Noodling Part 2

Remember when I educated you on NOODLING (catching catfish using your body as bait)?? Here's a video that came my way showing some superior technique!

And now for the swimsuit portion of our competition...

As mentioned, my company is going on a Caribbean cruise this June/July. In preparation for it, and celebration of having my figure back, I started the quest for a work-appropriate bathing suit. I'm looking for something flattering, bikini-style, that’s tasteful yet leaves my husband smiling.

I got a VS email about the new swimwear line out for this summer and spent about 3 minutes going through it…. While there were styles I liked, it’s hard to envision what will really work on MY body-type. Though I'm down to a 6 or Medium, my shape is not that of the models. For example, I like this suit, but will NEVER look like this in it;

not the pose, the smirk, the tits, the abs, or the toned legs. Who DOES look like this in real life??

If she does really exist she better not be on my cruise….

Side note: even I, a woman, have a hard time actually seeing the bathing suit in this picture! My eyes dart immediately from cleavage to six pack back to cleavage and then I actually notice the suit! This would definitely leave Jim smiling....

my mother's dream 20 years too late...

I have laryngitis. It’s funny, when I was a kid I always thought it would be kinda cool. Who didn’t pretend they had lost their voice at one point or another? Well, here I am at 28 and trying to be a salesperson with no voice. Pretty tough go. Worse, I have to be a teacher tonight with no voice.

So, what’s it feel like? Literally I feel like my throat is empty. I breathe just fine but even when I try to “ahhhh” nothing but air comes out. It mildly hurts when I swallow but I think that’s equally from the fact that I can only breathe through my mouth since my nose and sinus cavities are totally blocked (and painful!) and my throat is consequently dry.

I’ll admit I smiled when I mentally compared my condition to Arial the mermaid’s. : )

LOVE (as tagged by Katrin)

What's his name? James Randall (Jim, Jimmy, Jim Bob, Dear)

How long have you been together? 6 years in May

How long did you date? 3 months before we moved in together, 1.5 years before we got engaged

How old is he? 31

Who eats more? Depends what it is… I eat more ice cream than he does

Who said I love you first? I did – 7 days before him (I don't know what there was to think about either... )

Who is taller? Jim by 5.5 inches

Who is smarter? What a horrid question. Jim is but he plays it off by telling me I'm good at decorating and public speaking which he can’t do (as well).

Who does laundry? Jim. He told me a week after moving in that he works for the company that makes Tide and therefore he has to do the laundry. I didn’t understand but certainly didn’t argue.

Who does the dishes? I used to do the dishes in exchange for Jim doing the laundry but now Nicole keeps me busy so Jim does them about half the time.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you stand in front of the bed, I am on the right side. Jim keeps me by the door so the burglar will get me first and he has time to escape. (“but doesn’t he have a black belt in kung fu?” you might be asking yourself…)

Who pays the bills? Jim

Who mows the lawn? Jim mows 90% of the time.

Who cooks dinner? I cook every meal.

Who drives when you are together? Jim.

Who is more stubborn? Neither of us is really stubborn.

Who kissed who first? I kissed him in the hallway of his house.

Who asked out who first? I asked him out first (to Perkins for dessert immediately after the Euchre game where we met). Our first “official” date was miniature golfing and he asked me.
Who proposed? He did following a business trip to Canada on December 20th.

Who has more siblings? I do (2 brothers). Jim’s an only child.

Who wears the pants in the family? We take turns!

Ode to Valentine's Day- Part 1

Jim and I were in Meijer the other day and walked past a center promo of Valentines. It wasn’t hard to get nostalgic about our youth when we’d spend long minutes contemplating the different designs (talking hearts with tennis shoes and white gloves), superheros (Superman, She-Ra), crazes (NKOTB), etc. in Walgreens or wherever your cards were purchased. You had to have cool Valentines as they were a direct reflection of you. Nothing too baby, nothing too cheesy.

Of course after you buy the perfect box of Valentines it was vastly important that the right card was addressed to the right person. You can’t send something remotely lovey to the boy/girl you actually like, lest they know of your crush. The ones that say “You’re my best friend” need to be pulled out and reserved as well.

