Random thoughts

I mistakenly waited until it was miserably hot (instead of just unpleasantly hot) to run today. Nothing like a slow, miserable run to get the wheels turning. Mainly I thought about my girls and how big they are getting. I worry about Rachel and how much trouble she'll get into at school this year. She's a good kid but so strong willed. They say she's great at daycare but I don't always get to see great at home.
I worry about Lauren growing a spine and standing up to some of her pushier friends. Guess that's why having Rachel for a sister can only be a good thing!
And I worry about making it to the water fountain but that's my own fault!

Dave's trying to figure out his new obsession. We've got a different house and a different car. What's next? I told him I didn't care what the new obsession was as long as he did not start looking fora new woman. He just rolled his eyes.

Hello out there? I've waited three months...

Clearly I am not the best blogger ever. Maybe I should put blogspot on my phone...
It has been a crazy ride lately but I can sense that things are settling down.

Highlights:
May:Bought a house. Sold a house. Took qualifying exam.
June: Started LAST CLASS!!! Hate the weekly drive to Stillwater but know the end is in site. Traveled to Florida for a conference. My suitcase traveled to Hawaii in route to Tulsa:) Moved the day after I got home.
July: Attempted to get house set up. Recovering from May and June.
Today: Bought a new to us car! 2005 Matrix (no, we won't name it Neo.)

The carousel is slowing down, though. Thank goodness!

Rachel turned 3 June 19th and I think she is (finally) starting to grow out of some of the toddler issues. But every timeI say that, we seem to have a huge set-back, so I won't claim it yet.

Lauren moved into training bras. Really. I'm sure she would love me posting this but, darn it, she is getting big! This December she will move into double digits!

During the move I found some of my old running logs. I have not regularly kept a running log since I had Lauren. I was happy to see that my times these days are better than my times 11-12 years ago but it was a real downer to discover my actual pre-Lauren weight. I thought I was 10 pounds above it- turns out I am 13-17 pounds over what I was then. Of course, even with this depressing knowledge I still had ice cream tonight!

I have two favorite things about the new house. The first is the back porch, something we did not have at the other house. The second (and this will sound weird) is the ice. I don't know what it is but the freezer makes really great ice.

If you've made it this far you will either be happy or dismayed to know that I am going to try to update the blog twice a week. Good? Bad? Just plain boring? We'll see.

Lost, again

It has been a whirlwind month. We signed a contract on a new house this past Monday. Whoa. This means our house is on the market and the sucky part of that is how clean our house has to be. All the time. Have you met us? Although we aren't dirty people we do tend to stack. Alot. Keeping the house show-ready may kill me or make me neat (doubt it).

The girls are doing well. Rachel has had an ear infection this week. poor little one. She is such a combo of David and I. Bossy. Independent. Funny. Nurturing. And it is a damn good thing that she has a sweet personality and great imagination or the bossy might put me over the edge!

Rachel had her first major "boo-boo" Saturday. David had to work an event so the girls and I went out in search of flowers and flower pots (realtor said to make the house have more curb appeal). We got back and I got lost in repotting. Rachel wiped out in the driveway and I felt sure I was transferring millions of microbes into her big scrape.

Of course, she acted as if her leg was broken. For three days she wouldn't bend her left leg while walking. Sort of like having a short pirate in the house!

Lost

I am in qualitative analysis 2 this semester. A major part of the semester is learning how to analyze interview data. I've done three interviews- one with a grad student that lasted 35 minutes and then 2 with undergrads that lasted about 10 minutes each and are, subsequently on the same tape. All set, right?

Except that I lost the tape and tape recorder about a month ago. It is hard to transcribe then analyze missing data.

So I hunted for weeks and then found it this morning! Yea! It is not lost!

But Dave keeps getting old episodes of Lost from Netflix and I keep getting lost in those- I would not have done the transcribing even if I had the tapes.

So perhaps I have lost my ability to complete coursework...

the drought

I haven't been writing. Anywhere. Not only have I not maintained this blog, I also have not been writing grad school stuff the way I should. I did manage to complete the required 750-1000 word vignette that was due Monday, but I need to be working on the proposal and the like.

