Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


This week I did not stay up way too late and attempt to wax my legs and end up with a sticky icky mess and angry red bumps all over my legs. I also didn't run into the bedroom and get into bed to feed Sullivan with wax on my legs. Not me! I have better sense than that. And better timing.

I did not tell my husband that I caught a mouse under a bowl and laugh as I watched him maneuver it outside to throw it in the yard. I would never pull such a mean prank on my DH, especially in this uber-chilli weather! Not me!

When Sullivan woke up for the 7th time in one night (this time for a diaper change) and my sweet husband said, "You're doing a good job Kimmy" I did not say "Do you wanna do a good job? I think you should do a good job." Not me! I am not sassy and I let my husband sleep peacefully when he has to get up to work the next morning.

Sunshine!

Next week Ryan and I will be leaving for Puerto Vallarta! I booked a destination wedding there which I am SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED about!!! What better location is there for a wedding photographer than on the BEACH!?

Ryan and I have never vacationed "just the two of us." We've have been a lot of places together with family or school or college. This is going to be the Honeymoon! With some workin' on the side. :)

I've been packing for like 2 weeks already. A little bit because I need to, a lot a bit because it's all I can think about!

I'm totally bummed to leave Sullivan for 2 weeks. My mom will be taking time off work to have him the whole week (I'm so thankful to her!). My dad and Ryan's parents will be around to help out. I'm just going to miss him so much. Ugh. I really try not to think about that part. No matter what, it'll suck and I'll just have to deal with it. I know he'll be fine and happy.

I made Sullivan a DVD to watch. It has pictures of us (Me, Ryan, Sullivan, and Brinkley), video clips of Ryan and I singing songs with Sullivan -mostly ones he is familiar with, video of Ryan and I reading Sullivan's favorite stories, and a video of Sully, Ryan and Brinkley -Brinkley is doing her tricks and Sully is laughing. I turned out pretty awesome I think -for not having done anything like it before. I also put together a family picture album that he can play with. We've been going through it, pointing out who's who with him, for a few weeks now.


So, aside from missing out on big Sully kisses for a week (and dirty diapers, waking up every hour or so, laundry, and dishes) I am super pumped. I'll be returning with a tan, beautiful memories, refreshed energy, and probably about 6,000 pictures to sift though.

Laundry Adventure

Today Sullivan helped me with the laundry.

   Sully has been exploring things a bit more with his mouth.  Brinkley's toys were pretty much gross.  They are the dog's toys so I've never thought to wash them before today.

Brinkley was pretty concerned about the well being of her toys...  but Sully took good care of them. 

And then he tasted them -to make sure they were clean.

I think we'll hang out in the laundry basket more often.  ;)

Yummy

Sully doesn't eat a lot of food yet.  Today I gave him a slice of peach and some banana in this awesome mesh food thingy while he watched a little movie on www.hulu.com.  (It was called Boo -I think.)   This is what he thought of his yummy peach and banana: 

He continued to eat it for 20 minutes or so.  So it must not have been that bad! :)

You know you're a mom Thursday

You know you're a mom when:

-You call all the people you talk with most to tell them not to call you because your baby is finally sleeping. "Don't call me! I'll call you!"

-Your so excited to open up a new box of pamper diapers/wipes to get the "gifts to grow" codes. And you really hope you get enough points this time to get the $10 Starbucks card! (Too bad it's not Caribou though.)

-You haven't gotten a phone call all day and you suddenly realize the last time you saw the phone, it was in the baby's hands. Off the hook all day.

-When you go to the mall, you always go to the same one. Because it has the nicest nursing stations.

-The washing machine is being used to wash all the dog's toys. The baby keeps trying to chew them.

-You haven't carried your purse in months. You've consolidated all of your junk into one giant diaper bag.

-You find yourself calling your darling husband "Daddy." And it actually doesn't sounds quite as strange as you would have thought.

-Your facebook/myspace profile pic is not a picture of you... but of your baby.

Sully's Poll

The poll has ended. The results? A tie. 6 votes for a vegetarian diet and 6 votes against it. Hmmm. I'll break that tie! :) Thank you everyone for your comments! It really helps reassure that we're making a good decision.

No chicken mcnuggets for this kid. I hope he likes tofurky!

:)

No, no, no?

Sully just learned to shake his head "no." Sometimes it seams to actually mean "no" and other times -like this- he's just so happy to be shakin'! Can you tell he loves his Daddy? He loves to do the back and forth mimic thing with him! He's always looking at Ryan to make sure he's watching him.

