing ever. Somehow we ended up in the back, holding him. I think I might have begged Caayn, lol. He was the softest pup I have ever felt. His fur was like a mix between chenille and suede and smelled deliciously like puppy. I was over the moon!

When we brought him home, he was exactly the same size as our Jack Russell Terrier, Raina. In fact, the two of them had identical markings and the only difference in them was her short tail. (We have video of them running around together for the first time, its adorable.)

He's also been through a life-threatening illness, which he pulled through. In Sept of 2005, he came down with a particularly vicious strain of Parvo, which is pretty rare in adult dogs who have been fully vaccinated. This same strain hit several other dogs in the area, and he was the only survivor (other adult dogs had been hit too). He spent a week in the hospital, lost 10 lbs--which is a HUGE deal for greyhounds.... it was awful. We bought our minivan simply because we wouldn't have been able to bring him home in our Dodge Neon with Sully's carseat in it too and needed something with enough room for him to do whatever.

Achilles is now a big, healthy greyhound who loves to sleep, play, run and eat. His favorite snack is some tasty milk. He's also a pretty big pansy and doesn't like loud voices. He has the most lovely eyes, they are a shade of delicate light brown, with a darker circle of brown around the pupil... I could gaze in them all day. All in all, he is the greatest dog ever and I look forward to many more years of delighting in being his human companion. I thank Caayn every day for giving me the greatest gift of that canine soul.

Blood-suckers

Whenever I get a mosquito bite, the first thing I wish was that I still smoked. Nothing makes the itch go away like holding a lit cigarette over it... Caayn always thinks I'm crazy, but seriously, I'm not. I'm sort of allergic to mosquito bites, in that they usually get really big, itch for over a week and even when they go away, they leave a little dark circle. So anything to deal with the itch is good.

Oh, and apparently I has tasty bloods, 'cause I can go outside for one minute and come back in with a bite. Argh.

Yes, this is me trying not to think about the fact that on Friday I will hopefully be seeing my tiny baby. Who just happened to let Caayn feel it kick yesterday morning. In the mornings, I usually am awake much earlier than I actually get up... I like the lounging in bed thing. But now that I'm pregnant, its more exciting. I get to lay there and go into myself, waiting to see if the baby moves. This early, before it is consistently felt outside, its such a secretive thing. Only I can feel it. And the baby is turning out to be like Sully in that it seems to wake up in the morning with me, so I get to be greeted with kicks. It's really nice. I think on Wednesday is when I turn 20 weeks... ooh... Now, to find the orange paint I want to use on the walls... and maybe, just maybe take a peek at the baby name list. Yuck. Why can't they just come out pre-named?

It's official....

I am in love.

With Cocoa Puffs.

YUM. Seriously, I don't think I have ever really had them before... I didn't eat a whole lot of cereal, and when I did it was usually something like Cheerios or Golden Grahms. But yummy! Its like the only thing I want to eat now. Thats probably not good.

And also, I'm totally sick, but I like cereal that is soggy. I know, who likes soggy cereal...

Rambles @ 19 weeks

19 weeks today... Almost halfway there. It seems like every day my belly is just a bit bigger. I'm constantly looking over my stretch marks to see if any are turning colors or if new ones are showing up. I hope they don't. The sight of them doesn't bother me, I think they are kind of cool, but the skin feels different there. If I have an itch on my belly where some are, I shudder to touch it... the skin is thinner, it feels, and like there is nothing underneath. I don't know, its hard to explain.

I'm thankful we live in a new house with shorter staircases. With Sully, we had one long staircase, and only one bathroom, at the top. It was a pain to climb all that way just to pee, which you do often during pregnancy. And the bigger I got, the slower I would go. I can remember running up them as fast as I could, and going any faster than a slow walk. It was like those dreams... I find myself running up them as fast I can now, just to do it while I can, lol. And while we now have 3 bathrooms, again, there aren't any on the main floor, which means I still have to climb a set of stairs.

If you ask Sully what my belly is, instead of saying belly, he says, "baby in there" which is cute. I think he refers to all bellies like that.

