B-bye 2008

I was on such a roll with reading books this past year that I thought I would be able to read 52 books in one year, but then I just slowed down and eventually stopped reading. So I ended up reading 37 books in 2008 – that’s better than 2007! I’m wondering if my goal for 2009 should be just to beat the number I read in 2009,  so I’ll try that. I am starting to get back into reading. I’m currently reading Book 1 of the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Jon and I just finished watching all of the episodes of True Blood (series based on the books).  I enjoyed the series and everytime I hear the theme song, it makes me want to sing Chris Isaak’s “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing”. I actually thought at first that Chris Isaak was singing the theme song to True Blood.

After trying to get pregnant for about 5 years and having to do IVF in order to get pregnant in the first place, it was a surprise to find out my body actually knew how to get pregnant.  We’re sure Ben & Ella did some repair work while in the womb because it is not because we just relaxed!

Jon and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in 2008.

In 2008, Ben & Ella turned 1 year old.  They are almost 19 months old as I write this. They are typical toddlers and get into everything and make a mess in our house. They fight with each other over all sorts of things, including books and toys and pieces of paper. They also will share too.  I hope that they won’t be too jealous when baby #3 arrives.(Funny, I was just reading a post that I wrote 1 year ago today and in one of my comments, I said that Benjamin is a big fan of the letter B – he says so many words that start with the letter B – ball, baby, boo – I think some others. The post was about Benjamin saying mommy – both children definitely say mommy now).

I also went to Las Vegas for the first time in my life. It was extremely hot there at the time since Kelly and I went during the summer, but I had an enjoyable time. I missed my children a lot though. I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere in quite some time – except to Spokane to visit my family!

2008 also brought us an exciting election in which a woman was running for President and a black man won. 

That’s all I can think of. Welcome 2009! I know one thing that will happen this year – the birth of my third child. I’m excited and nervous about it all at the same time. Read more on my other blog.

Book #37

Book #37 was “How I Became Stupid” by Martin Page. It started out interesting, but it didn’t end up that way. I can’t say I liked it too much. The ending seemed stupid and abrupt – was that how the person ended up becoming stupid? Anyway, I wouldn’t recommend though it is supposedly an international bestseller, so there must be some that liked it.

Lately, I haven’t been reading much. Just not feeling into it,but hopefully, I can finish the year strong.

Election & Initiatives, Props, Referendums, etc.

There are several initiatives or referendums or propositions, etc. that voters are voting on today across the country that I’m anxious to see how they turn out. There are a couple that pretty much deal with the issue of abortion (CO and SD), there’s the one in CA about same sex marriages, and, then there’s the one in WA on assisted suicide. There’s also one in MI that would allow people to donate embryos left over from fertility treatments to research.

Then there’s the presidential election – my pick is Obama. And the governor’s race in WA is probably going to be another close one – hopefully not close enough that Seattle (though really King County) will be blamed for “stealing” the election. Notice how steal is underlined. I voted for Gregoire this time (maybe last time too though I know I came close to voting for Rossi).

I look forward to watching the results tonight. It seems like an exciting day and I am so glad it’s finally here (for many different reasons).

Book #36 of 2008

Finished book #36 last week – it was called “I was Told there’d be cake” by Sloane Crosley.  It was a funny book. That’s about all I have to say. Not much of a review really.

Next up, I chose this book simply because it was short and I’m trying to get as close to 52 books this year as possible. The book is called “How I Became Stupid” by Martin Page.

Book #34 and #35 of 2008

Yes, there is no way I’m completing 52 books this year. Too bad because I was on track for that in the beginning.

Anyway, book #34 was Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris – it was an alright book.
Book #35 was Sleeping Arrangements by Madeleine Wickham (aka Sophie Kinsella of the Shopaholic books) – it was eh.

Currently, I’m reading When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. So far, I’ve liked his other book I read better (Naked), but it’s still alright. I have another book waiting for me at the library called I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. Sounds like it could be funny. After that, I must try to read really, really short books to attempt to make it to #52.

Book #33 – “Fearless Fourteen” by Janet Evanovich

Finished book #33 last night – I always enjoy a Stephanie Plum novel.

Book #34 is “Then We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris.

Election 2008

I was watching the Republican convention last night – listening to Romney, Huckabee, Guiliani and VP nominee Palin. Just a few quick observations – I really should take notes of the things I want to say, but that is hard when you have toddlers to watch at the same time. I’ll just write about what stands out at the moment.