Once each card was properly assigned to the correct classmate, you had to determine whether or not a personalized message should be written. Of course your best girl friend gets a special message, but just your name suffices on the vast majority of your peers, especially those of the opposite sex.

I don’t know about you, but my mom made me give a card to everyone in the class. By the time I hit third grade the school mandated that every classmate get a Valentine. We had Valentine bags that we’d set out at our desk; they were brown paper lunch bags that were decorated in art class the day before with our name scrawled at the top. At the end of the school day we did the big pass-out of Valentines. I never looked in my bag until I got on the school bus and then I devoured the envelopes in a mad rush, trying to find the one that my crush sent to see if anything personal was written. Of course nothing actually ever developed for me from this “love letter” exchange in all my grade school years. Did it for anybody?

Seeing those Valentines in Meijer made me want to go through and get some. Of course I probably would only vaguely recognize the characters on the cards today- Dora the Explorer, Hannah Montana, or some other current fad I'm guessing. I think the best Valentine of recent years was Lisa’s homemade one I got last year- so sweet!

Eating Success- Finally!

Nicole playing with her daddy.

The kid refuses to eat rice cereal. I tried it, it’s really not that bad. Not sure why she purses her lips and digs her chin in her chest to avoid it. She even tries to whine with her mouth closed as she knows I’ll fill it up with a spoon if she opens it.

Last night while I was at class Jim fed her pureed bananas and *BAM* that was it. Kid loves bananas. Down with veggies, give her the fruit. Jim was the sweetest husband ever and, knowing I’d be sad to have missed it, he videoed her eating. I was thrilled to watch as 1) I’ve never seen her so willing to eat solids and 2) she was already asleep by the time I got home from class. : (

Weekend of 1/18/08

I had a WONDERFUL weekend. Really, it couldn't have gotten much better. Here are the highlights:

• I decided to upgrade my wardrobe as it’s been a l-o-n-g time since I’ve bought some basics and some of my clothes have shown the wear and tear of years in the washing machine. I bought a pair of pants at LNY on clearance for $6. $6!! That’s amazing in and of itself. Icing on the cake – I can wear a size 6 now! It's been since sophomore year of UD since that happened!
• I picked up Nicole’s photos from JC Penney Portraits and they are better than I remembered!
• Taking Dave S’s suggestion Jim and I watched Superbad on Friday night. Very funny movie and gets a B+.
• Nicole was feeling sick and let us sleep in until about 8am on Saturday morning!
• Lindsay and Mike asked us to babysit Ryann (our niece) and Rambo (our nephew-dog) on Saturday night. She was so good and Rambo and I cuddled for hours. Only negative was that Ryann woke up at 12:30 and after some quality People Magazine reading she fell back asleep. When I moved her back to the pack-and-play she was drifting in and out of sleep. I just knew she’d get me by crying out when her parents walked through the door. She didn’t disappoint! It’s amazing how little kids know how to be so good then make you look bad just at the right moment.
• We had a walk-through on Saturday morning of the old house and … *DRUM ROLL* an offer on it by 4:00 that same afternoon. We negotiated back and forth 2X each and settled at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon. Papers were signed that same evening, the home inspection is going on right now, and we’re set to close on Valentine’s Day. HOORAY!!!!
• To celebrate the house closing Jim and I went to one of his favorite haunts, Red Lobster, where I had one of the best experiences there ever: blackened tilapia and crab legs!! I also splurged and ordered a Lava Flow (pina colada with strawberry) which brought back wonderful memories of my honeymoon.
• Once we were home from dinner and Nic was bathed and put to bed I took a luxurious bubble bath in my big tub and finished reading People. Doesn’t get much better than that unless it was candlelit.
  

I am SOOOOOO happy with life right now!!!

Nicole's Favorite Pasttime

Is being a KANGAROO!

Check out those cute baby thighs. :)

A rose by any other name

We picked Nicole’s name because it was “normal” but not too overused. Everyone knows how to pronounce “Nicole” when they see it. Further, we felt it left the door open for her to develop a personality of her own without her name directing her. She could be studious and still be a Nicole. She could be a cheerleader and still fit her name. Nice and versatile.

