Not trying to brag and a retraction

First off, I want it to be clear that I wasn't making such a big deal about my book contract in that last blog post just to rub it in anyone's face or "brag" about this opportunity. I'm not trying to brag. I am only trying to let everyone know that if I disappear for a while, it's because I'm busy WORKING. Truth is, I'm nervous about my deadline being only 8 months away. So I REALLY have to devote as much time as I can to this book.

Second, I must retract a statement I made in that last blog post. I can't exactly "swear off" blogging while I work on the book. As it is, Read an E-book Week is coming up, and I have a blogging thing planned for it. So I'll be blogging during that time. If there's anything I want to be promoting, it's something that encourages people to READ!

So I WILL be blogging, just not as often. And I WILL try to catch up on everybody else's blogs, too. Just not as often.

Just please know that when I talk about accomplishments I have made with my writing career, I'm not trying to show anybody up. I am genuinely thrilled when I accomplish something with my writing, and I want to share it. I've been at this thing for literally YEARS (I think I got started when I was around 19 or so), so it's not like I've achieved things overnight. I'm proud of how far I have come as a writer, but it's taken me a very long time to get to where I am now.

I only hope that when I celebrate an accomplishment, the people who actually care will celebrate with me. :)

Here but not here

I shouldn't be here. No, really. I shouldn't be blogging at all. Or...reading blogs. Commenting on blogs.

But, darn it. It's a hard habit to break!

So what's the deal on why I shouldn't be blogging?

Quite simply, I have A LOAD of work on my hands. Time I spend on the computer must now be devoted to research, networking and story-gathering because....I HAVE A NEW BOOK DEAL! Woot! Woot!

It started out as an idea I had for an article. But as I researched that idea, I thought, 'Wow, there sure is a lot of stuff on this topic.' I often chat with one of my editors, and during this time, she mentioned she was on the hunt for a ghost book to fill a slot for next year. After some thought, I decided to pitch her my idea and she liked it. Not only did she like it, though, but she wants to turn this one book into a series.

A SERIES!!!!!

Now just try to picture me madly running around the house, screaming my head off in excitement. Woo-hoo! I am FINALLY doing a series! It's not my fiction series, but, hey! It's still a series! And that's a good thing! That means...more books! Yay! I just hope this will launch me into an opportunity to get my fiction series to an agent. (I think that THIS kinda thing will definitely look good on a proposal or query letter.)

Anyway, that's what I've got on my plate now. I'm also writing articles, but I fell behind when the kids got sick, and I've been trying like crazy to get caught up on that.

So, yeah, I'm going to be pretty busy and a little...preoccupied for a while there.

Still, I'm logging in at MySpace often. But ONLY because I'm networking with people who will be in these books. Finding interviewees. Learning about more groups out there. (The books will contain stories from paranormal investigators, on when they've investigated different sites in some of America's most haunted cities.) I am also using the Ghost Hunters networking site, but still getting used to that. (It's like a MySpace for paranormal enthusiasts!)

And finally....I am trying something out. I got an idea to try sharing one poem a day on deviantART. I hadn't been active on there for a LOOOONG time but got into the whole poetry thing again, so I just logged in and started reading a bunch of poems. I also started posting poems on there again, and my goal is to try posting a poem on there every day. Just, any old poem I get an idea for, really. I've let so many ideas for poems escape me. Now I'm GRABBING those ideas for poems and WRITING them! It's more of an experiment to see if I am able to practice writing a poem a day than anything else. I used to write pages of poems every day, but then I stopped. For some reason. I also stopped sharing them. And I was concerned about this. I didn't like being poetry-less. I wanted to bring poetry back into my world. I wanted it to be ALIVE within me again. It used to be so easy to write a poem. Then it got to be hard. I just...closed myself up. Censored everything. Denied everything. But, no longer. Now I will write whatever idea for a poem that strikes me! I started this with the poem Remembering Numbers. Even if the poem sucks, I still post it. LOL :)

So that's what's been going on with me. I'm just busy as heck! So between the writing, the kids, and the house, hard to find time for much else. But I'll make time for some things, when possible.