Yesterday was Caayn's birthday. He's 23 now. Time flies. I remember when he turned 19; it was about 21 days after the first time we met in person... I think even by then we had known we were getting married. I also think I spent my whole paycheck buying him gifts from my aunt and uncle's store. Those were fun days. Weeks flew by in the rush of waiting for the weekends.

Sully talked to Caayn's mom on the phone last night. He said, "Hi Gaga! I lub you! I miss you!" I think I'm not alone in feeling a little guilty that he doesn't get to see his family more often.

Next week, at this exact point in time, I may know what the gender of my baby is. I'm excited and nervous. I also feel a little betrayed by my body, not letting me in on the secret like it did with Sully, forcing me to turn to machines to let me know. And I also feel weird finding out... I still don't want to, but I think if we don't, the baby will be born and have nothing to wear. I have no desire to buy baby clothes or baby stuff... well, except for the SUPER adorable dinosaur stuff that Target has. I want another boy so very badly. My picture of me as an adult was always me in a household of boys... well, it was actually a boy and a boy/girl set of twins, lol... but all boys would suit me just fine. I'm not a girly girl and couldn't imagine trying to raise a girl... Poor dream. Everyone seems to think this is a girl. I'll stubbornly hold onto my dream a little bit longer...

Stuffs

The glory, the wonder of fresh, tasty grass. What can I say, he loves it.

We've been putting the new camera through its paces... I've taken over 100 photos of Achilles. He's the best greyhound in the world.

Took Sully to the zoo Saturday. He had so much fun. We still didn't see any wolves. Sunday it rained the whole day and there was quite a bit of hail in the evening. Sully was very excited to see 'snowballs' which is what he calls snow.

Crayons on the wall?

I used to have a printed out sheet, in which it explained how WD40 and duct tape are all the tools you need in the world. It was hilarious, and so true. "If it moves and isn't supposed to, use the duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use the WD40."

If you have ever despaired about cleaning the crayon off your walls, did you know that WD40 works? Like a charm. (Well, you may get a teeny tiny bit of a hue there, but since I didn't scrub too awfully hard, it's possible that you could get it all the way gone.) Feel free to let your chilren roam with crayons now.

Thought I'd share that lovely house-mama tip.

For Liam

I discovered Kate's blog not long ago. Over the course of a weekend, I read her whole blog, all the archives. She is so brilliant, and witty, and vibrant... her family is just amazing. On May 6th, she had her twin boys at 28 weeks. They had a thing called Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which can happen to identical twins who share a placenta. It's basically where one twin gets more blood flow (and thus nutrients and stuff) than the other twin. And I think she said she was also having placental abruption, which is where the placenta starts to detach itself from the uterine wall. Since that day, her and her husband have been spending all their time in the NICU. The twin who suffered the brunt of the problem, Liam, was thought to have massive brain damage. It was touch and go for awhile, and all around just about the toughest situation someone can ever go through.

I check her blog all the time, in hopes of an update, pictures, anything. (She feels like a long-lost sister.. our children are even close in age--her son being 2 months older than Sully and the twins were due in July, which isn't too far from Novmeber...) Today, there was an update. I read the first paragraph, and then skimmed ahead. My eyes started welling, and I had to close the window. I'm not ready to read that. Not now. I'm not sure I'll be ready, ever. I can't read it while Chris is here or while Sully is awake, thats for sure. I am going to ball my eyes out. He died today. Oh, Kate! To be there, to offer anything, nothing, to be there for silence, an ear, to curse. I can't even think.

This is for Kate, Justin, Evan and Ben, who won't get to know Liam as a kid, as a teenager, as an adult. This is for the world who won't get to delight in him.

New Camera!

YAY! We finally did it. We bought a digital camera. And not some POS like we did two years ago, that took both crappy pictures and broke after about 6 months. We got the Nikon D40. So, needless to say I'm excited, Caayn's excited, heck, even Sully is excited. Caayn turned me onto photography, taught me the basics enough so that I can take a roll of photos and not end up with half that are tossed out. (I was known for this for like five years, and it was annoying.)

