Health insurance and other things

With Chris being on second shift (the seed cleaner is now running pretty much 6 and 7am to midnight or 1am), we are now looking for health insurance again. I'm not sure if we are going to be able to find anything reasonable for me because of my weight.

In the meantime, we are going to get Freesia insured as soon as possible. I'm hoping that if she doesn't qualify for medicaid then she will qualify for peachcare.

As for myself and Chris, I'm perfectly fine putting the money we would have spent on a premium in the bank. At least then we actually can put our hands on it instead of hoping the charges will be covered.

Well, I thought I would be talking about other things, but I need to go.

Whew, I didn't think it could get worse

But have you ever been woken out of a sound sleep by a screaming baby at six in the morning. A screaming toddler, rather, who won't quiet down and won't shut up for everything. I finally gave her some children's tylenol after seeing her chewing on her fist and she laid herself down on the couch and quieted down.

Talk about being shocked out of sleep. Freesia hasn't done something like that in so long, I thought I was having a weird dream at first.

This mommy gig is starting to get rough.

Watching the news this morning

For once, I managed to catch the news this morning, and what I found out disgusted me. They are making a reality/game show called The Donor Show. Basically, they are making entertainment out of who gets donor organs. Very Bachmanesque for those of use who remember the novella Running Man.

It just floored me. What's next? Blood sport after 10 pm on the networks? I haven't been able to blog in awhile, but when I saw this, I knew I had to make time. There are things you just have to say no against.

Anyway, that's all for now. If anyone is wondering why I'm suddenly so busy--we are trying to potty train Freesia. It's not going well, and I try to watch her constantly.

So phone calls have been made ...

... and the spawn's b-day celeb is underway. We will be cooking out and having cake and ice cream in about three weeks. Freesia doesn't seem to understand what's going on, but that's all right.

In the meantime, we need to put together a Easter/Eostara basket. We are certainly late for Eostara (Spring Equinox) but it seems strange to be celebrating it when everyone else around us will be celebrating Easter just a couple of weeks later. Especially, since the two holidays are so similar. Indeed, Easter's observance is determined by when Eostara is; it is the only Christain observance determined by the lunar and solar calendar.

However, we will be observing Beltane this year. Probably with a fire and another barbecue, except with just the farm residencts. How could we live on a farm and not observe the major fertility ritual of our religion?

Anyway, enough religious stuff. I'm waiting on a friend of mine to get back to me about her copy edit/critique of my novel. I have someone lined up from critters.org to take a look at it. But I'm hoping for at least one more person to look at it. If I don't get anymore volunteers from critters.org, I'll be posting on www.nanopubye.org to find someone who might be interested in critiquing my novella in exchange for me critiquing their novel/la.

In other news, if carefully watched, Freesia no longer eats crayons. Yeah me, cause that means I can color with her :D.

Whale porn?

Wow, I haven't posted in awhile. I've been so busy trying to keep up with Freesia and housework that I haven't actually spent as much time online as I usually do. Nor have I spent as much time knitting as I've meant to.

Mostly I've been reading--I finally found the local library. Very nice little place, about the size of our trailer with all the walls knocked out. But the librarians are helpful enough when it comes to finding or getting books in.

As for the whale porn reference, we've been watching a documentary on the life of mammals. Very nice one. It shows these blue whales in a breeding frenzy. In the first part of the ritual, the female plays a little hard to get, and the whales around her reach out with their tentacle like penises and poke her in the vagina as she tries to get away while swimming on the surface. Then after she's had enough of this she dives and lets them gangbang her.

When I say tentacle like penis, I do mean that. They thrust out and sort of wave around out of the water until they find the vaginal opening. Their ejaculate is measured in quarts. And as I'm sitting there watching this with my husband, I can't help but say in a questioning voice, "Whale porn?"

This of course is quite funny to the tribble that is my hubby. There are few other instances where they show animals mating, and at each one, it was "blank porn?"

Let's just say it was funny, and I don't think you really had to be there to get it. So there.

Weather and small children

It's been raining here about once a week, but for some reason, yesterday was the worse. I think it was because Chris hasn't been feeling well. Thankfully, Freesia hasn't caught what ever it was, and as always I only got the stomach portion of the show.

