Welcome to CJ and Nolan's blog! I've not been updating as often as I should; hopefully I'll be better about that. In the meantime, enjoy!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Potty Training Hilarity
So, lately, I've been announcing every time I have to go, to see if he'll try and mimic me. Tonight, I did this, and Nolan insisted he had to come with me. I asked him "Why?" and he answered that he had to hold my hands.
This is not really an odd thing, because at this point, Nolan's too big for his potty insert that keeps him from falling into the bowl, and just a smidgen too small to feel comfortable sitting on the potty without a little support. He's getting better, but you can tell he feels uncomfortable teetering up there on the edge of the potty.
So we headed off for the bathroom, holding hands. Once we got there, he turned to me and said "You won't fall in Mommy. You can't fit!"
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
What Nolan Will Ask Santa For
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Let it snow!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Firewood Cutting in Stanley, Idaho
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Farewell, Dragon
-Author of the Wheel of Time series.
Official Blog Announcement
Tor-Forge Obit/Announcement
I feel as if a chunk of my life is missing. Or at least it's lost a little of it's appeal.
I certainly never met the guy. But through his writing, I met an entire world of characters that saw me through high school, a year of college away from home, and my entire married life. I've had Rand al'Thor, Mat Cauthon, and Perrin Aybarra as brothers; Egwene al'Vere, Nynaeve al'Meara, Elayne Trakand as sisters (albeit annoying ones) for the past 15 years.
I can't imagine the money I've spend on his books. Mostly because the silly paperbacks kept falling apart, so I just kept buying them, until I figured out it'd be cheaper to buy one $25 hardback than 5 $8 paperbacks. The paperbacks kept wearing out because I reread the entire Wheel of Time previous to the current release every time a new book was published. And sometimes just for fun. When you know there are 11 main series books and one prequel currently, I'll let you do the math as to just how many 1500 page Wheel of Time books I've read.
About a year ago, RJ (as he's affectionately known by the uber-abbreviating cyber-community) announced that he'd been diagnosed with Cardiac Amyloidosis - which came as somewhat of a shock, even to a community that had been rife with "RJ is dying" rumors for over a decade. This is a very serious disease. However, up to the end, RJ's attitude remained positive, and for the same typically cynical WOT community which had uncharactaristically become accustomed to his positive, upbeat, and generally "I'm beating this" themed posts on his blog, it was the ultimate dashing of hope.
As far as the series goes, the aptly named "A Memory of Light", the 12th and final book in the Wheel of Time epic, was approximately half written at the time of his death. From his blog, we know he revealed the entire plot line, as well as the ending to his wife Harriet and brother/cousin Wilson near the end. It has yet to be decided if the work will be ghostwritten and published poshumously. RJ has said many times, in many interviews, that he knew the final scene of the final book from the time he first wrote EOTW. I, very selfishly, hope with all my might that he wrote it down in his own words before the end.
For those who may hesitate to read him because they don't like the "Dungeons and Dragons" genre, I say "read". The world he creates is so real, so believable, and the mechanism of "magic" that he employs has rules and laws, like physics. The sheer scope of plot; the breadth of characters; the intelligence it must have taken to create such a world makes the series worth reading, simply to appreciate the mind that created it. To compare it to "Dungeons and Dragons" of the stereotypical connotation is, quite frankly, insulting.
I have done my share of criticism of RJ's works, and my complaints still hold true (snort, cross arms under breasts) but the nitpicky things I find irritating about his series holds no water when compared to the sheer magnitude and scope of entire work.
I think I may be jealous. Fans who have passed on now know the ending. I'll have to wait.
So, Mr. Rigney:
"May you shelter in the palm of the Creator's hand, and may the last embrace of the mother welcome you home."
GRRM reaction
Series Future
Monday, September 17, 2007
Prospecting Trip
We camped in our wall tent and slept on our new Cabela's air bed, with our Mr. Heater indoor-safe propane heater to keep us toasty warm!