What does this mean for the readers? Be prepared to see lots and lots of pictures! I finally have the opportunity to take as many as I can of Achilles, who is black, and thus is hard to get a photo of him that isn't totally terrible because of how shiny he is. And I can also share how huge my belly is getting. Well, maybe not, but I can share with family who want to see. And some of both Caayn and I, neither of who end up in front of the camera very often. (So true--I have a huge photo album, a real one not a computer one, almost totally comprised of Sully pics.)

WHEEE! And it's so cute. I like digital cameras that look like real film cameras. Mostly because, like Caayn, I have a fair amount of disdain for digital. I prefer having real photographs in my hand, being seen for the very first time. The thrill of getting a roll back from the photo center and rushing to the car to see how things turned out? You just can't get that with digital. Yeah, yeah, I know you can still get real photos done, but it's just not the same.

Maybe this time we'll actually get more than 2 pictures of the baby in the hospital... hehe. Shame on us. How we only got two, when I have like 6 of my freshly stapled incision, I'll never know. Heck, I really won't. I was drugged to the gills the whole time I was there. (But hey, I have cool scar pictures. They're so gross and cool. Too bad I won't ever share with anyone!)

Bah, enough of this. I'm going to go take some pictures. Or clean. Hmm. Decisions.

Dwarf?

*Disclaimer: I know they are called little people, that that is the PC term. However, in the following story, I am, in fact, referring to the mythical dwarves from stories and games.

We moved into this house at the tail-end of November. I think we spent T-Day here, but I'm not sure. It was probably about a month after that when I noticed it. My kitchen isn't very big, it's smaller than my old one with a lot less counter space and cupboard space. I keep all my mugs and glasses in one cupboard. This would be fine, except for the smell. When you open that cupboard, about 1/3 of the time, a big waft of men's cologne comes out. Probably something a teen would slap too much of on, I think Preferred Stock comes to mind, but I haven't smelled that in a long time, so I can't be certain. The very first time it happened, I exclaimed that a very small dwarf must have spent a fair amount of time in there. It's freaky. I also joked about how I swear I didn't hide a guy in there...

Before I wrote this, I was having breakfast with Sully. Cheerios (in a bowl) with a 'foon and molk. Sully's words. (He always lets you know how he wants them, because half the time he eats cereal straight out of the box... just like his daddy.) I wanted something to drink, and being pregnant, I tend to steer towards water. The smell hit me again. Ugh. I knew I had to remember to get this out, because I've been meaning to write about it since I first started this thing. (See how good my memory is?) Oh well.

So that is my story. A cupboard that smells an awful lot like a male dwarf.

Although, I got to thinking about how this could have happened. No other cupboard smells like this. Not even the one that shares a wall with it. I live in military housing. So let's take a look at who lived here before. Another military family. Perhaps the guy was a drinker, and kept his favorite glass there. Maybe he got deployed. So what does his wife do? Sticks his cologne in there, where it would waft out each time she opened the cupboard.

No?

Maybe it belonged to an A1C, who got divorced, and being a bachelor, decided to keep his grooming products near the sink? (Why not in any of our 3 bathrooms, no idea..)

Hmm. I think I'm just grasping at straws.

My last idea was that maybe the wife chopped off her husband's head, and for lack of a better place, kept it in that cupboard. After all, our house has a lot of trashed floor and walls and spots. Housing tried to clean up, but they don't do the floors very well, and their paint doesn't cover spackle like it should. (In the master bedroom, someone cut a big square, badly, out of the hardwood floor... why? Maybe to shove chopped up body parts down. WHO KNOWS?!

I think I need to stop thinking about this, and go color with Sully. Sounds like a good plan to me.

(On a side note, totally unrelated to all of this: I felt the baby last night. Not felt it kick, but felt it with my fingers. It was a little hard lump that made me feel a little ill when pressed, which is what would happen when you touched Sully inside me. Plus, it disappeared after a little too much poking. And once, when Caayn had his hand there, feeling the kid, I felt it kick. Unfortunately it's still too small to be felt from the outside, because I would have liked for Caayn to feel that too. There were more funny flutterings from in there for about 10 minutes before the kid calmed down or turned to a direction where I can't readily feel the movement. It was fun though.)

Setting the Record Straight on Greyhounds

Let's get this straight. Greyhounds are good dogs, no matter what they do or did or where they came from. People who are Greyhound fanatics are usually highly opinonated about many things, including racing.