First, can Guiliani go one speech without mentioning 9/11 or will he just explode if it isn’t mentioned? And they had the background of NYC skyline behind him the whole time. I suppose that was to remind us about it as well. I used to think he was o.k. – he has some viewpoints that are similar to my own particularly on social issues – but the guy just bugs me now. I just think he’s an ass – who tells their wife they want a divorce in a press conference? There’s more to it than that, but we’ll save that for another time (maybe I’ll get around to writing it).

Second, Palin was a good speaker. She knows how to deliver her speeches. However, she could be just mean with her little “jokes”. Both Guiliani and Palin attack Barack and other community organizers. What the hell? How stupid was that really? There are a lot of community organizers throughout history that had responsibility – that made tough decisions – that made a difference, and they put them down? Is that supposed to attract voters? In a comment to one article I was reading, someone said that it made it seem as though they think elected officials are the only ones of any value.

Then, one of the speakers, can’t remember who, said at least she has experience at the executive level so they didn’t have the final decision on something (there is no “present” button) – Obama and Biden can’t say that. Well, guess what, neither can McCain. So are they attacking him too? So that really isn’t much of an argument in my opinion. If the past (nearly) 8 years has taught me anything – executive experience doesn’t have anything to do with having a competent administration. So let’s just take away the experience argument on both sides.

I read an interesting op-ed piece from Gloria Steinem about Sarah Palin that seems like a good read.

Oh, and Huckabee saying that Palin got more votes in her run as mayor in her hometown than Biden got at all in his run for President. What a lie.

Some more lies.

Labor Day Weekend Trip

This Labor Day Weekend, we headed over to Spokane to visit the relatives. We left around 10 a.m. on Saturday morning and got there, I think, about 4 or so. We went over to my sister’s house for a bit before heading over to my parents for dinner. Since my parents only had one highchair (which they didn’t bring out retirement until the next day), it was a bit challenging feeding the children, but we made do by sitting Benjamin (the less squirmy of the two) on a stool and wrapped Jon’s belt around his waist and the chair. It seemed to work out o.k.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon, we headed over to Riverfront Park for Pig out in the Park. Surprisingly enough (sarcasm), I didn’t find much food that is that great for toddlers, but they did end up having what we had – some Indian and Thai food. Benjamin seemed to enjoy it. Ella only a little. Benjamin even got to enjoy some funnel cake. Ella was off somewhere with Jon – she wanted to get down and walk around.

After the feast, we headed over to the arts and crafts area for a bit. While waiting for my sister’s kids and my brother to wander around there, we let Ben & Ella walk around. Ben is doing so well with his walking. After the park time, we were over at my aunt and grandmother’s place, and Benjamin was on a walking frenzy. He walked about 7 feet from myself, around Morgan, to get to Jon. He went back and forth many times. My little guy is so close to walking all on his own. Ella, on the other hand, is trying to run. She looks like she is running sometimes.

Anyway, after visiting with my aunt and grandmother, we went back to my parents. The next day, we met my sister at the Valley Mall, then we went to visit with my other grandmother and one of my other aunts. Thankfully, my grandmother has some kid toys so Ben & Ella were occupied with that, but, of course, though they each had the same EXACT toy, they wanted what the other one had. There was screaming. After that visit, we said goodbye to my aunt, grandmother, and my sister and her kids (Tuesday was the first day of school so we wouldn’t be able to stop by before leaving to say goodbye).

Tuesday morning, was just about getting everything ready. I had hoped to get on the road just when it was time for their nap, but that didn’t happen. Instead, they ended up sleeping in my arms (both of them as they refused to be held by anyone else) as Jon took apart their beds and packed the car. My arms were so numb after that. For the most part, they are good passengers and will play or watch outside or sleep as we drive. However, there are some times when there was some fussiness – mostly coming from Ella. She would get upset that she couldn’t keep her hands behind her head as they kept falling down as she slept. However, we got back home and everything is o.k. now. Though she did slip in the bathroom last night as we were giving them a bath. She slipped on the bathroom floor. We freaked out, but she seems to be o.k. Benjamin, later on. fell in the livingroom and got a bloody nose. What a wonderful thing to happen as soon as we got back.

That’s it. I didn’t take many pictures of us in Spokane, but I know other people did. We got some video of Benjamin walking – someday I’ll upload that. We also took a picture of a Dino Rossi sign saying “Don’t let Seattle steal this election!” Ugh.

