My parents are here and we've been fairly busy. Yesterday was Sophie's big birthday celebration (have pictures to share at a later date). Sophie was all off schedule today but we managed to squeeze a trip to the park in. Nana also gave Sophie a bath tonight and the Kritter got to paint the walls (thanks to Aunt Tracie and Uncle Rich and cousin Emy).

We're going to try to make it to the FW Zoo Wednesday for Sophie's birthday. I'm guessing we'll either do leftovers that night for dinner or we'll hit a restaurant on the way home if the Kritter isn't too pooped.

Speaking of poop... no more luck on the potty training front although she did manage a few drops in the potty this morning. It was nothing like the first time (I know most the people who read this don't care, but that's not why I write in my journal) though.

Voting request: Friends, family, whoever stops by to read this blog, please click on this link here and vote for the black and white puppy dog labeled Happy Boy. I'm trying to help a friend's mother here!! :)

I have my icons all set and ready to link to LJ... but I have something like 400ish I want to link! Well, I really have more than that, but those were the ones I liked the most. *sigh*

Ugh... Lots to catch up on still. I'll be around. This wasn't as quick as I wanted it to be. Oh well.

• I'm caught up with comments up until April. Sorry for the blast from the past. There are a few I would have responded to if I'd gotten to them earlier but the time lapse just made them seem inappropriate for some reason.


• My parents will be here on Saturday for a week. I will most likely be somewhat quiet then.


• .


• Not only did Sophie not cry at nap time today, she managed bedtime without tears as well! She also was able to fall asleep without me in the room both times!


• Wednesday morning (4/23/08) was another huge moment for Sophie. She managed to pee in her potty, and it wasn't just a few drops! She woke up with a dry diaper and as soon as I realized it was dry, I asked her if she wanted to use her potty. She said yes, so I grabbed the new potty books and we sat down to read. While I was reading, she managed to accomplish the task! Of course, we haven't had any other successful pees since then, but I'm unconcerned at this time since we're not working on potty learning hardcore or anything.


• Sophie likes chocolate pudding and managed to eat it today with a spoon without getting much on herself other than the mess she made on her face whenever she licked her lips (pudding was all over her tongue while she was licking).


• Parents of small children looking for good books. Check out Mo Willems. His books are full of awesome!


• Not only did our ladybugs survive the storm last night (not sure how many), but it appears as though some of them have already laid eggs and they seem to have survived as well! Our plants also seemed to have survived, even the tiny basil sprouts. We still have to plant the lantana and the other flowers I bought for the front yard.


• I need to make up a menu for this week and go grocery shopping. We have Dream Dinners Saturday morning, but I'll still need to pick up other food stuff for Mom and Dad.


• Update on the ball game this Saturday night: B is going to take my father and is going to ask his father and another friend to join them. We'll see what happens. Mom and I will stay home with Sophie. Yeah, it would be a good time and all, but I don't want to leave my parents alone the first night they're in town, nor do I want to leave Sophie with a sitter.


• Lots of cleaning and other fun things will be filling my day tomorrow.


• Ooh, almost forgot (and this is pretty huge). There are currently two possibilities of remote work in the pipeline. I'd have to choose one over the other, but it would be doing the same exact thing, which is exactly what I did for nearly the last four years I was working as well. I'm hoping at least one of these pans out. I'm hoping for the nine-to-five job over the super-insane-schedule job, but at this point, I'd honestly be happy with either.

That's about all I've got for now. I must go to bed. I'm not tired (frustratingly enough), but Sophie wakes up awfully early and I need to be ready for it.

Lots going on right now. Need to make a list. Beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed and need to compartmentalize.

