I Can't Get Enough of You, Baby

I thought I didn't need my daily fix, but I was wrong. The nerd/news junkie in me just kept crying out until there was only one thing I could do: Renew my subscription to The Wall Street Journal. I let it lapse after Lucy was born, figuring that while interesting, there were better ways to spend 45 minutes every day. You know: Shower, play with my kids, organize things, promote world peace, etc. But until it was gone I never realized how much I looked forward to slipping on my shoes every morning and running out to snatch up the paper, cradled in its blue plastic bag, fresh for my enjoyment. I've craved the the intellectual stimulation, window to the outside world, quirky stories, and conversation fodder it provides. Often it was what I thought about when I didn't have anything else to think about.

Although I have seen the paper change over the years due to its new ownership and have a quasi-moral dilemma supporting Rupert Murdoch (the Aussie media mogul/owner of The WSJ, Fox News, 20th Century Fox studios, various satellite and cable stations around the world, The Times of London and assorted British tabloids that cater to the lowest common denominator and feature scantily clad women in their pages) I do appreciate that he wants the lowly newspaper to survive in this digital age. His aim is for The WSJ to overtake The New York Times as the nation's (read: world's) newspaper of record, so we'll see how he does. I just hope it doesn't involve using dumbed-down stories and nudity to attract readers like he's done in other cases.

So apologies in advance if you have to put up with me starting a sentence with, "I read in the Wall Street Journal..." Feel free to slap me, but I might be too giddy to feel the sting.

What do you look forward to on a regular basis? Does something provide your daily fix?

A More Perfect Union

No, I didn't attend Ohio State, but the feelings of Buckeye pride are starting to sink in the longer we live here. OSU just hosted the grand opening of its new $180 million student union building and I can't wait to go take a tour. There's nothing like beautiful architecture, art, history, and about 50 different dining options at your fingertips to inspire awe. Apparently the building incorporates much of the material from the old Ohio Union, features faculty and student art, is Green and LEED certified (they have a special machine that breaks all the garbage down into pellets to fertilize other areas), sports lots of student meeting areas and is the home of multiple spectacular ballrooms. I'm getting giddy just thinking about it!

Love those gleaming floors...

The view from outside.

Now if only I knew where to park on campus to access said structure. Any tips? I think we might make the pilgrimage down next week in conjuction with the festivities for the opening of the Multicultural Center, as well as to see special exhibits at the new OSU Library and the Wexner Center for the Arts. I've been wanting to see those for a while as well.

Have you been in the new Ohio Union or Library yet? What were your impressions? If you're not a Buckeye, what's the best or unique feature of the campus you attended or one you have visited? I will never forget the smell of the fresh cedar mulch and the blooming dogwood trees on the HBS campus in spring.

Say What??

Conversation that just occurred between me and Ben.

Ben: It smells bad in here.

Me: What does it smell like?

Ben: Vitamin D.

Me: Huh?

Ben: And you smell like potatoes. You need to take a shower.

Granted, I'm still in my PJs at 1:41 on a Monday afternoon and could probably stand a shower, but potatoes and Vitamin D? I've hit a new low when I smell like things that I didn't even know had an odor.

Hello, My Name Is

Lucy got this monogrammed shirt as a gift from Andy's boss and at first I thought it was a bit nerdy, but now I kind of love it. She's following in the footsteps of many a sophisticated lady. Next stop: Initial pins and personalized stationery.

Lucy turned seven months old last week and she:

• Cut her first tooth.
• Rolled over with no one present to witness the milestone. I just put her on her front and when I came back she was flipped over, but she has yet to repeat the feat.
• Loves to jump in her Exersaucer. It's adorable when she drives the little wheel and presses her forehead down on the tray to look into the little mirror.
• Wants to be up with the big people and see everything. She's not content just to lie on the ground for long stretches anymore.
• Is a more finicky sleeper. She snoozes like a champ at night, but gone are the days when she'd conk out anywhere in her car carrier. Now it needs to be in her bed or somewhere with no distractions. This makes things tricky when we're out and about or at church during naptime, but she's still pretty cheerful even if she's short on sleep.
• Loves to squeal and sing and coo.
• Is a flirt. She makes noises so people will notice her and then bats her eyelashes, flutters those baby blues and flashes her biggest grin.
• Can't sit up by herself yet, but we're working on it. Okay, not really since I want her to be immobile as long as possible and postpone the inevitable babyproofing and chasing around.

Sticky Situation

Lucy and her pile of syrup I mentioned in the previous post.

A Whole Lotta Blarney

We had lots of fun on St. Patrick's Day, getting into the spirit of things with green pancakes and milk for breakfast. Lucy also joined the party by knocking over the huge container of syrup and then proceeding to play in it. It was my fault because I forgot she can reach and grab everything these days. But she looked at me with those big blue eyes and was so pleased with herself that I couldn't get mad. Ben's outfit change once he found out about being pinched if he wasn't wearing green.

