Time is not my friend

I've been meaning to write. I keep thinking "oh, I should blog about that". But then time slips away from me, and another day has past with no update...and truthfully little else to show for it either.

It was my birthday not so long ago. It was a day. Not remarkable. We went to see "Body Worlds 2", which was awesome & disturbing. We had dinner with friends which was enjoyable. But, in the end, it was just a day.

This week was the same day repeated, except for Friday when we saw a fun performance of the play "Comedy murder Mystery of 1940s", and a Dutch dinner with friends on Saturday was fun & yummy. But my hubby annoyed me all weekend, & I got only 4 hours of sleep all weekend, so it was a bit crappy in the end.

Maybe I'm just stressed because I'm supposed to return to work this week.

Interview ME

Ordinary Girl has chosen to Interview Me. If you'd also like to be interviewed, leave me a post & check out the "rules" below!

What is your favorite song and why?

Either "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran (because it's my favourite band & I always feel inspired by the song), "The Love of My Life" (because it was my hubby & my wedding song) or "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart (because it an anthem of sorts to my children).
Name three things you'd do with more free time.

1. Sleep

2. Read

3. Travel
What did you want to be when you were growing up and why?

First I wanted to be an actress/dancer, then a teacher, then a veterinarian, then a writer/music journalist...which is what I went to college for. I'm a damn good writer when I want to be. I still love to act & teach...and I love animals.
Do you consider yourself lucky or unlucky, fortunate or having ill-fortune? I don't consider myself lucky really because anything I've gotten I've worked to get. However I do consider myself fortunate for MANY things.
Name one thing you want to do in the next month that you don't think you'll get a chance to do. Visit my friends out of state.


If you want to continue, here are the rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick thequestions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

You Say It's Your Birthday

...Well it's my birthday too!

Happy Birthday to me! And to my husband (his was yesterday...mine is tomorrow)!

We're heading down to Chicago for the day, with the kidlet, to see the plasticine body exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry before joining friends for a birthday dinner at my new favourite British pub. Yeah!

Here's a slice of birthday cake from us!

Giving Thanks

I know everyone is talking about the murders at Virginia Tech, and I don't want to dwell on that, but rather only to remind everyone to recognize how precious life is. Tell the people you love that you love them every day, because you never know when you may no longer get the chance. Hug your children. Kiss your spouse. Hug your friend. Call your parents. Write a letter to that person you haven't spoken to but have been meaning to. Wave hello to your neighbour. 33 families are without their children today so be grateful for yours.

Everyone is appalled by this lone gunman, but what about the "murder" that is sending more 20 year olds to their death in Iraq? Hundreds more families are without their children now because of it. It needs to end. We need to find some peace.

Kimba

For everyone who has ever wondered where my nickname came from...click the YouTube box to the left.

Wish List

Ok...so here is my current wish list:

Books: Petite Connisseur: Fashion,

Urban Babies Wear Black,

Baby Mix Me a Drink,

and This Little Piggy Went to Prada

And these...PeePee TeePees....hahahahahahaha!!!

Snow, snow go away

If April showers bring May flowers,

what do April snow storms bring?? These pictures are of the flowers around my house that had started to bloom, and looking out the window next to my computer. Clearly this isn't what Spring typically looks like...even in Wisconsin.

Corrupt?

I've been accused of corrupting my friends by dragging them along to everything from theatre to drag shows. I've been accused of corrupting my child by raising her in the theatre & renaissance faire. But now my new iPod is corrupt...or so iTunes informed me when I plugged it in today. I have no idea what happened. Perhaps some sort of conspiracy against my music? *sigh* So now it says its restoring it & all of my songs will be lost & I'll have to start over. Technology hates me.

Unrelated...I think...we spent Saturday in Chicago while the baby visited his grandparents. It was a lovely if cold day walking down the Miracle Mile (mostly window shopping), lunched at a FAB British pub (Black snakebite to drink, curry chips, bangers & mash...yum!!!), and then we had been given tickets to "Who's afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" It was a wonderful production with the Broadway cast (Kathleen Turner & Bill Irwin) and it reminded me just how much I like Edward Albee's writing. You might not like the story line, but you have to appreciate the language. In college Nif & I starred in Albee's "A Zoo Story". It was an acting experience unto no other. I miss that sort of experience. It corrupted me, in some ways, forever. Just like my iPod.

For the Girly Girls

Ok, aren't these cute? Fun little button pony-os that make me wish I was a little girl again. But I know some of you have girly girls, so you can get them yourself. Visit my new friend here...and check 'em out!