I don't have a problem with Greyhound racing. They have been bred for thousands of years to run, which is why they have the paws and legs they do, the deep chest they do. They are meant to run and do so with much glee, speed and grace. When you see a Greyhound run, you know they are delighted. And most states that allow racing to take place, no longer allow the tracks to have dogs put down simply because their career is over.

Greyhound adoptions are a noble thing, yes, but not anymore so than any other kind of adoption. Adopting a pet from a shelter is taking an animal in need into your home. All animals in all shelters are in need of loving families.

Buying a Greyhound puppy from a breeder or pet store is not shameful. They are in need of homes just as much as any other pet. (This is something I come across a lot, this idea that Greyhound puppies should never be bought, because there are older Greyhounds who need a home more.) It begs the question, if the Greyhound puppy isn't bought, what happens to it? It's almost like saying greyhound racing is good, simply because those dogs are better. (You usually get this mentality from those who strongly oppose racing.)

Last, but not least, Greyhounds are one of the best breeds around! They can be anything to anyone. They look good in any photograph, any pose, any light. They snuggle better than any dog, because they appreciate a good sofa (or bed, or pillow). They look like total dorks when chasing their tails, mostly because they do it funny. And they know how to cheer anyone up, no matter the mood. If you have never met a Greyhound, you should. They rock.

I Wish I Could!

I didn't call the vet this morning, because Achilles seems much much better. Apparently my epsom salts baths did the trick. Silly dog!

I'm in a jam here. There is something that I totally want to blog about, because it's hilarious, but I'm not allowed to. Suffice to say, I'd tell you if I could, and there would be much mind-boggling and probably much laughter... However, since I can't share, feel free to make up funny stories in your head. (It's funnier that way, because you have no clue what it is and so would make up much more situations in which funny things happen.) I did do the next best thing though; I called my mom. Everyone should have someone they can turn to with anything and have them listen with a non-judgemental ear. She's it. But still. I wish I could share!

In the meantime, I will think of something I can share, since this would be a sad entry if it was only to be about something that I can't share!

Hmm. Okay, here we go. I love cooking. In particular, I love making breakfast. French toast was the very first thing I learned how to make when I was little. I love it. Scrambling the eggs brings me right back to when I was a tiny girl sitting on the counter, watching my mom whip the eggs neatly in a bowl. Whisk? No way, we use forks. (Silly, actually, because yesterday I accidently grabbed the whisk and made a huge mess of my eggs. Oops.) I love making pancakes too. Many of my memories of my dad aren't good, but he was the Pancake King. Every single one was the perfect golden brown color, perfect size, and very delicious. We had them every weekend (or, well, I assume they did, since they did the weekends when I was there). On a side note, I just recently started making my bacon in the oven, rather than in a skillet. OMG. It makes a world of difference. If you have never tried it, go for it. Lay a cooling rack inside of a cookie sheet (I lay down tin foil in between, to catch the grease, since that is pretty messy) and lay the bacon top to bottom, not sideways. Oven at 350 and just keep an eye on it. YUM YUM. Much better than dealing with oil burns from splattering grease.

Now I want some bacon. :P

Also! If you ever find yourself at Avila Beach, CA and are hungry, I think you should visit Fat Cats. It's a cafe outside the Port San Luis pier... It's the best food, and best scenery. The best place to sit is the outside patio, in the back. At night, they turn on these heater-lamp things, and sometimes you can hear the seals... It's wonderful. Oh, and the name isn't just a name.. Inside the cafe, there are tons of bulletin boards plastered with photos of people's fat cats. :D Genius.

When Does It End!?

It's always something around here. It is like some god has ordained that we are not allowed to have one appointment alone in a week or something.

We took the dogs to the dog park yesterday. I love doing that, because it is the only place where Achilles can really stretch his legs and run like he is meant to do. Being walked on a leash just doesn't compare when you are bred to run. Watching him at full pace is breath taking. He looks so happy and so gorgeous, the way his body moves gracefully, the way the sun glints off his coat. Artemis, on the other hand, she doesn't do too much running, unless it is to run after some strange dog or person and yap at them. (I'm so confused, if you don't like a dog/person, why chase after them?)

