My new awesome crazy mix

Thanks everyone, now I have a new crazy playlist with everyone's suggestions. I don't know if Uncle Kracker has ever been in a mix with Johnny Cash and The Shins before, but it's going to be awesome. This is the first time I've ever downloaded something with a parental advisory too, I feel like such a grownup.

I have an impairment.

I have a music deficiency. Andre makes fun of me all the time. He likes to play the "Who sang the song?" when we listen to the radio in the car, knowing that he'll be able to mock me when I shrug my shoulders at every single song. Every song. I'm not exaggerating. I can usually sing along with the lyrics if it's a song from the late 80s or early 90s, but I never have any idea who the singer is. Andre thinks it's a pretty funny game, but I must say I'm a little tired of it.

You see, my parents cursed me with this problem by bringing me up in Podunk, Arizona. We didn't have cable television (because there weren't enough people living in our area to warrant stringing some cable across the river), so I never watched MTV. We had one radio station that played lots of Hall and Oates and Kansas and I wasn't really a fan so I didn't listen to it. Instead I hooked up my dad's turntable to a cassette recorder and made mix tapes from his old records. For a while I went through an early 60s phase and sang along to things like "Louie Louie" and "Leader of the Pack." Then, I discovered all of the protest music and let me tell you, I was totally against the Vietnam war, because you know "it's all over for the unknown soldier." I wept, I tell you, I wept. I did feel a little ineffectual in my protest since the war had been over for approximately 16 years at that point, but no matter, it still felt good to plan on heading out for San Francisco with flowers in my hair. And poor Alice, I wanted to help her get off the shrooms.

I did move into some 70s music toward the end of high school and got a good education in the Eagles before my first contemporary music craze, Edie Brickell's "Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars." I don't know where I got the tape, but I stuck it in the player in my car and it never came out. For a year. Seriously, ask my sister, I listened to that tape for a year straight. It was a a sickness, I'm pretty sure my sister wanted to gouge out her ears, but it was either ride with me or take the bus so Edie Brickell it was.

The result of my teenage music habits is that I have absolutely no skills in seeking out new music. I sometimes find something I like when I hear it as part of a movie soundtrack, but I don't get to the movies too often these days. I don't listen to anything contemporary on the radio, just NPR and the best of the 70s and 80s station that plays my comfortable old favorites. Sometimes my sister will send me mix CDs with a few new songs thrown intothe old classics. She tends toward Britney Spears though and I haven't really felt compelled to buy any of the Brit.

So down to the problem. I have an iPod that needs music. I've already filled it with the Doors, the Eagles, and lots of 70s compilation CDs. I have expanded my collection a little with some movie soundtracks, but I'm really feeling the need to add some new music in there. I have a $25 iTunes gift card burning a hole in my pocket and I need some help spending it. So, please, please see the list below and if you have remotely similar tastes recommend something for me.

My current favorites: The Doors, the Eagles, Simon and Garfunkel, Edie Brickell, Indigo Girls, U2, Sting, Gipsy Kings, Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose, and the Cold Mountain soundtrack. Oh and that Dandy Warhols song from Veronica Mars. Help me! (Please don't make fun of my taste though, thanks.)

Suddenly, too late, a wealth of Potter.

I complained to Amazon that I hadn't received my copy of Harry Potter yet. My account status said they had shipped it UPS and it was obviously NOT on my doorstep. They had already given me my refund for not having it there on Saturday, so they apologized again, concluded it was lost, and sent out another copy. And then I checked the mailbox. I, uh, hadn't checked it in couple of days and lo and behold, there was my book. They had sent it by mail instead of UPS. Oops. So now I'll have three copies. My emergency copy that Andre bought for me at the grocery store late Saturday night, the copy that arrived sometime in the last two days, and the one they're sending. I guess I'll send the third copy back since that was totally my fault, but what to do with the other one? Donate it to the library? Any other ideas?

Exactly.

Setting: Grocery store

Me: Buddy, you must be tired, you're having a hard time listening today.
Fiona: What did you say, mommy?
Me: I said you're having a hard time listening.
Fiona: What did you say?
Me: You're having a hard time listening.
Fiona: What?
Me: Sigh....

