downs

Today, I am sad. I drove past my friend's house and saw a "for sale" sign in her front yard. This person (who shall remain anonymous) has been my best friend since I met her. We met at a Halloween party at her house for all the little kids on the block. And ever since then, we have shared a lot.
I cannot express how much it has meant to me to have this person in my life. To have someone with whom I have so many things in common is rare and wonderful. We could relate to each other on pretty much every level. From mothers & mothers-in-law (no offense, moms) to boys who went from toddlerhood to preschool-hood, to pregnancy woes and wonders, birth stories and baby girls who have gone from infancy to near-toddlerhood at the same time.
I have many wonderful friends, both here and back in Chicagoland. But this person is, I must say, my friend with whom I have the most in common at this stage of life.
So she is moving back home and she will be missed. I knew this day was coming, but it came faster than I would have hoped. So, if you are reading this, know that I have so appreciated your friendship these past few years. And know also that you will be sorely missed.

crappy day

WTF? is all I can think to say. It's a crappy day and it isn't even noon. First of all, my sunglasses are lost. Now I am not usually a person who loses hings, but as you'll recall I lost my cell phone not all that long ago. And it just makes me sick to lose things. These sunglasses were nice and I really liked them. And I took good care of them! And so for them to have disappeared really irks me. the only place I have been is Lowe's. And I called them and they didn't have them in their lost & found. So I am going there later today to see if I see them but I suspect that someone may have found them and thought "these are cute" and just walked away with them. So that's lame for sure. Now I have to go see if I can find some other glasses without spending a million bucks on them.

Next, drywalling was supposed to begin today and because it is raining that had to be postponed. Apparently it would be too difficult to get it here and in the house while it is raining so now we have to wait and hope it stops tomorrow. And Cody was busting his (sick) butt to get it done this weekend so it would be all ready to go today. Lame.

And last but not least, my milk was stolen. Seriously. I remembered it at 11 and went to get it and it wasn't there. So I called them and and the lady was speaking to me like I was an idiot. Like did someone else get it? No it isn't in the fridge. Well when did you check it because if you checked it at 5 it may not have been there yet. So then she asked did you have empties in the box? And I did and they were gone. So I thought ok let me call Cody just to make sure he didn't take it to work or something that he would have no reason for doing and he obviously said he didn't. So I called back and got someone much nicer and she said they had other reports of that on my route. So apparently, someone was following the Winder truck and then taking the products out of people's boxes. Seriously? Is it really that bad? So bad that people are stealing off the back of the milk truck? If it is, I guess they need it more than me. And if so, I hope it helps to feed their family. But I hope it isn't just someone who did it for no good reason. Anyway, I really don't like the idea of someone coming onto my front porch and taking stuff out of my Winder box. Not at all.

So anyway, that is why today sucks so far. I hope it gets better as the day goes on.

so much

A lot has been happening in our neck of the woods. We (Cody) have been making steady progress in the basement. Not to be deterred by sickness, we (Cody) push on and move forward (we have all had colds which are short lived but rough nonetheless).

Here are a few pictures of the progress (main room, theater room, and my favorite, the playroom with the arched door and windows):

We are fully framed, and mostly wired. Here is Cody installing a can light: Doesn't work? Take a hammer to it!! (just kidding - that's my way of fixing things, not Cody's)We (Cody) now must finish wiring the can lights, and put up all the insulation before the drywaller comes on Monday. His name is Jackum and Finn was so excited the whole day he came to measure. He kept asking "is Jack coming?" I'm not sure what he expected, maybe Jack Scarrington from Nightmare before Christmas which he had been watching quite a bit. But he thought that "Jack" would drive a purple car, and have a blue shirt and purple pants on. Luckily, none of those things were true.

Since it has been getting colder, Cody bought Finn some movies. After a hard day's work, he they are: Cody bought The Polar Express which is probably Finn's all-time favorite movie. We've Tivo'd it for the past 2 years, so he finally broke down and bought it. It also came with a 3-D version and glasses. Finn kept the glasses on the whole time and was alternatively on the edge of his seat and hiding as far back on his seat as he could get. Another new development: Burgundy can stand for up to a minute without support. She will stand up with something in her hand, then she lets go of her support to further inspect said object and just stands there unsupported. I cannot believe that she will be 1 year old in less than 2 weeks.
She is also talking a lot more and just keeps adding "words" to her vocabulary. She has been saying mamamama and dadadadada and bye bye (with wave) for some time now. Every time I put her in her bed I tell her night-night. It took only a couple times before she was saying nynynyny. And now I can ask her if she wants to go NyNy and she will affirm that by repeating it. Pretty cool. She is also using sign language for hungry and more and she occasionally says baba (bottle). She is definitely very good at mimicking and at least attempts pretty much every word I say to her. It will be nice to have an early talker this time!
And Finn has been having a great time riding his bike in the basement and helping daddy with the work. He now loves both preschool and gokee gym (my gym) which is great and really relieves some of my stress. You don't realize how much stress you get as a mom taking your kid somewhere that they are unsure of and feel like you are forcing them for their own good. But, as is Finn's way, he has come to love it all in his own sweet time.

I recently had an eye exam and luckily my eyes are holding steady at "mostly blind". Although I have apparently developed an astigmatism in my left eye. I went back to my old brand of contacts which is better but I've had them in for maybe 3 days and they are already blurring on me. So, if anyone is looking for Christmas gift ideas for me... cash. Cash to go into my Lasik fund would be the best thing :)

One final thought: I am proud to be from Illinois. It is pretty incredible to me that Illinois produced both the President who abolished slavery and the first black President. Go Illinois! and go Obama!