25 Random Things

I was tagged to do this survey type thing on facebook and since I spent so much time on it I thought I should include it here. :)

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.


1. I love that this note is 25 things. I love the number 25. It's our "family number". My birthday, my sister's birthday, and my parents' anniversary all land on the 25th.

2. I have had all of my wisdom teeth taken out. 2 at a time. I was conscious during both procedures and it did NOT hurt. People have such a fear about getting their teeth pulled. Just relax!

3. I am always thirsty and on average drink a little under a gallon of water a day. (I know this because I really don't like city water and buy -and refill- gallon water jugs.)

4. I seem to be allergic to everything. The list includes: dust, mold, wheat, cats, dogs, hairspray, corn, ragweed, cigarette smoke, and grass. (I didn't just think this list up. I was tested and diagnosed. Milk and eggs were on list when I was younger.)

5. I have a BA Degree in Studio Art with emphasis in photography and digital imaging. If I had taken Psych Research Methods I would have a minor in Psychology.

6. I have laughed so hard that I threw up more times than I wish to count. (It's really embarrassing, and it totally freaks out everyone unfortunate enough to witness it.)

7. I have been a vegetarian for 9 years. It all started with a project that Adam Grise and I did in health class in high school. I remember drawing the slip of paper from Ms. Myers' (was that her name?) hands. "Vegetarian Diet vs. Regular Diet" I wish I had the oomph to be vegan. I just don't think I can take another thing out of my diet.

8. My sister, Becky, lives in Portland, Oregon and I miss her SO MUCH.

9. I LOVE my job. I work at weddings! What could be better?! I loved planning my own wedding and after witnessing so many big days I would love to become a wedding planner in like 15-20 years. Celebrity weddings? I think so! :) Maybe for me and Ryan's 25th wedding anniversary we can renew our vows, and threw a super monster "wedding" party! (You know, cuz I'll be rich from planning all the celebrity weddings!) ;)

10. I LOVE my job. I work at home! What could be better?! :) Being a mom is way more involved than I ever would have imagined, but I love it. I want more babies. :) I'm so glad that I am fortunate enough to get to stay home with Sullivan.

11. I'm thinking about homeschooling Sullivan. Something I never dreamed I would ever do. This definitely would not be for more than just his first few years of schooling. Maybe up to like 2nd or 3rd grade. It could be really exciting. I would love to see where his interests are and what he excels at and delve deep.

12. Apparently I'm a rule breaker. (Norm breaker maybe?) Sully co-sleeps with us, he is not vaccinated, he is fully intact, he is still breastfeeding (with no end in sight), and he'll be fed a vegetarian diet. Prior to his birth I had no intention of doing any of these things (besides toying with the vegetarian idea) but I've done a lot of researching, praying, listening to my own instincts, and refusing to blindly follow without asking questions. And there is a lot to learn.

13. I love the show wheel of fortune and really want to someday be a contestant! I watched it a lot with my grandpa when I was young. Sadly, we do not have a tv and every weekday at 6:30 I really wish we did. :(

14. I like entering contests. You can't win if you don't enter! I once won a $5000 diamond ring. (I do not gamble -I don't enter lotteries or do pull-tabs. Only free contests for me.) My goal is to win a car. I've been close. (Thanks Mo!)

15. In High School Stacy (Anderson) McDowell, Jill Larson, and I dressed in red saran wrap one day during spirit weak of my junior year. I can't believe we did that. Who's idea was that anyway!? And when your friend suggests something so insane, WHY would you say yes???

16. I love swimming. I was on the swim team in 8th grade but was told that to be on the team in High School, you had to be asked back. Never got asked so I assumed I wasn't good enough. Joined my senior year in college (very small -I joined during it's first year). I wasn't awesome but I really just wanted to swim. I'm not that competitive I just love to swim. (I had to quite 1/2 way through the season. I was getting migraines from the strain on my neck from turning my head to breathe -stupid. I had been in a car accident that hurt my neck earlier that year. Yada yada.)

17. In middle school I took Cassie Soukup and my 4-ish year old cousin, Allyssa for a 4 wheeler ride. We went up a hill that the little 4 wheeler was apparently not strong enough to climb with all 3 of us on it. It reared back (I may have braked a little bit), Cassie fell off, and we rolled right over her on our backward way down! Poor poor Cassie!