If you see me commenting on your blog, though, feel free to yell at me. ;)

8 Things

Here are the Rules:

1)Post rules on your blog

2)Answer the six "8" items

3)Let each person you tag know by leaving them a comment


8 Favorite TV Shows:


1. E.R.

2. Law & Order

3. Law & Order: SVU

4. How Clean Is Your House? (I obsess over this show. I take notes as I watch it. LOL)

5. Nanny 911

6. Supernanny

7. Wife Swap

8. History's Mysteries



8 Things I did Yesterday:


1. Spent HOURS working on the Trimming the Fat manuscript. It started innocently enough: I wanted to fix up the sample chapters. Then I just went whole hog with it.

2. Helped Jennifer with her homework. (After missing a lot of school, she came home with a lot of homework!)

3. Returned books to library.

4. FINALLY saw the movie, The Dark Knight. It was pretty good. Heath Ledger was awesome as the Joker, though I didn't get that whole lip-licking thing he kept doing (it was kind of gross). I was disappointed by the ending, though. I have to wonder: Who makes the better Joker, Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger?

5. Saw a GRUESOME movie clip on a website. I'd never seen the movie and was curious about it. WHY couldn't they put a warning on there saying the guy was going to get cheese-sliced and it was going to show his intestines and everything as he falls to pieces on the floor?? EWW!!!

6. Tried to call my sister Elizabeth but of course nobody answered the phone.

7. Instructed Jennifer's school and her teacher to text me IMMEDIATELY if she has an adverse reaction to her new antibiotics or if there's any emergency. (I was REALLY worried about her. She had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics the doctor prescribed for her pneumonia and we just started her on a new kind yesterday. So far, all is going well.)

8. Did the whole "should I get a job and put the baby in child care or continue being a stay-at-home mom?" debate again. I'm too paranoid with child care, but I feel bad that I'm not working and contributing to society as I know I should. Well, there's always volunteer work! Part of the reason why I'm such a sucker for charitable causes. At least I am giving back something!


8 Things I'm Looking Forward:


1. MY BOOK GETTING PUBLISHED! MY BOOK GETTING PUBLISHED!! (In August! Woo-hoo!)

2. Wrapping up this newest book.

3. Working with someone on her book project.

4. Finding an agent/publisher for Trimming the Fat or Shadow of Samhain. Whichever comes first!!! (Hm, Trimming the Fat is starting to sound like a diet book instead of a book about revisions. Maybe I should change the title...again.)

5. Getting a professional author site set up.

6. Being able to buy some Starbucks again.

7. Teaching the children advanced sign language.

8. Losing weight!


8 Favorite Restaurants ( in no particular order)


1. Jung's Mongolian Grill

2. Applebees

3. The Mission (THE best Mexican food I have ever tasted!)

4. Ring of Fire

5. Sweet Life

6. Golden Orient

7. The Olive Garden

8. Sweet Basil


8 Things on My Wish List:

1. A literary agent

2. A home that we OWN.

3. Winning the lottery

4. Perfect credit (sigh)

5. All my family members ACTUALLY communicating with me (that counts my nephews, parents and in-laws!)

6. More REAL LIFE friends, but the kind who I can actually see at least twice a month. Still, I am grateful for the real life friends that i DO have! I also love and appreciate my online friends. They rock!

7. Lifetime gym membership.

8. College fund for my kids that will pay for their ENTIRE college education.



8 People I Tag:

I tag none.

Book meme

Lifted this meme from Colorado Writer


What are the last five books you bought/were given/somehow acquired?

1. Rewrite Right! by Jan Venolia
Checked this one out at the library. It tackles two stages of editing your writing: Content and grammar. I had a good laugh over grammatical mistakes pointed out, prompting my daughter to wonder about what I was reading. Golden opportunity for me to explain to her why it's important to write correctly, or else people will misunderstand you. She had a good laugh over the picture of a man whose knee had somehow disappeared. Yep, that's kinda the idea a person would get from reading a sentence written incorrectly.

2. Revision by Kit Reed
O. M. G. WHERE has this book been all my life?? Seriously, I am devouring this book and writing down a bunch of quotes. It's definitely going to be quoted in my Trimming the Fat book. Yay! I do, however, have one complaint with this book: Some of the handwritten samples are too hard for me to read. Even squinting, I couldn't read most of the handwritten stuff. So I pretty much just glossed over them. Such a shame. I know that reading and comparing them would serve as a learning tool to see how revisions help the material. Still, it's made me take note not to include handwritten before-and-after samples in my Trimming the Fat book. I have been debating about this and now I know it's better to keep EVERYTHING typed. I also put together a bunch of quotes from this book on one topic I'm going to write about. That'll go onto the writing and MySpace blog, um...sometime today.


