I could do it, but I won't

I had a thought today that would make me the worst wife ever if I followed through with it. I'll tell you, but the thought of it makes me kinda giddy, even though I won't do it.
It occurs to me that I am completely able to go see Avengers tomorrow, without anyone else. I can go, and see the movie, and eat my popcorn, and drown in the beauty of it, alone. I have that option. I can do that.
I won't, of course, but the thought of it was enough to make me smile.
I'm not evil enough to do that to the family, but the fact that I even thought of it, and considered it, makes me happy. ... ... I'm a selfish person. HAHAHAHA!!

Move along, dude. Move along

Let's have a moment and discuss Sofia Vergara.
She graced the cover of my Vanity Fair this month, which I just finished reading last night.
I'm a fan. I was before I read the article, but I am even more so now. I love Modern Family. I think she's awesome. The article highlighted her history as well as what she's up to now, which is a whole lot. She's super smart, super nice, and seems to be super all the way around.
Which is what makes hearing about her ex-fiance so hard. I'm on her side, certainly, but the fact that this guy, who clearly is just bitter, is making life hard for her is irritating. This guy, last name Loeb, wants to take embryos that the couple had frozen years ago, and unfreeze them and grow a baby now. They broke up more than a year ago. But in August last year, he filed a complaint to have the embryos brought to term, all Vergara has to do is accept split custody, and, no doubt, pay him child support. Oh sure, he wants to have kids; he wants a family. Dude. Find someone who wants to have a family with you. Don't try to force someone else into parenthood just so you can (and you know this is the reason why) fleece them of money, and keep them in your life forever.
Loeb wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times, trying to make his case for his need for parenthood with these two particular embryos. I call bullshit on that. He has a need for Vergara's money, and for her to be beholden to him forever and ever. If he needs kids all that much, there are so many who are waiting to be adopted.
It all comes down to her right to have biological children or not. She can not be forced into the situation, no matter how many essays he writes for the newspapers. They both signed a contract saying that the embryos can't be unfrozen without both people's consent. This should be unwavering. Why he thinks his desire to have kids should trump the contract, and her wishes, is beyond me. What a dick.
This guy needs to leave Sofia alone. She's got Joe Manganiello now, and that's fantastic.

Yes, I finally took care of that one thing

The interesting thing to me is always, why do I live with something that's not working when I don't have to? Why do I avoid making that one phone call that can fix it all, and I can be happy? Why martyr myself and my family for the sake of ... the sake?
Today, I finally took the time to call DirecTV to complain about my downstairs remote control. The kicker is that the remote has been slow, difficult to use, and irritating for several months. It's been getting progressively worse. And we've been dealing. Every day when I use the remote, I get mad at it, and always promise myself that I'll call and get a new one "tomorrow."
Today was finally that tomorrow. And it only took 18 minutes to get it done. (That included set-up time for other quick fixes, too.) And Brittany was totally cool and helpful.
The new remote has been ordered, and hopefully shipped out some time today, with no fuss or circumstance at all. So, were back to watching television with a working remote, and it's pretty exhilarating.
Also, we've decided to sign a new lease for this house for another two years. Marking a milestone, of sorts, that we'll be in the same place for so long.
Here's hoping that in 2017, we'll be able to buy our own place.

I. Can't. Wait. For. Saturday.

This morning, I bought our tickets to go see Avengers: Age of Ultron on Saturday. I am beyond giddy about this, and can NOT wait until this weekend.
In a new turn of events, I included a ticket for Sydney. Apparently, this summer is the summer wherein she begins attending some of the more adult movies with us. I asked her a couple times this morning if she wanted to see it, if she was sure she wanted to watch it in the theater. I explained that I'm super excited to see this movie, and that I won't tolerate any talking during the film, only one very quick bathroom break, and that she can't chicken out at any point, requesting an early departure. She agreed, and said that she'd be fine, and that she was excited to see the movie, too. My head is giving her the benefit of the doubt, but my heart is worried. I don't want to miss a single moment of this movie, and I am positive that my kid will do her best, unknowingly of course, to mess with me.
As of today, my week is nothing but a series of blurry days leading up to Saturday's matinee.
I will get a large popcorn.