18. I have art displayed in the science department at the U of M in Morris. Irony. Two photographs titled Swish that I had shown in the senior art show.

19. I would love to have a darkroom someday. Possible retirement art hobby? This better happen someday or I'm saving my film camera for nothing.

20. When I was 12/13 -ish I was at a Hallmark shop checking out the Winnie the Pooh photo albums along the back wall when an old man came up behind me and grabbed a huge chunk of my bottom and then left. I was frozen, scared, and weak. What a horrible feeling. Later, I was mad that I hadn't reacted more strongly and actually wished it would happen again so I could go ape on whoever did that to me.

21. Growing up, my family went on 3 big vacations. Disney World, Disney World, and Cancun. All three were paid for with saved change.

22. In High School I got in huge trouble for spending the night at someone's graduation party rather than the friend's house where my parent's thought I was. Hugest regret in my life. Betrayed my parents' trust, didn't get to go on the marching band trip, etc, etc... But now I can see where it fell into place with God's plan for my life.

23. I always have to feel "even." When putting my socks on, the second one must be put on very quickly to ensure that the first sock was not on much longer than the first. (Same goes for removal.) My socks must be the same color, have the same amount of wear, and be hole-free. If I step on a crack, rug, shadow, or other off-colored turf with one foot, it feels "heavy" and I have to look ahead to find something to step on with the other foot (and on the same area of my foot) to "even" it out. I don't think about this struggle all the time but I am always unconsciously doing it. I know this because Ryan will try to throw me off just when he knows I'm about to make a crucial "evening-out" step. My body actually jumps to make that step rather than try to catch myself from tripping.

24. When I was around 5 I always complained of an itch between my big two and second toe and between my pointer and middle fingers on both hands and feet. My parents had me checked out at the Dr. -I don't think they came to a conclusion. I remember my dad getting so frustrated with my complaining, he always told me that it was all in my head. It STILL itches all the time and I still have no idea what it is. Also -the same "even" rules that are in #23 apply to the scratching. Has anyone experienced anything like this?

25. My husband, Ryan, and I have been together for eight years (5.5 dating, 2.5 married). We went to H.S. and college together. We've been on 1 cruise with both of our families. 1 cruise, 2 trips to St. Maartin, and 1 trip to Disney World with his family. 1 H.S. choir trip took us to Chicago. We spent a month in England on a college choir tour. In 18 days we will go on our first trip alone! We're going to Puerto Vallarta and I cannot wait!

I've been tagged!

My friend, Barbara, tagged me. Here are the rules: You must go to your documents folder (or wherever you store your photos) and go to your 6th picture folder, then go to the 6th picture in that folder and post it on your blog. Tell us a story about that picture.

Okay, so I have two photo programs I use (depending on what camera/occasion) so I'm doubling up.

The first. This is Brinkley, our 2 year old shih tzu. She likes to feel safe under chairs, beds, and couches. This is the desk chair and since we spend a lot of time there, she spends a lot of time there. Look at those puppy dog eyes!

Second. This is Stacy and Scott (aren't they a beautiful couple?!). Stacy has been my best girlfriend since 1st grade. This is one of their engagement pictures. We were all super busy that summer because our weddings were 3 weeks apart, so engagement pics taken the night before their wedding at the grooms dinner/picnic was the way to go. I chose my favorites, framed them and had them by the card box for them the next day. Cake!  ...Stacy and Scott are expecting blessed baby bliss this June!

Sully's Diet

Food is something I think about a lot.  I've been a vegetarian for almost 9 years and gluten-free for 2.  (Vegetarian by choice, gluten-free by allergy.)  People ask a lot of questions (which I totally don't mind -ask away) but the latest question hasn't been about my diet, it's been about Sullivan's.  "Is Sullivan going to be a vegetarian?" is the big one.  

I have so many thoughts on this I confuse myself.  I want to be open minded about it and say that maybe he'll have some meat every so often...  but I truly cannot picture myself putting a dead animal into my baby boy's mouth.  Ugh. There just seems to be nothing good about it.  

I am someone who doesn't make decisions about things like this until I've done a lot of research and reading.  Of course I know what there is to know about vegetarianism, it's knowing everything about a baby's health that gets me.  So I'll be doing some reading.  But I think that I've already made my decision to feed him a vegetarian diet, what I need to learn, or really just verify, is the healthiest way to go about it.