3. Poemcrazy by Susan G. Wooldridge
Haven't read it yet but I paged through it at Barnes & Noble. I got it from the library and I'm looking forward to reading it -- especially since I sorta live, eat and breathe poetry.


4. The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren
This is a smaller version of the book. I keep it in my purse. I read the regular version of the book after I saw it mentioned as a favorite book on a friend's blog and loved it. It really changed my life. I am sad the smaller version only contains the 40 tenets that Warren instructs readers on but they are still important pointers to reflect on.


5. Psychic Shield by Caitlin Matthews
Bought this book after something happened that made me decide, 'OK, time to set some boundaries and establish a few ground rules here!' As someone who can occasionally be sensitive to paranormal activity and certain unexplained phenomena, I have had experiences where I've been vulnerable to just ANYTHING happening. I don't want to be in that position anymore. I haven't read this book yet but I am hoping it will help me learn how I can set those boundaries and protect myself from certain bizarre things happening.

Valentine's Day poem

The following is a Valentine's Day poem my daughter wrote:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Candy is sweet.
Not as sweet as you!

--Written by Jennifer Wilson, age 7

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bye-bye baby food?

Today was a special day for Jesse! Today was the first day he had NO baby food.

At 16 months, I have been trying to transition him to a diet of only table food. It's been a slow process, though. Just like we had to take it slow in getting him off bottles (now he only has a bottle before his afternoon nap, but that'll soon be a thing of the past, too), we have slowly been transitioning him to eating more table foods and less baby foods. And today was the first day WITHOUT any baby food at all!

Here is what I fed him today:

Breakfast: 1 1/2 banana with Cheerios and milk.

Lunch: Rice (he hated it), noodles (ditto) and corn (he LOVED it!).

Dinner: I cheated. I bought him one of those prepared toddler meals. It was spaghetti with meatballs. He LOVED it and ate it all up. (He never eats spaghetti plain. He loves spaghetti with sauce, just like me! Jennifer prefers it plain.)

For a snack, he had two Dash of Salt Ritz crackers. (We don't give him the normal Ritz -- too salty.)

However, he refused to eat the veggies (corn and peas) that he was served with his dinner. Well, at least he ate corn at lunchtime!

Getting him to eat "table food veggies" has been hard. He loves the veggie baby foods (green beans, squash, sweet potatoes), but if they're on a plate, he won't eat them.

I've been reading online about what other moms are doing. One mom said that a 13-month-old should be OFF of baby food. Another mom's 10-month-old started eating table foods and no more baby food. They offered some great suggestions on what to try feeding baby: Yogurt, oatmeal, pasta, mashed potatoes, cut up chicken, etc. They pretty much agreed that if the baby has a good supply of teeth, go ahead and weed out the baby food. We gave Jesse some broiled chicken last night for dinner and he did a pretty good job chewing it up. He really liked it. So I'm guessing that even though he has a lot of teeth, not a full mouth of teeth but a lot of them, it's okay to give him things like the soft chicken, shredded meat, etc. (Oh, I wish I had a food processor to get everything all nice and pureed like Gerber does!)

I just want to know the varieties of things I can give to him. I also have to remember that he is lactose intolerant, so if I make mac and cheese to feed them both, I have to use the Lactaid instead of regular milk. (I wonder if Jen will notice the difference?)

I'm definitely drawing the line on fast food, though. I've seen moms feeding their babies French fries and cut up chicken nuggets. Nooo way would I feed that stuff to my baby! I'd rather wait until he's older before he eats any fast food. It's just a feeling I have about it.

I was chatting with my husband about this, telling him I'm going over what other moms do. He was all like, "But you've done this before with Jennifer." My response? ""I can't remember everything!" LOL It's true. When I asked my mother-in-law for some tips on what kind of table foods to feed Jesse, she really had to sit and think about that for a while. Oh, if only I could remember how I did this with Jennifer! (On a related note, when I was pregnant with Jesse, and asking the nurses questions, they joked about how women have babies again just so they can remember everything that they're supposed to do!)