So many stars, and all from the top of LA

This is a picture of a whole lot of stars. I'm not positive, but I'll give the photo credit to Hubble, since it certainly seems like the space telescope's speed.
We visited the Griffith Observatory last weekend when we were in California. They look at stars there, you know. I hadn't been to the place since, we figured, the sixth grade or so. I remember it being a cool place, but they have obviously added some awesome and amazing displays and extras. We watched one of the shows in the planetarium, and wandered the whole place.
If you're ever looking for a straight shot of motivation to become an astronaut again, this is the place to go. So much amazing information in one fantastic place.
I love that we went there. Brian was just telling me that we've never done any "L.A. things," and I knew that to be somewhat true. So, going to the Observatory, and then eating lunch at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles was an ideal L.A. Day. And Sydney needed something great and educational to stretch her brain. It was such a happy day.

Sure, it's pretty, but it's not California

More often than not, I'm okay with living in Arizona. It's beautiful, temperate during most of the year, and reasonable to live here. Most times, it's just perfect for our lifestyle.
But then I go back to California for the weekend.
On Friday, as we crossed the border from Arizona into California, Brian looked at me and said, "Welcome home." Truer words have never been spoken. It is like coming home. I can feel my whole body relax and warm up with some happy fuzzies. I smell the difference in the air. The whole place just looks brighter to me. It's at those moments when I'm all, "Fuck this, I want to live here again!"
I manage to not get too angry; I really do. I'm happy in our house, with Sydney's school, and with our life in the desert. But holy cripes, I would love, love, love to be back in southern California.
And hanging out with my friends is no help. It just makes driving away on Sunday that much worse.
I mean, we all know what my end game is: to get back to California, by hook or by crook. Who knows how it'll happen, but I'm down.
As I said, I don't mind being in Arizona, but California is my home. And I miss living at home.

Out of CA, no more weekend

That drive is a drag. I think that perhaps it's even worse when I have someone to share it with, because taking a random cat nap here and there during my time in the passenger seat is my undoing. I get so sleepy when not concentrating on the road. It's impossible to keep my eyes open. Even more so with a toasty Oliver sleeping on my lap.

I had the best weekend, though. Im succumbing to an early bedtime for the second night in a row, but I have no plans for tomorrow beyond laundry. I'll tell you about it then.

Not enough rings and earrings, and bracelets

I keep trying to figure out what the big deal is about Bruce Jenner. So he's decided to follow his heart into womanhood. A whole lot of people do it all the time. I will grant that the Kardashian connection makes it slightly more newsworthy to the general populace. Still, everyone has an opinion.
My opinion? No one's opinion matters. It's stupid frustrating to find all these articles, tweets and such making all kinds of suppositions, wonderments and declarations, and no one has any information. As well as that, no one deserves information.
This guy's transformation is his own business. It pisses me off that this is news.
Of course, he's making it news by talking to everyone about it. No doubt he's looking for some kind of reality show out of the whole thing. I find that to be disgusting. Dude, Bruce Jenner, live your life on your own terms.
Having said that, and read it, and realizing that it really may not make a whole lot of sense, I will just say right now that I really want to head over to Charming Charlie soon so I can get some new fun jewelry. I pulled out some stuff for our weekend, and was kind of, a little bit, disappointed in my selection.

Let the child play; it's his yard. Jerk

And yet another dickhead with a computer tries their best to ruin life for someone else.
A father in Arizona (of course) opened up his mailbox one day a few months ago to find a letter written from one of his neighbors. The letter, unsigned, explained that as a new neighbor, this father should take some steps to right a horrible wrong in the community. Apparently, the dad's son would go out in the family backyard and ... laugh and play.
Not scream uncontrollably. Not freak out or anything.
The letter went on to point out that the child's laughter was distracting to the writer's dogs and parrot because they would focus on the child. The writer suggested that perhaps a 15 to 20-minute time frame -- per day -- was plenty of outside time for this kid, because his animals needed the quiet. The writer then threatened calling the police if this horrible behavior was not stopped.
To clarify, this child is playing in his own yard. He is laughing and giggling, not screaming and carrying on. He's enjoying his own space. He's not taunting the dogs and bird at all, just living in his own special world.
No one knows better than I that if you have a nice day in Arizona, you take advantage of it.
This letter and its writer are horrifying. To honestly threaten to call the cops on a family in their own backyard is the larger crime here. This is obnoxious behavior far beyond what a kid would do or say. What a f*cking as*hole. Honestly. Where are these people coming from? Who doesn't like the sound of a child laughing and playing? The dogs? The dogs will get used to it the more they hear it. Dude, you live in a family community; deal with it.