Garden: We'll be going to a few nurseries in the area to find plants, hopefully some of them (or all of them?) organic. I got out the Texas gardening books today and need to dig up the websites so we can figure out what we're going to do. I know B is mainly focusing on the vegetable garden, but I really want to fix the front flower bed as well.
Guests: My parents might be here starting this Saturday for a week. They won't know until about mid-week when my mother's coworker is supposed to return to work after surgery.
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Minnow Minnow Pea: I need to work on cutting out material to have saved up for sewing sessions. I also need to work on a design for a website, finding a graphic for the logo, deciding on a font for the logo, and laying out the pages I want to have. I'm trying to decide if I want to forward the blog there and lock this one down to friends only. If I do that, I'm trying to decide if I should bother putting the recipes over there as well. I will definitely have the crafts blog over there and then just dump ChaCha. I really need to get the tags/labels ordered, too.
Crafts: On a related note, I need to complete the boat blanket for Maddy (one cable panel left, and then whip stitching it together and knitting the border). I also have plenty of bibs to finish. They're just needing snaps. Gifts need to be given!
House: Lots of cleaning I want to get done. Our bedroom still has piles of artwork from when we moved... two years ago. I also want to make a final decision on the color in the bedroom and the dining room. We'll probably paint the dining room next since it's so easy, and I'm pretty sure we're sticking with the brown chip we picked out last year. I thought we had finally decided on red for the bedroom, but now I'm torn. I love the blue in the guest room so much I think I might want that in the room back there. I'm so frustrated now.
Job Hunt: I am still rather beat down about this whole job hunt. I have my fingers crossed on one position, but it isn't even open yet. I also received an email from a recruiter in Georgia for a remote position and I keep forgetting to call him back. I get a few minutes when Sophie is sleeping and my brain just shuts down and I forget about all the other things I need to do until she gets up again. I hate that.
Craigslist: I was able to get a few things sold from the last big listing I did, but not much. I took more pictures of items today and will be posting those soon. This stuff needs to be gone!
Weight Loss: I have been overweight my entire life. I am tired of being overweight. Unfortunately, I like food. My portion control isn't bad, nor are the foods I eat, normally. However, my metabolism is in the toilet and I really need to work on giving it a good jump start. I need to focus on drinking more water, getting better sleep at night, and cutting out the things I eat/drink on a regular basis that are detrimental to my overall health. I also need to figure out an exercise plan that I can manage with Sophie around.
LJ: This is low priority, but still something I want to work on. I changed the layout and it's okay, but I think I'd like to find a different one. I really like the three column layout, so I don't want to give that up. That limits the layouts that work for me, of course. I also really want to work on my user icons and setting up various mood themes. Of course, I'm fairly behind on comments right now, so I'd like to get those cleared up as well.
Future posts: I have a few ideas running around in my head regarding future posts. Some of these are posts I have said I'd be writing for over a year now, some of these are newer. I am horrible about writing these down or actually getting around to writing them. Meh. Some of these ideas include posts on children's books, working from home, various movie and music reviews, various tips and tricks in the kitchen (such as how I store my bacon, exciting I know), as well as the picture and video posts I keep promising.


I think that's about it for now...