Nolan had a great time with the kids in the next campground, and shared his 4-wheeler with them with no problem.
Friday, August 24, 2007
What School Costs These Days
Textbooks, Vol. I & II (Paperback) $209.00
I-clicker $ 38.00
Chemistry 298
Organic Chemistry Textbook,
Solutions Manual, and
Molecule kit $285.25
Lab Text $115.75
Lab Notebook $ 12.25
Chemistry 112
Some little paperback book
like 100 pages long $ 52.25
Total (with tax) $755.21
NOW, there's still one book I have to purchase for Physics that the bookstore did not have in yet (class starts MONDAY)
ALSO. The text and lab notebook I purchased for CHEM 111 is the same one that is used for CHEM 112...if not, you could add another $200 to this total.
When the cost for your books approaches the cost for your tuition, it makes you blink a little.
Plunking down that credit card today was a little nerve-wracking, considering my financial aid is bouncing around somewhere out there in cyberspace, and while I'm pretty darn sure I'll be getting a Pell Grant that'll cover the cost, it'd be nice to KNOW it.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
A completely different kind of Nazgul
I think our servicemen are generally rockin', and this just proves it.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Potato battery powered MP3 Player
I seem to be youtubing today, and I'm finding all sorts of cool stuff. Out of batteries for your mp3 player? Use your groceries!
Mongoose Dirt Grinder
Here's a video of Nolan riding his new ATV. Now he can go with Mommie and Daddy! This is with the speed control set to 1/2 speed.
Nazgul Dance
Being a LOTR fan long before LOTR was movie-ized, I stumbled across this video on youtube, and thought it was pretty hilarious. Nazgul ROCK!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Saturday, June 02, 2007
How does my garden grow...Werewolves?
I needed to turn the water off my garden tonight. So I slapped on the flip-flops and headed up the driveway. I came over the bridge before the garden, looked up, and saw a smallish brown animal that looked like a terrier of some sort standing in the puddle made by my sprinkler. You know, a large Toto. I slowed down, because I couldn't really see well and didn't want to run into a grumpy mama coyote or some such...and then it grew. It unfolded itself, stood up, and walked on two flippin legs!
Heart attack. Right there on the bridge. I backpeadaled so fast my flipflops came off. I do believe my heart quit for several seconds. If that weren't freaky enough, then I saw another one. Then half of that second one broke off and...took off ...flying?
I think the letdown after the fright is just as bad as the fright, because as soon as I realized there were 3 Owls playing in the mud puddle from my sprinkler, I nearly died again...from adrenaline letdown. The "morphing into a biped" thing was them raising up their wings and waddling to a better place in the sprinkler.
I'm allergic to wasps, so if I get stung, I have to give my self a shot of epinephrine (Sometime I'll blog about the difficulties of doing this when you have a full-blown needle phobia). Epinephrine is pure adrenaline. Honestly, the cure for anaphylaxis feels worse than the anaphylaxis itself. After I realized that I had owls frolicking in the birdbath that was my row of newly planted beans (I wondered why my seeds weren't coming up...) the shaking that ensued rivaled that of the post-anaphylaxis epinephrine high. Ick. It leaves you totally wrung-out.
I swear, I swear. I will stop reading vampire and werewolf stories.
I will stop reading vampire and werewolf stories.
I will stop reading vampire and werewolf stories.
I will stop reading vampire and werewolf stories.
I will stop reading vampire and werewolf stories.
Riiiight.
I did come back to my senses enough to run for my camera, but even on the "night shot" I couldn't get a good picture. My hands were shaking too bad, and everything came out as a grey blur. Rats. I think they may have been our Great Horned Owls, since they were quite large, but we also have "Barn Owls", so I can't say for sure.
At any rate, the "cool factor" of watching three owls play in the "birdbath" was so totally worth the fright of thinking Dracula's minions had come for me.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Friday, May 18, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Lu'au!
They were drawing "tattoos" at the Lu'au. All the other girls were getting flowers and cute little turtles. I asked for something "not girlie" and got a ferocious shark! I wanted to keep him!