Karen on the other hand has never been a favorite name of mine. Because I think of it as kind of old fashioned and my personality isn’t quite as much, I don’t feel like a “Karen”. This will sound totally strange, but there are many times that I think of my name as just that – a word to help others recognize me when mentioned much like “car” or “shepherd”. Even when I sign things and try to write the word beautifully it really holds no meaning for me.

The alternative name for me when I was born was Christine. While this is way too formal, I think I would have enjoyed being a Chris or even a Chrissy. Of course through much of my childhood I claimed that I was going to promptly change my name to DiDi upon my 18th birthday. That’s why 9 year olds aren’t allowed to make legal decisions, thank God.

Some people I think do fit their name. I think of Viki as a Viki for example, however in my opinion she’s not a “Vickie” at all. I tried to think of what other name would fit Lisa but I'm at a mental block and Lisa is all I could come up with. Original, I know…

Way behind in blogging...

• I got a raise at XU – actually it was a good one of 25%. I'm really happy about it as I didn’t ask for it, the extra cash just showed up on my new contract for the spring. I felt the need to thank someone for the recognition but Jim said that wasn’t necessary and wasn’t even sure if it came from the dean or just the general HR office…. Haven’t seen the dean anyway to thank him in person.
• Class started last night. I have 32 students and 1 on the wait-list. I only have one repeat from past semesters so I have a LOT of new names to learn very very quickly. A few folks stayed after class let out to chit chat which was nice to see there are going to be some friendly people. Greg also had class last night (and Monday) as he’s started his MBA. He’ll be done in 2010 as he has a business undergrad and got waived out of the first third of the program.
• Saturday we threw a surprise party for my mom with 47 people in attendance. She was truly surprised which was exciting. There were a few little mis-haps: the meat lasagna didn’t cook fast enough to be done with the rest of the food, the coffee maker blew up, and the ice cream somehow melted in the freezer. All in all the party was great with the last people leaving around midnight. I got a lot of positive (obligatory?) feedback on the house, especially the pantry size, Nicole’s room and the kitchen curtains. Hopefully things will get even more “finished” for the house warming.
• We have another walk-through on the “old” house this afternoon which makes the 8th visitor since the new year. We found out that there is a furnace issue with some part that I'm unsure of. That may get expensive to replace but what can you do?
• I won a cruise from my company and we’re going to the Eastern Caribbean the first week of July. The whole company and spouses are invited to go with the only expense being extras like alcohol and excursions. CAN’T WAIT. I am sad that we’ll miss my parents July 4th party for the first time in about 10 years, but I think the reason is worth it!
• Nicole tried carrots for the first time two nights ago and at first was a fan but that enthusiasm waned to pursed lips after about 5 bites. Eating isn’t really her thing and she practically refuses to look at you if you try too hard. Further, if she sees a bottle game over. I got an ice cube’s worth in her on Monday and she pooped 7 times on Tuesday.
• Trying to be open-minded I attempted Laura’s feeding method of letting Nicole feed herself. I put the carrots on the tray and she proceeded to want to play with the highchair restraints instead of her food. Her reaching for the straps caused her sleeves to go through the food. She never did put any remotely near her mouth. She picked some up and then got distracted and dropped a huge glob on her bib which then rolled down to her pants and the chair cushion. Not really a success. Mirroring Ella’s gnawing on a carrot stick I gave Nic a slice of green pepper to see what she’d do with it. It did go in her mouth but then she crunched up her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and dropped it. Ah well. Tonight she’ll get carrots again (3 straight days) for one of her two “solid” meals (rice each morning) and tomorrow we’ll try avocado.
• When I came in to wake Nicole up this morning she was 1) already awake and 2) on her tummy. Not sure if she rolled while asleep or awake, but even still it was cute. She got her arm tangled up in her sleeve in such a way that her arm probably fell asleep if she was in that position for a while, but she didn't seem phased so it couldn't have been that way too long.

Happy Half Birthday, Nicole!

