27 months.

maya @ 27 months :: february 4, 2008

• at the beginning of the month she went the longest she's ever gone without a bowel movement :: two weeks! for days she complained about "pompom (tummy) owie" and she tried to go but nothing. rupert and i are thinking that maybe she thinks she can't go unless she's on the toilet ... which is where she finally went ... and clogged up the toilet a bit. can't blame her, it was two weeks after all!
• she cries during the "fishnapping" scene in finding nemo because she's so upset about nemo being taken away by the dentist.
• she's definitely talking more. unfortunately i don't seem to be understanding more.
• somehow learned to sing the alphabet song by herself. she doesn't say every letter but she's got the general tune down ... and "l-m-n-o-p" sounds so cute.
• her current favorite pixar movie :: the incredibles. she especially likes jack-jack and the robots (see below). seriously, we watch this movie at least once a day, sometimes twice. for some odd reason she calls bob parr's boss at insuracare "jiji" (what she calls my dad). i don't think they particularly look alike, but whatever.
• she's really into "be-bots" (robots) :: she likes to play with my robot pencil sharpener (but i had to take it away since it's a favorite chotchke of mine); we've watched the iron giant, robots, and the incredibles; i bought her robot pjs from old navy's boy section.
• actually enjoys drinking the "jolly green" smoothie i made (pineapple, mango, spinach).
• during the second to last week of january she had four bowel movements. four! she's been a nicer person for it. and during the last week of january she almost went everyday. we've been a happier family for it.
• when rupert started reading one of his school books, she went over to his school bag and brought him his highlighter.
• for awhile she was into chunky yogurt and insisted we add cut-up fruit to her once-favorite-smooth yogurt.
• rupert, in his infinite wisdom, taught maya how to say, "oh man!" when things aren't going her way.
• at the park she doesn't want to go down the slide by herself anymore. she will climb up to the slide but then freak out until you go down with her. but just before sliding down she likes to wave to all the little people, "hi everybody!".
• the moment i've been dreading is about to arrive :: she's not napping everyday anymore. i'll put her down, she'll complain, and then it'll be quiet. so i think she's napping but when i peek in her room she's standing in her crib, bright eyed, and apparently without having napped.
• i think she understands the counting concept ... up to 2.
• when the front of the crib is down she tries to climb up into her crib. but her legs aren't long enough to get all the way up so she just leans forward and falls into the crib headfirst.i'm having a hard time distinguishing between her "help me" and "hold me".
• spiders freak her out.
• a few new fav phrases :: i want it, i don't want it (usually right after she says the first phrase), i neeeeeeed it.
• using the spoon much better without spilling (too much) ... now if only i could let go enough to allow her to feed herself.
• when we cross the street she holds my hand and yells, "run! run! run!" and tries to hurry to get to the other side.
• terrible two independece is shining through :: "maya do it" as she gets into her car seat.

week 4 weigh-in

i knew it was coming :: the week my weight goes up. that was this week :: i went up 0.4 pounds. but i'm not too bothered by it. after all, it could be new muscle mass, right? right? plus, i met my diet challenge of eating more vegetables this week (which earned me some brand new lip gloss).

my problem with eating is definitely portion control. thursday and friday nights are the worst since i eat at my parents' and in-laws' houses. they make too much good food and i have to make a really conscious effort not to eat too much.

i am finding, however, that finding healthier things to eat is getting easier. i don't crave food with refined sugar, i don't crave the fatty stuff i used to eat; and i'm finding healthier alternatives for some of my staple foods. your body really does get used to new foods (or the lack of old favorites). this week i was really into the multigrain chips from trader joe's. they're not great for you, but they're better than regular chips and they're quite tasty. i've been eating them with hummus and fresh guacamole.

my fitness partner and i also managed to get to the gym five times this week. we mostly did weight lifting so this next week we'll try to incorporate more cardio. today i went to the gym in hopes of attending a yoga class but the instructor didn't show up, so i worked out by myself. it was, in fact, the first time i did a workout alone and i did pretty well. now i feel like i can get to the gym on other days without my partner, if necessary. now, if only somebody would watch maya for me while i work out ...

