Today I said goodbye to a dear, old friend. I bought this pair of Nike mesh shorts when I was in Junior High. It was one of the first purchases I ever made after my parents had us start buying our own clothes with the allowance money they gave us. It felt like a lot of money to spend on brand name shorts at the time. However, this pair of shorts has literally been worn and washed hundreds of times. They got worn to P.E., volleyball practices, track practices, basketball games, the pool, aerobics classes and general summer wear for 15 years. (That sounds almost awful!) Amazingly enough, the shorts still look okay, but the elastic waistband creaks when stretched, and they just don't stay up anymore. They lasted through two pregnancies, but I just had to call it quits today. They will be sorely missed.
On a happier note, the matching red pair is still going strong even though it is now multi-colored since it has been "painting clothes" for the last 6 years. They weren't worn quite as often (didn't match as many shirts).
On a confused note, what is the proper pronoun to use in reference to a pair of shorts? I've flipped back and forth between "it" and "they" while composing this post. Help me out English nuts!
Lincoln had his 3-month portrait pictures taken at JCPenneys this morning. He did awesome, and thanks to a VeggieTales video, Emily was a quiet little angel in the corner. :o) It's so hard to choose. Here are the collages I had to pass up...
I'm counting on them coming back with something cute with this pose...
Emily is inching closer to 3 years old! She's still quite the feisty little toddler. After a horrifying screaming episode during nursery at church last week we have laid down some new ground rules. Emily had to spend some time in bed that afternoon as a consequence for her actions. She now talks about "cont-ah-quints" if she's misbehaving. I also put my foot down this past week, and after some decisive actions, took care of the screaming problem that has been developing over the last month (I hope!).
You may recall the secret photo shoot Emily did with Curious George. She is so fascinated by the digital camera that it has to be stored either on top of the fridge or in my purse on the top shelf of the back coat closet. If it gets left anywhere else I end up with random, mysterious pictures. On more than one occasion my memory card has been full.
As a result of another act of mischief, Austin had to replace the thermostat for the hot water heat system in the house. There used to be an old-school dial one on the wall in the living room. On three different occasions during the first 2 weeks of living in the new house I either smelled something warm or heard the boiler running. After a little investigation I discovered the heat dial had been turned up past 80 degrees. One day it was up to 78 degrees in the house and only 70 degrees outside with the windows open before I caught it. The little rocking chair pulled underneath the dial was a dead giveaway as to the culprit. Unfortunately, there was no "off" switch on the dial. Luckily, Austin found an extra digital thermostat in his boxes in the garage. Not only does it have an "off" switch now, I also can see at a glance what the current room temperature is.
Emily can be very good and helpful, too. With the new front-load washer & dryer she has become quite the laundry helper. She gets so excited when the clothes start spinning around. I'll have to try and catch that on video sometime. It may take a little while, but she can fill or empty a laundry basket wet or dry. She is even getting the hang of which buttons to push to turn it on. It won't be too long before I can tell her to go switch the laundry on her own! (If she still thinks it's cool to do so.)
Emily has learned how to whisper and wink this month. The whispering was necessary and welcome now that I have to try a little harder to get Lincoln down for naps. We are also working on saying "Yes" in response to a question rather than making a generic monkey noise. We're reaping the benefits of too much Curious George. :op Emily is doing quite well, though. She's also learning how to say "please" as part of a full sentence and not just as a result of a parental prompt.
For the most part Emily is really enjoying her new peach bathtub. :o) She is fascinated by her wrinkled fingers after bathtime lately. Unfortunately, she is also fascinated with sticking her fingers up her nose. Not exactly a fun stage. :op
One last funny: Emily listens to a music CD when she goes to bed at night. She requests CD's based on different aspects of the CD. "Pretty music" means anything without words. "Puppy Dog" music means the CD of kids songs with a picture of puppy dogs on it. "Old Nick Donald" means the Farm Songs CD of kids songs that starts with "Old McDonald". Her latest request has been "Green Fried Rice" or "Green Flied Lights". It took a couple days to figure out that meant the kids songs CD that starts with "Three Blind Mice." :o)
The August pictures have been uploaded to Winkflash and the August video player is below.
Austin got some serious organizational work done on the house this weekend. His "man garage" went from this...
to this...
Notice the the nice shelves under the window. They were constructed by taking off the swinging door between the kitchen/dining room and sawing it into three pieces. The doors in this house are 1 3/8" solid wood, so those are some sturdy shelves!
Also, the laundry area went from this...
to this...
The messy picture was taken over a week ago and doesn't do it justice because you can't see the rest of the cleaning & paint supplies piled on the floor and around the dryer. Everything is now neatly organized on shelves and I'm actually excited to do laundry tomorrow!
My accomplishments? Well, this was the rest of the family this afternoon...
Actually, we were all getting some much needed rest. Lincoln & I were in bed for 2 hours. Emily ended up taking a 3 1/2 hour nap. We took Cheney on a nice walk, too. I did sort through Emily's clothes and discovered she has almost nothing to wear this fall, and since fall has apparently already started, my goal this week is to do a little shopping for her. I made it through Lincoln's clothes earlier this week. Between gifts, borrowed clothes and hand-me-down keepers he has more clothes than days to wear them. Unfortunately, he has entered the drooly-monster stage and most of those cute clothes will be hidden underneath slobbery bibs for the next 6 months. :o( My goal this week is to tackle my own wardrobe. I have no idea where I'm at with things and was thrilled enough to finally locate a pair of non-maternity jeans and discover they fit!