One thing that I'm concerned about is that Sullivan  feels good about it.  I don't want him to feel different from his peers.  I really don't want him to feel restricted either.  I think this will lye in our attitude toward the situation.  "We skip the meat because we make healthy choices." rather than "You're not allowed to eat meat."  I'm wondering how to handle it when he visits friends at their homes.  Do I call his friend's parents ahead of time?  Do I send veggie dogs with him?  Will their parent's grill him with questions like "Why doesn't your mommy let you eat hamburgers like us?"  These social situations are what worry me.  

I'm not going to give Sully all kinds of gory details about where meat comes from and freak him out.  Also, if he really wants to try some, or ends up eating meat somewhere, I won't go ballistic.  We'll have a conversation about what he thought about it, answer his questions, and move on from there.  

Does anyone have any thoughts on babies on a vegetarian diet? Or any advise?  I don't know anyone personally who has raised their baby(s) vegetarian but would love to hear from someone who has.  

I have a while to really learn about it.  He's 7 months old and I can't even get bananas past his clenched gums.  He's still nursing and that's all he cares to include in his diet right now apparently.

Christmas

Christmas has been good. We spent the week in Cambridge, staying half the time at each set of parents' homes. I feel like we've spent our time well, we did a lot of family stuff. But we totally missed out on church. I'm super bummed about it. Ryan just didn't feel up to it.

He's been pretty sick for about 4 weeks with an on-again-off-again fever and super exhaustion. He sleeps a LOT. When it first started, he was tested for all the basic sickness stuff and was all clear. Three weeks later, he's seen 3 more doctors, been put on an antibiotic and taken off 2 days later (misdiagnosed), had 13 vials of blood drawn +4 cups, had a throat swab again, peed in a cup, had a cat scan, and now he has a super sore throat with the yucky white spots in his throat. We know we didn't start with strep 4 weeks ago, so did he pick it up while at the clinic since his immune system is weak? What the heck?! So Ryan has the yuck. We just don't know which yuck. We find out Monday -hopefully. And hopefully it's not that yucky.

So pray for Ryan.

Thankfully everyone else has been able to steer clear of Ryan's yuck! Sully had a good first Christmas. Crazy gifts that sing, light up, wiggle, and amuse both Sully and Brinkley. Sully's Grandparents were very generous! Sully's mom kinda expected it (and was totally thankful for it!) and only got him a Disney's Cars flashlight (he loves lights) which literally broke in under 5 seconds. Bummer. It's a good thing he won't remember that or I would feel like a total failure.

Me and Ryan's parents went together on a new vacuum for us! What an awesome gift! The one we've been using is incredibly lame. I'm pumped to test it out!

We're still in Cambridge. Our cars have been in pretty bad shape so this week they've been on the road to improvement. 2 new tires, a fixed side-view mirror, a replaced burnt-out brake light... on Monday both cars will have their tires aligned and rotated and we'll be finished. And ready to go home. :) I'm just hoping to get to church in the morning (we'll see how things go), to visit with a few more friends, and to send out our Christmas cards in the meantime.

This is my favorite Christmas pic of Sully:



I hope you all had perfectly wonderful Christmases with lots of happy memories!

More kisses.

I just have to share that I got one of Sully's awesome kisses over the phone today! Huge smile in my heart!

Not Me! Monday

It's Not Me! Monday and I would like to inform you that I was not involved in the following shenanigans.

This week I did not drink orange juice from a measuring cup and ice cream right out of the box because there were  no clean dishes left... Not Me!

I did not leave with the keys for someone else's house thinking they were for my own.  And lock myself and my 6 month old out of the house ALL day long? Never. Not Me.

I did not continue to drive out of the garage unable to see over my left shoulder causing the right side-view mirror to crunch-hit-the-garage and fall off my husband's car. Ach! Who would do that!? (Not Me!)

Someone had a very bad first Not Me! Monday post.  But it was Not Me!

Goals

Have you ever heard that the most successful people in the world are the ones who write down their goals?  I've done this in the past but have always misplaced my lists.  :)  I think the point is to look at them, be reminded of them, and to always have them in your thoughts.  So I'm going to keep them recorded here.  I'm just going to start small and I'll probably continue to add to the list.  There's no limit, right?

Financial Goals:

Have my school loans paid off.

Have Ryan's school loans paid off. 

Own a home (and furnish it!).

Have enough money to pay for our kids' college. (Although I don't actually want to pay for it... or at least I don't want them to know it. I want them to be responsible for it.  Possibly after they've finished college we can surprise them by paying off all of their school loans.)