• I have to say apparently many of the fans at Nationals Stadium are twelve because it's pretty rude and disrespectful of them to boo the president. I can't think of many things I like about GW but that doesn't mean I'm going to disrespect the man and boo him off the field. Didn't these people ever learn manners? I don't like Hillary, but that doesn't mean I'm going to boo her off a field (or anywhere, for that matter).
• Keith Olberman is a little too bitter and angry for me.
• .
• Wal*Mart is the devil.
• The Kritter gets cuter and cuter. Things she's been doing lately:
• We had the most disgusting poop experience we have had yet with her. This is total payback for not having to deal with nasty poops when she was little. I'll post details behind a cut, though, as this isn't very cute... at all.
• I woke up this morning shortly after 3:30 to Sophie nursing. She went to bed in the guest room and I honestly have no idea how she managed to crawl into bed with us. It's a little higher than the other bed and she has a difficult time getting into that bed without help. She then asked me to change her diaper (I obliged) and when I tried to put her back to bed in the guest room, she wanted to nurse again. I absolutely will not nurse in the middle of the night anymore (I'm SO tired of nursing, really), so I told her she could have a cup of milk instead. She actually wasn't too difficult to get to sleep after that. She asked me to rub her back and then she asked to cuddle.
• She has not only been signing words lately, but has been taking the time to tell us how to sign words (dessert: you take two "d's" and tap them!). Cracks me up.
• She says, "Mommy, you're beautiful" and "My favorite Mommy" and "Friends with Mommy." Makes my heart melt. She also tries to sign friend with me where she hooks her finger with mine. Too cute!
• She loves to make shapes with her Play-Doh. We have lots of fun rolling it out and using my cookie cutters.
• We say prayers together at night and she alternates lines with me instead of repeating me. The child remembers so much!
• Before prayers, we read books, and she's able to read along with us (thanks to her memory, I'm sure). She gets very involved in every book we read (always the same books), including 10 Little Ladybugs, Henry Builds a Cabin, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Knuffle Bunny, and The Perfect Purple Feather.
• She loves to play in the sand. She calls it snow. She says she's making snowballs. I'm not sure why she would do that since we've never played in the snow before. Crazy kid.
• Last week we had a picnic lunch and she talked about it for days. We only took the picnic basket to the front yard but she thought it was the best fun she'd ever had. To complete that day, we took her out to Chili's with us and she talked about going to the restaurant for days afterward as well. Sometimes she really amazes me with the things she remembers.
• I hope the chicken pox disappear soon. Sophie has two new spots and I have no idea how many I have. Mine have mostly been in my hair and on my back (haven't had a lot, but enough to drive me nuts). I don't normally go many places, but I hate being confined by something I can't control. I have things I want to do this week! JoAnn Fabric is having a sale on all of their sewing notions and I want to pick up a few things. I also want to get some material for a few outfits for Sophie.
• Bibs are coming along nicely. I have more to cut out, but they're getting better and better.
• I need to pick up my needles again soon and get the blanket for my niece finished. Gah.
• I also need to get my Craigslist stuff listed. B is tired of seeing it (as am I) and we could use the money.

I think that's about all there is for now. I've forgotten things I wanted to mention, as usual.

( Poop - TMI )

Blah.

• Job hunt equals much frustration and serious self-confidence destruction and minor depression.
• Next round of the Friending Frenzy to follow shortly. If anyone else wants in on the action, let me know. I have at least two more people interested.
• .
• Thank heavens for new Signing Time videos. Sophie is being terribly cute by searching the house for Hopkins (the frog) right now. I love that kid to pieces!
• I will eventually get around to responding to the recent post/poll about the crafts. I greatly appreciate all of your responses, even if it was to just vote in the poll. That helps me tremendously.
• Someone once asked how my username came about. I believe she said something like, "What exactly is a 'sm00bs'?" Well... here's the answer, because I know you're all dying to know. Back in the day, I used to have an AOL account (I mean, really back in the day). I had fun hanging around in the chat rooms there and came up with the screen name of Sm00chies. No idea why, but that's what it was (Smoochies was already taken). In the chat room I frequented, people often called me Sm00 or Sm00byDoo. Sm00byDoo stuck when I moved over to IRC (yes, I'm that sort of geek), so that was my original nick there. Of course, one of my dear friends always called me sm00bs and eventually I caved and just changed my nick permanently. I assumed he just called me sm00bs because it was a shorter version of Sm00byDoo. Apparently, while that was part of it, it wasn't the whole reason. Yes, it had something to do with boobs, even though he'd never seen mine (still hasn't). Silly boys. It's not a very exciting story, but there it is. I kept it because it was my name for years before I started LJ. I tried using ellemenno at one point, but just couldn't get into it.
• I will hopefully be posting about some of the recent campaigns for BzzAgent. I now have two cans of Oust, a Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner, and coupons to Chili's for free burgers. I'm going to do a little poll to see what opinions other people have of these products soon.
• If any of you are looking for good music in podcast form, perfect length to burn on a CD for a car ride, check out starpush's monthly release of Soundtrack. This last Show, Class Is in Session, is excellent! I know some of you share my taste in music, and even B found this show entertaining. I highly recommend it!
• One of these days I'll get around to playing with icons. I think I need a little play time.
• It's time to get really serious about my sewing. I might even take a class or two. The more I think about it, the more I want to make the Etsy thing work.
• Eventually I'll get some pictures and videos posted of Sophie. I just have to get the videos uploaded and go through the pictures.
• Gah. Much stress weighing be down right now.

Carry on.