Why the drought? I don't know. It is almost as if I have a physical revulsion when it comes to writing. One problem has been cookies. I know it sounds stupid, but I have been spending about 6-8 hours every weekend sitting at a cookie booth. This is followed by additional time counting money and tracking sales (ok, we don't have to track them but I can't help but embrace my inner geek. Or maybe it is not so inner).

I am going to try to start posting more often (more often than the end of the month, lol!).

This weekend should be fun. We are going to see Elmo's Green Thumb. I can't wait to see Rachel's reaction. That kid is so funny. Just a piece of work.

Rachel threw up early Friday morning. I heard something and realized she was sick. When I got to her room I almost laughed. She had tried to catch her vomit, in an attempt to keep it off her bed. How sweet. And gross.

When I told Lauren that Rachel was sick and was staying home, Lauren started crying. Last time Rachel threw up, she ended up being hospitalized (she vomited so often that she perforated her esophagus. And she was only 9 months old.). So I had to reassure Lauren. It was a typical Lauren big hearted moment.

I was excited to find out that I will be teaching adjunct at TU in the fall (I snagged an OSU-Tulsa adjunct job for the fall earlier this spring). The TU class will take place during my plan time on Tuesdays. Yea:) The OSU-Tulsa class meets one Fri/Sat a month. I think this should all be manageable and should greatly help our ability to pay for the kiddos' schooling.

Why no one should be smug

Never brag, especially about your health.

I have been feeling pretty yucky for about a week. David starting feeling bad a few days ago. Lauren felt yucky last night- she was running a low grade fever- no biggie. This morning she was running just under a 104 temp. Yikes.

David took her to the doctor. Strep and an ear infection.

Then she went with David to the doctor. And David was diagnosed with Type A flu.

So we have a bacterial infection and a viral infection with two host organisms. Great.

I plan to get strep tested tomorrow.

Rachel seems healthy. We'll see.

Darn karma.

Too much information

What are your middle names?
My middle name is Rene, his is not to be mentioned.

How long have you been together?
We have been married for almost 14 years but started dating 20 years ago come March. Bear in mind we did break up for a while between dating and marriage.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Hard to say. We knew each other before we went out for the first time but mainly because my roommate was dating a guy on his dorm floor.

Who asked whom out?
Vodka asked us both

How old are each of you?
I am 37 and he is 38.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Since my brother is a bit of a jerk and lives in Florida that leaves his super-nice brother and sister-in-law. Love them (really)

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Was hardest? Is hardest? The hardest ever was when we had to live in separate states for 9 weeks due to job changes. These days, holiday dinner seating arrangements. One of the only things we ever really fight about.

Did you go to the same school?
Yep. OSU

Are you from the same home town?
No, Pawhuska (D) and Owasso (me).

Who is smarter?
We have different kinds of intelligence. His memory is amazing, especially with names and faces. I am very statistically oriented.

Who is the most sensitive?
We are pretty even on this- we both get hurt feelings over odd things but I am more of a crier.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Home

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Boston?

Who has the craziest exes?
Him

Who has the worst temper?
We have different types of tempers. Dave has plenty of little eruptions. I take a long time to anger but once I am mad it takes a long time for me to cool down.

Who does the cooking?
Me. But I like to cook (unless the girls are fighting). He can cook though.

Who is the neat-freak?
Don't know. He is a neat-freak about the inside of a car.

Who is more stubborn?
He is.

Who hogs the bed?
Don't know but we have this green blanket on our bed that gravitates toward me- it is between layers and those layers can be where they're supposed to be and the green blanket will still be on my side.
Who wakes up earlier?
I have always been an early riser but lately he has been keeping pace with me.

Where was your first date?
Somewhere in Stillwater

Who is more jealous?
We don't have issues with this.

How long did it take to get serious?
About a month and a half

Who eats more?
Hard to say. We both have a sugar problem.

Who does the laundry?
David. One of the many reasons I love him.

Who's better with the computer?
David

Who drives when you are together?
David. Partly because he goes totally ADD (paws at the windows and the like) when he is the passenger and partly because I am a much better navigator than he is. Much better.

Death, Doom, and Destruction

So no, this is not an apocalyptic email. Instead, this is about the Hamby women elbows.

Some people nickname "special" body parts. Not us. Lauren and I have nicknamed my elbow points death, her elbow points doom, and Rachel's elbow points destruction.

