Netflix

So how do you think that I can convince someone in my family to buy this for me for Christmas? Please keep in mind that half don't have internet access/use the internet on a regular basis and the other half "don't trust online buying". Right, I don't think I'll get it either. Hrmph.

Baby #2 Business

Okay, so my "girly friend" seems to have retreated after 9.5 days! Yikes! How much fluid can one little uterus hold I ask you. So I need to change that ticker at the top since ovulation will most likely be postponed a few days since I bled a bit longer.

I'm feeling very hopeful. My appointment is on MONDAY! My temps are looking like they are doing what they are supposed to and I'm excited to get this cycle going! My OPKs and pregnancy tests should be here tomorrow and we'll get this party started. I told a friend that I feel very empowered. My body is both lactating and menstruating and it feels wonderful that it is doing the things it should be doing correctly! :)

So for those of you playing along at home here is the link to my chart. Someone send me some baby dust!

Who loves sleeping baby pictures? 

More Monkey Business

I forgot to tell you that Magdalena likes to fake laugh. It's seriously hilarious. Her friend Silas likes to fake cough so you can hear the two of them together coughing and laughing. And you're probably wondering how a 10 month old has an actual friend. Silas is 7 weeks older than her and seriously they LOVE to play together. They get along well and share toys and everything. It's friendship at the most basic level and it is pretty cool to see.

Monkey Girl

An Update on Ella: Ella is doing well in her new home. I had many many dreams last night revolving around her being cold. Mom said they tried to put her in the garage, but she kept scratching the door so they let her back out. She said that Ella ran around and barked and barked all night long. My stepdad said he wanted a watch dog, believe me she will bark at anything and everything. Mom isn't sure where she slept last night or if she did sleep but she appeared this morning when they called her. Mom put some food out, but Ella hadn't eaten it when I talked to her this morning. That's very typical for her though. She said that Ella is napping on the deck in the sunlight. I'm sending her big fluffy dog pillow bed back with my Mom tonight along with a few of her toys. Mom said that as it gets colder they will try to get her used to sleeping in the garage.

Just so you don't think this is becoming an Ella blog, Magdalena is up to some crazy tricks lately. She's pushing lots of stuff around and walking behind it, including her gobble up hippo. She figured out how to climb off of the bed last week and sometime over the weekend she got the knack of climbing upstairs. She has been trying for about 2 weeks, but finally mastered it. It looks like teeth numbers 7 and 8 will be stepping up to the plate pretty soon. She's super super super clingy lately too. Everybody tells me that I've spoiled her because she only wants me. That drives me INSANE.

She's Gone

We took Ella to my parents house. Originally they were going to take her, but I didn't want her to have to ride the hour drive in the back of the truck. I also wanted a better way to say so long, so Erich agreed. We got there and walked her to the back tree line where there is already a dog house. Then I let her off the leash. She was so happy just to run and run and run. After about thirty minutes she came back to the house. She stayed on the back deck as we played Monopoly inside in the dining room (which faces the deck.) When we were getting ready to leave she came right up to the car and was ready to get in. :( My stepdad held her collar as we drove off. We could see her struggling to get away and come to us. I miss her already. I'm worried that she'll be cold tonight since she'll have to stay outside. She's never spent the night outside before. It's really quiet here right now. I know she'll be happy, but it doesn't make it any easier. She has loved me unconditionally and always knew how to cheer me up when we had those really rough days before Magdalena was born. She always rested her head on my big pregnant belly, adn looked so surprised by the thump thump thump that eventually came. I've given up part of my family. It's really an awful feeling. I wish there was a way to keep her, but there isn't. Not unless we move to a farm. That won't happen anytime soon. **tear**

Ella

I have to tell you that Ella is leaving today. She is going with my mom and stepdad to live on their farm and run free. She needs a house with no babies and no other dogs. She also needs attention that I don't have to give her. I'm very very sad. There is a chance that she may not stay close enough on their farm, but the other choice is to put her down, and I can't do that. I love her very very very much and I'm really going to miss her. Hopefully, she'll be good and enjoy the five acres that they live on I'll be able to come visit her. So Goodbye Ella, I love you.

I think this will be the saddest picture I have to take. Dani asked to see something that was really important to me, but not so much now that Magdalena is here. That would be Ella. **sniff**  

Kitchen part 1: Allison wanted to see my kitchen. I have to take it in three parts since you can't capture it all in one picture. 