Nicole had her 6 month appointment today and all went well. Some highlights on her development:

• As of November 31 she can sit up by herself. The doctor was VERY impressed with her balance and posture
• They asked if she can roll over and I told them no as she tries to go from her back to her stomach but can’t get over that last hump of a shoulder to be all the way over. Wouldn’t you know it – the doctor puts Nicole on her stomach and darned if that girl didn’t roll right over to her back after about 10 seconds like she does it all the time. Makin’ a fool out of me she is.
• Her head is in the 45%, Length (25.5 inches) is in the 50%, and her weight (17lbs, 9oz) is in the 75%ile for her age group
• Four shots and an oral vaccine went in with only about 10 seconds of tears before she was back to crunching the paper table runner and oblivious to the whole thing (clearly she does NOT take after her father for bravery with needles!)
• To clear up a persistent bout of eczema on her back, Nicole has a new $27 (after insurance) pot of steroid cream for us to massage her with. Oh to be a baby!

Thursday 13

Thirteen awesome things I've done in my life:

1. Caught beads in a Marti Gras parade in New Orleans

2. Got drenched by Niagra Falls (on the Maid of the Mist boat)

3. Earned straight A’s

4. Been the person a friend turned to in a time of need

5. Cared for a baby

6. Been in love 3 times

7. Had art I created featured in a show

8. Gambled in Las Vegas

9. Toured Alcatraz

10. Kissed (many) strangers in NYC on New Year’s Eve

11. Went all out on my 21st birthday

12. Watched icebergs and glaciers move and crack

13. Participated in a luau

Weekend Highlights (& some random thoughts)

• I know this is dumb, but when I read the list of the top 100 names of 2007 I let out a “ohhhhhh” of disappointment when I read that the name Nicole is out of the list. Ironically one of the reasons I like the name is that it’s “common” in that everyone knows of it but I haven’t met a Nicole since high school so it’s not overused.
• Nicole was FANTASTIC for her six month pictures at JC Penney on Saturday. She smiled, she coo’ed, she ate the rubber duck they gave her for her staged “tub” shots. They’re so good that I'm frustrated that I can’t get them immediately and have to wait until 1/18/08. I don’t even have a proof to show you! : (
• Just when I was disappointed that Jim didn’t get me any of “my” yogurt (pina colada, orangesicle, berry…) I find the pint of Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip he bought especially for me. Then he tops it off with a case of A&W. He’s so great.
• We attended a 90th birthday party for my great uncle Ed. He was playing competitive tennis within the decade. If I was in his kind of shape (using a cane but still getting around) I'm pretty sure I’d want to live until I'm 90 too. I know I wouldn’t feel the same though if Jim died before me and I wasn’t in a new relationship or in a kick-ass nursing home.
• Speaking of nursing homes, when I think of my time in one I picture myself around age 75 and living down the hall from Lisa, Viki, Sarah, Sarah, etc. Basically the same as if we were still 19 years old living in a dorm but now we’re great-grandparents and fabulously wealthy, obviously still smokin’ hot, and very life-experienced. I still expect we’d sit around in the common areas and gossip about Gloria’s bad hair or whether or not Jeff can still get it up. Please note that in this fantasy the nursing home is in Cincinnati.
• I went with mom to my very first starving artist art show in NKY on Sunday. Mom was very blasé about what to expect. She kept mentioning paintings about fruit so I was a bit nervous I was wasting my time. Turns out that there were a lot of pictures I really liked, only a few with fruit (sporting the required translucent grapes in a bowl of course), and I bought 3 paintings. In hindsight there was one more I should have picked up but oh well. I clearly determined that while my mother is a very strong influencer in my life and her opinion is very highly regarded, she and I do not have the same taste in art at all. I like bright colors and busy designs/scenes. She likes muted colors and simple layouts. What she was drawn to I’d smirk at and what I liked she raised her eyebrows at. I concluded that my taste in art mirrors how I [try to] live my life: bold and busy.

2007 Review

Following tradition from the past 3 years, here’s this past year’s recap.

Age: 28
Weight: 140
Height 5’6”
Hair: Blonde

NYE Activities: We turned down 4 invites to go out but ended up hitting up one party (Sean & Anne Murphy’s) for about an hour and a half. We were home by 9 however to put Nicole to bed as near to her normal bedtime as possible. The rest of the night we watched the last two episodes of The Sopranos with a short intermission for the ball drop and required kiss.

Best Of…
Movie: uhhhh… this year we were sorely lacking in this department and I can hardly remember what I saw at all! Wild Hogs was good, I recall that…
Song: So Small by Carrie Underwood
Friend of the year: The Sturgises. We hung out with both couples (Tom/Meghan and Dave/Rachel) so much more this year than ever before. I'm REALLY glad we’ve gotten to know them better and hope it continues through ’08!

