MMMM . . . delicious dog biscuits. Anyone hungry? Uncle Richard?

If you want to know what this is all about, you’ll have to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Uncle Richard yourself. 

In the meantime, we actually had a nice dinner with Lily tonight - she was extremely well behaved and entertained herself by stabbing pieces of broccoli with a fork and eating a lot of ham off the salad bar. Whatever it takes!

I saw “Fifty First Dates” tonight - it was kind of sappy and gross, but it still made me cry. Granted, I have a lot of hormones racing around these days, but I still couldn’t believe I was crying over a walrus and a kissing scene with Drew Barrymore in it. Sad but true. The walrus was the best part of the movie, however. I’ve decided if I can’t have a Great Dane, perhaps Mike will let me have a walrus instead. I figured we could dig a hug pit out in the backyard, fill it with salt water and icebergs, and let the fun begin. I know Lily would love it.

Geez, even my uncle has been checking the blog and noticing my lack of updates. This is called “start up” mode - add to that a small head cold for Lily (with fever), and a regularly overscheduled life, and your sponsors would like to apologize for the interruption. I wasn’t even aware that anyone read my blog, let alone looked forward to it - except of course, maybe Risa.

First, let me just share with you these glasses I fell in love with. I assume Lily would love them too, because they have things for her to poke at. Unfortunately, they are glass (which means breakable), but they are so cool BECAUSE they are glass. You can get them at your local Crate and Barrel.

I’ve found that since I stopped working for corporate America (read: I’m not on the gravy train anymore), I covet even more so than ever the little weird things I used to buy without thinking too much about it. I have a lot more self control these days than I ever wanted to have. I might even be slightly proud of it, but then I run into an item like these, and I feel nothing close to pride. I just feel bummed out that someonen else is drinking from the fish glasses. Woe is me - I need to get some real problems.

Lily is walking a lot now, and starting to run. She can climb up and over things, and she only uses her cart now as a type of plow or to ram the dog. She wants desperately to walk down the stairs going forward, but she’s not quite there yet. Today I ran some stuff out to the car in the garage and I turned around and realized she was at the top of the stairs, looking at me. I had left the kitchen door slightly ajar and she decided she wanted to walk outside and help. Scared the crap out of me. I was similarly scared when she decided to stand up in her high chair the other day after I had removed the tray to wash it. It only takes a second - she was wavering up there like a drunken sailor and all I could envision was her splatting on the Pergo. Thankfully my mom instinct kicked in and I grabbed her before she tipped over. Mike says that all moms have “Stretch Armstrong” capabilities - either when your kid misbehaves or is in danger. He says it just seems like the arm of the mother can flick out, in slow motion almost, like a lizard’s tongue, and grab any child away from whatever is enticing them. It cracks me up.

Here’s the website for the most recent book I read (and I thought it was great). I also just finished reading all of Jennifer Weiner’s stuff (which is also very entertaining, although I kept having to look up all the Jewish references). We saw a really cool movie over the weekend called “Personal Velocity”. Mike even picked it. Ever since meeting me, he’s developed a knack for picking out good Sundance winners and actually enjoying them with me, as long as subtitles are not involved. If anyone out there has read anything good lately, or seen any great movies, please advise.

It was a weekend of parties and babysitters, but Lily did well - hopefully we’ll have some new pictures to post soon. Lily did well, and enjoyed some time with her Aunt Lois and Uncle Ken last night. I had my first Christmas cookie of the season. Delicious.

We’ve been busy working on the house (as usual). We spent free time this weekend painting the french doors. That project reminded me why the last time I did any painting that required something like a french door, I swore I’d pay someone next time. Obviously we didn’t. Now that it’s over I’m happy with it but painting anything with that much glass really sucks.

We have spent the rest of the weekend worrying about my cousin’s wife Leigh in Michigan and preparing for Mike’s mom’s iminent surgery. We leave for Pinehurst Wednesday and come back Friday . . . I’m trying to wrap my head around the things that have to be done today, like getting all the crap together for the infamous Kimler lasagna. I suppose I shouldn’t have waited til the last minute to purchase the ingredients, but hey - I was busy this weekend.

It’s been a few days since I last updated the blog . . . that’s the way it goes when your child is sick, no one is sleeping, and there are workmen all over your house making a lot of noise and bringing new and interesting problems to your attention every 10 minutes. Today’s ordeal is figuring out how to get the pantry doors to fit over the Pergo. I feel like borrowing a chainsaw and solving THAT problem quickly.