• Two green links to share:
  
  
  • Low Impact Living
  • True Green Confessions


• I submitted an entry to the craft blog last night. I'm still waiting for it to post. It has pictures of the bibs, but I'm going to post the pictures here as well (click images for larger view).
  
  
  • 
  • 


• .


• I'm going to invest in a few books (probably mostly used) listed in this list of top 50 children's books (thanks kingdavey).


• The Great Wolf Lodge sounds like a seriously cool place to spend a weekend. One of my friends took his family this weekend. I can't wait to hear how it went since it really seems like it would be a blast.


• A friend of a friend is trying to raise money for an emergency situation. She takes beautiful photographs. Please check them out. holding_on, would you like to share some information about pricing and how to order here? I'll edit the entry if you do.


• For those of you mystery shoppers out there, I have another legitimate mystery shopping site for you to check out.


• For those of you still blogging for money, PayU2Blog is another site that seems to be legit (I have another friend who uses it). I haven't really checked it out, but I trust her.


• For those of you interested in the whole BzzAgent thing but still not sure, I just signed up for three more campaigns. One is for the Scrubbing Bubbles shower spray, one is for some sort of Oust spray, and one is for Chili's burgers. I'll be posting separately about these later, but thought I'd share a little now.


• B is playing in a Hafla tomorrow night. I'll most likely be taking Sophie unless she's a serious turkey tomorrow and doesn't nap at all.
  
  


• TMBG is less than two weeks away!

Hmm... I've really got a lot of nothing.

• Sophie is currently sleeping in her own bed. B moved her into it about an hour ago. She hasn't stirred.
• I've applied for yet another job but haven't heard anything from them yet. So freaking tired of job hunting, seriously. It's such a drag and my confidence is shot to hell. What a whip.
• .
• My mother called to inform us that she's planning to take the entire family on a vacation next spring for her anniversary. She suggested the Dominican Republic or the Bahamas or Mexico, but then said it's possible we might only be doing Bear Lake (fine by me, I love Bear Lake). B said if we do that, he wants to go across the bridge (meaning the Mackinac, of course). At that point, I told him we should lobby for a week on the island instead of Bear Lake. I've never been to Mackinac Island before and I honestly think that would make for an excellent vacation. I'm not so sure anyone else would be up for that.
• I've been working on sewing bibs, and while the first one wasn't perfect, it certainly wasn't bad. I'll have pictures up in the craft blog shortly. There are four more bibs ready to be top stitched and have a snap added, and I'm very pleased with how they're looking so far. Let's just hope my finishing techniques improve a bit.
• On top of the impetigo, Sophie now has some sort of little red bumps that have developed sometime within the past few days. She has a few on her back and one on her leg. They're not large nor are they intense red. They almost look like little flea bites, just a hair bigger.
• She's started saying "Where's Sophie Kritter" now whenever she has her head covered (when we cover her head with a towel or are getting her dressed, or when she covers her face with a book or her hands, etc.). It's one of the cutest things she does. I love it.
• Phone Scoop - Looking for a new phone or a new carrier? This site is actually very cool in that it lets people search and compare, reading other reviews and even contribute their own reviews. I wish I'd known about this when we got our last phones.
• StumbleUpon - Yes, it's another social bookmarking site, but this one is supposed to work a bit like Tivo and learn your preferences. I haven't signed up yet, but I probably will soon.

And with that, I'm off to bed... a childless (for now) bed that will allow me to snuggle under the covers with my husband without fear of one of us being kicked in the side.

• Blue's Clues is a new favorite here (well, for her... I've always loved it). Sophie goes absolutely nuts when Steve is on (she seems to like Joe as well, but doesn't get as excited).
• Speaking of Steve from Blue's Clues, the man has character. I have great respect for him.
• .
• The impetigo is clearing up. Come to find out it was staph infection but wasn't MRSA. Friday night we switched to Amox-Clav to fight the infection. She's on that until next Friday morning (1 tsp twice daily) along with the Bactroban still (three times daily applied to diaper area). I am so glad it's looking better.
• Sophie's had a bit of a fever this weekend, but nothing very high. It hasn't made a difference in her activity level at all.
• Found an excellent little site for book fans, or anyone just looking for a good book, really. Check out Goodreads for more information. If you are a member there, feel free to add me (same user name, of course).
• Rather blah today. Hopefully the sun remedies that in short order. Lots to do! Craigslist and eBay postings need to be done, bibs need to be sewn, knitting needs to happen, cleaning is a constant... It never ends.
• Please hold good thoughts and say a few prayers for me on the job hunt front. Meh. Depressing.