We then made shamrocks that I cut out and Ben decorated. If you're thinking that they look like they were made by a child, it's a testament to my nonexistent art skills.

Spent the afternoon whipping up some green goodies for dinner - pesto, of course.

Super-easy and yummy Irish Brown Bread. Not green, but fairly authentic Irish fare.

The finished meal with green lemonade, spinach and pear salad, and green Jell-O.

How did you celebrate St. Patty's Day?

A Little Slice of Pi

How fun that there are so many holidays packed into the next few weeks! The celebrations began last Sunday when we attended a party in honor of Pi Day and sampled a number of delish pies. I wish I could claim the prize for making the amazing chocolate confection pictured above (shout out to Brittany and her delightful rendition of Paula Deen's Favorite Chocolate Pie), or the mouth-watering strawberry rhubarb crumble pie in the red dish. Sadly, mine turned out to be the thrown-together-at-the-last-minute raspberry sludge pie in the top right corner of the picture.

We found out Sunday morning that our existing plans had fallen through, so I had to be creative and make a pie with what was available without going to the store. Here's what it consisted of:

• Graham cracker crust made from the half package of graham crackers remaining from our Saturday night s'mores. Just enough to make do.
• 2nd layer: Vanilla pudding
• 3rd layer: A bottle of chocolate fudge sauce (waaaay too much for the size of the pie)
• Top layer: Homemade raspberry sauce I'd made to top brownies.

All in all the flavors weren't bad, but the chocolate was too heavy and the raspberry sauce slid off the top so everything ended up in a big shapeless pile. Not totally inedible, but not pretty on the plate. On the bright side, as one person pointed out, it would have made a delicious filling for crepes.

Nothing in the world like good friends and good food. Love those ladies!

Have you ever celebrated Pi Day?? We didn't until the past two years with friends who are the hosts with the most and commemorate almost every holiday, big and small. They are moving this summer and our social lives will be much poorer for it.

The Big Thaw

Hallelujiah - spring is finally here! This picture was taken two weeks ago when it started to warm up, and after this week of glorious sunshine, the snow is gone. We discovered that a huge swath of bushes in our front yard were totally decimated by the five feet of snow piled on them, so Andy dug them out on Saturday and now has a new yard project in replacing them. Our tulips and daffodils are also popping up and will be in full bloom soon.

This was the best we could come up with for Lucy so she could sit up and be near us. Still working on rolling over and sitting independently.

I hosted Cooking Club this week and made a treat in honor of the season. Can you tell we're excited??

Sadly, the 60 degree days were too good to last permanently and on Saturday it rained, so we had to get creative. Ben and I decided we should do an indoor campout complete with hot dogs roasted over an "open fire," chips, s'mores, the tent in our living room, games, and scary stories (watching part of Harry Potter #6). This was the only picture we snapped before the camera's batteries gave up the ghost with nary another to be found. The hot dogs actually worked out really well and the s'mores cooked on a pan under the broiler in the oven came out nearly perfect.

For those of you who are wondering what we're doing feeding Ben s'mores, the happy news is that we think his wheat allergy is subsiding. After reading an article on how many childhood food allergies are misdiagnosed and encouraging food challenges to see how they'll react, he tried some normally taboo foods with no negative reaction. He started with some graham crackers and moved on to regular bread and finally his very first doughnut. Chocolate with sprinkles. He loves toast and even had his hot dogs in a bun East Coast style (a.k.a. folded into a piece of bread). We aren't going to try any peanut food challenges unless it's in a clinical setting, but this is a start and Ben's loving the new world open to him. You should have seen his face when he ate his first s'more: Covered in a chocolately mess and smiling radiantly.

Girlfriend's Got it Covered

Dear Sandra,

Can I call you Sandy? Thank you for singlehandedly bringing back sleeves to the realm of red carpet glamour. We loved your black dress and aspire to have an event someday where we can wear such a classy number. Heaven knows there needs to be a counterbalance to the Lady Gagas of the world.

Sincerely,

All the women in the world that do their best to find fashionable, modest clothing

P.S. Did you watch any of the recent awards shows? Any favorite red carpet looks? If you need a primer, here's my sister's Oscar fashion review.

The Leak-Proof Lining

They say every cloud has a silver lining. It turns out that ours comes with a leak-proof guard to lock in moisture. In the ongoing saga of our night potty training travails, we had to switch Ben from Pull-Ups to Goodnites because he outgrew and outwet them. While at Target yesterday buying GoodNites for the first time, I winced because they cost almost double the price of Pull-Ups. Yet when we arrived at the register, I was thrilled to find out that they are FSA-eligible so we can get reimbursed for them out of our Flexible Spending Account. We switched to a high-deductible health plan this year with an FSA and apparently incontinence counts as a medical need. If only they counted diapers as well. Babies can't help that they wet their pants too, you know. :)

Note: I don't mean to poke fun at or express displeasure in Ben. He is an extremely deep sleeper and physically can't wake up to go to the bathroom at night. He hates for other people to see his Pull-Ups and tonight when some friends unexpectedly came over after he'd put on his PJs, he changed back into regular clothes with underwear because he was embarrassed by his GoodNite. If things don't get better, we're considering buying him a Potty Alarm for his birthday.