donating his brain to science

when i was pregnant with ian i participated in a pre-natal study at cedars-sinai medical center. now that seven years have passed, they asked us to return for a follow-up (the study is looking at effects of pre-natal care and stress on children's development ... or something like that). that was in december. as we were about to leave, the researcher asked us if we'd be interested in going to uci for another part of the study :: having ian's brain scanned in a mri machine.



i thought it would be pretty cool to see ian's brain and he thought so too. so we drove down to irvine yesterday and had the scan done. boy, those mri machines are loud! ian watched a dvd while he was in the machine for 15 minutes; i got to sit around and listen to the clicking and buzzing.

the researcher complimented ian on how still and mellow he was. quite possibly the best scan they've gotten in such a short time. their study emphasis is on the hippocampus, a part of the brain that controls long-term memory. ian's was pretty large, and the researcher guessed that he had a good memory. now we have scientific proof about his pretty amazing memory.

next week we'll get a printout of his brain scans. i think i'll get it framed. ;)

[on a totally different note :: on the way home i dragged ian to paper source at south coast plaza. they were selling this great composition notebook from knock knock (which i can't find on either website) for $14.50. guess what? i got the same notebook at marshall's the day before for $2.99! back to paper source, i also got this label stamp, and these great papers. sigh. i love that store.]

to do :: this week

normally i'm not what you would call "busy." instead, my busyness comes all at once, as these things tend to do.

as i age i'm finding it harder and harder to remember things. and if i don't forget, then i remember too well, to the point of anxiety. the easiest solution, of course, is to write it down. problem is, i have three calendars and keeping them all up to date is a task in and of itself.

so, what does any sane person do? make another list in a completely different place ... here ::

• smog check; pay car registration
• pay mortgage
• pay property tax
• buy packing tape
• get gas
• mail tagE*blankEs to customer
• return one of ian's christmas gifts to amazon (sorry, K, we decided to return it after all)
• mail back rupert's old cell phone for e-cycling
• mail in rebate for my new cell phone
• mail gift to friends' new baby
• mail survey for follow-up to pre-natal study
• make another tagE for separate customer; deliver tagE after maya's rie class
• training session at gym
• get groceries
• work on pta newsette; get newsette printed; deliver newsette
• work on invitation order; deliver final products on thursday
• ian playdate @ park on wednesday
• watch and return netflix movies (quinceañera, waitress); watch and return library movies (the saddest music in the world, hoot)
• read and return library books (the mysterious benedict society, when asia was the world, auralia's colors, blink, the palace of laughter)
• finish up sample for mini-book class; send out class info/invite
• make more tagEs for the coming month
• keep going to the gym!

week 3 weigh-in

i feel like i'm getting into the habit of eating better and actually wanting to exercise. this is big, folks. seriously, i haven't felt the need, desire, or urge to exercise in years, and yet, here i am, feeling bad for not working out for a few days. and i'm constantly talking rupert's ear off about this excerise or that exercise.

i'm not necessarily going to love the activities i engage in at the gym, but i know i'll feel better afterwards. most things don't come easily to me :: when we worked out with the trainer she had us on the treadmill and it was awful -- i hated it; my abs are completely useless and crunches are nearly impossible; and sometimes those last two reps of weight-lifting cause me to make crazy grimace-y faces. after it's all said and done, though, i feel like i've accomplished something. i'm moving forward. i'm ready for the next workout. i feel good.

our third meeting of the fitness challenge was sparsely attended. i didn't think i did that well since the dieting felt a bit off (i.e., eating too much), but i lost another pound. that was enough for me to "win" the weekly weight loss challenge. i won myself a pair of dumbbells, which is great because i was just thinking about buying some to do simple weight-lifting at home. and ian can use them too, so he'll finally stop complaining about how weak he is!

why i {heart} trader joe's

one of many reasons ...

they were giving away their red reusable grocery bags today. it somehow made me happy to see customer after customer leaving the store with shiny, new red bags.

girls' night out

a rare occurrence :: just the girls (sans my aunt) getting together to have dinner, just 'cause. my cousin L (back left) and cousin-in-law SA (front right) drove up from orange county to join us at beacon in culver city. it was an enjoyable couple hours of laughter, eating, and catching up. just what we all needed for the new year. hopefully this will become a semi-regular thing ... otherwise we never see each other!

almost spoke too soon ...