With that, I'm done. It's someone's nap time and she's being terribly cute about it.

Things are crazy busy here and probably will be until Christmas is over.

• Christmas cards haven't been started yet - still have to make labels.


• Two of the knotted blankets are done - still have one left.


• Decoupage boxes are almost done - need to spray it with some clear acrylic sealer and let it dry.


• The ornaments for the girls are all done - pictures are up (one more to add) in the crafting blog.


• Baking is under way. I cheated yesterday and made three snack mixes and two candies. I should have done at least one harder recipe, but was whipped by the end of the day.


• Chui ran off as we were going in the house after getting the mail, so that took up a big chunk of my afternoon.


• I made chicken stock for chicken noodle soup (the soup itself will probably have to be made tonight after Dream Dinners).


• I haven't started wrapping, but that won't take me too long. That can wait until Christmas Eve if it has to.


• I have to make the Christmas Eve soup (might be eaten on Sunday, depends on the in-laws), Cranberry Waldorf salad to go with the soup, pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner, and sweet potatoes for Christmas dinner.


• I am waiting on one last gift to arrive and the decoupage boxes to be dry before shipping off the Christmas package to the Great White North. I think I'll be spraying the boxes today while Sophie is napping and they should be dry in time for shipping tomorrow. I hope the gift arrives today. I don't really want to send it late, but I might have to just print off a picture of it to send with the package and then send that gift later (annoying because I could have just had it sent directly there).

All of this is put on hold until I get some Sophie playtime in and then get her down for her morning nap. I need to get some pictures and video posted of her again. Her talking has exploded again. It's so much fun!!

• Sophie actually slept through the night last night. It was so nice!
• The weather here was beautiful yesterday, nice cool weather that doesn't yet require a jacket.
• .
• I made Mexican Meatballs last night for dinner and actually liked them.
• Sophie and I met up with friends yesterday at Boston's and had a wonderful time. She was very well behaved yesterday.
• We also stopped up at the office to see B. We'd been through some rough traffic on the way out to lunch and figured since we were out there we might as well take advantage of being in the area.
• On our way home we stopped at Simpatico Yarns to say hello to MaryJane and to pick up the Holiday issue of Interweave Knits.
• We need to go to Pier 1 today to return a table runner that is too short.
• JoAnn Fabric is also on our list of places to hit. I need to pick up fleece for blankets for Christmas gifts.
• I absolutely love gingersnaps and have decided to make a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust possibly for Thanksgiving.
• I need to plan Thanksgiving Day dinner (twice). The first dinner will be simple, and most likely during the football game. Seems the silly people around me thing there's only one game on that day. ;)
• The second Thanksgiving Day dinner will actually be in December when my parents are here, so it will be a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas, most likely.
• Speaking of Christmas, I cannot wait to decorate! I'm going crazy with waiting!
• I need to find a Christmas dress for the Miss Thang.
• We have lots of work to do in the office to get ready for the swap. I have a feeling we'll be hitting Home Depot this weekend for paint, though. Yay!

Sorry for the random dump of nothingness. ;)