Puppies gotta eat, you know

So, my dogs have gone high maintenance again.
Cooper has been diagnosed with a food allergy, so he's now eating a limited ingredient diet. He's essentially gone gluten-free, which is ridiculous, but seems to be necessary to keep him healthy. Which is the point of the whole thing, of course.
Oliver has gained weight living on Cooper's new food, so he's back to his senior food, and less of it, since he's basically on a diet right now.
What does this mean? It means that there is no food sitting out all day, and I again need to feed them both breakfast and dinner mixed with a spoonful of wet food to be sure they eat it all. So, making dinner again for the littlest kids.
Obviously, because they're awesome, this is not that big a deal. And because I'm a person who can do things, this is not that big a deal. But do you remember when I could just leave a bowl of food out all the time, and my perfect dog would eat from it as he wished? Memories.

Rocks: the best way to mark your territory

There's a way of leaving your mark on the world without ruining anything, and it's rock sculptures. Well, rock piles, really, that tower anywhere from four rocks to 15 rocks.
I see them pretty regularly along my trail hikes, and I saw several along the way up and down the Sedona outdoor trip. I love the idea and practice behind these markers, and fully support them.
Of course, only us humans have the pathological need to leave some evidence of us being somewhere, but given that need, the rock pile is the best way of doing that while not injuring the environment. Worst-case scenario is that the rocks fall, and stay where they fell. There's certainly no harm in that. I have yet to create my own rock pile, but I definitely appreciate them when I come across them.

Top ten Sedona moments

Things about our Sedona weekend: 
1. Driving into Sedona at night sucks, because you can't see any of the red rocks. They're too pretty to miss so early into the trip. It's like a welcome, and I felt cheated Friday night.
2. I had the most delicious bloody mary on Saturday morning before we started our day. I finished it before anyone else finished theirs, and probably would have had another, but decided that being too buzzed first thing in the morning would not bode well for my day.
3. When they tell you that sitting in the way back of the Hummer for the trip to the top of the Colorado Plateau is super bouncy, believe them. It is. Brian and I got tossed around like frickin' rag dolls for two straight hours. Though the view and pictures from the top are pretty astounding.
4. New Favorite Dessert: waffle cone pieces in the bottom of a bowl, strawberry ice cream atop them, and a waffle cone to scoop and eat said ice cream atop that. Best snack, I think, in a really, really long time.
5. Jerome is way cooler than we had ever thought it would be, and we're intrigued to go back. I would like a sizable art budget though, before we go. There was so much stuff I would have loved to bring home. Also, the wait for Haunted Hamburger was too long, so we didn't eat there, but I must dine there at some point.
6. Sunsets in Sedona are no joke. The ocean of people you have to navigate to see them, are. Ugh.
7. I saw my first pack of javelinas, and they were everything I could have hoped. The first one made its appearance, and then it disappeared. Then, it returned, followed by five friends and packmates. So, frickin' cool. I love wildlife in nature, and this sighting was so super awesome to me.
8. For someone who doesn't generally eat breakfast food, I indulged this weekend, and ate two very delicious omelets. Saturday Omelet: cheese, sausage, green bell peppers. Sunday Omelet: Italian sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, basil, topped with mozzarella cheese. These were amazing, and I think I may be an official fan of omelets now.
9. Even if you don't believe in what they represent, one can still appreciate churches for their breathtaking architecture and surroundings.
10. Family is super fun.

Lantern festivals look super cool

I've been staring at a blank blog post creation page for 30 minutes.
Time for bed instead.