We did see a few other folks out. There was a husky when we got there. Huskies are Achilles' favorite big dog breed. He always gets really wiggly and excitable when he sees them, way more so than any other type of big dog (just like he does when he sees a Yorkie). Not too long after we got there, a guy with two non-descript black dogs showed up, and then a german shepherd and some other type... The german shepherd was fetching a ball, and whenever Achilles would see her run, he would fly out after her.

Unfortunately, this ended badly. He ran with her probably 5 or 6 times, getting himself way overheated and worked up (he is out of shape, after all). I noticed him with a bad limp, going into the shade. We couldn't really see anything wrong with his foot and he didn't cry or take it away or anything... it took him the whole car ride home to cool down, the silly dog. However, when we got home I noticed the wound. His paw had a big slice down the main pad. Later, a piece of the pad just sort of peeled off. Poor guy!!! I did a small epsom salt bath for that paw, and then we wrapped it with gauze and that non-sticky sticky tape stuff... but I definitely am going to make an appt with the vet. I feel so guilty, like there is something I could have done to prevent that, but didn't. Ugh. I wish he wasn't SO big, because I would totally be carrying him around right now, lol. This morning I also saw that he had lost a bit of pad on another foot... so I guess his pads weren't used to that kind of work? I dunno. We'll see what the vets say.

Oi. Our household is awfully crazy for only being 3 people big (but 5 1/2 members strong, the 1/2 indicating the cat, of course).

Midwives, Baby Kicks and Houses

Made my midwife appointment this morning. Apparently we finally have a new midwife on board. The whole town used to only have two, but one left to go elsewhere in the state leaving us with just one to bear the load (and let me tell you, I'm sure her load was huge because a lot of women are wanting a midwife out of the selection we have)... but when I made the appt the receptionist let me know I could meet the new one, since they are working together. Apparently I will be alternating between the two of them for my appts from here on out, that way I will be completely familiar with them both come birthing time. I go next Friday (which means next friday you'll get a whole 'nother post about this).

I felt the baby move the other day. It was like at 4 in the morning, and POP! there it was. I think I felt it awhile back too, it was like a double kick... But considering I'm not feeling it all the time, I think they are both quite likely to be the real thing. (Generally us mamas know the difference, it's just that internal self going, "Ahh! There you are, bean!") I forgot how many weeks along I am... 17 or maybe 18 this weekend. Family always asks how I'm doing... I hate that question. We always just say, "A little tired, a little sore, but good." Because no one wants to hear about how I'm in pain a great deal of the day, walking is always a not so fun chore. My mom is the only one I'm truthful to, because she knows. She understands and remembers that this was why we nearly didn't have another baby. Plus, I can joyfully tell her about how huge my boobs are and she'll just laugh and not be like, "OMG, why is she telling me this? Eww!" It's good having a mom you can share with. I suspect I could be this open with my mother in law too, but since its always Caayn who talks to her on the phone, it's a little hard. I can't wait until we live closer. My in-laws ROCK. I love them.

So out of curiosity, I was surfing ReMax for houses in Lewes and in Dover, PA.. (OOOH YAY! Billy Idol is on the radio!!) I found my house. I want it. NOW. It was built in 1850. It's surrounded by the gorgeous PA greenery, that I just know will look awesome even in the dead of winter. And the selling feature? It has dog runs. Caayn and I are very serious about opening a dog kennel once we're done with military life and the kids are old enough to understand about dog safety and such. (I'm totally going to do a discount for greyhounds too, haha.) *sigh* I don't think I can have it though. Not when I'm still too loving military life. I'm excited for Caayn to cross-train... if we get base of preference, we're going to head to Dover, DE, which is in a state we'd like to live in and close to family. But still, thats a nice house. *drool*

Beware the Wiiitis!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/fun.games/06/06/wii.elbow.reut/index.html

Yes, Wiiitis is a "real" medical diagnosis. It happens when you spend too much time playing Wii Sports. The treatment consisted of ibuprofen for one week, as well as complete abstinence from playing Wii video games.