The thing I worry about, though, is making him something to eat and he won't eat it. What if he keeps refusing one thing after another and then I don't have ANYTHING to give to him?? Maybe I can buy a back-up supply of baby food? Or, something else. I REALLY want him to continue eating veggies, because I know his health is benefiting from the vitamins and nutrients in vegetables, so I have to either get a food processor to puree the veggies or figure something else out.

Well, I'm still reading up on it and hopefully I will "remember" everything. We'll see how tomorrow goes. One mom on a message board said, "I am SO glad I don't have to buy baby food anymore." I can't wait until I get to say that, too.

Vacation and sick days

Last week, my husband had some vacation days, so we went to the coast on Saturday. And, yes, you will notice I now call it "the coast" just like every other Oregonian. (Oh, no! I'm being assimilated! LOL)

But I called it "the coast" because it REALLY IS the coast! When we were out there, I actually saw the difference between "the beach" and "the coast." There is an area that is indeed a beach but mostly, the town of Florence, Siuslaw, Coos Bay, etc., are coastal towns. They've got the boats, docks, seaside shops and everything. It was just awesome to visit. I love the water (even though I can't swim in it but I can certainly fish in it!) and I was just in heaven while we were out there. It was amazing to see the beach and I loved being on the seaside. I could stand on those rocks, looking out at the ocean forever. It's just so beautiful.

We went to the Sea Lion Caves while we were out there. The caves are the second largest in the world and the largest in America. We saw REAL sea lions! It was just breathtaking. Just watching them, I felt that they were truly majestic creatures. I wish I had been able to hear that barking howl they are famous for. Jennifer wasn't very comfortable being in the caves, though. I think she got a little claustrophobic. We also wanted to tour the Heceta Head Lighthouse but the tours are only available during March. So we made plans to go back next month. It was cool to at least see the Lighthouse, though. :)

We ate at the International C-Food Market. The restaurant has a VERY NICE nautical theme (not overdone) and the service was excellent. The waiters were so nice and very accommodating. I was taken aback at the price of the food, though. I never ate at a place with such costly meals before! My meal (a "Captain's Platter" of cod, prawns, scallops and oysters) cost $24. My husband's meal of Scandinavian Halibut cost $25! Wow! But the food was delicious. I liked the way it was served (on square plates!); the presentation of the dish was very pleasing to the eye. And like I said, the food was very good! The portions were not too big, not too small. It tasted very yummy. The smell of garlic was heavy in the air and we enjoyed the view of the docks while we ate.

After our meal, we walked along the streets and checked out the shops. We bought some saltwater taffy and I got some espresso-flavored fudge (yummy!!). We also got some coffee from the local coffee shop; I got a mocha latte and it was delicious! Then we walked along the docks, looking out at the ocean and watching the seagulls. I looked out at the boats and saw a place that was selling live crab. I told Jennifer and she said she wanted to see them catching the crab. Well, maybe next time; I couldn't tell if they offered rides out on the boat to watch them catch crab. We were planning to head out to Coos Bay from there but it was starting to get late in the day. It's almost two hours to drive back to Eugene so we decided to visit Coos Bay some other time. Maybe next month, when we go out there again.

Here are some of the pictures we took while we were out on the coast:











On Sunday, I was planning for us to go to church. But Jennifer said she didn't want to go; she wasn't feeling up to church. I debated going myself, just to try that suggestion from Nancy on leaving the baby in the nursery while I attended the services (thanks, Nancy!), but I had a bad feeling about leaving Jennifer. Something told me I just needed to stay home and be with her.

I'm glad I listened to that instinct, because later in the day, she was feeling really sick. She was nauseated for hours before she started vomiting. She had a fever and complained of stomach pain. On Monday, she had excruciating pain in her stomach and she was burning up with fever (her temp was 102). She was crying and screaming so bad because she was in pain. I tried to get her to take a cool bath to help lower her temperature but she cried out when I touched her skin. It was awful. I had her on the BRAT diet on Monday. We got her some yogurt but she refused it. Yesterday, she barely ate anything. I finally got her to drink some water in the late afternoon, and a few hours after that, she ate a little bit of corn. We have been giving her Tylenol for the fever (her temperature has been going up and down) and monitoring her. She is still feverish and sluggish today. It looks like she'll be missing a whole week of school. I hope she will be better soon, though.

Writing on the wall

Several years ago, when my parents went through that whole episode of moving the family all over the place every few months, I was using a restroom at a gas station and saw writing on the wall. Having a pen on me (of course!), I looked around to make sure nobody saw me then I wrote: "D.C. was here!" Yes, there you have it. I committed graffiti when I was a teenager. Oh, the disgrace my family suffered!