Freesia is going a little house crazy. I'll be glad to get to the library today so she can at least get out a bit. Also, I need to get out myself. There is just something about the farm that grates after awhile.

I'm thinking of putting up some flyers in Butler about maybe getting together a play group for Freesia. Also, I would love to get a knitting group started. I'm going to ask around at the library today to find out if they have any info on it.

Hopefully, this will be something that will get both Freesia and I out of the house.

P.S., there are new pictures up in our public gallery--check out the latest album for the ravioli smeared umpalumpa baby.

Delurks and stuff

So someone told me this was National De-Lurking Week. If you would like to comment and let me know you read this, please feel free.

I know I haven't written here lately. Chris is gone more often then not nowadays. I'm so far behind on housework because of Freesia and her tandrums that I've been concentrating just on the kitchen. I think she's having problems because every time the living room is cleaned it changes.

However, I have gotten my dad's socks done, just a couple of weeks late. I'll be getting in touch with him later today about whether he wants them mailed or just given next time we see him. I'm currently working on my shawl. I'll be posting a link to the pattern once it's done.

In other news, Aimee (aka SheWhoReads) has sent me an invitation to a game called LOST. Basically, you are given points for how many people you can convince to join, and if you are one of the top ten scorers you can win a prize. The basic premise as stated by the website is:

"LOST is a student project. The aim of LOST is to show how 7 million people
connect to one another, and break the record for the game with the most players
ever! LOST enables you to interact with people across the world, and see how you
are linked to them."

If you would like to help along my point total, just click here. After completing a profile, your position is marked on a map, and I can see where all my readers are :D.

Aside from playing around with this sort of thing, I haven't gotten much editing done on my NaNovel this month. I still have time, but I'm pushing it.

Mike and Dan have left and I am a putz

Mikey and Dan have left. A bit depressed over that. I tried to convince them that they could live in my pocket, but they wouldn't believe me. We do love those two so.

The baby was really starting to warm up to them toward the end as well. It was delightful to see. I have a photo album set up of their visit for those who want to her cuteness and the guys themselves.

In other news, I almost destroyed my computer with a knitting needle. I had started a sock on dpns and was picking up the free dpn to start the next round. It was late, and I fumbled, and the damn needle disappeared. We tore up the area around my computer to try to find it. No luck.

Just as I was planning another trip into Warner Robbins, site of the nearest mall. I hear Chris snicker. He points out to me my dpn sticking out of the one of the little holes that provide ventilation for my computer.

So I'm a putz. But I have been knitting socks, and that makes me a genius!

Wonderful weekend and sheep wrap tips

We have Mikey and Dan down for the weekend. Right now, Chris is showing them the farm while feeding cows. I have been assured that they will have a good time. In the mean time I've been trying to check my email while Freesia drives me nuts.

I did finish the Tawanda for Dan. It is a bright purple scarf/shawl called a sheep wrap. It is pretty easy with the right application of stitch markers. I placed a stitch marker on both sides of the center stitch then added one on either side every 25 stitches. It really helped the wrap go quicker because I wasn't constantly recounting.

Well, must go feed the monst... uhm, Freesia. Yeah, that's what I meant.

Weird and creepy

So on the Chris front, we compromised. What can I say he is a tribble. Then it turns out the people we were going to invite over couldn't make it. Go figure.

But today's post is about something else. Something I haven't really felt comfortable writing about until I saw this week's post on Raising Violet at babycenter.com. There are times I feel somewhat uncomfortable with how much I love Freesia.

Let me rephrase. There are times when I feel uncomfortably in love with Freesia, like romatically. I'll be holding her, and she'll kiss me and give me a hug. I'll return it in kind and snuggle her close, and realize that I'm breathing in her smell and it's making my heart beat a little harder. Then I feel kind of icky as I realize that it's the same thing I do when I hug Chris.

Violet's mom (can't remember her name) goes on to say she had heard about how the mother/child relationship can feel romantic before she gave birth but she never understood it. I had heard the some of the same, but never realized what it would mean.