This whole article made me laugh, I can't believe this made news (its almost as bad as the Paris Hilton news of the day, in which she got out of jail after 4 days because of "medical reasons").... The best part was:

"Physicians should be aware that there may be multiple, possibly puzzling presentations of Wiiitis."

Secret Love

I really want some Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Badly. I hate being pregnant sometimes. Luckily, we don't actually have a Krispy Kreme here. The only time we get access to those yummy dougnuts is when there is some kind of fundraiser going on. And then you can only buy them buy the dozen (darn). When I'm not pregnant... It's shameful to admit, but we'll buy two boxes. Yummy. No, we don't eat them in one sitting. I can't do that when I'm pregnant. It's guilt-wracking enough when I'm not, lol, but to eat that much bad stuff while growing another person just isn't right. (There's no way we could buy a box and then try to have me only have one. I have no will power when it comes to those things.)

Mmmm. Tasty. I never had them before moving here, either. Back home, I only ever got my doughnuts from the Golden Doughnut. Those are -still- the best ones you will ever find, even better than KK. And now, I'm going to go drown my doughnut desires with a large cup of water. :P Yay water!

Baby Goodness

Sometimes the realization that we are having a baby hits me in the head. I am going to be able to say "my children" or "I'm the mother of 2". That's just weird. I can't even picture what this is going to be like, or how Sully will react. It's too mind-boggling. Although, I think I felt this way before Sully was born too. It's even more weird that I'll be 21 (or 22, depending on when in November this kid is born) and will have 2 children. On purpose. It's not like either of these were accidents or pill 'malfunction' or anything like that. Eeks.

Sully is hairy now. When he was born, he had that baby fuzz that they have while still inside... his little ears had hair on the tops (I used to jokingly call him my little puppy, lol) and hair on his back and arms... It was cute. Now he has real hair! His plump legs and little arms have real fuzz. His cheeks have peach fuzz. I love to just look at him and see the minute little changes like this. He's becoming a big kid.

He's afraid of things outside. We were on the patio while Caayn was mowing the grass. I was attempting to weed our little rock patch thingy. A dead leaf skittered around on the cement in the wind, and it set Sully off like a rocket! He started screaming and howling and jumped onto my lap quicker than a blink of an eye. It was crazy. Even after he stopped looking at it, if the wind picked up and he heard it, he would jump and scream. How funny! We eventually had to go in the house because it just came too close to us. (We abandoned his measuring spoons, but when he saw the leaf going near them through the door, he screamed at me to get them, lol.) And now he's freaked out about ants, which normally he likes, and butterflies...

Yesterday we went on a long walk. We saw one of those little plastic playhouses that some folks have. He called it a farm. (He also recoginizes the farm on the tub of butter.) He chased a squirrel through 2 people's front yards and then got scared when it ran up a tree--he didn't like the scrabbling noises the claws made on the bark. We went to the park. He can climb up all the equipment by himself, including the little metal curved ladder. It's madness. We watched a cat drive itself crazy chasing dakrats and birds.

He also loves Rachael Ray. She's been his favorite tv person since he was probably like 10 months old. I always have the Food Network on, because I love me some tasty foods. He heard someone call her Rach, so now he says, "There's Rach!" And tells us what color shirt she is wearing. He also learned how to say Michael (Easy Entertaining, I don't know how to spell his last name off-hand), which he then got confused with "my cup".

And now that Sully isn't sick anymore, he's a bundle of charm. I'm not sure if it was mentioned here or not, but he had a really nasty bacterial upper respitory infection and was just icky... but now he's doing good. I can't remember him acting this funny before he got sick, so I'm wondering if perhaps this is more of his personality coming through. I hope so, because he's a lot of fun to be around.

Oh, and one more joyous Sully tidbit. He has learned about butterfly kisses. A long while back we taught him eskimo kisses, which he used to say "Es-kisk-ka-mo kisses" and would usually take a full 30 seconds to get spit out of his mouth. Now he just calls them eskimos. Butterfly kisses are even better than that, though. First of all, they have the word butterfly in them. And second, they tickle.

