Little Life Happenings

First, I'm SUPER excited that one of my best friends just got engaged. I think it's because when it was my turn to be engaged I was sort of in the middle of my friends (some were married, some were not) and that getting engaged was so much the next logical step for Jim and I that didn't get all the giddiness that I now feel for others. Further, I know how great being married is so I know what they're in for and feel I can be giddy with reason. Congratulations again, Karen!

Watch out everyone else- things like this put me in matchmaking mode.

Chris broke two top teeth yesterday. I'm lucky I noticed- his upper gums didn't look near as swollen or ready to burst as his bottom ones (that have yet to break through).

I straightened Nic's hair for the first time today. I don't think it looks good. It is relatively long (at her shoulder blades) but since it's normally curly it looks like it's chin level most of the time. Her hair is very fine and she doesn't have a lot of strands per square inch (like her cousin) so the curls make for a fuller look and are definitely cuter on her.

A well-deserved vacation is on the way!

I miss Sarah Ford.

I am not a farmer

So I guess that I can't fully imagine the impact that something like this might have on me, but....

When I'm gone

I attended my great uncle's funeral yesterday. It was a very nice service that wasn't jam packed full of people and was very personal with a well-written eulogy by his son.

When I go to funerals for "one-off" people like a great uncle (versus my father-in-law 2 months ago) I think about the person who's actually died about 1/2 the time, fret over what the funeral will be like for a close person 1/4 of the time, and wonder about my own funeral about 1/4 of the time.

This time I got stuck on two things:
1) what will the funeral of my atheist friends be like? Will their religious parents still have it in a church? Still have a minister preside over it? Will there still be the "s/he's in a better place now" condolences still be said even though the deceased probably believes that it's all just over and s/he isn't anywhere else?

2) When my maternal grandfather dies I'm going to be a mess. The military salutes are so touching that i teared up in general over Uncle Ed's. When it's actually for my grandfather, a true military hero, I'll be a basketcase.

When I die I intend to donate my body to others who need my organs and then, whatever is left over to science. I personally could care less what happens to my body in general after I'm dead so why not let others use it if they can? Therefore, I think a "Celebration of Life" ceremony like they called the funeral yesterday is most appropriate for me.

Fear not friends, I expect it to be well-catered.

I will want some specific songs sung, just because I like them and this thing will be about MY life afterall. I'd like to think that the event would be well-attended - some sort of outward sign that my life had great impact on others, but if it was small and intimate that would be okay too as it'd probably get more personal.

Really, in general I think these things are for the living, not for the dead. If it makes my loved ones feel better to ____, well, geez, just about anything, go for it. I'm dead afterall! What's it to me?

My 3-year old

This weekend was all about Nicole and celebrating her third birthday.






We went through a cake book and an online kids cake site and she decided she wanted ladybug cupcakes. Jim harassed her all week that I was going to make spider cupcakes instead. She'd get all riled up about it and confirm with me that indeed we were going to make ladybugs.

On Saturday at 8:30a her Grandma Hook and Aunt Connie came from 2 hours north to have breakfast with us and shower both kids with attention.

The official party started at 5p and was a joint party for Nicole and Lindsay. We had tacos, quessadillas, salad, appetizers galore, and of course ladybug cupcakes (and ice cream cake for Linds).

Nicole got lots of great gifts. Jim and I gave her a kitchen set so we'd organized a few relatives to get her fake food and dishes which worked out very nicely. My dear aunt took it a bit far with a 123 piece set of food. We now have individual french fries, pringles, and hot dogs littering the living room.

Hollywood-bound Nicole is featured wearing Cat in the Hat pajamas, lovely sparkle star plastic heels and sporting a ringing cell phone in fuchsia.



Nicole's favorite gift was an Ariel doll from her cousin Ryann. Ariel has gone to Meijer, Kohl's, the bathtub several times, and to bed.

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On her actual birthday we took her to Graeters for ice cream. Of all things she picked LEMON sorbet. That's my girl.

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I made a clown cake for her class but they ate it at snack time so I didn't get to see them sing to her. : (

A few notes on Nicole's accomplishments to date:

• She weighs 30lbs. 3 oz. and is 3 feet 3/4 inches tall. This makes her in the 50%ile for both height and weight

• She's currently really into tracing letters and numbers. She's gotten very good control over a marker so she's quite accurate. The letters and numbers she writes on her own are clear about half the time, guessable 1/4 of the time, and a mess the other 1/4. She can write her own name but the C is always backwards and the E is illegible. Not too shabby though!

• She makes up a lot of words and alternate lyrics. Her favorite thing to involve in her craziness is "Silly Sally". This does get kind of annoying at times.

• She colors in the lines.

• We practice continents, planets, etc. by saying "I love you to Saturn and back" and alternating where we love the other person to. Problem is that she now understands the full concept of superlatives and will trump what you say and cut the game short by saying "I love you to Venus and Jupiter and Neptune and EVERYTHING". If you try to cut back in she'll remind you she said "EVERYTHING".
• Getting dressed in the morning is no longer a problem. She gave up and I get to pick all her outfits.
• She never gets tired of watching Dora, reading books, cuddling, or eating snacks. If you offer to do any of the above she'll drop whatever she's currently doing to do the other unless you tell her she has to quit one of her favorite things. If you offer to read books while Dora is on she'll explain that she wants to watch Dora first and read books second.
• Yesterday in her bath she asked me if Flounder was Ariel's henchman. I had to explain that henchmen were helpers yes, but normally to bad people. Her vocabulary astounds me some times.
• She's still all about making deals most often trading her evening song for another book.
• Greg and Jenna got her a scooter for her birthday. She's not fully gotten the hang of it yet but it's entertaining to watch.

More about changing

My last post was about me not liking change. I feel this is sort of a fuddy-duddy statement and I don't want to be thought of as the person who sticks her feet in the sand and won't budge, that really isn't me. I love IMPROVEMENTS and spicing things up - changing art at my house, re-working a process at my job, etc.; but there are some things that are fine the way they are so why adjust a good thing? Like my gradeschool friends - I have three of them and plan on keeping them around for another 24 years.

I think I'm one of the last holdouts on my blog design. Some of my fellow bloggers change several times a year - I always notice and often comment. But I've kept the same layout since this blog's inception in 2005. I did upgrade to the newer format to get the timestamp and have appreciated some of the ease in changes (specifically to my blogroll) by upgrading.

I've debated taking this private for all the reasons that some of the blogs I read are private. However, I'm surprised by who I find out reads this so I wouldn't want to cut someone off if they had to officially "enroll" as a reader. Further, even if I switched employers there's nothing in this blog that a prospective interviewer might cringe at. On the contrary, I think that my blog makes me more "real".

There's a new layout designer that Blogger is offering and I did poke around for a while. Obviously haven't made any changes ... yet.

Change

Sometimes I have a hard time with change. Things are the way I like them, and often more importantly, the way I remember them and I want it to be that way forever. UD, my alma mater, is one of the biggest things I get antsy about changing. It holds some of my absolute fondest memories and I get nervous at things changing and somehow damaging those memories.

Obviously it, and other things do change without my permission all the time. I'm a reasonable, logical person so I understand that and don't sit and pout [too long].

I was excited though to read an article that UD is expanding its campus to include the former NCR Headquarters. This is the kind of thing that makes me want to donate money (which'll happen next year for the reunion). Putting air condition in the dorms, eh... I didn't have it and they don't need it either. ;)