Bitches be bitches, yo

A woman in Australia received a hand-written and mailed letter from some of her "friends" on Facebook, who wanted her to stop posting so many pictures of her new baby daughter. It was a super mean-spirited letter, saying all kinds of things like: everyone has kids and yours is no better than ours; we don't care about her new outfits; can't wait for you to go back to work so you have less time to post; and she's six months old, big deal. The letter itself was about 300 words of petty bullshit, and then they didn't even have the balls to sign it.
Here's my thing: There are very real ways of not seeing posts from people that bother you. And you can actually enact these ways without the other person knowing. That way, you manage to clean up your feed and make it less annoying for you, while not hurting someone else's feelings.
We've all done it. I've got a few friends that share too many articles on politics, and horrible news stories. I know someone who posts way too many inspirational photos. And another friend who just shares too much of their personal business for the world to see.
Guess what. I don't know what these people are up to now because I don't follow them on Facebook anymore. Technically, we're still "friends." And I still would like to know how they're doing now and then, so I check their pages when that curiosity arises.
The beauty of Facebook is that you can choose to engage, or not -- be informed, or not. There's no bylaw saying that you have to read and react to everything that shows up on your feed.
These "friends" of this lady obviously aren't really friends of hers, since they sent this in the first place, but also they're being so chickenshit about it by not signing the letter. Also, if she was really good friends with them, she would recognize the author's writing style. It seems super distinctive.
My advice for this lady is to clean up her friends list, and purge the people that don't contribute to her mental, psychological and emotional good health in consistent ways. Also, fuck them. Post pics of your kid if you want.

Sand is pervasive, and evil

Do you remember how I can be totally neurotic?
And how my neuroses can sometimes be forced upon my family in loving and supportive ways?
And how I fear the exponential growth of neuroses as generations continue?
Well, this is fun.
Sydney's class was given a school project today, in which they are encouraged to become engineers and inventors, and come up with a new and awesome invention. An invention of any kind, really, and it doesn't even really have to work. But the idea needs to be there, and the intent behind it needs to be practical. This is a project ripe for imagination and creativity. And for coming up with something that will make the world a better place.
Sydney's idea is for a machine that will remove sand from shoes. This is, of course, directly related to my intense hatred of sand on a playground, and how she doesn't like having to take her shoes and socks off on the patio so she can shake out the sand without getting it all over my floors. We've got a great system for this, and she's very much in the habit of doing it.
That she figures that this exercise requires some kind of machine to make it easier on her is amusing. But, when given all the problems in the world and all the creativity in her head, she would choose to focus on one of her mom's many issues is endearing, and slightly troubling. I suddenly fear that she will go through life trying to constantly figure out how to make my peeves less troubling on me.
Again, forcing my neuroses in loving and supportive ways, apparently.

Garden update: Yay!

APPLE SEEDLINGS: Our five apple seedlings are more than an inch tall now, and they seem to be very happy where they are. Each of them has five or six leaves on them. I'm being crazy vigilant about weeds growing in their pot, but haven't seen any yet. And should I be concerned about birds? Probably not, but this is how my paranoid brain is obsessing over these little plants.
GARDENIAS: Check out my gardenias, you guys. They are out of control! Oh my gosh, there about 12 flowers, and still another four or five buds ready to bloom. They smell so good, too!
PLUMERIA: I've got leaves on each of my new plumeria limbs, and they're growing quickly. I hope I get flowers off them this season. What I do absolutely know is that I'm going to be sure and cover that plant next winter.
RANDOM PURPLE TREE: Our tree has a plethora of purple blooms on it right now, making the bees in our area very, very happy.
All good things, and who would have thought that they would do so well in the desert.

Rashes are bad, bad, bad

So, this rash on the backs of my legs has been pretty much consuming my life. I've been so uncomfortable. My legs have been so swollen. And ugly. And red. So yucky.
I've been applying lotion, but it's only made it feel worse.
But then this morning, Brian decided to be a doctor, and found a nice, little topical steroid cream for skin irritations in his bucket of tricks. I've used it twice, this morning and tonight, and already, it's feeling less irritating, and less painful.
So, between my leg rashes, and Cooper's decision to vomit all over the house the entire weekend, it can come as no surprise to you that I've been too tired and annoyed with the universe to blog.
Other than that, we had an awesome weekend. Sydney and I saw a movie, we had yummy lunches, and most happily, we spent some time at Top Golf. I can totally see Top Golf becoming our go-to Sunday activity. It was so fun for all of us.
Every day is better though, and I'm at odds with how crappy and fantastic our last couple days were.