So there are times that I really do feel slightly out of whack when I'm playing with Freesia and I do something that sparks those emotions. I would never harm her that way, but it's like the potential is there. Or rather, if I were a different person who had that tendency, I might be tempted. It does change how I feel about other's playing with Freesia. I'm always watching for something inappropriate. I can see why there was that push during the middle of the twentieth century for mother's not to hold their children.

Completely stupid, since children need to be held and played with, but I can see why men felt uncomfortable about it.

But that's an entirely different post. Thanks for listening.

Wow! I'm so steamed.

I love my husband, I really do, but sometimes he just says the wrong thing, and I just want to kill him. Today, he made a snarky comment when I told him I had planned on us doing some of the heavier cleaning that hadn't gotten done yet on Sunday. So I told him fine. He could do what he wanted, but I was cleaning that day. I didn't care what he was doing, and if he wanted to have people over, I would just clean around them tool.

Sometimes I just really want to kill something. Anything. I know that I make most of the plans around here, but that's because Chris lives in a house that doesn't have drawers.

Okay, let me explain. Chris can be unpacking a box, or cleaning off a surface, and he'll start to look at something. He'll spend twice the time it took him to unpack or pick up the piece of paper/book/magazine/plate/shiny thing looking at it, then he'll put it down on a shelf, back on the surface he found it on (like our dining room table), or back in the box because the place its going isn't ready yet.

We have guests coming people, and I really want to be able to eat at my dining room table. Freesia is getting too big for her high chair.

So I told him, he can do what he wants. I don't care. But I'll be cleaning. And if he thinks I'm going to just clean around him, then he's got another thing coming.

Oh, my goddess!

For a moment, blogger forgot I had switched over this blog. I fought for a good twenty minutes to get this blog back. Whew!

Anyway, things are moving apace here. We will be doing some X-mas shopping this evening, but I'm afraid that for the most part, not many people will be getting toys. I need to talk to Chris but we will probably be sending an email to the relevant people letting them know not to get us anything this year, since we won't be able to reciprocate.

Especially since I'm not doing the late X-mas gift thing this year. I do plan to knit some things for myself next year. I have my eyes on a shawl, and possibly a hat to match. As well as a wrap shirt from Big Girl Knits.

Well, that's all for now, cause Freesia is demanding I attend her :D.

A new format for a new year.

I finally let myself be talked into the new Blogger beta. I don't know if I like it, but I do like anything that will allow me to tag posts without all the coding. I hate coding.

In other news, I've started Tawanda--Mikey knows what I mean. There may eventually be pictures. And as for pictures, I finally found a way to upload pictures to the web without my dial up clunking out on me. Check out the side bar, or click here.

Anyway, just updating to let everyone know what's up. Expect a knitting album to show up there sometime soon.

A new look!

I'm sure you've noticed the new look. Well, I'm horrible at that ABC along, and I couldn't keep up with my charity challenge this year. So, I decided use a new template and start from scratch.

Especially since I finally got my computer reformatted again. Of course, then I spent several hours downloading things for my computer since I have a dial up connection. However, our computer is running so much better, I can hardly believe it.

Chris has been really impressed with how the computer has been doing. He can finally read his comics in the morning without all those annoying pop ups and mal ware in the background.

Well, I'm off to bed. Take care everyone.

Back in web land!!!!

Hurrah!!! We are internet capable again. We are moved in, and we are now officially getting used to the good life.

It's great. Chris walks to work every morning, comes home for lunch, and Freesia has a front yard to play in. I finally have time to read and work on my writing as much as I like.

Of course, housework is still something of an issue, but hey, no life is perfect.

Packing!!!!!!!!!!!

So, no money, but lots of packing. We are stretched to the limit, and as you know, I hate that. Also, I hate packing. Hubby loves it. He loves to find stuff that he thought he lost.

So far the only thing I'm losing is my hair. Oh, and I'm developing a nervous twitch of scratching my scalp til it bleeds.

In other news, the Linux machine that I got for my time at Free ITAthens is working pretty good. I think it'll make a nice little work horse.