I could probably use my super sharp and pointy elbow as an ice pick (except that I hate to be cold). As a kid, I used the tip of my chin and my elbow to bore pain into my brother (typically when he tried to fart on my face). Now I threaten the elbow when David is up to something.

These are the quality thoughts I have. No nicknames for private parts (aren't you lucky)- only for weapon-like elbows.

I did want to unleash the elbows on a family at swim lessons tonight. The 3 or 4 year old little girl was dressed in a barely-there bikini. Now I think toddlers in two-pieces are cute when the two-piece is not hoochie. But it was like some sort of stripper audition outfit (no pole at Miller's though).

Anyways, the tot, her dad, and g'ma were sharing *special* conversations. At one point g'ma says, "When you get out the water make sure your boobies are still in your suit." Say what? Boobies? On a three year old? NO! So wrong.

And that is just a highlight of the wonderful conversation. Death was twitching to give an accidental poke but I held back.

Too many thoughts

I have had a really hard time sleeping the last two nights and I think the problem is that I can't stop thinking about my research project. I keep waking up and thinking about sections that need more detail. It would be funny if I wasn't tired!

And to add to this, I actually really enjoy my Monday night class. We have the weirdest sessions. Last night we spent almost 45 minutes discussing interviews (as a data source) through both the positivist and the post-modernistic perspectives. Very stimulating.

In case you don't know, I totally buy into the theory that toddlers go through cycles of independence and dependence. I agree with the research that posits that this cyclic behavior is what leads to fits. Further, I think that as kids move closer to the age of 4 they spend more time in what I will call the "good mood" cycle and less time in the "bad mood" cycle. I was pleased this weekend to see Rachel back in the good mood cycle.

But I can sympathize with kiddos when they throw fits (notice: sympathize- not condone or encourage). It has to suck to have someone else constantly get to make all of the choices about your life. That is why I love Love and Logic- choices are paramount. And why my kid (occasionally both of them) looks like a hobo sometimes- I am not willing to fight over the clothes she wears. As long as she isn't asking to shop at Massad's.

V-day, whatever

The older I get the less I appreciate romantic gestures.



And I know that makes me sound like scrooge. But I started developing a theory a few years ago that people (read this as men) fall into one of two categories: romantic or reliable. I realize that assigning dichotmous categories is silly and that there are always shades of grey, but I have mainly seen one of these groupings in the men I know.



Case 1: Romantic. My dad is an example of this group. I love my father dearly. But my dad has consistently been the chief in my parents house. Everything is based on when he wants to do things. When I was little he rarely came home from work before Micah and I were in bed. When we got older, no one could eat dinner until he was home. Mom had to pretty much put the meal on hold until he arrived- and that could be anywhere from 6-8:30. He got mad if she let us eat before then and he also forbade after school snacks. Yet he made romantic gestures to my mom often- bringing her flowers, perfume, or a box of chocolates. Buying her special things that she wanted.



Case 2: Reliable. David is the perfect example of this. He understands if we eat before he gets home. He loads the dishwasher (he says I do it wrong) and he does the laundry. He spends time with the girls. He doesn't believe in giving flowers and he isn't big on gifts "just because."



When I was younger I might have (probably did) think romantic is better but I now know that reliable trumps romantic any day, any place, any time. Hands down.



Thanks David.



And the m&ms rocked.



I should add that I have become less romantic over time. For our second v-day as a married couple I created 26 little baggies of oreos, one for each letter of the alphabet, and put a note for whatever letter it was in the baggie too. I hid these all over the house. This year (year 13 as a married pair) I gave him a shark steam vac and the first season of Dexter. A steam cleaner and a bloody tv show. Not so romantic. ne should reliably clean the hardwoods and the other is likely to reliably be entertaining.

the memory of an 89 year old

It has been a while since I posted and when I run I always come up with great topics. And then I forget them...

On the "stupid things about me" front, about 3 months ago I severly overplucked only one brow. That's right- just one. So I have been trying to grow it out. And, of course, it has grown back patchy. For the last two weeks one of my brows has looked liked it belongs to Vanilla Ice- you know, the fade.

Remember- I forget the quality stuff.

Never argue finer points with a toddler

David usually handles bath time but I've had the chance to give Rachel her bath twice this week. Both nights have been a ton of fun but tonight illustrates why toddlers often are poor conversationalists.