• I actually won a little contest over at Get My Knit On because for some reason the name Lorenzo Lamas will forever be burned into my brain. Go me.
• We're looking at ordering a turken or turducken for Thanksgiving this year. Yum! My parents are coming down after Thanksgiving so this really won't be on Thanksgiving. My mother also said she doesn't like duck, so if I can find a turken, we'll skip the duck, I suppose.
• .
• Quite a few people participated in the Top Five I posted last week. All the comments have been unscreened. catscar had the suggestion to use a poll instead of screening comments, and I think that's a marvelous idea. I now own top_five, but haven't done anything with it yet. For the people who played last week, would you be interested in joining the community or would you rather just play here? I think for now I'm going to post a top five topic for the week and let people fill it out as they can. I'd love to have suggestions for topics. Let's see if I can keep up with once a week for something like this. ;)
• We're probably going to the Fort Worth Zoo next Wednesday. I'm pretty excited. I just hope the weather cooperates (as of right now it should be beautiful that day).
• We might be going to Middlefaire this year. Some of B's friends are going down there to play.
• The Dream Dinners menus for the next couple months look out of control good! I doubt I'll be ordering too much in November, though. I am not using Dream Dinners for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Anyone want an extremely blond peekapoo?
• Tonight is Tuscan Turkey Medallions with garlic and Parmesan penne pasta, spinach salad, and grilled corn on the cob. I wouldn't bother with the corn if B wasn't planning on using the grill already. Now, if he would just get home!

That's about all I've got. It's a big bag of nothin', really. Because of that, I'll leave you with a cute picture from our last pool time.

Today was one seriously long day, even though we didn't really do much other than meet up with isyllt. Sophie is going through teething hell and, of course, is dragging us along for the ride. Poor kid.

• No time to work out this morning.


• Sophie napped for 15 minutes this morning.


• .


• Sophie took a shower with me.


• Left late for lunch but somehow managed to get there on time. Thankfully, she napped on the way there.


• Sat outside at Red Robin and must have wound up in the sun at some point since my right arm is now all red. Other than that, both the company and the meal were wonderful.


• Sophie decided it was nap time again at the very end of lunch and ran around screaming as we were about to leave. She fell asleep on the way home.


• Wound up not going to Dillard's for the Clinique bonus buy because of Miss Thang's fit. Also wound up not going to BRU or TRU for clothing, which is probably just as well.


• Stopped to get the mail and turned off the bloody car instead of putting it in park like the idiot I am.


• Received snail mail from Epson stating Fry's left the purchase date off of the copy they gave me and in order to get the reimbursement I need to make sure it gets to them on time. *grumble*


• Sophie threw several more fits, but I didn't realize it was her teeth at first.


• The stew I made was way too salty.


• While doing dishes tonight, I wound up leaving my cast iron pan on a hot burner for drying just a little bit too long and completely ruined the most perfect seasoning job I've ever had in that pan.

Ugh. It wasn't a bad day, but there were certainly some pretty bumpy spots. I'm cranky and can't figure out why other than lack of sleep (Sophie likes to get up before 7:00 AM lately) and lack of water (I keep forgetting to drink it), along with having to deal with her teething.

Bleh.

• We received the new Signing Time DVDs and I have to admit I'm not as impressed with these as with the others. I love the program still, but Rachel has a smile plastered to her face the whole time. I like the older episodes where she seems more "real" better.


• Sophie is already signing words from the new videos. She's out of control.


• .


• I love when I ask Sophie a question and she says "no" and means it. It always comes out as a question. "No?" This is a little different than when she's running around the house and just randomly saying "no."


• We finally cracked into the Blockbuster gift card Anna gave us for Christmas last year. We rented The Fountain, Idiocracy, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Half-assed reviews to follow.


• Every meal we've had from Dream Dinners this week has been excellent except for the first meal of the week. The Madras Chicken was really my fault it didn't turn out (doubled part of the recipe by accident at the store). The Coconut Shrimp, Parmesan Crusted Tilapia, and Tuscan Turkey Medallions were all wonderful, however. Sophie loved all three as well. She even signed shrimp when she was eating it. Crazy kid.


• B and I had a celebratory dinner last weekend for something that hasn't been disclosed as of yet. No, I'm not pregnant. ;)


• Tomorrow morning I will be making blueberry muffins for breakfast. I have never made blueberry muffins since I'm not terribly fond of them. However, I know they're good for us, so I am going to try to start incorporating them into our meals a little more often. I know Sophie will love them.


• Sophie likes to sit on her potty chair. She doesn't like to do anything else other than sit, though. It's all good, though. She asks to sit on it when she needs her diaper changed, so at least she's making a connection, I suppose. I am not trying to train her right now, but I am not going to stop her if she wants to sit on the potty. ;)


• She has had a bit of a cold the past couple days but seems to be much better today. She still sounds a little stuffed up, but she is sleeping much better tonight than the past two nights.