Do any of you deal with this issue? Any tips or thoughts? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this means washing fewer sheets in the future.

Budding Artist

Ben loves to draw and here are some pictures he's done lately: These first two he made with Auntie Char while she was here (visit soon to be blogged about). They took stickers he got for Christmas and made a story out of them. On the top picture he informed me they're racing on a dirt track and Char is winning. The people in the stands are our family.

In this picture he loves the jellyfish and he drew the little green blob/fish/ghosty thing under the pirate ship. Aaaargh!

Ben's rendition of him and Andy going golfing.

He drew this picture of him and Lucy at school this week using a laptop computer. He's proudly shown it to her multiple times since he brought it home.

When Char was here we went bowling, the inspiration for this drawing.

We played Pictionary last week with some friends and it's official that Ben's artistic skills are way better than mine. My rendition of a frog was totally unrecognizable.

Treasured Photos

Last Sunday, during the long hours before 1 p.m. church, Ben and I discovered some old pictures of mine that were stuffed in a box under our bed. It was so fun to reminisce and I smiled to remember the parts of my life captured in these snapshots. I think it was also a little weird for Ben to see that his parents had lives before he was born. I love making memories and photos are a big part of that. If I go somewhere, I'd rather have a picture to remember it than a trinket or souvenir. We have a running joke in my family about how many pictures we take, but I look back at these and others and they are priceless.

Fast forward: For part of our date night tonight, Andy and I went to Best Buy to look at digital cameras. I got money for one for Christmas, but hadn't taken the time to research options and find what I want. We've had the same old clunky digicam for 5+ years with a shutter that no longer closes, a painfully slow response time that lets us take about one picture every minute, and a lens featuring a permanent grease spot that leaves shadows on the pictures. Part of my hangup with blogging is that our camera is so outdated and has poor picture quality and non user-friendly uploading. I can't wait to get a new camera to capture more wonderful memories.

This is a picture of my dad how I remember him best: Healthy, vibrant, active, and out in nature. Although he never completed more than the basic scouting badges, he loved the great outdoors and worked as a Scoutmaster for most of my growing up years. One of my favorite memories with him was when he took me, my sister, and younger brother on a 30-mile backpacking trip along the Pacific Crest Trail when I was 12 or so. He managed to be high school valedictorian even though he frequently skipped school to go skiing and often took solo hikes in the high Uinta mountains in Utah when he was home from college. He worked in the fields as a pineapple picker in Hawaii for one summer and was an avid runner before life got busy with multiple kids and work demands. He loved dogs and after we got two of them for my seventh birthday, he and I often walked them together. This picture reminded me that I get my health-conscious, outdoorsy, adventurous, eco-friendly attributes from my dad.

My mom will kill me for posting this picture and her lovely mid-80s hairdo, but it just captured the joy of childhood (love the smile on my sister Nanette's face), as well as the sacrifices of motherhood. Being in the midst of raising small children, it's often exhausting, frustrating and overwhelming. There are six kids in my family and I appreciate all my mom did to create the opportunities, experiences, and memories we have that helped us become who we are today and continue to keep us close, even though we're spread far apart age-wise and geographically. It inspires me to create special moments for Ben and Lucy and to find the grandeur in the everyday parts of life. Side note: As I look at the picture, I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm holding in my hand (I'm the one with the scraggly hair in the blue shirt.) Ten points to anyone who can identify the mystery object.

This picture encourages me to hold onto my dreams, passions, and talents even though they might take a different form at this stage of life or have to be put on hold for a while. I've always loved people, writing, and learning about the world and found journalism/public relations to be a good fit. After Utah State, I attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University for my master's degree. Each year Uncle Walter (as I like to refer to him) came for an awards ceremony honoring a current media figure and a special roundtable with students, where this picture was taken. Even though I'm still waiting for Katie Couric (or Diane Sawyer, for that matter) to call me to sub for them, I want to keep that side of me alive and hopefully get to do freelance work as a writer (The Wall Street Journal or a travel-related publication would be fun) or PR person, teach communications courses as an adjunct professor, or maybe even try to do something for a local NPR affiliate. This picture also makes me want to cut my hair short again. I loved how easy it was to take care of, but not sure if I can survive the akward growing-out phase.


What treasured memories have you had recently?

Farewell February!

After being a useless piece of human debris for the entire month of February, here's to a new month and renewed motivation. No more plopping down in front of the TV at 7:30 p.m. and falling asleep on the couch after (pick your show) The Olympics, American Idol, The Biggest Loser, etc. and accomplishing nothing productive.