I'm sorry everything is so disjointed. I don't know where I am really--my head I mean. Physically, for the next two weeks we will be dividing our time between here and the farm. Mentally, I need some time to decompress. Which is what I'm doing, I guess. Anyway, take care out there. It will probably be another month until you hear from us on our clunky dial up.

Did I just say dial up? Oh, goddess, this might not be such a good idea.

So it's been awhile

And it is very late. The baby is finally sleeping--she is teething like it's her job or something. This is just a quick update to let you know I live, the baby is fine, hubby is still a tribble, and that we are moving in three monthes.

Yes, we are going quality of life and moving back to hubby's family's farm to take part in the family business. And there will be gardens of veggies, grass for the baby, and maybe I can convince my father in law to raise a few sheep, ya know just for the look of the thing :D.

Oh, and my hubby's "honey-do" list keeps getting longer and longer. And the upshot--I'll be a real stay at home mom, no more of this part time crap.

I'm going to sleep now. See ya again soon.

So you thought I was gone?

Hah! Never. I am never gone, only small. Sorry, feeling a bit existential today. I'm also like completely like boggled over the fact that I had enough time to blog. Must send husband and daughter out to get the oil changed more often.

So updates--everyone has to drop by Letters to Myself (check list on the side). Jon and his wife just had an adorable little boy, and after some small complications, I think everyone is home. Oh, and by the way, Jon, yes, children really do put out sleep waves.

Also, for those who may be wondering why there are no pictures of the baba lately--I give you two reasons--teething and work.

I have to make this short. But you may want to check back here often, things could be changing pretty quickly.

In laws ride to the rescue and yarn harlotry by yours truly

So my mother in law has ridden to the rescue over the fuel pump issue our van is having. She says that we should save our favors from other relatives and let her take care of this.

This proves that my mother in law is really a great person, despite the character flaw of being a morning person with a snore you can hear through a building. And I can prove it too you.

A friend of her, or my sister in law--not sure which, was moving to Singapore and wanted to give me her yarn stash. My mother in law shipped it to me herself, instead of my having to pay to have it shipped. She also shipped it as a surprise.

So we eventually get this box that used to hold several reams of paper, that she has told us to be on the look out for but didn't tell us what was inside. And inside was several skeins of Red Heart acrylic nestled in with so many skeins of Lion's Brand Molinare (in several different scrumptious colors) that my heart almost exploded. For those that don't know, Molinare was an acrylic mohair from like the eighties. I almost couldn't touch the stuff.

You know what this glorious super fuzzy three ply said to me as I petted it and sighed as my husband called to thank my mother in law. It said linings. It said hat linings, and mitten linings. It tried to whisper to me of sock linings, but I managed to get the lid back on the box.

I currently cast on an experiment for the hat linings tonight, because I couldn't sleep.

It's silly, but I was too happy to sleep. I've been so depressed over that stupid van that all I've wanted to do was sleep, and after staring at the ceiling for about four seconds, I just had to do something for someone else, so I cast on this hat. Even if the lining doesn't work for this pattern, I'll still have a finished hat out of it for Dulaan. And I have like three other patterns that I think will do.

All the proof you need that she is a wonderful woman. Oh, and aside from sending me yarn, she is paying to have our van fixed.

I'm feeling better...

...sort of. I wish my mom didn't try to solve my problems for me. Her point of view is drastically different from mine. I understand her worry comes from a place of love, but her expression of that worry has all the tact of a raging hippo.

That out of the way--I finished a sock. That actually did wonders for my self esteem after my mother's lecture on how I should be using my education without actually using those words. Is it my fault I didn't realize that I didn't actually want to be an engineer until I tried to get an actual job as one.

No one told me I would have to sign off at least three years of my life for most consulting firms. I'm sorry I can't live like that.

Sorry, I honestly didn't mean to blog about this. I meant to blog about the sock. It's purple and its for Freesia. It has the cutest lace pattern in the cuff, and when I post the picture, I'll post the link to the pattern. The only problem is I'm using metal needles size two, and the yarn is from Brown Sheep, Cotton Fine. Very splippery and I really do need bamboo for this yarn, but I've decided to forge ahead with the aluminum.

And to those who might want to make a donation to the Hunt-Smith poor fund, leave a comment, and I will get back to you :D.