Goodbye Scotty

Rest in peace.

Finished...

I finished the book, no thanks to Amazon, who still hasn't bothered to send me my copy. Thank goodness I didn't wait for them. What really irritates me, even more than Amazon, is the fact that Andre hasn't read any of the books, but doesn't want me to talk about them with him because he might read them someday. Someday! I need to talk about it now. I mean, come on, I must talk about the end of this book! I'm trying to be spoiler free so all I'll say is that I'm sure that the certain character who does the something to the someone is going to go in a different direction again in Book 7. It's irritating me to talk like that so I guess I'll just wait until Andre READS THE BOOK! Hurry up!

Curse you Amazon!

You big freaking liars. You promised me. PROMISED me that Harry Potter 6 would be on my doorstep today if I preordered with you. I've been waiting for this book since I put my trust in you and placed my order over 4 months ago. You even sent me a little teaser email a couple of days ago telling me that I'd have Harry in my hot little hands no later than 7:00 pm today. You LIE! I had faith. I waited until 6:59 to give up on you. I had hopes that Jeff Bezos would realize his error and come flying down the road to personally deliver the book at the last minute. But no. HG has already read it! The Diva's halfway through!

Andre is going to the store to buy it for me because he knows he's going to have to listen to me bitch all weekend if he doesn't help me out. You, Amazon, suck. You're giving me a refund and paying to ship your little late Harry Potter back to yourself. And please note that I will never preorder from you again. Because, once again, you SUCK!

One more day...

Until Harry Potter 6 arrives on my doorstep! Woohoo! I might have to find a babysitter for the weekend.

Mystery solved

You'd think it's be relatively hard to lose an entire pair of shoes. Maybe you misplace one, but have the other. Maybe they're tucked out of sight under the bed. Not lost, just trying to be a little sneaky. I once misplaced a pair of shoes for quite a long time and you know where they were? In the closet where they were supposed to be. Yeah, I don't generally put things away very well so it was quite a surprise to find them properly sitting on their little shoe rack.

Fiona only has a couple of pairs of shoes for summer, a pair of pink sandals and a pair of Ked-like navy blue shoes. She's taken to wearing dresses this summer, most of which are red or are navy blue with red accents. I really don't feel like I'm completely crazily obsessive compulsive to want her wear shoes that match what she's wearing. I mean, pink sandals with a red flowered dress? The horror. So of course, just in time for the Fourth of July, Fiona lost her navy blue shoes. I mean LOST them. Every bed was checked, every closet, under the couch, in the toybox, behind the toybox, in the mountain of dirty clothes, everywhere. Nothing. Fiona swore up and down that she had no idea where they could possibly be. I was horrified when Andre suggested that, if we were going to actually get to the 4th of July parade on time, she might have to wear her pink shoes. On the Fourth of July. With her dress with the red stars on it. Pink. Shoes. Andre said, "Well the stars kind of look pink to me anyhow." Liar. I finally let her wear them and she went out of the house looking like that and I had to avert my eyes and all the properly patriotic people who weren't wearing pink. shoes. saw my daughter wearing pink sandals with a dress with red stars. I still shudder thinking about it.

After several mornings of looking, I gave up. I let her wear her red dress up Dorothy shoes out of the house instead of the horrid pink sandals. I decided that the blue shoes were genuinely lost, most likely hiding with our house keys that have been missing for 9 months. I went out and bought some new shoes. Not nearly as cute as the summer shoe selection is running very thin. So today, I was looking for a place to store all the pictures we've been cutting out to make collages with and I pilfered an old lunch box from Fiona's room. Yes, you've guessed it. Fiona had packed the blue shoes neatly away in the lunch box and then placed it carefully back on the shelf. The moral of this story? 1) Never buy pink sandals because you just might end up having to wear them on the fourth of July, and 2) Never underestimate the power of a preschooler to lose their shoes, and 3) Never let your preschooler wear their Dorothy shoes out of the house because even though you might find the blue shoes again, she's going to choose the Dorothy shoes every single day until they don't fit anymore anyhow. And wear them on the wrong feet.