Things about today:

Thing 1: I got a job interview for Monday afternoon. That's about all I'll say about it, since I'm trying not to get too happy or excited. Someone may want me to be an editor again. Isn't that weird.
Thing 2: I've acted on Cooper's potential food allergies by picking up some limited ingredient food in both kibble and canned form. Tomorrow, I start moving the boys over to a new food type. Here's hoping it goes well. I'm sure it will, but what I mean is that I hope the change works for Cooper and his issues.
Thing 3: I've got some weird rashes on the back of my legs that appeared this afternoon. They are right behind my knees as well, and even better, are swollen. I'll slather them in Sydney's skin ointment stuff, so that should help, I hope. Because I'm super uncomfortable.
Thing 4: Brian and I made the ultimate sacrifice and took Sydney to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner tonight because of a school fundraiser. The place was packed, and there were children everywhere. Honestly, it was bedlam. And as we shared our salad, Brian looked at me and said, "I'm sorry, but this is the worst date ever." I had to agree, but it actually was nice to let Sydney blow off some steam with other kids, and for us to sit and have conversation together.
Thing 5: My afternoon was consumed by my new Summer Movie Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly. It's always such a treat to get that issue, because I can plan and map out my entire summer. I've got May through August covered now!

My garden runneth over with AWESOME

You guys, there is some serious awesomeness going on in my backyard right now. No kidding, the place is going bananas! I've got FIVE apple sproutlings. My wisteria is blooming like crazy. The roses are all over the place. My gardenia has no less than 12 buds on it. And the plumeria is growing new leaves again.
The fifth apple sproutling is hidden behind the larger one on the left there in that picture. ... My wisteria smells so good, and even the one right next to my front door, that gets no direct sun ever, is blooming on steroids. ... My rose bushes have been blooming for a couple weeks already, and the pink ones smell so strong. Honestly, they're the best plant to have right next to the area where the dogs poop. ... Last year, my gardenia had one bud that blossomed and bloomed. This year, it's spread out over a lot of space, and there are far more buds on it. Apparently, it just needed a bit of time to settle in to its space. ... The plumeria is a bit more of a success story. The weather over the winter frostbit the ends of the limbs, and killed all the leaves. The ends were burnt. I was super nervous that it wouldn't come back to me, but there are two fresh growths on each side of the burnt ends, where new leaves are growing and beginning to sprout. I have my first returned leaf; it's about an inch long. But the rest of the leaves will be popping out soon, I think.
I am so happy to wander into my backyard, and I get so excited to show Brian and Sydney any new changes and growths happening. The apple trees are my personal favorite right now, though.

Cripes, just give me the large popcorn

I don't even know where to begin with the randomness of my day today. ...
I got into an argument with the concessions girl at the movie theater because I was given a large popcorn by mistake, she took it back, dumped the large popcorn in the trash, and gave me a new medium bag of popcorn. Does that make any sense to you, at all? In a perfect world, deal with your error and let me have the large popcorn. But at the very least, pour what fits of the large popcorn into the medium bag. But don't waste an entire large bag of popcorn. That's something the devil would do.
If you find yourself in need of a paper nurse's hat, I'm your girl. I now know how to create such a thing, as I had to make one for Sydney's oral report on Florence Nightingale. She's supposed to dress as the person she's reporting on, and I did my best with her Crimean War-era outfit. She wouldn't let me put blood and bloody hand prints on her apron though, as she said that the post-surgery and war look would be "inappropriate."
Furious Seven was a super-awesome movie, and I was so giddy to have a Date Day movie worth my time. It's the beginning of summer movie season, which is my favorite of all movie seasons, and I can't wait to dig in to what is going on this year. Furious Seven rocked, but honestly, it's all about Avengers 2. I can't wait for that film.
Tomorrow is a day of replacing power cords in my home. We are very, very, very in need of a new charging cable for our phones downstairs. Also, as I discovered as I went to power up my Nook for reading, the Nook's power cord is official kaput. It's been super sketchy since Cooper chewed on it a few months ago, but up until now, it's still performed well. I'll be visiting Barnes & Noble, I guess, to see what they've got for replacement cables. I'll bring it into Target with me too, though, in case there's something there that will work.