Kitchen Part 2: Here are the cabinets and work space. I'm not kidding when I tell you that these are ALL the cabinets in my kitchen. Not much, eh? This picture also doubles as my LEAST favorite place in the house because the kitchen sink is always full. Feh. 

Kitchen part 3: This dresser accumulates junk like CRAZY.  

Dani wanted to see the street in front of my house. I'm standing on the sidewalk in front of my house and this is what I see when I look to the left. 

Dani wanted to see the street in front of my house. I'm standing on the sidewalk in front of my house and this is what I see when I look to the right. 

Here's Magdalena in the doll stroller I used as a child. I have to much free time, don't I? 

This is Magdalena last night in her size 0-3 month snowsuit. 

Here's Magdalena again in March of this year wearing her snowsuit. 

Thursday?

What happened to the rest of the week? Don't have enough time to play catch up but tooth numbers 5 and 6 are finally through. **insert angelic singing here** So we're back to normal around here (whatever that is). Erich has the day off, I had to work, and now we are heading out to see some friends.

Oh, and I started my period over the weekend. Which means two things. I ovulated this month as suspected and I had to take an emergency trip to see a friend and buy some cloth menstrual pads sorta like these but made by a WAHM. I love them. I don't have enough. And Erich is angry that I didn't buy more. Now mind you, had I bought more, he would have been angry I spent so much money. Men. Anyways. This household has gotten pretty crispy and we've started some other stuff that would just boggle some peoples minds. If you are really curious and can't stand it, you may email me and I'll tell you what's going on around here. It isn't all that interesting but I'm sure many of you are probably scratching your heads and wondering why I even mentioned it. I mentioned it because it feels great to have made this change in my household and I'M LOVING IT!

Oh we also watched the movie "supersize me" and have vowed to never eat fast food again. :)

**sigh**

I'm tired. Dead tired. I keep going to bed early and filling my night with 8 hours of sleep but it isn't working damnit. Magdalena is cutting two teeth right now. The others have always come in pairs, but one at a time. These are coming out together and the girl is driving me nuts. She doesn't know what she wants. She wants me to hold her, now nurse, now set me down, NO pick me back up, nurse, I don't want to nurse... do you get the picture? Her most annoying habit right now is that she wants me to hold her while she pushes me away. I go to set her down (because she's pushing me away) and she SCREAMS! Those bloddy teeth. Teeth are EVIL. My lack of sleep is probably not helping matters AT ALL.

The furnace boys are here. I say boys because, seriously, these guys couldn't have graduated high school. Heh. Are they getting younger or am I getting older? Don't answer that. Oh, and Furnace Boy #1 is drinking my last coke. Grr. I offered so it's my fault, though I didn't realize there was only **one** left. They've been here since before 8:30 am so I was being nice. I just can't get another one right now because well I have to be here since they are here.

I guess this post has nothing important to reveal. So move on...

Read The Care Instructions

This is pretty funny!

A Day In The Life of Joe Republican

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water for his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging commie liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards.

With his first swallow of coffee, Joe takes his daily medications His medications are safe to take because some evil lefty bomb-throwers fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of Joe's medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some fire-breathing lazy ass union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too. Never would he turn it down.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In his morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is healthy because some environmentalist wacko trouble making militant fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air

Then Joe walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants limp-wristed free thinking asshole fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some fire-breathing Viet -Cong-loving union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these high standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union in. So Joe benefits from what others have gained.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a workers compensation or unemployment check because some stupid pinko troublemakers didn't think Joe should lose his home because of a temporary misfortune.

At noontime Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal red wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. He can thank that Stalinist UnAmerican Franklin D. Roosevelt for that.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist pointy-headed liberal decided that Joe and the whole society would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. That's okay, but the bastards tricked him because he has to pay taxes. Bush will fix that, he tells himself.

Joe gets home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government New Deal Stalinist liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

Joe is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating Marxist made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that over the decades the beloved Republicans have fought to defeat every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees with the talk-radio loudmouth: We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man and a good Republican and I believe all Americans should take care of themselves, just like I have!

**Note on this - the last paragraph isn't quite accurate Back in the day, it was actually the Republican party that fought for social reform (think Lincoln). They gradually traded these principles for corporate sponsorship. **