• I need to start Christmas shopping. I know I want to find something similar to the Dressy Bessy doll (if not the actual doll itself), possibly some wooden blocks, and I have no idea what else. Suggestions are always appreciated, of course. :)


• Speaking of Christmas, I can't wait to start decorating this year! I know I still have a couple months, but I'm so excited!

I thought I had more, but I've really got nothing.

I've been pretty bad about updating about the baby lately, and this is really the only way I keep track of all she's done.

• I'll have to go through the lists of words from the Signing Time DVDs and mark all the ones she knows, but it's easily over 100 now.
• She just said "Emo." I thought she was saying "Elmo" but we don't watch Sesame Street often enough for her to know his name. Come to find out she was actually saying (and signing) animal.
• .
• The vocabulary has increased by leaps and bounds, not just signed, but spoken as well. She is also starting to put words together on a regular basis. "All done, mama," and "please, more __," are two phrases I hear quite a bit.
• Sophie loves to watch Between the Lions (as do I). She seems to be genuinely disappointed when the show is over. We don't watch it every day, but she is pretty much glued to the television when she does watch it.
• We went to visit B's grandfather last week. As we were heading out to his place, Sophie saw a train and said, "Chee chee!" (which is what she often says for French toast) and then said "Choo choo" (sounded about how she would normally say shoes) but of course, I had no clue what she was saying. Her Uncle Nathan had to clue me in to the fact that we were passing the train yard. Duh me.
• Some of Sophie's favorite words include monkey, gorilla, butterfly, imagination, dream, pretend, principal (don't ask, I don't understand it), and chicken. I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now.
• Sophie has been trying some foods from my plate and she loves nearly all the chicken I've made, shrimp, fish, most noodles, rice, and various other foods.
• Applesauce is another big hit with her. She loves to paint herself with applesauce, too. ;)
• She runs around very well now and is tripping on her feet less and less. She's pretty good about getting out of bed (with a little help from us) but hasn't started climbing yet (thankfully).
• One of our favorite games is a hybrid of tag and hide-n-seek. She usually stands in the kitchen and I try to sneak out with her following behind me. Because of the way our kitchen is laid out, I can usually sneak up behind her from the other direction before she's completely left the kitchen and say, "Boo!" to which she always giggles and replies, "Boo!" I love it.
• Sophie is one book reading fool, and loves to ask us to read to her. I'm so glad for this.
• The 12 month clothing is finally a thing of the past. Some of her 18 month clothing is too small for her but some of it is too big for her still. I need to start shopping for 24 month soon.
• Sophie loves to walk whenever we go places. She sits in the cart for a few minutes and then signs walk. I love letting her walk with me as long as we aren't at the grocery store alone. That's the worst time for her to want to walk.

I'm sure there's more, but this is all I've got for now. Dinner is screaming to be fixed and it's drowning out all other thoughts.