There is a set of railroad tracks about a mile from our house. Thanks to the cold weather and the snow/ice blanket, the train horns have been a lot easier to hear. So during bath time tonight I heard the train horn blaring and asked Rachel to be very quiet and listen with me to hear the train.

"What you say, mommy?"

"I said that if we get really quiet we can hear the train."

A moment of silence follows.

"Is that the train?"

"Yes. That woo-woo noise is the train."

"Mommy. That's no train. There no trains at our house."

"Rachel, I know trains aren't at our house. This one is about a mile away but we can hear it because of the cold weather."

"Mommy (very impatiently). There no train at our house. That no train. Stop being silly."

So what do you say at this point? I mean, she is the child of David Hamby. She will argue a point till the cows come home. So I said, you're right, the train is not at our house. Hey, show me how you blow bubbles again!

Ah, conversations with toddlers.

Lashes

The Tulsa World had sort of a funny story this morning. It wasn't meant to be funny but it was about the latest in eyelashes. Apparently there is a place in Tulsa that can perform a "lash thickening" treatment and/or a lash perm. That's right- a lash perm. The tech (lash perming lady) said that it smells just like a regular perm. OMG! Can you imagine how potentially dangerous that is? Let only costly!

The lash thickening treatment was on sale for $75- essentially the lady uses industrial grade glue to mix synthetic eyelashes in with your real eyelashes- normally it is $150.

Hello? Ever heard of drugstore falsies?

On Sunday there was a story about a new lash thickening drug coming on the market. The drug was initially developed as a treatment for glaucoma but the lash thickening element of it was discovered as a side effect. It is $250 for a one month prescription.

And we wonder what the hell is wrong with our country? There are people willing to spend hundreds of dollars monthly for thicker lashes when they could just go down to the drugstore and buy mascara and a lash curler (or some fake lashes) for less than $20. Puh-leeze.

Speaking of cosmetic changes, I have been playing with chocolate in the kitchen today. Being trapped, I mean being inside the house in the ice makes me want to bake. Bad for the old waistline. If only I had some level of self-control...

Toothy

Lauren lost a tooth this week. She'd lost all the front ones a few years ago. This was one of her pre-molars. Being the sweet, gullible thing that she is, she still totally believes in the tooth fairy. Tuesday night (evening of dinner-time tooth loss) at bed time she announced that she wasn't going to put her tooth under the pillow yet. She said that she wanted to know what the tooth fairy does with the teeth. Essentially, if the tooth fairy uses the teeth in a manner that Lauren is ok with then Lauren will put the tooth under the pillow. Luckily she did not have time to write the note then because it was time to go to bed.

So I spent Wendesday annoying my coworkers (more than normal) with tooth fairy questions. I could come up with plenty of reasons but mine were all a bit morbid. And although a large part of me did think about how much money we could save (ok, not that much!) by making it so Lauren never left a tooth under her pillow again, the other side of me- the side that loves Lauren's ability to believe in fantasy and be a kid- knew that was a bad plan.

My friend Shelly gave me the answer. What happens with the teeth is an occupational secret. Like ancient Chinese secret but with the tooth fairy.

Lauren finally got around to writing the note and putting the tooth under her pillow last night. I spent 20 minutes crafting a tooth fairy-worthy response. And even managed to exchange everything out when I woke from my nap on the couch.

Can't wait to see what she thinks.

I should add that the tooth fairy has written Lauren before. One time the tooth fairy did not leave anything- Lauren was bummed but left her tooth under her pillow again the next night and got a nice note about how the tooth fairy had been on vacation and couldn't get back. Talk about guilt!

Trauma

Lauren and I had dental appointments this morning and we both have to go back because we both need a filling. This is my first new filling in 17 years (although a lovely root canal has happened in the meantime along with a lovely porcelain crown). This will be Lauren's first filling. And when she found out she needed a filling she sobbed. And sobbed. And sobbed some more. As if she's just learned that a dear friend had died or something horrid had happened.

In those moments I have a hard time responding. On the one hand, I want to comfort her. On the other, it is just a filling. Good gravy.

So I talked her down a bit and made some corny asides. I bet there'll be more tears in mid-February when she goes back.

She has been tearier than normal (ok, she's actually cried a few times versus her normal, non-crying mode) and I keep wondering if we are heading in puberty. NOOOOOOOOO! Once it starts I lose my sweet girl for several years.