Hippity Hoppity

I don't know if I'll get the opportunity to post again before the weekend, so allow me to wish all of you a very happy holiday! Whether you celebrate Passover or Easter, I hope the weekend is filled with all the goodness & beauty of Spring, Ressurection, and hope. Not to mention a few chocolatey goodies!!

Where I'm At

I realize by putting this post out on the internet I'm opening myself up for a world of opinion, criticism and attack but I've never been one to lot others opinions affect me too much, and this is my blog, my honest life. So when I write that breast feeding didn't work for my son & I, it is what it is. We tried for a couple of weeks, with less than adequate results. He was angry, I was frustrated, and the bottom line is that I couldn't produce what he needed. My milk, quite simply, doesn't come in well. Even with the top of the line Medela electric pump from the hospital the most I got was a few drops. I had the same problem with my daughter when she was a baby. I thought things would be different this time, but I was mistaken. Do I feel upset about it? No. My son is growing & content. My daughter, who was formula fed has never had more than a simple cold & is highly intelligent. My friend's one-year-old was formula fed and, like my daughter, has done everything early & his very smart. Heck, I was adopted as an infant, and therefore was formula fed, and I like to believe I'm rather on the clever side of things! So, no my son isn't being breastfed, but our bonding is far from lacking. He's happy, healthy & growing...that's all that matters really.

It's 6 weeks tomorrow. Time flies. Me? My body is feeling back to normal, if rather stretched out & in need of exercise. Mentally I'm in need of stimulation. Emotionally I don't feel postpartum too much, though I do admit to feeling a significant detachment from my husband. Time & energy don't really allow us much "us" time...and I'll admit I'm desperate for it. A little romance would do wonders. Perhaps for our birthdays?

Literacy

In an attempt to find random moments (like in the bath) to read despite having a baby, I thought it was fun to get tagged by this. I, in turn, tag all of you who drop by, especcially since one of 1001 resolutions to myself in the next year is to ask my friends for a list of their favourite books and then add them to my reading list. So tag...you're it!

The 100 Books Meme
• bold the ones you’ve read
• italicize the ones you want to read
• cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole
• put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf
• asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of
1. +The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. + Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. + To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. *Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11.+ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13.+ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14.* A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. + Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
17. *Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. --The Stand-- (Stephen King)
19. + Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
20. + Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. + The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. + The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. + Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. *Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. +The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. + The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. + Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. + 1984 (Orwell)
35. +The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. *I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. --The Clan of the Cave Bear-- (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. + Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. +The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. + Bible
46. + Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. + The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. +Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. +She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. *The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. + A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. *Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. + Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. + The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. + Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. + The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. + Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. * Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. --One Hundred Years Of Solitude-- (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. +The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. + Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. + The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. +Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. +Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez) HATED IT!
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. +Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. + Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. + Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. * The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. * Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. * Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. * In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Ludlum)
96. + The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. +A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

The Reign

Life is better with sleep. Just in case you weren't aware of it, it is. I just wish the rainy weather would cease.

That said I'm finally finding some time to write...not that I have great amounts to say.

This week I have been thinking of the value of friendship. I have had some wonderful friends in my life. People who truly are to be cherished. Some have fallen out of my daily existance, sadly, but always there in my mind & heart. Some of those I'm able to keep tabs on via modern technology. Others are always a phone call away. But those friends sustain me when I'm down, or alone, or tired. Even Paul I call friends first, husband second. Easter always makes me think of friends, though I don't think I've ever spent an Easter with them.

I saw a great film last week, "Reign over Me" with Adam Sandler. It reminds us that life can change drastically in a moment, and that we need people. We can't go life alone.

Exhaustion

"Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest" (Psalm 55:6)

I have slept 7 hours cumulative in the past 4 days. I'm exhausted. I feel like someone is playing some cruel trick on me. Every time I lay my "snugglebug" down in his crib or bassinet and then get into bed myself, the moment my head hits the pillow, he's up. Literally, every time. If I hold him, no problem. If I'm out of the house, no problem. If I'm up doing something, no problem. But let me attempt to sleep, forget it. And yes, I am to the point of wanting to smother my husband with the pillow as he sleeps (because he has to go to work at 6am). Instead I spent the night calling him names I'm glad my son is too young to understand.

A New Step

I don't really have alot to say. My days consist mostly of diaper, bottle, sing songs, watch stupid television (Thank God for HGTV & Discovery channel), repeat. Sometimes there's sleep in there. I haven't been able to go do much (hubby has been working crazy overtime & takes the car to work), save the occasional walk around the neighbourhood. (It's almost 80 degrees today!) So my life is rather dull, and hardly worth blogging about. I can't say I like it. I love my son, but the lack of mental stimulation is boring me to death. (Someone please inspire me!)