We’re still in a waiting/holding pattern on Mike’s mom, which is driving everyone nuts, most especially Susan herself. One of my issues with healthcare and test results is how damn long they make you wait for results, especially when it’s a major issue. I remember waiting 2 days to find out of the fetus was viable (who later became Lily) and how no 48 hours ever seemed so long. And compared to Susan, waiting to find out if a pregnancy is viable is no big deal in the larger scheme of things.

Both Mike and I feel terribly about Lily - four days straight of seeing her not playing and only wanting to be held listlessly in arms is really depressing. She’s never been this sick - two doctor’s visits later we have an antibiotic which seems to be helping. My parents are both sick, too. After that Thanksgiving hell week, it seems to be bleeding over into the Thanksgiving Kick Off of Two Weeks of Hell. It will be over soon - I keep telling myself that. Last night we took turns sleeping on the futon with Lily because she doesn’t seem to be able to sleep in her crib. I think she has trouble breathing.

In the meantime I’m supposed to be figuring out dates and locations for my father’s 80th birthday in August. Seems like a long way away, but not when you are going to vacation land (Northern Michigan) for a family reunion. I’ve probably already missed the boat on plenty of reservations.

This weekend is the annual Hayes Hitzeman Foundation Silent Auction - once that is over, things will begin to calm down a bit. I’ve been putting in a lot of hours trying to help Kyra get things together. I finally sucked it up and bought a dress on Sunday - it’s nothing special but it fits, and that was a major undertaking, trying to find something that fits my oddly shaped body. Now I just have to find shoes. Jennifer found an absolutely gorgeous (and very expensive) dress, but she looked fabulous. If I had found a dress that made me look like that, I’d buy it too - and wear it everywhere.

There’s not much new to report. The doors are in on my office, which is a step in the right direction. They need to be painted, but at least now I have a physical separation between my work space and my home space. It helps, at the end of the evening, to pull the doors shut and firmly say “I am done working”. It also helps me keep Lily confined to an area where she can’t hurt herself or do any damage

Baby Einstein rules. If anyone wants to buy Lily a present in the next few years, she loves the videotapes and DVDs. Today she stood up for half hour watching the Baby Mozart tape. She dances, bounces, and screeches at the images - especially the ones of animals. I like it because I can teach along with the tape, basics like colors and words. Mom is teaching her the words in Spanish. This child will either be brilliant or very confused.

The county FINALLY sent some big truck with an attachment like a pincher arm on it to clean up the rotting trees from the cul-de-sac. Hurricane Isabel is still around, it seems - it’s just taking so long to clean up because of the extent of the damage. I kept waiting for a beaver to crawl out of the pile one morning, thinking it was a dam or something. Yes, it was that big. Now there is just a big pile of sawdust to clean up - who knows when that will disappear. It still looks a lot better.

We got our home equity line approved, so now we can finally put gutters on the house and rip up the stained, nasty carpeting. The house is nice, but the people who owned it took terrible care of it. Or should I say, took NO care of it at all. All of the flooring in the house needs to be replaced, but we can’t do it all at one time - unless we come into a financial windfall, and that isn’t looking promising.

Last night Mike and I went to a customer appreciation event a printer friend of mine held - it was at G Force Go Karts. We had a blast. This is serious stuff, not like the things at Cedar Point that rode on rails. These carts go fast - fast enough where they make you wear a neck brace. We had to come up with racing names. Mine was “Fozzy” (as in, The Bear). Mike’s was, surprise surprise, “Manimal”. I came in dead last, but did have one moment of glory where I cut off Mike on the hairpin turn and took the lead (over him, at least). Mike came in second to last so I didn’t feel too badly, but he was probably driving slow to help me out. Racing is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I still think Nascar is the biggest hick sport on the planet, but I have new respect for those rednecks.

Lily went to Ukrops with my parents and had a delicious dinner with them, which included flirting outrageously with some man (Lily flirted, not my mother). We got home early enough to put her to bed and spend some time with her.

Tonight, we are taking Lily to Dia De Los Muertos festival which is put on by the Spanish Academy - Lily gets to wear her devil costume. I’m getting some mileage out of that $20 purchase! So there, Mikey!