This was a presentation on how to open a Coconut. We could have used this the day before, when everyone found their coconuts, since he covered how to tell if it was a good coconut and how to get the husk off with the least amount of effort.
The beginning of the dinner show, "King Kamehameha" the first king of all Hawaii, came to the island with his royal court.
More Place of Refuge
Hawaiian Place of Refuge
I think this picture was of a 1/3 replica of a temple (Maybe someone from class can confirm this)
This is a "bowl" worn into the lava flow near the beach that was used to serve ceremonial drinks and other things.
Very fearsome!
This is the royal canoe landing.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Lava Tree State Park, Champagne Pool
Second was a slightly more strenuous hike to the Champagne Pool, a tide pool that is also fed by hot springs, making it a very pleasant place to snorkel!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Black Sand Beach, Green Sand Beach, South Point
Monday, May 14, 2007
Petroglyphs, Lava Hike
This was the fastest moving flow that we saw:
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Field Class Day 1 (Arrival)
The Day Before Class
I was lucky enough to have the morning free so I could go see the Arizona Memorial.
That was an amazing experience. The droplets of oil that come up from the wreck have a myth to them. It's said that when the last soldier who survived the Arizona dies, then the "tears" of oil will stop. The veterans who served on the Arizona and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor ask that their ashes be buried with their fallen brothers in the wreck. In reality, the oil tanks of the Arizona are corroding, and it's possible that they'll have a major oil problem in the future.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Headed to Hawaii
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Aloha, Suckers!
I've also downloaded to my Treo650 all my reservation confirmations, and also have printed them out. Woohoo!
IF I have internet access, I'll try to remember to post stuff.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Am I obsessive?
Yeah, I know where I'm going and when I'm going to get there.
Always check your tickets
Actually, Jerry's been trying to get me to go to Hawaii for about 12 years now, to which my standard reply was "HECK NO!" For starters, I get motion sickness if I turn my head and shut my eyes at the same time. YES, I get motion sickness when I'm driving. So to get to Hawaii, you generally go by plane. Not a good thing, although with the motion sickness patch, I can actually pass for human, and not some slime-spewing green alien from planet Brippywa. Once you're in Hawaii, you can do many activities, scads of which require you to be on a boat or in the ocean. Boats=worse than planes, and due to a tangle with a kid-eating patch of seaweed at Samish Island Reunion when I was 7 or 8 or 9, and I came about 30 seconds from dying, the ocean is a no-go, as well.
But hey, it's for credit, and my financial aid pays for it! So I'm there! It's actually a combined Geology/Biology class, so we'll be doing other fun things like playing with lava and hiking up Volcanoes. I am actually planning on TRYING to snorkel with the rest of the class, but since I can't even make myself wade in at 1000 springs, I'm not really sure I'll be able to. I find I can be in the water much more easily if I have something covering my feet, so I'll take some neoprene booties and hope for the best. We'll also be doing other fun things like torturing our professor with the cricket phobia. Yes. Cricket phobia.
At any rate! On to checking your tickets, which is the whole point of this entry!
At first, the class fee was going to be 1000, which covered *everything* - airfare, lodging, and a couple meals a day. Of course, when airfare started to rise, that got nixed in a hurry, so then the class fee was $250, and we just have to get our little behinds to Hilo by 5pm on May 12. Suckers! I got my tickets for $748. IN YOUR FACE! I'm in under $1000! HAH!
Ack, I'm getting distracted again. On to the Tickets thing. My original itinerary follows:
May 12:
Delta 3733 TWF to SLC 6:40-7:40am
Delta 3837 SLC to OAK 8:20-9:16am
ATA 4625 OAK to HNL 11:00am-1:25pm
Aloha Airlines 238 HNL to ITO 2:50-3:41pm
Note the ample layover times. Nice and long, for ease of finding the next gate, but not terrible.