The only thing new I have to share is that after countless years portraying the same character at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, I'm finally playing someone new this year! (Ok, so we'll only be out a couple of times, but hey its a change!) Hubby & I will be Sir Edward & Lady Elizabeth Darcy. Yes, for anyone who knows us they'll get the joke (as we both love "Pride & Prejudice"). Sir Edward held the monopoly on playing cards during Queen Elizabeth I's reign...so we'll be learning & playing lots of card games with people. I'm not the raging Catholic anymore. I'm not the enemy. I'm not the bad guy. I'm one of the girls now...I don't know how to do that. Not even in real life have I ever considered myself "one of the girls"...so this is going to be a stretch to my acting abilities...and that's sort of exciting.

First of Spring

Today my son is one month old. I can't believe how fast these 4 weeks have flown by. I can't believe how each day blends into the last. I guess interrupted sleep will do that to a person. But I do know that every day I love him more & more. Each day I am more impressed with who he is and who he will become.

My baby boy is growing well and isn't entirely drowning in his newborn clothes anymore. He is keeping his head up more & more each day...and in the early development he's actually rolled himself over from his tummy to his back 4 or 5 times now during "tummy time"! (See the artistic action shot?) Wow, what a strong boy I have! Yeah...if you're dropping into read my blog these days you're just going to have to deal with these little proud mommy moments.

Me...I feel pretty recovered from the C-section at this point. I've noticed my libido returning, so I guess my body is feeling pretty well. Hubby should be pleased. (Yeah, probably too much information, but hey, its honest.)

My annual birthday bash will be celebrated this year with his Baptism (on my b-day) which I think is kinda cool. We'll have everyone back to the house for cocktails, snacks & birthday cake for hubby & I. Any suggestions for gifts for the Godparents??

An Ode to Caleb

In my son's 3 1/2 weeks of life here on the outside I have never had more conversations, discussions, or given more praise for poop, farts or burps. Maybe it's a boy thing? But I find my self (and the hubby) praising the little guys burps ("Yeah, that was a big one"), flatulence ("Oooh, that has to feel better now") and even his excrement ("MegaPoo!") This is to say nothing of the continual fear of the "firehose" that could go off at any given diaper change...all over himself or me. I suppose considering it takes up a third of my day (the other 2/3 consumed by feedings and singing silly madeup songs...not sleep!) My husband suggested that since we do renaissance faire, we should have reconsidered naming him "Henry Tooter"! (haha!)

I suddenly feel my intellectual self slipping slowly away into the diaper pail! Save me!!

Sunshine on my Shoulder makes Me Happy

Anyone remember that song from the 70s? The point is that the current temperature is 70 degrees and gorgeously sunny, so despite being exhausted, its a fabulous day. The Snugglebug & I ventured forth on our first walk together around the neighbourhood (which includes a cute little "downtown" area of shops). The bumps of the sidewalk lulled him into a nap, but I had my iPod of tunes, the warm sun and the glory of no jacket to entertain me on our hour outing. I have a feeling this will become a habit...and who knows maybe I'll lose this baby weight?

Zombie

Saturday we went to one of my best friend's daughter's first birthday party. It was a nice outing, saw lots of people, ate great food, and generally enjoyed socializing. Sebastian was quite the social butterfly. Sunday he, the hubby & I wandered around the Domes in Milwaukee. (The Domes are 3 glass domes each with a different garden...tropical, desert & then the specialty dome, which currently is filled with lush fragrant spring flowers & a special train exhibit running through it all.) It was nice to walk around & gardens, and a chance to try out the new stroller. The kidlet wasn't feeling well, so she stayed home & rested. Unfortunately she got worse & spent the day home from school today sleeping. Today was hubby's first day back to work full time...it is now 9:30pm and I'm getting my first real break since this time yesterday. I'm exhausted. It's amazing how someone who is less than 8lbs. can wear you out. Sleep would be good, I should just go to bed now, but I'd really like to have a little time to myself & maybe even some with my husband...how do you make that happen??

My Lastest Addition

So I've now acquired yet another new addition to the household...my very own iPod Nano! I'm stupidly excited & no longer jealous of my 13-year-old. I've even ordered a orange leather case for it. I've always loved music...was a radio DJ once upon a time...and the thought of putting so many songs onto this tiny little portable device thrills me to no end. And let's just say the baby's lullabys have vastly improved in the past 2 days!