• I am still trying to get the laptop configured to my liking. I've been having issues with Semagic not wanting to work correctly, but they are minor issues. I am still having minor issues with Trillian as well, but that issue is even smaller than the Semagic issue.
• Probably the most frustrating issue so far is the fact that whenever I try to install the drivers for my old Photosmart printer, the silly thing freezes. *sigh*
• .
• Sophie is really becoming rather unbearable with her teething lately. She has been constantly wanting to nurse and has been constantly cranky when I try to redirect her. Since I'm so tired of little miss crankypants, I just cave and let her nurse whenever she wants. Hopefully teething will be over soon.
• I need to do a little shopping soon. We are needing another car seat for Sophie as well as a potty seat (she has shown a little interest and I don't want to miss my window of opportunity here). I believe we'll also be picking up some jumbo crayons for her. Maybe I should make some chunks for her instead.
• Speaking of which, I think it's also time for a pudding paint session soon. I think she'll get a big kick out of that.
• We have another Dream Dinners session coming up this Saturday. Tonight, I made maple thyme pork chops (they were cooked a little too long, but that was all my fault), bountiful baked beans (FIVE different types of beans!), and asparagus. All in all, the dinner wasn't bad. It would have been perfect had I not cooked the meat too long, though.
• Our lunch today actually used the leftovers from last night's roasted pecan chicken. B and I split the chicken to add to our big salad. It was quite tasty.
• I knit a little tonight. I have three and a half boats left to finish on this blanket and then I can start working on the cables. I am so ready to be done with this thing.
• Sophie surprised me the other day with a new sign. She put her hand up near her head and started shaking it. I had *no* idea what she was trying to sign. Then she signed wind and leaf and it dawned on me she was trying to sign tree (which she did pretty well, but I'm slow on the uptake at times). When I exclaimed "TREE!" she got all excited and started nodding her head.
• Of course, her spoken vocabulary is growing all the time as well. She tends to try to say the longer words and sign shorter words. She says buhnabies (butterflies), cado (avocado), mahnamel (watermelon), bellybuh (belly button), nooduhloos (noodles) and more. The kid cracks me up with the whole butterfly thing, too. She will get stuck on the first part and say "buhnabuhnabuhnabies." Sometimes she never even gets the end out at all. There are some shorter words she likes to say, but not many. She says nuh (nurse), breh (bread), mih (milk), chee (cheese or Chui, depending), cheechee (French toast), pish (fish), pea (peach), appie (apple), and others I don't remember.
• We had a Rainsoft water filtration and softener system installed a few weekends ago and absolutely love it.
• B has been looking at sheds, so that will probably be next on the list.
• Hopefully, B will be able to get to installing the baskets underneath the bathroom sinks so we can finish getting organized in there. As it is right now, I have all of the stuff out of the cabinets and in a laundry basket. I have to keep the door closed to our bathroom so Sophie doesn't wander in there.

Man, I really had a whole lot of nothing to say.

• Little Miss Thang is teething. She has four molars all trying to pop into existence at once. I suppose it's best this way, but this can make for a seriously cranky baby.


• I *really* need to purchase a new cordless mouse. My feet keep getting caught on the cord of my old mouse.


• .


• I need a vacation from life. Would someone please stop the merry-go-round and let me take a breather?


• I still need to get the pictures transferred from my camera to my computer from my trip up north.


• We made a little trip to IKEA the other day and have found the new furniture for the office. I'll probably sell our current desks on craigslist or something.


• Once B gets the drawers installed in the bathroom cabinets I'll be able to do some serious organizing in there and then we'll be ready to paint. I've picked a serious red, but I'm not sure if we should do the entire bedroom/bathroom or if we should do one room and not the other, or if we should just do an accent wall. Thankfully, it's only paint and isn't permanent.


• After the master suite comes the new office. That means tearing down the old guest bedroom and moving it into the dining room. I do not look forward to the work involved in this project. We'll have to make another trip to IKEA since we didn't purchase the office furniture yet.


• When the new office is finished, we'll tear down the old office and move everything (only what is necessary and in a very organized manner!!!) to the new office, sell off what we don't intend to keep, and then paint the new guest bedroom and reassemble everything.


• The dining room is last on our list, but I'm pretty excited to do that room since we found some interesting window treatments and lighting at IKEA as well.


• We have shelving that needs to be hung in the living room and a message center that needs to be hung in the kitchen.


• Sophie's signing is out of control. I have no idea how many words she signs. I can't keep up with her.


• She jabbers all the time (which I love to hear). It sounds like she has some pretty serious stories to tell.


• Big words seem to be her favorites when she's talking. Butterfly and watermelon are words she loves to say. I need to take video.


• She's walking everywhere now. She still crawls from time to time or wants to be carried every now and then, but she really loves to walk. She walks in circles just to be walking sometimes.


• I love when she sits on the floor (on her big cloth diapered gBooty) and spins around in circles. The kid cracks me up.


• I need a haircut.


• I will be making cherry freezer jam. I hope it's not a total train wreck.


• I believe I've done this before, but it's been a while. It is not:


• CPU unit


• ATM machine


• NIC card


• ICU unit


• LAN/WAN network


• PCA anywhere

Oy.