I need some good vibes headed our way--Caayn's birthday is coming up soon (21st) and I'm really hoping we can find out the baby's gender around then. So if I could get some crossed fingers or something, that would rock. :D

For the Love of Tri-Tip

You may think you know barbecue, but unless you've had Santa Maria style, you don't. The perfect barbecue would involve having oakwood burning in your pit, a nice big tri-tip (only seasoned with black pepper, salt and garlic salt), and lots of friends. The common side dishes are usually some type of bean, preferably pinto, salad and garlic bread.

Growing up, I never knew that barbecue meant other things. Some think of meat smothered in sauce, ribs, pulled pork, or in Caayn's case a sloppy-joe like thing. I don't think I ever even had barbecue sauce until I was like 12. It just wasn't how we did things.

Out here, I don't get to have a wood fire. Most of the barbecue pits my family had were home-made (my dad was a welder, my mom's boyfriend at the time was too and he made various kinds). I have to use a gas grill. Which, I must say, was difficult to get used to at first. I've never even used the word 'grill' to mean something being cooked outside! Funny how we adapt to our surroundings.

So when I cook my tri-tip, generally I break away from tradition a little. I like to marinate mine in worchestershire sauce, lots of pepper, salt, garlic powder, a little bit of extra virgin oil olive and a lot of melted butter (why? I don't know, but it tastes good)... then right before it goes on, I throw more of the salt, pepper and garlic on.

Everyone has a different theory on how the meat should be barbecued. Some stick to the method of flipping often, to allow for cooking on all sides as well as for the fat to roll around the meat rather than dripping off into the fire. Others hold to the 'leave it alone!' method. That's where you don't really mess with it. You let it cook and only flip a very few times. My mom was a flipper, so I tend to do that too, however since my whole dynamics of barbecuing is different, I do it much less than her. (Back home, barbecue was like a party, friends and family over, conversation, beer, linguisa and kielbasa mingling with the crowd before the meat was done, so the person watching the meat stayed outside the whole time... here I tend to just go back in the house, since we don't really hang out much in our backyard.) Also, it's best if you don't cook it to well-done, because then the meat is kind of tough. Ideally, the ends would be on the more done side and the middle would be slightly pink.

If you drive around Santa Maria, especially in the summer, there are barbecues up and down Main Street and Broadway all day long. They are usually doing fundraisers of some sort, and you can pull into a parking lot and there will be guys with big pits and lots of meat. They slap the sliced meat onto rolls, sometimes add some salsa and there you have a yummy sandwich. The smells of that town are divine in the summer. But don't think it's strictly a summer thing, because with our mild weather, most people barbecue all year round.

Give it a try some time, it's worth the effort. Oh, and if your butcher doesn't have tri-tip, look for a meat that is pretty big (usually 2lbs or more) and triangular. I just googled it to see what I could find and I came across this article, which would be helpful. And for the record, fat is good on tri-tip. Marbling means more flavor while cooking, so don't look for something that is utterly devoid of white (I don't think you'd find it anyway).

Coffee, Anyone?

I thought today, rather than write about my boring day-to-day stuff, I would do a little shout-out. Awhile back, when I was still working, my boss had a birthday. At least, I think it was her birthday... Anyway, I had the perfect gift. (See, sometimes I'm actually good enough to remember little things during a conversation that stick out.) I hunted online until I found blueberry coffee. Once, we had been chatting, filling the time until Caayn came to pick me up, and she told me a story about how her and her mister had won some thing and were treated to a gourmet breakfast thing with a group of their friends. And she had the most delicious blueberry coffee, and had since never been able to find any.

So I bought her some.

She was very delighted, and unfortunately she went on leave for like 2 weeks after that, and than I quit (or well, its more complicated than that, but whatever) so I never found out if it was good or not... I'm assuming it was, because it smelled heavenly.

Anyway, what this boils down to is check out Green Mountain Coffee Roasters if you like coffee. They have all sorts of flavors and types, lots of imported stuff, plus really cool mugs, some pottery and figurines and stuff. They are really big on Fair Trade, if you are into that. (I'd never heard of it until I visited their website/looked through their catalogue...)

I, who rarely drinks coffee anymore, am really wanting the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. Yum. That is one of my very favorite flavor combos. So check them out. They are sure to have something for every palate.