03.31.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 11:22 am by Anne

Samples, like manna from heaven, are raining down on me. I truly love the easy RUSH varieties as they require so little time but render such nice payola. Few and far between they are but I ain’t complaining.

Lily sleeps while I am trying to come up with a purveyor of whole grain cornmeal so that I can try my hand at making a good old fashioned loaf of Salt Rising Bread. The bread Shan’s grandparents and parents used to get when they were children is legendary and his great aunt just hand wrote out her most recent recipe. I plan on giving it a whirl but first I checked around on the web for other recipes…they are all similar enough and have the added bonus of containing significantly more description than the one I got yesterday. His great aunt says she often times makes the starter and finds out the next morning that she has to dump it out and begin all over again.

Lily and everyone else in the family is still suffering tremendously from allergies, and no wonder. One of the outside air samples I looked at yesterday was bloated with pollen, don’t ask me what kind though. I’m a strict mycologist in the loosest of terms. HAH. Because of the nose goop, sliding from her nostrils throughout the day I have to make wiping her little nose like a game. She still hates it and fights with me so it takes even longer and the button nose is rubbed more redly than if she were to sit still and allow a gentle daubing of mucus. Poor little babe.

Star Trek night!

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03.30.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 3:33 pm by Anne

Is it inappropriate for me to use up the rest of my Valentine’s Day stamps on the invoices I send out? I feel a little funny about it but they are the only stamps I have.

Ah well.

Big supper again tonight:

Homemade marinara with meatballs and angel hair pasta
Sour dough bread
Salad

lemon-cheesecake bars

Carbs are my personal friends and I love them.

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03.29.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 12:48 pm by Anne

Oh Chuck E. Cheese.

Bright, overly warm, and loud, like an outdoor carnival that has been moved inside a gymnasium. and the kids, good god, there were so many kids, clogging the mechanical toys (much like the ones stationed outside grocery stores), the jungle gyms, the ski-ball games…

Lily liked running all over the carpet, watching other kids, and riding on the mechanical Barney. A little handicapped girl, probably around 7 years old, rolled past in her walker and Lily was unabashedly intrigued. Whenever she saw the little girl, Lily wanted to walk over and grab hold of the device, so I followed like a hawk, and plucked her up while the girl’s father and I pretended there was nothing going on. After some time in the ‘Toddler Zone’ which she was pretty disinterested in, we hurried over to the pizza and soda birthday party. The pizza was good but I don’t know if it was because I was so famished or if Chuck E Cheese really knows how to make a mean pizza. Lily scarfed hers, and the little cup of Dr. Pepper, and two pieces of cake. I told myself it was okay for her to eat like such a heathen since it was a party, when really, I was thrilled that she was eating and staying seated and not trying to squirm out…oh the benefits of being in a room full of kids. Lily was infatuated with the movable and oversized mechanical ’singing’ Chuck E. Cheese. In all, I imagine we may be making future trips to this land of garishness, assuming Lily will want to go back…but I am telling you, I needed a rest when we got home. Which didn’t happen for a while. Lily fell asleep on the way home but it was only 7PM so I woke her up and gave her a thorough bath, fed her some fruit and juice, and at 9, tried to suggest sleep. It was preposterous to even try. She wound up staying up until past 10PM and then sleeping in our bed half the night. gahhhhhh.

We just got back from the gym, stopped by the office (more samples!), and she is snoozing away at her one and only nap of the day. It is so righteously beautiful outside, I’m thinking we’re going to be taking a nice stroll later on. What a great day to be here, in Texas, on the planet earth. I am spinning with gratitude.

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03.28.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 10:50 am by Anne

Oh My. Lily was invited to her twin cousin’s 4th birthday party and it is being held at ‘the birthday capital of the universe’. Shan and I have never experienced the childish consumer expoitation that is Chuck E Cheese but all that is going to change.

more on that later.

Lily had a few more ‘firsts’ recently. The last time we stopped to get groceries, I let her carry one of the bags into the house. She refused to take both handles, preferring just one, and half carried half dragged the sack containing two bags of chips towards the kitchen. Since I’m not a huge chip fan, the notion of a few crushed snacks had little effect though her father was a little less than impressed with my choice. HAH.

