Crunching in the Leaves

Crunching in the Leaves
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Well, we are back from our Hyde Park Thanksgiving vacation. I am recovering from another cold. Hopefully this is the last round of sick in my family. It seems like at least one of us has been sick since early October. We had a great trip, aside from the air travel. The highlight was probably the trip to the Bronx Zoo, which I recommend to anyone visiting the NYC area. Especially at Christmas, because they decorate with pretty lights and it's really cool. Plus they have a polar bear there. Daphne got to experience one of my favorite things: crunching the leaves.

Thanks to our hosts...we had a great time!

Now, it's time to shift into Christmas hypergroove. Deep breath...

Friday Quick Give-Up Blog

Click here for a funny blog post from a much better blogger than me. Thanks to Cheryl for the head's up. Warning: borderline cuss-words.

Late Night Horror Show

Phew.

Our house has been going back and forth between Santa's Workshop and House of Sick.

Last night, the thing Kev and I have been dreading since Day One happened: Daphne threw up. Everywhere. She started crying at about 11:00, so I got out of bed to check on her, and when I opened her door, I smelled the worst smell I have ever smelled in the history of smelling. I won't tell you what happened when I reached down to try to calm her down, but it was truly like a scene from a horror movie. To make a long gross story short, we were all up very very late and now Daphne is doing much better. It was just awful though. I felt so helpless.

The only teeny tiny good thing that happened was that somewhere around 3:00am, we heard the owl again.

When I haven't been sick or taking care of sick family members, I have been furiously preparing for Christmas. I want to get as much as possible done before we go to NY for Thanksgiving next week, because when we get back, Christmas is going to be very very close to happening. And I'm not even close to ready.

So, blogging may be rare over the next few weeks, but I will check in when I can. Hope you are all well. I am working on trying to come up with a contest for the New Year, so I'll let you know when I get it worked out.

Off to do more laundry now.

Last Night, We Heard This Sound...

PRESS THE PLAY ARROW.

So, we were sitting on the couch last night, getting Daphne ready for her bedtime story, when I heard the sound. "SSSSSHHHHH," I said to Kev and the Peanut. "Could it be?" I though to myself?

The sound was pretty far off in the distance. Very faint. Oh, how I wanted it to be an owl! But I was pretty sure it was some other bird or nighttime critter.

I went out to the porch to investigate, heard the sound once more even farther away. And then it was gone.

So, the only way to find out was to get out my trusty Bird Songs book and listen to every owl in it. And after being disappointed by several owl options, I finally turned to the Eastern Screech Owl's page and typed in his number, 132. Within seconds, I had my answer.

I have finally heard an owl. A real in-the-wild owl. Not a captive owl. Not a dream owl. Not an osprey or a sister-in-law pretending to be an owl. A real bonafide owl. The happiness I felt cannot be described, but perhaps those of you who know me understand what this means.

Now, I just need to SEE one.

No Happy Monday picture can beat that today.

Fall - Then and Now

Fall - Then and Now
Originally uploaded by Tara H.

Last year on the left, this year on the right. My baby's all grown up.

First Rake

The Peanut surveys the lawn before starting the big job. Here is what Fall looks like at our house:

Outside at Last

Today we finally got to play outside after about a week of being stuck inside with various ailments. Oh, I had visions of such fun! "I shall rake the leaves into piles," I thought, "while Daphne frolics joyfully without a care in the world."

HA!

Here is what really happened: I got about six mosquito bites while trying to get the rake out of the garage. Then, Daphne didn't want to frolic. She wanted to rake. Then Good Neighbor Ron came over with his dog and Daphne got scared and almost ran into the street. Then she found a rusty nail, which she almost ate before I could get it away from her. Then she wanted to climb up and down the neighbor's concrete steps. That being said, it was still pretty fun, and better than sitting in the house watching yet another episode of Go Diego Go (which should be re-named For the Love of Pete, Diego, Will You Please Stop Screaming).