Most fun thing of 2007: Watching Nicole do cute things like wiggle her whole body in excitement when she sees us for the first time in the morning.
Most disappointing thing of 2007: Not selling our house – 2 mortgage payments SUCK
Most Impressive: How many weddings we attended! Dave/Rachel, Mike/Lindsay, Geoff/Roswitha, Dave/Carole, Sarah/Brian, etc.- we already have 3 lined up for the first four months of ‘08

Looking to 2008…
Most Anticipated Thing: Selling the Fairfield house so we can buy a new car
Most Nervous About: Not so much nervous, more anxious…. The concept of stopping nursing Nicole, having only a few months off, and starting this whole baby thing all over again in the fall
Goal: To make the house nearly all decorated by the end of the year

Resolution: To continue to put Nicole and Jim first. Nicole: Leaving work on time, insisting on naps at daycare so I can play with her in the evenings, to continue to help her learn and develop. Jim: to go on dates, remind him how much I love him on a daily basis, not nag

Recap in pictures

Nicole and her great-Grandpa after Christmas Dinner reading a book

Greg & Grandma T approve of dinner.


Mom and Dad are happy to not host 2 days in a row!

Our house.... what a white Christmas!

Nicole's first attempt at solids- a success!

Nic wearing her first pair of blue jeans!

Holiday Cheer and Aftermath...

I'm sitting on hold in my office on my day off. What a way to spend a Thursday.

The Christmas holiday was great – gifts galore (diamonds, clothes, coffee cup warmer, personalized book, etc. for me; a gobload of power tools for Jim; clothes, toys, shoes, and games for Nic), a lot of family time, and the first holiday hosted at our new house was a success on Tuesday. Nicole wore her red corduroy dress Grandma (my mom) made her with little embroidered sheep at the bottom. She was adorable. I bought about $50 worth of Christmas stuff 75% off on my way in today. WaHoo!

I took off through next Tuesday and I'm enjoying the time off. I have a TON of stuff to do around the house and being here at work is not helping me accomplish any of it. My goal is to get one room painted and art hung up in the house before I start the new year. We’ll see….

The Holidays & Cold

I think I might have a cold. At first I was convinced it was just allergies – sneezing, congestion, itchy eyes. Now I’ve graduated into a totally blocked left side of my nose that I can get NO air through (yet somehow it still manages to drip??) and a phlegmmy cough. I'm super tired but I think that’s equally due to being slammed at work only to be slammed at home and never getting more than about 6.5 hours of sleep when I really need/want 8.5.

I'm WAY behind on my Christmas shopping. Fortunately my brother Mike and I determined we’d exchange restaurant gift cards and babysitting offers so I picked up his and Lindsay’s about 3 weeks ago. I’ve known what I want to give Ryann for about a month now but haven’t had the time to actually go and get it. My parents are mostly done but I feel like I need just one thing each more… but I don’t know what. Greg is almost done for Christmas but he hasn’t decided what he wants for his birthday (12/26/07) other than a new car (ha). Same for Mom whose birthday is 1/15/08. Just seems like people don’t actually need anything anymore…

I made a photobook at Shutterfly for Jim’s parents- it’s all about Nicole. I put some pictures from it below – if you click on them you can enlarge it and actually read the text. We gave it to them last night at Outback - they really liked it which made the effort worth it. : )

Happy Birthday, Jenny!!!

Enjoy your 20's while they last!

Weekend of 12/14/07

Another long weekend. Here are the [what turned out to be extended] notes!
Watched Déjà Vu this weekend (Denzel Washington) – it was by the director of the Minority Report and had the same type of feel. Good flick – A.

Jim turned 31 on Saturday! I’ve only seen a few (ie 5) gray hairs on his head and I suspect that even when they start coming in more (ie when Nicole is a teenager- ha!) he’ll make a good-looking salt and pepper guy. He got a miter saw from my parents, Mike, Lindsay and RyRy as well as a deck building how-to book. He’s going to be picking out new bowling shoes from Nicole and I some time soon.