Anyway, I remembered that because today, I was in a bathroom stall that had writing all over the walls. Here's what the ones I could read said (and, yes, now the WHOLE WORLD will get a glimpse into what the writing on the walls of a girl's bathroom says). And just imagine the hearts are up the right way. I don't know how to type them on here:

"THAT DANE COOKS A SILLY B***H"

"NATHAN"

"I <3 J.M."

"i love Harlee Evans"

"I <3 JD"

"I <3 YO MOM!"

"--DANE C"

"F*** Love"

"I L<3ve DANNY HALE"

"RICARDO IS FINE"

"143ish F*** YOU!!!" (underneath that, with a dash, somebody wrote "& you too!")

In a big circle was the following: "MOTHER NATURE 08"

"I <3 My Honey BABY LOVEY POO!"

"Hazel's a B***h!"

"F*** Life"

"I <3 my Pookey Burr! (date)" And two months later, with an arrow pointing at it, was written the following: "we're engaged! (date)"

Ah, love. Maybe I should try to get back there sometime and see if she writes in when they are married.

Don't forget to wash your hands!

I finally went to the doctor yesterday. I'm NOT pregnant (didn't think I was, really) but I do have something else: A gastrointestinal virus. I know, some people might see that and think, 'Are you SURE you want to blog about having this? Eww!' LOL But I think there is one thing about this that is important.

But first, I need to sum-up on what the doctor said. She said that because it's been a week since my symptoms started, there's not too much they can do. (Apparently, when I was looking into this thing via Google, I found out that the duration of the virus lasts for a certain number of hours/days and each stage should be treated accordingly. Like, at the very beginning, go on the BRAT diet, then switch to broths, drink Gatorade, etc.) They gave me medicine to help alleviate the nausea and heartburn, but they said right now just to wait it out over the weekend. Of course, I was frustrated with this, because I've been feeling so yucky and the pain is excruciating, but they said to wait until Monday to see how it is then. It should be out of my system by then. They said to drink A LOT of water to help my body flush it out and to take Tylenol for the abdominal pain.

I have to go back on Monday for follow-up care.

When I was looking into this GI thing on the Internet, I was shocked to learn that it was contagious. YIKES!! All this week, I've been sick with something contagious?? I started to try and remember if there was a time anyone was complaining of the same symptoms or anything. Jennifer has complained of her stomach hurting every so often but it was never more than that. (The virus might have just mildly affected her.) I also tried to remember if there was a time I hadn't washed my hands then touched either of the children, because not washing your hands well enough when you have this thing is one way it gets spread.

Which brings me to an important point: People, WASH YOUR HANDS! I cannot stress this enough. I'm not trying to use this blog post as some kind of "public service announcement" thing. But I just firmly believe in the importance of keeping your hands clean, especially if you're going to be in contact with other people! And with a baby in the home, it's a message that is just as important.

There are so many times I have had to remind Jennifer to wash her hands, using soap. After she comes home from school, we tell her to wash her hands. I remind her to do so before and after she eats. After she uses the bathroom, I ask, "Did you remember to wash your hands?" And sometimes, I remind her to use the soap. (Note to parents: If you have one of those kid-friendly soaps that foam up or are easy to use, kids are more likely to use them.) I wash my hands so much, sometimes it feels like ALL I am doing is washing my hands! LOL And sometimes, I wonder if I'm a little obsessive-compulsive about it...

But I realize that all of that hand-washing is a waste if other surfaces are not clean, too. I occasionally take a disinfectant cloth and clean the doorknobs and cabinet handles. I'll also give the keyboard a good cleaning every so often, as well as the remote control and light switches. I think it's important to keep these surfaces germ-free, too!

Still, I tried to wonder if I did catch this thing from hand contact. I shake a lot of peoples' hands and sometimes a store clerk's hand will brush over mine when they give me change. I ususally didn't wash my hands with soap after that. I don't know if it came from someone who did not wash their hands coming into contact with mine. The doctor said there are a variety of ways to catch the GI virus. It could be in the air or something you eat. It's just that when I did research, a lot of the sites I visited said a person could catch it because of inadequate hand-washing. In fact, there was an outbreak of this virus at a college because of inadequate hand-washing! (I have heard of other people getting sick of other things because of inadequate hand-washing. For example, at the Oregon County Fair not too long ago, a lot of people got sick from E. coli and they ALL ate food from the same booth. They found out that two men serving the food at this booth had not washed their hands after using the bathroom. Scary!)