The video above shows Daphne attempting to master the art of raking leaves into a pile. It's a shame that in the future, we'll probably have to pay or threaten her to get her to help with the yard work. Kev once said that the main reason to have a kid was to make them take care of the lawn. I'm pretty sure he might have been kidding.

Christmas Comes Early

I guess Kev is excited about Christmas too, because he already gave me one of my gifts. He went on Picaboo and made me this cool book with photos of all the arts and crafts projects I've been doing...all the baby dresses I've made the Peanut, all the Mockingbird and Vine stuff, and various other things. I LOVE it. First of all, it's orange. Second of all, it has lots of pictures of Daphne wearing the stuff I've made for her. It makes me happy every time I flip through it. So, thanks, Kev. You always give the best gifts. I'm gonna go look at it again now, and pay attention as if it was a big bowl of cheese grits, because the Peanut is sleeping and I can.

Ten

Here's the thing. I like to read magazines. I like all the pretty glossy pictures and the short short articles that require no mental investment. My favorites right now are Craft, Blueprint, Adorn, ReadyMade and KnitSimple. I also like Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple and some cooking magazines too. I DON"T like Domino. Every time I "read" it, I just get mad and feel ripped off. The last page is always the same. It's called Ten Things That Make Me Happy, and it features some spare from the fashion or design world that I've always never heard of, and pictures of ten things that make them happy. Like their fancy watch or their weird expensive lamp. I like the ten things idea, I just don't like that magazine. I'd like to know ten things that make people I actually know and care about happy.

In honor of how much I dislike Domino Magazine, here are Ten Songs that make me happy (in no particular order):

1. Eminence Front - The Who
2. American Girl - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3. Otra Parte -
   
   
   

   
   
   
   The Palo Pinto House Pants House Band
4. Anything by Mississippi John Hurt
5. Chicken Payback - A Band of Bees
6. Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
7. Let's Go Crazy - Prince
8. Cruel Summer - Bananarama
9. Jump Up - Dan Zanes and Friends
10. The Charlie Brown Theme - Vince Guaraldi

You'll never find this list in Domino, and that makes me happy too.

Holiday Spirit

We spent the weekend beeing sick. The whole family. Kev and Daphne are much better, and I'm getting there. Today I am congested, and have almost completely lost my voice. I don't have time to be sick. Too many projects to do to get ready for the holidays. One of those projects, which I actually managed to finish this weekend, was making a set of six Christmas ornaments for a swap on Flickr. I never should have signed up for a swap at this time of year. I know better. But I did, and I managed to get my ornaments made and sent (to Australia!) and I should be receiving ornaments from around the world in exchange in a few weeks. Above is the one I made for us to keep. On the back, which you can't see, is green corduroy. The leftover fabric will become more pants for the Peanut.

I am getting excited about Christmas this year. My first holiday activity was buying a carton of eggnog. I love eggnog. Then, I got sick and didn't feel like drinking it. But that's OK, there's more at the store.

Now, I have to go get a shower while Daphne is asleep, but I'll try to blog more later to make up for my sick days.

Sick Day

Daphne and I are taking a sick day. Actually, Daphne is sick. I am just along for the ride. We are wearing our housepants and slippers and watching cartoons and playing with toys. No errands today. I just follow the Peanut around with a box of Kleenex and try to stay out of the line of fire.

Note to the political candidates for 2008: I will vote for whoever promises to put Infant Tylenol Cold Medicine back on the shelves and do away with all this daylight savings time-changing bunk.

Oh dear, it's Friday, huh? There may or may not be a flashback today. If Daphne ever takes a nap, I'm gonna need to sneak in a shower.

The Stash

When I was a kid, the first thing I'd do after trick-or-treating was dump out all my candy on the living room floor and divide it up into good stuff and bad stuff. Here is Daphne's haul. Not much there, but then she only went to about 5 houses. Best thing she got besides the Kit Kat was a packet of microwave popcorn from our nice neighbors across the street.

And now, I think that officially ends any and all Halloween talk.