the plumber came again yesterday and i was prepared for the worst. that anxiety was all for naught. sure, the laundry, shower, and kitchen pipes all lead to one pipe to the sewer line -- it's not the ideal plumbing set-up -- but at least we can take care of it if it backs up again.

what i was really worried about was the puddle of water under the house :: did we have a major leak? was the foundation being compromised? would we have to replace the piping? did our home inspector miss something major when we bought the house? the plumber's assistant crawled under the house and checked out the pipes and found nothing wrong, thankfully. and the puddle from two days ago was gone. the plumber's educated guess :: the water heater leaked water all the way under the house and it stopped once the water heater was replaced.

it still cost a lot to snake the pipe from the outside; double what the other pipe snaking guy charged us. it didn't bother me that much, though, as i did two loads of laundry and didn't once hear the gurgling in the shower drain, or smell the sewer in our bathroom. sometimes it's worth the price just to get the problem resolved ... after two years of suffering!

xmas mini-album sneak peak

i'll be teaching a christmas mini-album class in the very near future. time + place tba. click on the mosaic to see bigger sample pictures.

this is a 6x6 mini-album with a transparency cover. students need to bring 6~10 christmas or winter-themed photos, family holiday card(s), and any embellishments or ephemera (such as ribbon or gift tags from gifts, ski lift passes or business cards from a trip). i will provide all other materials.

no worries if you've never scrapbooked before. the class is geared towards all levels of scrapbookers :: the design is simple + easy enough for beginners, and more advanced scrappers can add embellishments and details to suit their individual style.

the class fee is $15, and it should last about two hours. i intend to teach this class at least twice, once at my house and another time at a friend's house. if you know you're interested, please leave a comment here (or email me) and let me know general times + days that work for you (i.e., weekend days, friday nights, etc.) so i can schedule classes in the next month or so.

here's a variation on the album ::

week 2 weigh-in

i told myself not to be concerned with how much i lost, but to instead concentrate on getting healthy and learning better life habits. the first week of the fitness challenge is over and i feel pretty good about the progress i've made. i'm working on controlling portion size and snacking; i worked out regularly; i tried to get more rest; and i drank more water than usual. now, to continue this for at least two more weeks (they say it takes at least three weeks for habits to stick) ...

we had our second meeting this morning where we measured our progress on the scale. i lost 1.2 pounds. not bad. i'm wondering if i could've done better if i had worked out everyday and not eaten apple pie + ice cream on friday night! rupert cautioned me to slow down and not push my body too hard, lest i injure myself. but it's really because he's afraid i'm going to get so fit i'll easily kick his ass. ;)

week 2's challenge :: incorporate stretches into our fitness routine + getting rid of junk food and cravings.

when it rains it pours

things are breaking left and right around here. we are in need of repairs up the wazoo and i am vigorously writing checks for this repairman or that repairman.

first it was my car battery. luckily, the aaa service guy replaced it right in my driveway, but that convenience costs money. then it was the oven ignitor and sensor. of course, there's our beloved dslr that had to be taken in; who knows how much that's going to cost to fix/replace.

and then there's the plumbing. there seems to be issues with the plumbing every time i flush the toilet. last fall we had to replace pipes in our front yard because of tree roots clogging them up, which was causing our bathtub to not drain (the roots were so bad the roto rooter man's snake got stuck in the mess and it took him hours to free his equipment). most recently we got some leaks repaired. but that wasn't the original problem i called the plumber for. because i am the fumbling, accident-prone person that i am, i broke off a part of the toilet's inner workings. luckily my plumber never pushes unnecessary repairs so he thought the toilet could work without that piece. so far it's working okay, but that's another potential problem waiting to happen.

and, because everything has to go wrong at the same time, our water heater is leaking. rupert noticed a pool of water in front of the water heater closet outside on sunday. at first we thought it was a rainwater puddle from the week before, but upon closer inpsection we could hear water running and see trickles of water pouring onto the brick patio. my mother-in-law's plumber came today and his estimate to get a new one installed is $850. oy. i pray that rupert is not reading this post because this will displease him greatly. it figures the price of water heaters went up at the beginning of the year ... why couldn't it have started leaking in 2007? yeesh!

