Facebook Part 2

I'm going to have to talk about this on my blog because I have a feeling that the people on facebook won't like my comments. True, my blog link is on my facebook page but I'm prepared to suffer the consequences. OK, here goes. I like the concept of facebook. It's neat to reconnect with old friends. But does anyone else feel like facebook is the lovechild of a schizophrenic e-mail mother and an ADHD instant messenger father? And that lovechild took some amphetamines with a double espresso. It's very visually distracting and more than a little confusing to follow.

Messages on the home page, messages on the wall-to-wall, messages embedded in comments, messages in the inbox, messages linked to pictures, thoughts of friends, thoughts of friends of friends. I can multi-task with the best of them, but come on. It's just too much. And everything that's posted on my page gets emailed to me? Why not just email.

I know that lots of people love facebook and I'm willing to give it a try, but so far it hasn't won me over. To be perfectly honest though, most times that I receive a text message I just CALL the person instead of writing back.

It's too much!

Facebook

I crumbled under the social pressure and joined facebook. I felt pretty good, because, after two minutes, I already had four friends. I think I'm up to ten now. Then my self-esteem took a big tumble when I saw that other people have, like, 260 friends. I don't think I even know that many people.

This has nothing to do with facebook. It's just a picture of the pretty sunflowers that Gail gave me.

Updates

1. Spencer is doing fine. He woke up the day after his fever as happy as could be and with a temperature of 98.6 degrees (really). We talked to the dermatologist who assured us the fever and the medicine were not linked. Since the pharmacist, the toxicologist and the doctor all agreed the two were unrelated, we thought maybe we were wrong. We took him off the medicine for three days just to be sure. He's been fine since we gave it to him the last two nights. If it ever happens again- no more.

His skin is looking great.

Here he is playing with his new old blocks for the first time. They are new to him, but actually belonged to my cousins years ago. They've been waiting in our garage for a year (the blocks, not my cousins).

2. I got an email last night from a company called Polmedia that I emailed Saturday night during my desperate search. They provide special orders for hard to find Polish Pottery. These are the two most important things to know about special orders:

a. Does it cost anything extra to special order an item?
No it does not. In fact, it often costs less. We frequently run special promotional discounts on special orders. Currently, we are offering 15% off on all special orders.

b. How long does it take to get my order?
It can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months, depending on the factory schedule and their work load. Typically, it has been taking about 4 months from the end of the month in which you place the order to the time you receive the item. Please keep in mind that it takes up to 2 months for the factories to hand-make our order and it takes at least 2 months for the ocean freight from Poland to arrive and clear through customs in the USA.

My 30th birthday is in about 5 months. What a great gift for myself.

It's so gorgeous.

3. The flank steak finally thawed. We enjoyed it with grilled onions and bok choy. Yum.


4. The latest item on Ginger's neighborhood buffet: a sesame hot dog bun. An earlier and luckier dog presumably got the hot dog.

Ginger wearing a shell necklace.

The wine and cheese party and my broken heart

We had some friends over last night for a wine and cheese party. I did a really bad job of capturing the evening because I was busy playing hostess.

Amy was trying to duck out of the picture. I think her quick movement messed up the flash, so this one came out really dark.

Michael, Spencer, Megan and Brendan hanging out on the king chair.

Scott and Phil (and Gail's arm).

Ginger by the new picture. It says "let sleeping dogs lie".


Phil asked if there was a special occassion for the night. I explained that the real reason for the party and the theme of the party was so that I could use all my dishes in one event. I had 2 "stations" set up on the dining room table, 1 on the island, 2 on the kitchen table and 1 on the patio. Each station had a bottle of wine, a different type of cheese and a different type of hors d'oeuvres. This set up allowed me to use a lot (though not all) of my dishes. I love dishes!

This is my absolute favorite dish of them all. I bought it in Germany 3 years ago when I went on a little Polish Pottery bender. I love Polish Pottery! And this is the best one I own. It is a Unikat design, meaning it is rare and extra special.


Look at what happened last night!


I am absolutely DEVASTATED! I put a wheel of cold brie in it and then put it in a hot oven. The temperature change cracked it right in half. I know it is just a dish and there are worse things in life, but I am seriouly sick to my stomach about this.