Have enough money to vacation once a year.

To be able to buy a Caribou Coffee (for myself and a friend!) without worrying about our budget!

Ryan and I have not made a habit of using a credit card.  The only purchases we've made on our one card have been for business  -photography equipment (computer, cam gear, etc).  My goal is to keep it this way.  I think living within our means is a huge step in attaining these goals.

Numbers...  I didn't put any amounts anywhere.  I just don't know what it would take to fulfill all of these goals. But!  I would LOVE for them to be fulfilled in 5 years.  I'm sure the house obviously wouldn't be fully paid for though.  (And the kids' college goal isn't about to happen in 5 years either.)

Like I said, I'll come back with more.

Sully's Kisses

A few weeks ago Sully started to Kiss me!  They are not your average sweet baby kisses.  These are fierce, ferocious, mad kisses!  

He seems to burst into a kiss, grabbing my head with both arms, fists full of hair.  He pulls my face right up to his wide open jaws for a few seconds before releasing.   A little scary, but oh so sweet!

Two weekends ago I had been gone all day at a wedding. When I got home I received so many kisses!  One right after another for almost 5 minutes!  We were all laughing at his excitement.  It was so great!

These are the things that make being a mommy so wonderful.

Challenge

So I challenged a friend to spend 20 minutes every morning praying and listening to God.  I promised I would take the challenge, too.  I'm hoping we can keep each other accountable.  I'm hoping I can do it!  I'm hoping it becomes a habit for me.  And I'm hoping...  um... to be opened up, hear new things, to be changed a little.  Yes.  This will be so good.  

(Where am I going to find twenty minutes?!  I barely get a chance to brush my teeth with Mr. Sullivan keeping me crazy!)

Anyone have any prayer requests???

Anyone want to join the challenge?

Living Gluten Free

I became gluten-free (GF) on January 1st, 2007 (a new years resolution I've actually kept). I was diagnosed with an allergy to wheat/gluten when I was 15 but just ignored it. I felt fine (I thought).

Then I met Mary, a new coworker of mine (and the sweetest woman!), she told me about the complications she had had after ignoring her allergy for many years. Complications (including surgery to remove part of her colon) that I would rather avoid! So I began researching and learning about what It meant to take gluten out of my diet.

"Living Gluten Free for Dummies" is an awesome book that I would recommend to anyone making similar decisions about their diet. I spent about 2-3 months reading the labels of everything that I ate... "Okay, Kim, this could very well be your very last bowl of tomato soup (yes, there is wheat in tomato soup) you better enjoy it!" I had many "last" bowls of macaroni and cheese!!! So when the new year came around, I was totally prepared. I had gone to the Wedge and purchased a ton of GF food and claimed two shelves in the kitchen cupboard as Kim's GF edible food. That way I would be less likely to get discouraged. No "theres nothing for me to eat!" and give up. No excuses!

The first changes that I noticed had to do with my digestive system (we'll pass on the details). And I felt awesome every morning. I hadn't realized how gross I had felt when I woke up. Now I felt super light and energized. Aside from that, I didn't notice much bet kept at it.

8 months later I decided to have a wheat week! I was so pumped! State fair food, Valleyfair food, pizza, macaroni and cheese, subway... it was awesome. And totally GROSS. I felt HORRIBLE. Super tired (like laying on the floor because there was no energy left tired), I was often confused and jumbled up my words, tons of bloating, nausea, weight gain, headaches, dizziness, I couldn't even focus my vision at times. And it wasn't even that satisfying. I can live without pizza if it means that I don't have to feel like that again.

And now that I can recognize the symptoms... I can decide if it's really worth it to have some pizza or go to Buca. Do I really want to gain 4+ pounds at one meal? Feel nasty for a week? It's filling my healthy body with toxins and it's notnotnot worth it.

So anyway, the whole reason for this post is that I've been asked for advise on living gluten free and I thought I'd share what I've learned. GF can be expensive and there's a lot of trial and error in finding good stuff. (A lot of GF food tastes like dirt-literally) If you have anything to add let me know!

The best and cheapest pasta is at Trader Joes.

The best and cheapest waffles (regular and banana) are at Trader Joes. *I love Trader Joe's!

Trader Joe's also has weird frozen GF pancakes that are pretty great.

Trader Joe's has a good brownie mix. I haven't tried their pancake mix yet....