Viva Las Vegas – Day 4

I wrote all the other posts while they were still fresh in my mind, but not this one! I know we started out the day by eating breakfast at a place inside the Hilton. Then we wandered about for a bit before heading out to our rooms to get everything together and checkout. After checking out, we waited for our ride to the airport where we then waited for our ride back home. The ride back was a very bumpy one – the worst bumpy flight I’ve ever been on.

After getting my car, we headed to the place where Kipper was being taken care of, then I brought them home. As soon as I got home myself, I rushed into the house where my children were starting their dinner. I got a huge smile from each of them and I gave them little hugs. I missed them so much while I was away. Jon sent me pictures and left messages of them laughing, but, of course, it wasn’t the same.

edited to add: I forgot about Kelly winning at the blackjack table and me losing at the slot machines before breakfast. She won $27.50 (right, kelly?). Did I also mention that she won $12 something the night before at the casino where the show was at?

Viva Las Vegas – Day 3

Kelly and I started out the day together with breakfast at Harrah’s (we went to that monorail stop to pick up tickets for the show later that night – the show was at Imperial Palace). After that, we went our separate ways. I had overheard someone talking about the Bellagio the night before and the conservatory that they have, that I decided that’s what I would go do while Kelly was at the Star Trek thing (too much money for too little interest on my part). So I headed off back to the Bally’s monorail stop and went through that hotel to get out to the walkway to the Bellagio. Some people we were talking to the other night at the show said the shops inside the Bellagio were so good – I didn’t find them all that exciting – I must have missed some.

Anyway, I went to the conservatory. It was interesting. They had train tracks all over the place; these large animitronic birds, and some bears. What I thought was cool was the replica of the hotel and the fountains outside the hotel giving a little “show”. It was cute. After exploring the hotel for a bit, I was going to go back to Bally’s and over to the Paris hotel, but thought I would go back to Caeser’s for a bit. I walked over there and decided I really didn’t want to walk back through there on the small chance I might see a guy in a Roman costume, so I went through Bally’s to get to the Paris hotel. I wandered around there for a bit (and played some slots) before heading back to the hotel to meet Kelly. I somehow fell asleep while waiting. Kelly came by and said she’d like to continue with Star Trek, so we went our separate ways again.

This time, I decided since I hadn’t been to Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay that I would head back that way. I ended up going to Excalibur and Luxor, but was entirely too tired to go to Mandalay Bay though I did want to see the shark reef (though I think that cost some money too). I started to head that way and decided that my feet were right, I should rest and well, it was almost time to meet Kelly for dinner and I had to make my way back through the different hotels before getting back to the monorail. On my way to these hotels, I had to go through MGM Grand and stopped by the lion habitat again – what caught my eye was that 3 lions (before, we only saw 2) were sleeping on the plexiglass walkway and 2 guys were standing inside there watching them. Eventually, they woke up the lions to get them to do something – they got them some toys to play with. It was fun to see.

So I got back to our hotel, and Kelly came shortly thereafter, and we headed over to Imperial Palace for our buffet dinner. We weren’t entirely enthused by this buffet but our tickets came with the buffet there. After dinner, we wandered around for a bit and Kelly won some money on the slots. I did not. Then it was time for the show. I enjoyed the show quite a bit even if we didn’t get to see Prince and Madonna (a guy at the show the other night was that the woman who plays Madonna is really good). One funny part of this show was when Tom Jones was on stage and he came to talk to a female in the front. He was saying hello, asked her to stand up, and asked her what her name was. Then…he asked how old she was. Her answer…thirteen. He quickly backed up and kept saying “oh dear god” the whole time. It only made me think of Brad/Blue Angel story when he hit on a 15 year old girl (that was her age, right?). Other acts we saw in the show are Jay Leno, Tina Turner, Blues Brothers and, who else, Elvis Presley. I got my picture taken with Elvis, but unfortunately, the others scattered before we had the opportunity to take pictures with them.

After the show, we headed over to Treasure Island to see the show there and to the Mirage to see the volcano eruption. Sadly, the volcano wasn’t going to erupt again until later this year. And sadly, it was extremely crowded over at Treasure Island that it made it hard to breathe. We did stay for the show, and I thought it was an o.k. show, but I’m not sure it was all that great to stand out in that heat with several others around you.

After T.I., we headed back to our hotel.