I spent 2 1/2 hours online last night and another hour this morning searching for a new one. I found a lot of georgeous round bakers and several other pieces in this pattern, but the only site I found with exactly this piece is no longer operational. I even tracked down the factory where it was produced in Poland. They don't even have the pattern on their site. Why did I have to fall in love with the rarest Polish Pottery of them all?


My heart is broken.


My plan, if I'm not able to find a new one, is to pick and buy a new round baker to use for food and glue this one together to be used as a heartbreaking wall hanging.

What? No flashback Friday?

Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with an idea for flashback Friday. Or I have an idea but I'd rather go to bed early or watch TV. Sometimes I have a great idea but it involves scanning old pictures and I flat out don't feel like it.

Maryellen does a top 10 list on her blog every Monday. I think that on Fridays when I don't have a flashback I will do my own list. It might have more than 10 items. It could have less.

My first list is going to be a pretty inclusive summary of all things that annoy me. They run the gamut from mild nuisance to things that really really piss me off (sorry mom).

Here they are in no particular order.

* Weeds.

Seriously, do they have any purpose? I spend $50 dollars on a tree. I water it, fertilize it, trim it and tend to it. It dies. But the damn weeds roll in and grow such big, strong roots they tap into the ground water supply. And why are there so many varieties? And why do they have their own defense system that rivals the US ballistic missile defense system?

* Painted on eyebrows.

What? You actually shaved off your eyebrows so you could smear on that crap?

*When people use the same sponge/rag to wash the dishes and wipe the counters.

Do you really want to invite e-coli, salmonella, trichinosis and listeria for a party in your intestines? Let's all just follow basic hygiene rules in the food preparation area.

*There/their/they're; to/too/two; your/you're

These words were on my spelling list in the THIRD GRADE. Please learn the difference. It's not hard.

*And speaking of spelling words from elementary school. Except and accept are different words with very different meanings. I really didn't like it when the manager at McDonald's rolled his eyes at me for pointing out that the sign stating " we no longer except checks" didn't make a lick of sense.

*When people say "you look tired."

Yeah, well you look like a baboon ate half your face.

*The customer service at Home Depot.

I wouldn't be here if I wasn't planning on buying something. Don't ignore me just because I have boobs.

*When girls wear teeny tiny clothes to a bar when it's cold outside.

You look stupid. Get a coat.

*Song lyrics that repeat the same words over and over and over.

I have to take blood pressure medication after listening to Message in a Bottle by The Police. Couldn't Sting afford to pay someone to write some different words into that song?

*And on the subject of songs, how annoying is it when the artist talks during the song?

It's a song. If I wanted to hear talking I'd buy a book on tape. What about the kids at the 8th grade dance? How are they supposed to awkwardly slow dance while you chat it up?

*The 15 item or less line at the grocery store.

There's always some fool who thinks 25 cans of cat food count as 1 item.

*When people run stop signs.

It's not merely a suggestion.

* When I'm stopped at a stop sign and the car that doesn't have a stop sign stops and waves me on.

That's not polite. It's dangerous. And foolish. And annoying. And I'll be fuming about it until the next song comes on the radio. Unless it's Message in a Bottle by The Police. Then I'll just have to run my car into a tree. Which will probably just crumble and fall over because the damn weeds have sucked up all the water.

A big scare

We went to see a pediatric dermatologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital on Tuesday. In his words, Spencer's eczema is completely out of control. We already knew that, but it was upsetting to hear it from the top authority on eczema in the whole state. He prescribed 4 topical medications (1 for the head, 1 for the face, 1 for the body and 1 for hands/feet) and 1 oral medication. The idea is that we get the eczema under control and then taper off to the bare minimum needed to keep it under control. After just one night we saw a big difference in his skin! Yeah!

So what's the scare? Spencer developed a fever yesterday afternoon and it got to be pretty high by bedtime. He is a very, very healthy child and has only had 2 other fevers in his life- one when he had a little stomach virus and one after getting a vaccination shot. He's never had an ear infection (knock on wood!) and even his colds are pretty mild.

After reading the side effects list on the thing you get with your medicine from Walgreens I was concerned that maybe the new oral medication was causing the fever. It's just too strange a coincidence that he would get a fever the day after taking a new medicine. Especially because he has no other symptoms of being sick.