and our last plumbing problem i hope will get remedied today is the disgusting back-up in our shower every single time we run the washing machine. not only have we not been able to use that shower stall for at least a couple of years now, but we have to rinse the shower and air out the bathroom constantly because of the nastiness.

it would be wonderful if that were the last of our problems for awhile. somehow i'm not too optimistic. did i mention before how sometimes it sucks to be a homeowner? yeah, i thought so.

quick pages

i'm trying to get into the habit of working on a layout everyday. i may not finish it, but just doing something creative each day helps me to constantly think creatively, to look for inspiration, and to be happy.

here are a couple of layouts i did quickly with some photos that have been lying around forever.

scraplifted from page 70 of the november/december 2007 scrapbooks, etc.

feeling the burn

yesterday was day five of the fitness challenge. and i've been good :: eating better (a little bit) and working out five days in a row. it wasn't vigorous activity everyday, mind you, but i was moving.

having a fitness buddy has made all the difference in the world. not only do we encourage and motivate each other, but i think we guilt-trip each other into getting out of the house to exercise. and besides having to log in everything we eat, telling each other our food consumption always makes me think twice about that extra bite i'm tempted to take.

a couple of days ago i joined the gym P belongs to. it's close to our house and P made sure i got a fairly good deal. rupert wasn't mad i joined (we're on such a limited budget right now), but he declared he would be mad if i didn't go. more pressure to keep this up.

i was slightly sore from the first night at the gym, but then P had to go and invite her trainer buddy to join us last night. i got worked! i used muscles i didn't know i had ... or i knew i had but they're hidden so deep under my fat that they're virtually non-existent. i couldn't help but laugh at some of the things she asked me to do :: "are you serious? you want me to do that?!" i did them, though. maybe in my own feeble, weak way, but i did them.

and i'm paying for it this morning.

this could be the year

i haven't worked out regularly since the end of 1998. yeah, you heard me right. it's been 10 years since i've moved my body on purpose, not because i had to, but because it was good for me.

things have got to change, seeing as i've put on more weight lately and my blood pressure has gone up too. my friend P invited me to be her fitness partner (or "accountabilibuddy") in our neighborhood fitness challenge, which started yesterday. it's a 10-week program organized by a couple of neighborhood women who want to share fitness and nutrition tips. the participants will put in $20 and at the end of the 10 weeks whoever loses the most will win the pot.

i actually don't expect to lose too many pounds. at best, maybe a pound a week. but i do want to learn healthy habits. today is only the second day but i'm already finding that the daily exercise and food consumption logs are helping. i'm more conscious of what i'm putting in my mouth and the amount of activity i'm engaged in.

it's probably a good thing that P is already more fit and active than i am. she'll no doubt motivate me and push me to try harder. i'm not sure what i'll bring to our fitness partnership but i hope our 10 weeks will be fruitful.

new layouts

i have a stack of layouts that are partially done and my goal this month is to actually complete them so i can put them in albums.

this layout is from a few months back when a bunch of our friends got together for lunch at el gringo in hermosa beach. the patterned paper is from ki memories.

these are not aligned correctly but it's a two-page spread of the holiday cards we got in 2007. i used a square punch to cut out the photos and some holiday accents from the cards. i used to keep all of the cards we received but i have to accept the fact that i cannot keep every single card we receive for the rest of our lives. so this is a compromise of sorts :: i get to keep the essence of the card but it doesn't take up too much space.

ants in my pants make me want to do the boogie dance

actually, they may be in rupert's pants.

ants have been raiding our house the last couple of days. i think the rain has driven them indoors. which is annoying and disgusting since they arrive in droves and keep on coming. yesterday they were in the kitchen and this morning rupert found them in his sock drawer. yuck.

there is no "i" in "team"

it seems that every other thing in this house is breaking/broken. yesterday the hot water stopped running. rupert, being the stresser that he is, was on the verge of freaking out.

but, we worked together and re-lit the pilot light on the water heater and all is well again ... at least with the hot water. it was nice to figure something out together and take care of it instead of paying someone else to do it. (granted, relighting the pilot light is not a big deal, but i was proud of us nonetheless.)

current items in need of repair ::

• toilets (plumber coming today)
• dslr camera (sent out for repairs yesterday)
• shower plumbing
• lawn
• cracks in ceiling
• patio bricks
• etc. etc. etc.