She also got her first lollipop last week. While we waited on the car to pass in front of us at the carwash, we each enjoyed our own dum-dum lollipops. She seemed to really like having the candy but didn’t grasp the importance of actually eating it. Instead, she slurped and chewed and let all the sticky pink candy juice drip down her chin and onto my arms. nice. At one point she reached up and took my bright blue pop and it was all downhill from there, dueling lollies and a sticky mess, all over me and the floor. I’m thinking there won’t be another one soon in her future.

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03.27.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 3:56 pm by Anne

Well, we went to see it last night and it was as good a Coen film as any I have seen before. And we got great seats, even though we just slid in them as the final ‘new feature’ trailers came on. A great story, weaving trough minor disasters, and coming all together in the end, very appropriately. Tom Hanks…good lord, he needs more outer-worldly characters like this, it’s such a pleasure getting to see him. Loved it. Highly recommend it. Aside from Tom Hanks, my most favorite portrayal is a tie between The General and Marva Munson. What are you waiting for? Go get in line!

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03.26.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:59 am by Anne

Way to go Canada! This kind of abuse boggles my mind. I cannot understand it. How can people look themselves in the eye after comitting such a crime? Or even continue?

Jesus.

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03.25.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:30 pm by Anne

Bad news. I have a bad feeling that afternoon nap is about to follow the way of the do-do bird. I have spent the last 2 hours tying to calm Lily down enough to sleep and as it stands now, she is screeching at me with a doll in her hand, stomping from one spot to another, climbing behind desks, grabbing at the computer cords, did I mention screeching? This is only the first or second time and I’m hoping it’s an aberration. Something caused by too many goldfish crackers…or the trip to Target this morning..or apples with peanut butter.

Otherwise…there goes my happy hour plus to do as I will.

Although, if this is the worst thing to happen all week, I should be thankful.

Just as we were getting to think seriously about closing down my business, an old client called up and asked me to fax all kinds of info to him. He’s working for a university now, head of the environmental and safety dept, and they are getting ready to check one of the college buildings for mold. A big building. This is one of those times where it helps to be a female business owner, apparently the school prefers working with minority/women owned companies so yippee for me.

Yep, no sleep. Marching and tramping around but no sleep. Does this mean I can change her bedtime at night to 8 instead of 9? We’ll see.

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03.23.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 4:00 pm by Anne

Does this make sense to anyone here?

Unbelievable.

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03.22.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 11:27 am by Anne

To start out the day, I was assigned a few tasks. One. to pick up baby’s birth certificate at the court house and two, pick up her social security card at the SSN office. The first one was relatively simple. As with most government (read: bureaucratic)
offices, there was a bit of a wait while disgruntled women puttered back and forth. Lily waved to people, squirmed in my arms, pointed. A lot. Finally it was our turn and we watched the printers as they spat out two certificates. A normal size for framing and a smaller one for my wallet. nice. Then it was off to the social security office. Now this place was crappy. Tiny tiny tiny. A mild mannered police officer or security guard sat at a little table inside the door and with an effusive but mild mannered and highly patronizing way asked what I needed. My attention was focused on all the people sitting in chairs…there must have been at least 40 people in there! Incredulous, with Lily in my arms, I asked him if I could just mail in the information to receive a card. There was no way in hell we were going to take a number and sit down. Lily wouldn’t tolerate that kind of abuse. Wouldn’t you know it, when we got back to the house, I found her SSN card in one of the baby files. Thank goodness for small favors.

This past weekend was incredibly good. Friends over for fajitas saturday night and then all of sunday was spent working in the yard. I planted a few peonies, we weeded and fertilized, mowed and edged, and Shan put out all the mulch the beds could handle. It is so beautiful, even though the only things blooming are the patches of bulbs scattered everywhere. This is going to be a record year in terms of beauty. Which is important since I totally slacked off last year, what with Lily and all. I just didn’t have the energy or the interest but now…get ready. I’m soaking some new morning glory seeds to plant along the back fenceline too…Scarlet O’hara instead of the typical blues. I also added some hollyhock in the front, in the form of seeds, so it will be interesting to see if any of them work out. As for the back, aside from the brimming with love beds, I am going to have hanging baskets of color…lots and lots. I don’t know what flowers yet but very possibly portulaca, moss rose, since they withstand heat and sun so well. Happy Day!

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03.21.04

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Posted in Uncategorized at 4:40 pm by Anne

Holy crap.

Now what happens?

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