Saturday was also my last day of teaching – went really well and the students all bid their farewells. I had one actually use the words “this class empowered me at my job”. Guess where she works? The only place where people sincerely use phrases like that in “real” conversation – Procter & Gamble. J Still, it was quite a compliment.

We’re making house progress – the mattress was delivered for the new bed, we’ll sleep there for the first time on Thursday when Sarah F comes to take over the guest room we’re currently residing in (the comforter is at the drycleaners). We also moved in the dining room table into the dining room and loaded up the china cabinet with china. The entertainment center was delivered and is MASSIVE but beautiful.

On Sunday we went to a cookie exchange for the neighborhood over at the model house. We got to meet the neighbors who will be moving in next door to us – an AA couple who’re retired and empty-nesters. He told Nicole she could play in his grass which I thought was a good sign. I raised an eyebrow though when he later stated that he didn’t want “any of those Springbrooks moving in next door”. A Springbrook is the ranch-style house and his reasoning is that he doesn’t want a little house next to his big Courtland. Yeahhhh…. Anyway, Nicole pooped through her outfit so we had to head home early but Jim stuck around for some more partying and found out the following:
* There are 10 houses sold in our neighborhood including 3 yet to be built
* 3 more lots are “on hold”
* There are 3 more hot prospects looking that will probably make a decision in the Spring leading our new sales rep to state that she’s “running out of lots”
* There was a meeting to officially discuss the lot behind us (the one we just want to take over) and the developer is looking for an offer that he can counter-offer to buy it. We have to discuss this more thoroughly as the value we’d place on it is certain to be MUCH less than what he wants…
* Lots of conversation on the options that people got in their houses. For reference, one couple started with a Courtland model (base price $210,000) and upgraded it to the final price of $480,000+. Once conversation started we found out about more options (ie a fireplace blower) that we didn’t even know existed!
* OK, a little bragging… What was surprising to me was that it was OUR house that dominated the conversation- people liked how far back it was set from the street, how large it was, the fact that it’s an Avalon model and we drive an Avalon car, our retaining wall, etc. I had no idea that people were actually sincere about how great our house was- I thought that it was mostly politeness of “oh you have a nice house” but these people were really impressed. Now when our house finally lists on the auditor page they’ll go “oh, they must not have gotten many upgrades” (which we did- 3 pages of them)– we have the second largest house in the neighborhood and according to the online records paid the second least amount of money for the house. The lack of a finished basement, granite countertops and deck lead to that lower cost. In the end our final money spent total will get jacked up when we add those items on ourselves, but the cost isn’t reflected in our buying price.
* I got a little chiding about looking a little unwelcoming (my words, not theirs) as we don’t leave our outside lights on and are rarely seen. The sales agent explained to them that we work a lot which isn’t true but apparently worked as far as an excuse. Really it’s that we forget to turn on the lights and our living rooms are in the back of the house so you can’t see that the interior lights are on and we’re home by looking at the front. I’ll have to work on that as that reputation is the antithesis of the image I want to portray to my neighbors.

We wrapped up the night with attending Ronny’s wake (babysitter’s husband) which was a LONG line (1 hour +). Nicole lit up like a light when Andrea picked her up. She was all smiles and coo’s, as was Andrea. Further evidence that we have loving daycare. I understood why the line was so long – Andrea didn’t want to let Nicky go and we delayed things They’re going to start taking kids back tomorrow which I thought was quick but Jim agreed with.

Lastly, we caught Dave and Carole’s Christmas concert at their church which we attend every year. Beautiful music and my mother-in-law loved the whole thing. Job well-done!! Nicole was exhausted from a full day of people-seeing so we had to leave quickly afterwards to get her to bed.

I CAN NOT WAIT until I'm off for a full week at Christmas!!!!! I have so much to do!!!

Nicole Update

I think the romance novels are helping – yesterday when Jim was playing with Nicole she kept making faces. Suddenly when she started making noises he figured out what she was trying to do – pronounce consonant sounds!! She said “baa” today which was the first non-“ahhhh” sound I’ve heard her deliberately make in a while. I teased her that she’s a sheep and tickled her tummy in reward.

Yesterday was much better with the grandparents – a 4 hour nap in the morning and no crying in the 4 hours she was alone with them after until I got home from work (took a late lunch).