as much as i love our home, sometimes it sucks to be a homeowner!

two-oh-oh-eight

a little late but happy new year, people! hope your new year's festivities were just that :: festive.

i am flabbergasted that the holiday season is over ... i am stunned that 2007 is over. i hate to sound cliché-ish, but where did the time go? what did i do in those 365 days?! not a lot comes to mind, but i loved that i got to travel in 2007 and that i started "exanding my business." despite that -- and not to be a monday morning quarterback -- i probably coulda done more.

i feel like i'm living with some regret about how i spent last year. a year from now i don't want to feel the same way. so, i've been inspired by ali edward's one little word idea and i'm choosing DO as my word for the year :: do something. do anything. just don't do nothing!

some things i intend to DO ::

• simplify
• enjoy
• give
• listen
• create

here's to goals and new beginnings!

26 months.

maya @ 26 months :: january 4, 2008

• while watching bits of "pirates of the caribbean: at world's end," she identified davy jones as tako, japanese for octopus.
• her current favorite movie is "monsters, inc." and "toy story 2 ("buzz! buzz!")"
• much to my chagrin, she has been carrying around the ugly doll i had hoped to keep for myself. she calls it "dah-yee."
• her bedtime routine is getting longer and more difficult since she doesn't want to go to bed ... i speak of this as if i am suffering but it's rupert's job to put her to bed so it's not my problem. ;)
• it seems totally wrong -- but somehow appropriate -- that all of maya's hanukkah gifts were dvds while ian's were books.
• she has picked up the very nasty habit of nose picking ... ewwww!
• she got sick randomly with the stomach flu. it was her first time vomiting and it was not a pretty scene. oddly enough, after that she vomited a couple of times in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.
• she's a complete natural at playing the drums.
• first trip to SF for new year's. during the new year's party at our friends' house she dropped a whole plate of lemon bars on someone's coach purse. yay!
• stringing more words together into sentences ("already kissed mama," "dada do it," "i want one"), and she'll say some more words in japanese, but usually either the first or last sound so you really have no idea what she's saying.
• starting to memorize right foot and left foot.
• more potty time (with daddy) ... she's now peed more times in men's bathrooms than in women's bathrooms. when she tells you she needs to go shi-shi she usually does go in the toilet. bathtime also seems to trigger unchi (poop) in the toilet.
• sings songs ... sort of.
• figuring out how to use the dvd player; she can also properly handle dvds ... most of the time.
• when she hears the toaster "ding!" she automatically shouts out "waff! (waffle)" and confiscates the waffle from whoever toasted it.
• i have been giving her "good bacteria" pills for her digestive tract and she just loves them. when she asks for one, she says, "i want five" but holds up all ten fingers. still have to work on the counting ... (and a whole lotta other stuff)

adios, 2007

i barely knew thee, two-thousand-and-seven.

new year's eve :: rockin' sf style

something new this year :: spending NYE at our friends JL+JP's place in san francisco. it was a last-minute trip; we basically invited ourselves over while JP was in a drunken stooper at the mermaid on christmas eve.

i'm really glad we went ... although i'm kind of afraid that maya's craziness may have scared JL+JP from someday having children of their own. for instance, maya dropped an entire plate of lemon bars on somebody's coach purse. and she randomly vomited in her sleep. fun times.

we didn't do any SF sightseeing since we were only there for a couple of days, and one of those days we were prepping for NYE dinner. in between basting the ham and trimming string beans, we played a lot of rock band. what can i say ... i luuuuurve that game!

playing many many songs prevented me from imbibing too much. after all, you have to stay sober to hit those notes. ;) i think we are gonna have to get the game when it comes out for the wii.

thanks JL+JP for hosting us! (JL makes a mean ham and rib roast, btw.)

merry christmas!

wishing you joy + happiness (and, yes, fun presents too) on this beautiful christmas day!
our kids were lucky to get so many fantastic presents again this year. highlights :: a real drum set for maya from our dear friends M, J + J; a tricycle for maya from her grandparents; a razor scooter for ian from my parents; legos and binoculars for ian; a yakamashii shirt by t&c for me from my sister; tons o' gift cards for jordan (and me) from his parents. thank you to everyone's generosity; we are truly blessed.

need a different christmas movie to watch?