Long story short, I talked to the pharmacy, the pediatrician, a nurse at Phoenix Children's and poison control last night. Poison control even checked with their toxicologist. The toxicologist said it is highly unlikely the medication is causing the fever, but I'm not so sure. Mother's intuition trumps a degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology.

We'll be taking Spencer in to get checked out today and until further notice- no more oral medicine. The topical stuff seems to be FANTASTIC though, so those will continue.

We are so grateful that we have good health insurance and live in a place where we have easy access to top notch health care.

Phoenix Children's Hospital

My husband.....

is an IDIOT!

On Sunday night Michael took a package of chicken and a package of flank steak out of the freezer and put them into the refrigerator to defrost. We ate the chicken on Monday night. Last night I made a fantastic marinade and then got the steak out of the refrigerator. I unwrapped the foil and found.....

A loaf of sweet potato bread.

My dreams of having this

for dinner were ruined.

In his defense, it's been a bad week in the kitchen at our house. I was making a tomato sauce for the chicken on Monday and dropped a whole (obviously opened) can of crushed tomatoes on the floor.

Just for the record- EVERY single time I drop ANYTHING on the floor it crosses my mind that it is the first sign of a degenerative neuromuscular disease. I'm not kidding. EVERY time. Even if what I drop is slippery or awkward to hold I'm positive that my motor neurons are wasting away.

What is wrong with me?

Helper

We're having a little party this weekend. I used to be able to do everything the day before and the day of a party. Now I need all week- mostly because a little 26 pound tasmanian devil follows behind me undoing everything I just did.

Spencer helped me load the dishwasher. Can you see all the silverware under the rack? His idea. He also thought his jammies could use a rinse.

There are little fingerprints and handprints all over my walls. I started scrubbing them. Spencer thought this was HILARIOUS. He wanted to help.

Then, totally on his own, he started scrubbing the floor.


I'll wait until he's older before I explain that the dirty rags need to be washed before going in the dryer.

Carter's clothes

I love, love, love the children's clothing store Carter's. Spencer is on the verge of outgrowing their baby line and I will be so sad when he does. I have bought a lot of Carter's clothes for him!

One of my favorite outfits for Spencer last spring was a blue and white striped one piece. It had a crab on the chest and said "little snapper".

Look what I found for this spring. A blue and white striped one piece with a crab on the tummy that says "feed me or I'll snap".

And yet again, seriously- what is with my family and crabs? I blame my father.

Studio "18 month" pictures

We had Spencer's 18 month pictures taken on March 7th. We finally went to pick them up yesterday. I was replacing all of his 1 year pictures in the frames around the house. It was only then that I realized how much he looks like a little boy and not the little baby I still think he is.

These are the family shots.

Flashback Friday

We're flashing back to the day in August, 2007 when we finally figured out why the lamp was knocked over every time we came home. The lighting isn't very good, but can you still tell that Ginger is sitting on the table to get a better view of the front yard? Can you see how all my furniture is draped in sheets from Goodwill?

This was also the day that the Texas Ranger plants were blooming and beautiful and I took some pretty decent shots of them. Arizona Highways anyone?

And it was also that same day that we took pictures of Spencer who was getting pretty big in my tummy. He was born 32 days later, 29 days early.

totally freaky

Michael and I had a baby together. He looks like this:

According to makemebabies.com, our son should look like this:I personally don't see any resemblance.

My baby with Matt Damon suffers from leukemia. Very sad.
Michael made a gorgeous baby with Sarah Chalke. And just for fun. If we ever have a girl........


she will apparently be the clone of the make-believe Spencer.

Cool dude

Spencer's totally into his new sunglasses. He needs a little more practice in getting them above his ears.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
(St. Patrick's Day blessings upon you!)

ceann sa buicéad
(head in bucket)

Ginger at the car wash

Ginger got to go for a ride with us today. Unfortunately for her it was to the car wash. She's a little skittish when it comes to loud noises. To her the 4th of July is like watching a horror movie.

This is while waiting before we went in. She's all calm and happy.

Oh my god. What's happening up there ahead of us? Dear. God. This. Is. Horrible.

Spencer, are you as freaked out as me?Maybe if I bury my head it'll all go away.
She jumped into the back seat after this. Apparently Spencer offers more comfort than I do.