Now I want to cry!

Techno-savvy?

David bought an i-pod nano for me as a surprise Christmas gift. Although I had never mentioned wanting one, he knew that I would like it. But what really made me excited about the nano is that it uses the Nike-Fit+ technology. Let me say upfront that I cannot wear Nike shoes. Oh, the pain! Plus, I have to wear a size 12 in them and my ego can't take that. But you can order the chip and receiver on their own (for only $30).

My receiver cover came in the mail yesterday so today I gave it a try. Of course, I read the directions again after my jog was over- had some real "duh" moments with it. It is pretty cool- sort of like having a Garmin watch (we have an old Garmin- it went on the fritz but is now back to working).

All of this has made me feel like a technologically advanced person (of course, in my family that's not saying much since my mom want to go to hooker.com to find chairs...). So I bit the bullet and joined Facebook today. I have sent out several invites to be friends (so junior high). One lady (was a girl not so long ago) accepted and when I viewed her profile I found a photo album posted by a guy who lived on David's dorm floor with- surprise- pics of David back in the old mullet days! Makes me wistful.

If you have a facebook account, let me know and I'll add you as a friend.

I am not sure I have the time needed to keep up with an additional distraction but surely I can fit it in.

While we're talking technology, we got the Wii Outdoor Challenge game and man, is that thing fun. Funny to watch people do it, fun to play. I even earned a bronze crown last night.

Daily grindstone

I so enjoyed my winter break (the multitude of religions at Uschool has forever impacted my ability to call it Christmas break). So heading back to work this week totally sucked.

One highlight was Sunday night when I apparently dreamed about a helicopter circling above our house (I swear it was real). I got out of bed and was watching it circle once while shining a spotlight and woke David up (while at the window). We had a lot of debates about whether or not the copter was there. Who knows? But it was pretty tough to get back to sleep after that.

This bizarre Okie weather has been a source of more confusion than normal. It gets nice, it gets cold, it gets nice, it gets cold, it... well, you've got the point.

David and I rented a few movies over break. We saw Iron Man (which was surprisingly enjoyable) and Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (even Lauren thought it was stupid- I mean, I liked the campy bits but the end, geez...). We also caught Oh Brother and Dodgeball on tv (probably good old TBS). I work with some people who have never seen either of these. I know Dodgeball is silly, but I swear it cracks me up every time. Every single time. And then I want to quote it. Not so great around kids.

Lauren's first basketball game of the season is tomorrow. Heaven help me. Last year we were on a Park and Rec team and we lost every game. Plus Lauren played like a statue. I am hoping for better this year. She can actually dribble this year but the coach isn't working them very hard and they really haven't practiced enough (versus last year's too many practices!).

Add furniture please

So my mom called the other day. If you know my mom, this story is par for the course. If you don't know her, just understand that she is a very nice person but sometimes, well, a bit dense. For example, one time she had been working on the crossword in the paper but was stumped. I looked over her answers. One clue was looking for a 3 letter word meaning "genetic information." She filled in "gna" (this is for real- I may not be the most brilliant but as a science teacher I was quite aghast).

Back to the phone call. She and my dad are in the middle of a big remodel. The remodel started in August and I think they'll be lucky if it is done in February. My dad had dropped her off at the mall on his way into work the other day. She went to Macy's and Dillard's to check out chairs (apparently she is looking for wing back chairs) but the stores didn't have what she wanted. So she had decided to shop on-line and was asking me how to look for them. She had found some Hooker chairs she wanted. She said, "so do I just type in www. hooker . com?"

Um, no. I said, "Mom, I think you might actually get a real hooker if you type that in."

Mom "Oh."

The thought never even entered her mind. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to explain to her that google is a search engine (she had a few other, less potentially interesting, thing to find). But part of me wishes she would have tried the hooker URL.

It made me think of a mistake I made a few years ago- I meant to type in hotmail but inadvertently entered homtail. Not what I was expecting.

And I would blame my mother's lack of computer savvy on her age but Dave's parents are older than she is and they are both pretty with it.

Obviously, I haven't mentioned this blog to my mom. She would check it every day, after I spent 2 hours explaining what a blog is. And she would post super sweet responses like, "I love you honey" and "how dare you post such ugly pictures of my darling grandchild- you are out of our will."