check out tokyo godfathers.

bah, humbug!

i am soooooo not in the holiday spirit this year. it's just not coming to me, that happy, twinkly, excitedness. and i feel like it's getting harder and harder to be festive this time of year. it's so stressful, ya know? when did it stop being fun?? oh yeah ... when i had to start buying the presents.

this year rupert and i decided to donate to one of my favorite charities instead of buying gifts. this went over surprisingly well, but i'm not sure it's something i will do every year because, quite frankly, i think it cost more than buying gifts (i'm a bargain shopper, after all). however, in the true spirit of giving and reducing waste and clutter, donating to a worthy cause is really the way to go.

unfortunately, my mother did not seem to agree with this and asked that my sisters and i chip in to buy something in particular for my dad. her reasoning? they already donated a lot this year. huh? is there a limit to donating? i wasn't aware of that.

eventually, i'd like the kids to choose a cause to call their own and work towards raising awareness and/or money. i've been very bad about public service lately, and i'm aiming to make it a part of our lives in 2008. a couple of years ago ian chose habitat as his charity (this was after katrina) and earlier this year we donated to nothing but nets. it's all fine and dandy to donate money but that's the easy part. being an active participant in a cause is so much harder and takes dedication, something we currently lack as a family. there's so much more we can do ... and should do.

one of my rie friends, K, has a charity event at her house every year. this year they'll be collecting toys for spark of love, inspired by her son's love of fire engines. her kids are both under the age of 2, but it's so wonderful that she somehow includes them, even at this young age. we will definitely be attending; it'll be a great opportunity for ian to get involved because i'm sure it's something he can empathize with (what kid wouldn't be devastated if he lost all of his toys in a fire?). plus, K secretly encouraged us to donate all of those noisy christmas presents we don't want! hee!

hmmm, it appears i have digressed from my original post about the holidays. what was it that i wanted to say? now i can't remember ... i guess my point was supposed to be that the holidays are getting too materialistic. i'm no christian and i don't believe in jesus, but christmas sure has strayed from its original significance. even hanukkah, which is what our family celebrates, isn't supposed to be about the presents; i believe that's a relatively new tradition. in all honesty, as much as i like getting stuff, i'm over the presents and having to spend time and money on purchasing gifts. i would much rather spend time with my family sans gift-giving and count my blessings. (what? that's what thanksgiving is for? oh come on, work with me people!)

in conclusion :: the holidays are fun while you're a kid, but not so much once you're an adult.

the end.

he has talent ... it just needs to be cultivated

one of rupert's photos from our trip to nyc was chosen to be included in the schmap new york guide's section on the central park carousel. the editors found it on my flickr page and contacted me about its possible inclusion in the guide, and today i got news that it's in the new "edition." you can see it here in the upper right corner by scrolling through until you get to the photo above.

rupert wasn't particularly impressed with this particular photo, especially since i loaded it up to flickr without editing it. i just wish he was more confident in his photo-taking skills. i would love for him to take a class someday and really make photography a hobby.

speaking of which, i'll be taking a photography class with karen russell at scrapbook oasis in february. can't wait! and what a great motivator to get our dear camera fixed.

shop updated

my etsy shop has been updated with a few girlie tagE*blankEs. they make great gifts for baby showers or the holidays. [sorry for this shameless plug ... and the many more to follow.]

moo cards = moo-velous!

my moo cards finally arrived! i was getting worried because i ordered them the week before thanksgiving ... but no wonder it took so long :: they came all the way from allemagne (germany).

the mini cards are so darn cute. and they are tiny; much smaller than i expected. they come in a plastic box and each card measures 2.75" x 1"+. the paper it's printed on is nice and thick, and has a smooth texture to it. i'm impressed with the paper quality, but i wasn't 100% impressed with the print quality. some of the images look a little grainy and dark. the image looks better if it's large and up-close. but all-in-all i really like them.

i ordered one set to use as business cards for the stuff i sell at the sleepyhead paper designs etsy shop. can't wait for someone to order something so i can include the moo card. :)

25 months.

