May 23, 2004

We had quite the active weekend - Lily should be sleeping well tonight. Physically she is making huge leaps and bounds - learning to crawl up things by using her feet as suction cups (or her rendition of a suction cup), learning to slide, climbing everything (including our bookshelves, legs, and any furniture she can heel-hook), and running as fast as she can. It gives me a heart attack, but the worst that can happen is a skinned knee I suppose.

Saturday we ordered all the new baby furniture we will need for Number Two. We got a crib, a dresser, and a changing table that converts to a dresser later in life. We also ordered a crib guard for Lily - because soon she will be ready for us to convert her crib into a toddler bed. The thought of her being free to leave her bed at will is a little frightening! We took her to the mall and let her play and run around like a maniac. She was so tired after playing all morning that she fell asleep in the car. I can tell you, the last time she fell asleep in the car, she was about 3 months old. My child DOES NOT sleep in the car.

Today we took her to Deep Run Park, where we played on the teeter totter, slides, swings, and learned to walk across a suspended “bridge” (it’s only 2 inches off the ground). After lunch and a nap we went out for a walk. Soon it will be bathtime and bedtime - and both Mike and I need that almost as much as she does.

I do have one non-Lily related note - I must tell it on the mountaintops for XM Satellite Radio. Okay, I accept that we live in one of the worst cities for radio. For a place as big as Richmond, we must have the WORST radio stations. I think even Raleigh had us beat, and Raleigh was about as white-bread as it gets. Finally after a year of watching most of the radio stations either fail or be taken over by some huge conglomerate where the playlists are prepared in some factory somewhere, I gave in and bought Mike (maybe US would be more appropriate in this case) the equipment for XM. Not only did I have it installed in his car, but I bought another set of equipment for my car, which he uses on trips. Now whenever he takes my car, he can just take the unit out of his car and drop it into mine. We were both enthralled with it - no commercials, no people screaming about furniture and car sales . . . no Britney Spears (unless you want that, of course), no annoying morning talk shows. In addition to the best programming I’ve heard since my days in college radio, they have non-stop CNN, ESPN, Weather Channel, and for those of you who desire nastiness, an additional $2.99 per month fee for the Playboy Radio Channel (which, I must tell you, we did NOT subscribe to). I almost can’t wait to get into the car just to listen to it. I’m sure it’s like any new relationship - the honeymoon will end at some point - but hey, for $9.99 a month, not having to listen to crappy Richmond radio anymore feels like it’s FOREVER.

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.

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!

Well, you know you are in the south when people stop in the middle of a professional, networking meeting and bless their bagels.

So I go to this meeting where I don’t know anyone but the person who set up the meeting. The first person I meet introduces herself to me and begins talking about her business. She promptly stops when her bagel arrives and makes the sign of the cross over it, blesses it, and says something silently to herself (but her lips were still moving).

I think to myself, “Okay, that’s cool - whatever makes the food taste better” and move on. I worked for two hardcore “Christian” companies in the past - both automation distributors - and one went so far as to hire a corporate CHAPLAIN to counsel us in times of spiritual need. I used to pretend to be on the phone whenever the chaplain came by to see me. Anyway, the company before them used to put pro-life flyers in our paystub envelopes. For all you pro-lifers out there: I’d feel the same way if they put pro-choice flyers in my paystub. I don’t want that kind of stuff in my business life. Period. One of the first interviews I had with one of the above companies made me aware of how seriously these people take their christianity . . . the man I was eating with stopped me in mid-bite, at a Shoney’s, of all places, to tell me that I needed to pray with him. I blessed my seafood buffet and got on with it: “Dear God, thank you for this bountiful feast of fried fish parts. I especially thank you for the giant piece of chocolate cream pie that is sitting to the left of me. Please keep me safe from food-poisoning and overeating. Thank you.”

The reason I put the word “christian” in quotes is that in both cases, the men running those companies, those supposedly godly men - were about the biggest pigs I’ve ever met in my life. One was a porn addict and looked at it all day on the internet, while at work (to make it worse: he liked kiddie porn, and had 3 young daughters - GROSS!) - the other was a liar and vindicitive as all get-out, and a womanizer to boot. So I am immediately suspicious, based on my experiences, when people go out of their way to tell me they are a christian.

I digress. She eats her bagel, talks some more about her company, and then says, and I quote, “I’m a christian. And it’s very important for me to work with other christians and people who share the same values and morals as I do.” This meeting was a highly intense, professional meeting - and this comment she made was completely out of the blue. I had no idea what to say. “A-hem, well, I’m a marketing consultant for small business, and I’m also a Wiccan? Does it pose a problem that I am celebrating the autumnal solstice by dancing naked around a bonfire?” (No offense to Wiccans - I know I’m poking fun at them too). I just get so tired of the religious undertones, but that’s part of living in the South. I think up north, people can be just as religious, but they know better than to start preaching during the middle of a business luncheon. Good god, I wanted to just be evil and tell her “I’m a lesbian! I worship the devil! And I’m of the Jewish persuasion as well! Is that a problem for you?” Of course, I’m none of the above, but it sure would have been fun watching her face.

Needless to say, I kept quiet and said a prayer to God to get me out of this meeting as fast as possible. And guess what? I get to see her again on Friday. Lord help me.