Rice Chex is GF! (Rice Krispies are not -they have malt.)

Bittersweet is an awesome bakery located in Eagan. Their bread is awesome and it's also sold and Fresh and Natural Foods stores.

Sunshine Burgers, Smart Dogs, and Soyrizo are awesome if you're a vegetarian as well!

Target has an awesome mix for GF Sugar Cookies. I can't remember the brand name -there's also cake and other goodies.

Pamela's GF Cookies are pretty great. Especially Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Crumb -Gourmet Deli- in Eden Prairie has GF bread for sandwhiches (it's Bittersweet's).

Noodles & Company has awesome GF pad thai!

Biaggi's and PG Changs both have Gluten Free Menus

Click here for more dining in the Twin Cities.

For baking there are pre-mixed flours or you can mix your own (tough!). You should go to your nearest co-op and ask. They sometimes have it in bulk so you can try just a little to see what you like.

Most chips are made of corn or potatoes. Mission makes good corn tortillas.

Mary's Gone Crackers GF crackers are good!


Not Gluten Free:
Beer -there are very few GF brands. Hard Cider is a good substitute.
Soy Sauce -try Bragg's Liquid Aminos. Better and healthier!
Most vegetarian fake meat - Boca, Morningstar, etc
Mock Duck
McDonald's French Fries (BK fries are ok)

Read the Label!:
Microwave dinners
Rice dishes
Sauces (particularly asian food) and dressings
Soup


Whenever we go out to eat I go online ahead of time to look up their allergy notifications. They often tell you what's gluten-free. Waiting 'till you get there to ask your server can cause a lot of confusion.

Let me know if you have any questions!!! Or if you have any advice for me!

Sibling Rivalry

Tug o war.















A few days ago Brinkley started bringing some of her toys to Sullivan. She puts them in his hand and then tries to take them away. Hoping for a good game. :) Sullivan is actually pretty good at it.

Worst Case Scenario

Today we got out and went to the evening Thanksgiving church service. We LOVE the Maple Ridge Church in Maple Grove... but it's an hour away so we get there as often as we can. Scott got baptized tonight (yea!) and we got to visit with Stacy, Scott, Mark and Mary Anderson, and Jamie and Billy and Austin! So fun! Austin and Sully were born in the same hospital about a day and a half apart. They were due two days apart and both came over a week late. It is SO fun to see them together and compare stories. Austin has 2 teeth! Such a cutie!

On the way home we realized that we had no keys to get into the house... panic. We looked everywhere (purse, wallet, diaper bag, messy car). There are 2 loose keys that I've been meaning to put on my keychain...

We knew we could get in the first doorway with a little help from the upstairs neighbors. But the second doorway would be a challenge. Ryan had seen Mike Dehn open a lock with a credit card (a trick learned while training to be a police officer). But didn't know if he could do it himself.

We made many Worst Case Scenario plans. My favorite included going to the Mystic Lake Casino (20 miles away) to stay at the hotel where I would make my way to the buffet after Ryan and Sully went to sleep! I'm nursing and I'm always hungry. ..being locked out of the house began to not sound so bad. I was totally revved up for that adventure!

It only took Ryan a few moments to get in. (Why do we bother locking that door?!) Bummer!!!

So now I eat rice, eggplant, avocado, corn, onions, and cottage cheese. Yummy -but I'm totally missing out on the salad bar and ice cream.

Far and Near

We moved out to Belle Plaine a few months ago. It is only about 15-20 miles further west than where we were living last year but being here makes me feel completely disconnected from Everything. 2 hours from Cambridge, 1 hour from the cities. That is - if you drive alone. Adding Sully means adding a lot more packing, timing your departure for immediately after eating, making a few stops for more eating and a break from the car (he hates car rides) which are 30 minutes to an hour each. Plus you have to make the entire trip back again. So... I really don't get out much and when we do leave the house we pack a LOT of errands into one trip. My work also keeps me here. I have not yet fallen into a good groove with my editing and deadlines. Balancing my work with Sully and housework is Tough!

So sometimes I feel a bit stranded. And disconnected. I miss being in Cambridge. I never really had a vision of where I wanted to live "when I grew up" ...but I'm sure that Belle Plaine is not it.

Lately I've found myself drawn to reading blogs. I think it's a good way to stay connected and get and give advice and share experiences. But I don't want to become a "lurker" so I think I'll join in and become a little more regular about it. Of course I started here like a year ago... a slow start. :)