[photo coming soon]

maya @ 25 months :: december 4, 2007

• she's the typical 2-year-old :: "i do it!" "my turn!"
• is finally tall enough to easily turn doorknobs so she's into opening and closing doors throughout the house.
• ian is really good at getting her to repeat words. for example, she repeats "chew-bacca!" really well.
• whenever she knows she's done something bad, or doesn't want to look us directly in the eye, she pulls an "ostrich head in the sand" move :: she buries her face in any available soft surface (her blanket, the couch cushions, my shoulder) and won't look at you.
• her favorite "blue's clues" episode by far is "blue goes to the doctor" because a "doctor maya" appears in it.
• she's been waking up in the middle of the night (or really early morning) because her room is so cold. we give her a sip of milk, re-tuck her in, and then she'll sleep in longer than during the summer (7:30 instead of 6:00).
• she's getting much better at putting puzzles together. half the time she's still trying to force pieces that don't fit but she's also capable of putting pieces together quite well.
• we're getting back on track with the potty :: she lost interest for awhile and i was not about to force it on her. rupert has been very good about taking her when she asks to go on the potty ... because i sure as heck ain't gonna do it!

the shop is up and running ... sort of

as many of you know, i started making and selling tagE*blankEs in the spring. so many of you have supported this endeavor by either purchasing them and/or referring buyers to me ... thank you.

with everyone's encouragement i'm finally getting my act together to sell my products online. i'll have the tagEs and some stationery for sale at etsy, where crafters + artists sell their handmade goods. my site can be accessed @ sleepyheadpaper.etsy.com.


currently (12.2.07) i only have one item up (a holiday card), but i'm almost ready to update the shop with some girly tagEs.

i hope you get a chance to check it out and tell people about my little shop. :)

and, now, back to our regularly scheduled programming

at the request of rupert i'm back ... although i'm not sure i have anything new to say ... hence the long absence from posting ...

november flew by in a hurry, didn't it? there was so much going on at breakneck speeds i can't say i got to savor the individual moments very much. even with the kids' birthdays, ian's soccer, and thanksgiving (and my brief bout of stomach flu) over, i can expect this month to whiz by too.

rupert's super-busy with final papers due this coming week, so he's been preoccupied with school (and rightly so). i knew school would take up much of his time and energy (for the next five years), but, frankly, i'm annoyed that he's not as available as he used to be (granted, he still pitches in a lot). more importantly, he's been writing his papers on the laptop, which means it's unavailable to me in the evenings. doesn't he know that a girl needs access to her laptop 24/7?! but maybe he got my subliminal bitter rays because now he's out in the garage/office using the desktop.

a huge thorn in my side is that we have three major malfunctions around the house :: the camera (that's a huge part of the reason why i haven't been blogging), the oven, and the shower plumbing. the shower has been unusable for at least a couple of years now (long story) so i won't dwell on that now. but the camera and the stove? i'm dying here; life is just not as enjoyable without them. the camera will have to get professionally fixed once i figure out the warranty. the oven, however, seems like something we could fix on our own (i think the gas ignitor needs replacing) ... will we though? we don't have a particularly good track record about getting things done in a timely manner. but what kind of winter would it be without baking and roasting food in the oven??

in other news, my sister is finally coming home from hawaii on the 4th. yay -- a free babysitter!

and, of course, chanukah and christmas are coming up ... or, as we call it around here, chanumas. it's rather sad that i dread this time of year :: the stress of trying to get gifts for everyone, dreading all the beeping, flashing toys the kids will get, and the pounds i'll gain from all the eating. i can't remember when the holidays became more of a chore than a joy for me. alas, i guess it's the apathy that comes with age.

this year, however, i intend to minimize some of the stress by making donations in people's names instead of getting them gifts. [i probably just ruined the "surprise" for my in-laws before they open their gifts.] and i intend to enforce the "one toy in, one toy out" rule with the kids' gifts. [ian is reading over my shoulder as i type this and he may not be so happy with this rule ... but that's what mama has planned for your old toys, little dude!]

i've finally gotten around to purging some things that weren't necessarily in the way but were taking up room :: old snacks on the top shelf (some of the stuff was like three years old!), the many unused mugs we have, and old clothes i just don't need/wear. it hasn't made a dent in the clutter around here but it's definitely a start. next stop :: ian's old clothes and maya's infant toys.
we don't have any travel plans this winter break, so i intend to take it easy and maybe get some crafting done. (see the next post.)

update complete. over and out.