So, there you have it. Proof that it's important to wash your hands. Of course, there's no proof I got this because someone didn't wash their hands (me? someone else?), but it's just one more reminder that it's an important habit to have.

The best-laid plans

Because Jennifer had a 4-day weekend coming up, I wanted us to go out and do something FUN! So leading up to this special weekend, I started to plan it all out.

On Friday, we would go to the science fair. Then on Saturday, head out to Portland for the Disney show. (I also wanted to take a trip out to the Shanghai Tunnels in Portland, which are supposedly haunted!) Then on Sunday we would go play golf, and on Monday we would head out to the Cold Stone Creamery for what is, in my opinion, the best-tasting ice cream I have EVER had!

Well, that was the plan, anyway. Of course, it didn't work out! Sigh.

We got the date wrong for the Disney show. It was on Friday, NOT Saturday. My husband had to work. Which meant he couldn't drive us out to Portland. Which meant we had to cancel. (I can't drive out to Portland. Trust me on this!) I couldn't get Jennifer registered to attend the science fair because by the time I got through to someone, it was filled up. So instead I thought we could go to All That, which is what I haven't had the chance to do yet. The plan was that I'd take Jennifer to Playland, then to All That. But while we were at Playland, I started feeling REALLY sick. (I'm still sick with whatever it is I have!) I felt too sick to go anywhere else. So after Playland, we got some pizza from Pizza Hut and ate that at home while watching the Tinker Bell movie. (Jen LOVED it and watched it TWICE!)

As to Saturday, my husband and I talked about what to do. We have plans to go to the coast on his vacation but we moved it to this weekend. Or, at least, that was the plan! Saturday morning, I was going to take Jennifer to basketball. It was her very last day of basketball. But when my husband got up to watch the baby while we were gone, he was VERY moody! I'm talking grumbling, complaining and just stomping around moody. Ugh! I guess it rubbed off on the kids because pretty soon Jennifer was all moody and slamming her door. And even the baby was cranky! I tell you, I just wanted to climb into bed and bury my head under the covers. He was basically complaining about Jennifer going to basketball when we ALREADY had this 4-hours of driving he had to do to go to the coast and back. And how it would compromise how much time we could spend there because we had to meet with friends for dinner at 4:30. I kept telling him her basketball only takes an hour and it WAS the last day. But he was still so bitchy about her going. So we pretty much spent the whole time Jennifer would have been at basketball....doing NOTHING! I was NOT happy. :( So we thought about going to the Lane County Historical Museum instead of the coast. (Wow, all that moaning about the drive ahead, and we end up canceling the trip altogether! Sheesh.) But with all the other stuff we had to do, that didn't pan out, either.

Still, I hoped that everybody's moodiness would pass by the time the dinner rolled around. Thankfully, they were all in a better mood by then and we had a pleasant time with our friends.

On Sunday, I was going to take BOTH of the children with me to church. Every Sunday I tell myself I'm going to do it! I'm going to leave Jesse in the nursery during services and be perfectly fine! I will march in there, drop him off without blinking, march right out and spend the next two hours AWAY from my baby while he's in the hands of strangers.

....ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!!!!! I am NOT that kind of mother. Sorry.

So of course I chickened out. Again. Well, maybe when he turns 2, I'll be able to handle it better. Heck, maybe I'll be grateful for the break. Haha.

So we didn't go to church on Sunday. We DID do the grocery shopping, though. And we DID get some take-out for lunch. And we did get some laundry done at the laundromat.

But did we get to go play golf?

Nope. Never happened. My husband didn't want to go ANYWHERE and I always get lost when I try to drive there myself. (I am hopeless behind the wheel. Seriously, it took me 4 attempts to try to find my doctor's office before I figured out the directions.) Instead of golf, we went to the library and checked out a bunch of books.

Well, at least we got out for a while! Doing SOMETHING. Yay, library!

And as for today? Well, we keep TRYING to fit in a visit to the Cold Stone Creamery. So far, that's up in the air. We'll see how the baby's mood is and if Jennifer behaves herself. But if not, well....there's always the ice cream we have in the freezer.