Then, in class last Monday, everyone was talking about how the airlines had changed various flight times, and had even CANCELLED some of their flights. There was no notice given; someone had simply thought to check their flight, and warned everyone else.
So, I check my itinerary. It had changed to this:
May 12:
Delta 3733 TWF to SLC 6:40-7:40am
Delta 3987 SLC to OAK 8:46-9:40am
ATA 4625 OAK to HNL 9:45am-12:10pm
Aloha Airlines 238 HNL to ITO 2:15-3:06pm
Oops. I don't think I can make it with a 5 minute layover in Oakland.
Now, I had been kicking myself that I didn't book a day or two before or after I was required to be there, so I could go see Pearl Harbor. Once I thought of it, my tickets were already purchased, and it would have cost me $250 to change them. You see where I'm going with this?
Yes, now I'm flying in on the 11th, staying overnight in Honolulu, seeing Pearl Harbor and Waikiki Beach, then catching my original flight from Honolulu to Hilo on the 12th. AND, since they were the ones that changed my flight, it was FREE!
Of course, now I have to get a hotel, and that's not cheap in Honolulu!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
When Nolan's not sleepy.
Apparently, he wasn't tired to night, because I had to put him back in bed several times. First, he wanted "Mo Mo Mo Mo" (More milk in his bottle) Then he wanted "Toon-Toons" (Cartoons) After that he just wanted to run around.
The last time was the kicker. We heard him get out of bed, and the pitter patter of little feet. Then more pitter patter, which stopped at the top of the stairs. It was Jerry's turn to put him back in bed, so he got up and went over to the stairs. Jerry stopped at the bottom of the stairs and started laughing. He told me to come over, and I looked up the stairs to find a COMPLETELY NAKED BABY! He had this big cheshire cat grin on his face like he did something so wonderful.
Apparently that satisfied him, beacause he went right to bed after we got him a new diaper and jammies back on.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Yup, Them're Alligators
Thursday, March 29, 2007
More Geocaching!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
What's the Poopy Tractor Doing in the Sink?
Nolan generally plays pretty well by himself. The only time you have to really worry is when it gets quiet. Today I realized it had gotten quiet when Nolan was playing in his room. Normally, his room is pretty noisy, because he has a hardwood floor and lots of plastic toy tools.
I ventured into his room to see a totally naked toddler with his diaper on the floor very carefully open and balanced. He was just as very carefully picking poop pellets out of his diaper and packing them into the bucket of his front-end-loader toy tractor. I managed to get there AFTER the bucket was full, and he'd started on the radiator.
Everyone should have to try to remove poop from the nooks and crannies of a plastic tractor radiator while your little boy screams BROKEN BROKEN BROKEN! Thank goodness for "Choc-choc" to distract him...Said tractor is waiting patiently for the dishwasher's sanitize cycle.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Flowers in the yard
House Selling Update
One week to sell a house. Not bad.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Skiing on 3/18/2007
Skiing on 3/11/07
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Moving!
So we moved, and we've spent the last few weeks slowly getting all our stuff out and into the new house. The new place is totally surrounded by trees! It's only 2 bedroom, but the square footage is actually larger than our house in town, so the bedrooms are almost twice as big. We've also gained a dining room, a larger kitchen and utility room, plus a basement that has a cellar and a largish room that we have converted to a TV/Playroom. It'll also be our computer office once we get the office bench/shelves built. We have a garage, too!
Personally, I am happy we're out here in the country; Nolan has been "helping" Grandpa Bob and Grandpa Wayne fix the pipe to the cow waterer. He loves being able to take hikes and play on the big tractors.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Childcare Issues
As you probably know, I'm going back to school. This is good. What isn't good is the fact that I can usually take a maximum of 4-7 credits a semester. Full time is 12-18. This is bad because it's going to take me years to get an AS of Biology, normally a four-semester degree. The reason I can take only one or two classes a semester is simple: Nolan.