So I think I'm totally addicted to facebook and might seriously need an intervention. I came to this conclusion the other day when I realized that I compose at least a dozen more "status updates" in my head than I actually share online. Maybe it has something to do with all the time I spend sitting in a chair nursing an infant.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with facebook status updates it's a way to share your thoughts about anything with your "friends". Status updates can be short or long-winded and usually fall into one of several categories:
Schedule (I'm doing or did this & this & this today)-->sorry, but often quite boring
Annoucements (I'm pregnant, moving, tired, bored)-->big announcements are fun, little ones are okay...sometimes
Questions (looking for feedback or simply rhetorical)-->can be very helpful sometimes
Humor (can be sarcastic comments, relating a funny event, or just random thoughts from your head)-->my favorite
General statements (everything else)
I enjoy the humorous updates and attempt to compose them for myself. Here is a sampling of some of the facebook status updates I have thought about sharing lately:
Megan Boote Lorenzen had an $0.88 double cheeseburger (no pickles) from Burger King and a can of Diet Mt. Dew as an "afternoon snack" because a) we received a coupon in the mail today b) Burger King is just down the street and I had to go to the Post Office anyway c) I was starving and nothing else in the house sounded good d) I desperately needed both the protein and the caffeine to make it through the rest of the day.
Megan Boote Lorenzen desperately needs more sleep at night. Or anytime, for that matter. Heck, I might even consider camping if it meant more than 4 hours in a row!
Megan Boote Lorenzen is starting to get annoyed with 60-year-old toilets. Why should I have to remember to "unflush" after flushing every time?
Megan Boote Lorenzen has been reminded of why we have to have covered wastebaskets in a house with a nosey dog. Used nursing pads are rather interesting coming out on the other end of things.
Megan Boote Lorenzen finally dealt with the abyss that had become my purse and came up with $2.96 worth of change. As a bonus I even purged the expired coupons from my coupon file!
Megan Boote Lorenzen is sick of getting peed on. Lincoln has completely soaked through his pajamas and mine 6 times in the last 2 weeks during night feedings. It has occurred with two different brands of diapers and right after I just changed him. Any suggestions?
Megan Boote Lorenzen has wasted yet another evening on facebook. :op
What are some of your favorite updates or ones you've never shared?
After many days of rain, cold and clouds it was the perfect, sunny afternoon. So I packed up the kids for an afternoon snack picnic. I decided to check out Kuhlmann Park along the river in Waverly. At first Emily was disappointed we weren't going to the "castle park," but she had a lot of fun watching the water and counting and quacking at the ducks on the river. Lincoln enjoyed the fresh air. There are really nice walking trails and brand new benches, picnic tables and play equipment after last year's flood. Here are some pictures from our afternoon...
A quick side note: Emily insisted on wearing the cute red bow clip in her hair. She also insisted on leaving her Crocs sandals on the wrong feet the whole time. :o)
We finished up painting over the weekend and moved Emily into her new room upstairs last night. She was very excited. I was worried that she would have a hard time transitioning to being upstairs by herself and with the bed in the middle of the room instead of up against the wall. But we had no problems at all. We decided to establish the rule that at bedtime she has to stay in her bed and can't wander around playing. This rule is going to be enforced thanks to a really cool video monitor with night vision. Austin & I were entertained watching her antics--especially since she actually took a nap in the afternoon and wasn't a bit tired when we put her to bed. There is a short video clip in the August video player. She did very well with staying in her bed. As soon as her feet hit the ground I just had to step on the bottom stair and she immediately got back into bed. After tearing the carpet up from the stairs and upstairs bedrooms there is enough creaking and squeaking of the hardwood floors that no movements can be hidden. That might turn out to not be such a bad thing with kids! I'll post more pictures of her room once it's a little more "finished" and has stuff hanging up on the walls.
After unpacking the last "bathroom" box yesterday I found the variety pack of toothbrushes I had purchased for Emily. Of course, she was excited to have new ones and played with them all day--even her stuffed Curious George got his "teeth" brushed. Just before supper she started fussing about the "red" one being in the sink or something. At bathtime I looked every where and finally found it--down the drain. The long drain cap thing (since I don't know the correct terminology) had been pulled out and was in the medicine cabinet--probably because it doesn't work. That leaves a significant hole that drops about a foot into old pipes before snaking up and into the wall. That was the end of the short lifespan of the "red" toothbrush. I had no idea how we were going to get it out since the top of the toothbrush was probably 5-6 inches down in the hole. However, while cleaning the bathroom this morning it floated up when I was draining the cleaning water along with a lot of other gross stuff. :op I had to hide it in the bottom of the wastebasket so Emily doesn't find it and get any ideas. The trash goes out tonight.
I stopped by Allen Hospital to weigh Lincoln this afternoon. He is now 13 lbs. 13 oz., which puts him at about the 65th percentile--right on track with where he has been.
The final tally to the poll question about the number of back & forth trips the Lorenzen vehicles would take to Waverly in the 2 weeks between closings came to 28. Most of those occurred through moving day since we weren't even around at the end of the last week.
In addition to vehicle trips I also kept track of the number of trips made to the Super Wal-mart in Waverly during the same time period. That final number came to 8, although 7 of them occurred the first week.
I thought about making another poll question about the number of gallons of paint we would go through repainting the inside of the house, but I'm not even going to bother keeping track of that. Too many!!
Today I said goodbye to a dear, old friend. I bought this pair of Nike mesh shorts when I was in Junior High. It was one of the first purchases I ever made after my parents had us start buying our own clothes with the allowance money they gave us. It felt like a lot of money to spend on brand name shorts at the time. However, this pair of shorts has literally been worn and washed hundreds of times. They got worn to P.E., volleyball practices, track practices, basketball games, the pool, aerobics classes and general summer wear for 15 years. (That sounds almost awful!) Amazingly enough, the shorts still look okay, but the elastic waistband creaks when stretched, and they just don't stay up anymore. They lasted through two pregnancies, but I just had to call it quits today. They will be sorely missed. 