Looking at my Nai Nai - check out my double chin. 

No pictures or I'll pop ya... 

Or I'll kick ya! 

And one of Fiona... 

How did this happen?

Amelia is one month old. My last baby isn't a newborn anymore. I'm pretty sure she just pooped her pants in celebration, so this will have to be short. Amelia is such a different baby than Fiona was at this stage. All Fiona wanted to do when she was this small was eat. And eat some more. Amelia is much more a fan of the extended nap.

We had her one month checkup the other day and she's gained one pound in three weeks. I thought that was pretty impressive until I checked Fiona's baby book and saw that she had gained three pounds in her first four weeks. Did I mention that Fiona liked to eat? The doctor thought Amelia's weight gain was fine though, so perhaps this is an early lesson on not expending too much worry on comparing the two.

Mia's doing really well at sleeping at night, although she tends to be kind of a night owl like her father and doesn't want to go to bed until at least 12:30 am. She's good about spending some time in her bouncy seat and just taking things in. She doesn't have a problem with being held by other people (Fiona would start crying immediately because it was quite obvious that anyone but mom didn't have the magic boobs and there was no possibility of eating). She's gotten to the point that she's actually focusing on our faces and even giving out a few smiles here and there. She's just recovering from an incredibly horrific case of baby acne. She even had cradle cap in her eyebrows and was looking a little gruesome. We can now resume the picture taking without worrying about her being too appalling.

Fiona loves to hold her and give her kisses. Sometimes. When Amelia's hogging my lap with all of her selfish nursing though, Fiona tends to get a little territorial. And, as mentioned in the posts below, she's been a little low on attention lately and is trying desperately to restore the spotlight. We'll work it all out sooner or later though.

Anyhow, happy birthday Amelia. I can't wait to see what the next month brings.

Pictures to come.

See what I mean? Please notice the stuffed seahorse on Ellis's head. And the ribbon just waiting to be tied around Ellis's feet. 

30 days

Anyone watching this show? If you haven't seen it, it was created by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me) and is playing on FX. The basic concept is taking people out of their comfort zone and having them live in someone else's shoes for 30 days. Some of the shows include: living on minimum wage, a conservative heterosexual living with a gay man in the Castro, and a Christian living as a Muslim. The experience is supposed to challenge your beliefs and open you up to new ways of thinking. Watch it, it's pretty interesting.

I was trying to figure out what my 30 day experience would be. I think of myself as being pretty open to other people's values and beliefs. Except the Republicans. Oops! I guess that's what it would be, living for 30 days as a gun-toting, right wing Republican who listens to Rush Limbaugh every day. Except that I grew up with my Republican father so I feel like I've already conducted that experiment. Maybe instead it would be living for 30 days as a person who really liked to clean their house. Oh, I know! A family of Morman polygamists. That's something I don't get at all.

The upcoming episode would also be a challenge for me too. Two people lived completely off the grid for 30 days. No cars, no electricity, no TV, no internet (!), no water, completely reusing their waste, etc. I can't even imagine living without Tivo, let alone TV. And the internet! I don't remember a time without the internet. And long, hot showers, I just can't do without a shower.

What would your 30 day challenge be?

Watch me! Watch me!

This is how Fiona replies when I ask her to play by herself for a few short moments so I can check my email and provide you with an update. Sure mom, I'll play quietly by myself with one of my five bajillion toys, but only if you give me your undivided attention and stare intently at me while I do it. If you don't care to stare intently at me, I will begin to torture the cat. If I can get the cat to scratch or bite me, I know you'll give me your undivided attention.

These phrases have all been heard in our house within the past week:
"Please don't sit on the cat."
"No. You are not allowed to tie up anything that is alive. Untie Ellis right now."
"Do NOT put your toe in your sister's mouth."
"Let Ellis out of the storage container."
"Let go of my leg. Let go of my leg. Let go of my leg. LET GO OF MY LEG!"
"No, you can't have candy for breakfast. Because I said so."
"We've told you before, do not tie up anything that is alive. That includes your sister."
"Please take your feet off the baby's head."

Must go now, Fiona has a ribbon and she's looking for the cat.