What I'd like to know is why a community college like CSI - with a significant percentage of non-traditional students - does not offer some sort of babysitting service. Oh, they have a childcare center and an Early Childhood Development program, but the "daycare"at the Childcare Center is open to the public, not only CSI students or staff/faculty, and it's usually full. Moreover, you must sign your child up for either a half day or a full day. There's no flexibility for students whose work and/or class schedule will change every semester. The Early Childhood Development Program, if you can even get your kid a spot, is even less flexible.
So I made up a "proposal" of sorts. A Community College should have such a progam to benefit students who have obligations outside of their education. I submit:
- Such a program should be available to only CSI students who are in good standing and attending class. It is a babysitting service, not a daycare, so staff/faculty should use the CSI Childcare center.
- The Program should be affordable; either subsidized by student tuition/fees, or a per hour/per child system should be set up. Or more ideally, both. For reference, Gold's Gym has a Kid's Klub where parents can leave their children during their workout. They purchase a punchcard for $20 that gets 25 hour-and-a-half punches (may be vice/versa). Or you can pay by the hour (I do not know what this rate is; I use a punchcard)
- Students should only be allowed to use this service during the hours they are actually attending class, as listed on their schedule. Any necessary deviations could be approved by the student's instructor(s) or Advisor. (eg. Activity by Contract is a self-study PE course with no set schedule, therefore, if the student is using the CSI Student Rec center to fulfill their class obligations, an exception should be made for them.)
- The program should be available during normal working/school hours. If enough demand warranted an extension, possibly hours could be extended to include night classes. (I am operating under the assumption that during evening hours, most people can probably find a babysitter elsewhere.)
- This is not a 'drop-off" service. Students should sign up at the beginning of the semester, (or perhaps a deadline *before* the semester begins should be implemented) and give notice if their child will not be there for their expected time slots. Students should leave their child no more than 15 minutes before their scheduled class time and pick them up no later than 15 minutes after.
- This can be a good work/study position under a child-care-certified head. (I am unfamiliar with child-care laws about how many adults per child need to be present, CPR certifications, etc - all that would need to be addressed.)
I would LOVE to have comments on this entry, if people can think of circumstances or policies that would need to be modified or added.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Geocaching
Here is Daddy and Nolan geocaching. Nolan found this geocache all by himself. He took Mardi Gras beads out of the cache, and he left a SPIDER!
Here is Nolan searching for another geocache. This one had a trackable coin in it that we will take to another cache somewhere.
Here is Nolan and Daddy opening another geocache. Nolan got a toy car out of this one.
Friday, January 12, 2007
New Words
Oh, and he can say ice cream, toothpaste, and yogurt.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
More things Nolan can say
Knee (he hurt his knee and told us about it)
BrrCold (that's one word)
Chip
Key
Monday, January 01, 2007
And the duck loses.
My sister has a fuzzy duck. This fuzzy duck quacks out one note of "Old MacDonald" every time you flap his mouth. He's a puppet. Did I forget that part?
Jill tried entertaining Nolan with the fuzzy duck, which scared the peedoodles out of Nolan. He spent the whole of "Quacked Old MacDonald" snuggled into daddy's chest. So Jill took pity on him and took the duck with her to the couch to watch the BSU/UO Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
The duck was innocently sitting on the couch, when Nolan peeked over the back and spied the evil duck. He quietly creeped around, retrieving his trusty Nerf suction-dart gun, slowly advancing on his enemy's position. At the last second, he jumped up, took aim and BLEW THE DUCK AWAY!
Thus spake Nolan. The Duck is no more.
What Nolan Can Say
He's *finally* talking. We were very concerned, because for the longest time, he would not even say "Mama" or "Dada"
The silly boy did what he's done for every major milestone: He waited until he could do it perfectly, then just did it. He went from saying absolutely nothing to talking in sentences.
So, here's what Nolan's saying as of Jan 1, 2007:
Mama
Dada
Maamaw (Grandma) (a in Ma prounounced like au in laugh)
Papa (Grandpa)
I want that
What's that
I want it
Aly
More
Uh-oh
No
Yes
Bye-bye
Juice