Spring must be here; the sweaters are folded

Hello!
My name is Kimberly, and today, I would like to introduce you to Neurosis #249, "Folded Sweaters."
They don't actually have to look like this all the time. During the winter, in fact, this portion of the closet is a clusterfuck, all kinds of sleeves and torsos hanging over the side and this way and that. There's no rhyme or reason to it, and the separation of Kimberly and Brian is tenuous.
But once spring comes around, and the sweaters go into hibernation, I have to fold them. I must fold them. They have to be folded perfectly, and stacked as such. There is a very separate space for mine and Brian's sweaters; they are stacked by sweater or sweatshirt; those worn more often are at the tops of their stacks; and fabric density is taken into account. The sweater algorithm is not a complex thing, but for me, when spring arrives, it is a necessity.
The best part is that they will look like this for a full six months. Perfection for a full half-year. Good stuff, people. Good stuff.

Oh my goodness, how cute is THAT?

ITEM!: It's that glorious time of year, when all the Easter decorations go to bed, and there are no holidays to decorate for until Halloween in October. Six wonderful months of my house being my house, with no fancy stuff going on. It's so clean ... of clutter, of course. Not actually clean.
ITEM!: There are three more apple seed sprouts in our apple seed pot outside! That adds up to four awesome apple trees in training growing in my backyard, and I'm beyond excited for this to continue. Sydney and I are checking their progress regularly. It's getting warmer though, so it's about time to switch up the watering schedule in the yard, so everything stays healthy and well-watered. Long live the apple trees!
ITEM!: I sent in my resume to another editor job last night. Also I found TWO eyelashes this morning, upon which I made a couple wishes. So, I've got that going for me. Until then, I'm still living the dream of unemployment, friends.
ITEM!: And let me tell you. If you are interested in a wormhole of cute, do an image search of "sleeping bunny." You see my winner over there, but there was no lack of adorableness going on there.

Bunnies abound, and chocolate is the best

Easter is Easter, and because of that, I let my kid eat as much, and whatever, candy she wanted out of her Easter basket all day. I didn't put the brakes on her until 7 p.m. And she motored through a chocolate bunny, two boxes of Nerds, countless Hershey kisses, and several handfuls of M&Ms. I was, honestly, super impressed with her fortitude and determination to eat as much as she could before the Freedom Candy Train pulled into the station. And bonus: no stomach ache at all, and she still ate real food, as well.
I had only one Hershey kiss, a single lemon Oreo, and a York peppermint patty as my snack today. This is woefully lacking in Easter goodness. But don't cry for me, Internet-ia. I bought, and hid, a couple of those little Baby Binks chocolate bunnies for my own personal enjoyment. I shall destroy one tomorrow, and feel good about myself for doing it.
Happy Easter, friends!

Do they still work without a disco ball?

Sydney and I are having an issue. When she wants to ride her scooter around the neighborhood, I don't have anything to do with her so I can keep up. My bike is in the backyard, thus making it inconvenient to the scooter situation, as well as then it's me going too fast. I can't run as fast as she scooters, so that's not an option. I don't know how to skateboard. And I won't have her riding around the community with no supervision.
So. Roller skates? It seems like a no-brainer solution, but I wonder about riding around in the street, and the inevitable rocks and twigs and shit that I'll run into and over. If you search, there are "outdoor" roller skates, but who knows how well they really work with "the elements." I think they would be fun, since I always thought so, and I know they'll be good on my ass and hips. My concern over the obstacles is overwhelming, once considered alongside the expense of the roller skates, which can be quite high. It would be just like me to eat it on the pavement my first day on skates, and then give up on them entirely.
But I need something that I can do to scooter around the neighborhood with her. There are actual adult-sized scooters, which would be good too, I guess. They're kinda pricey, though, as well.
Roller skates would be super cool.

Buttercup, Buttercup, Buttercup

Brian told Sydney yesterday that I had wanted her middle name to be Buttercup.
She was very vocal about it, and beyond thankful that Brian's veto power was strong enough to have it not be Buttercup.
My heart is broken.
What I'm discovering is that my kiddo has far less of a sense of whimsy than I do, and it's a bit disheartening. She wasn't having any of Buttercup being her middle name, and went on a lovely little tirade about how much smarter Brian was than I when he said no to it. I pointed out that it's a great middle name, and honors a lovely movie. She was unmoved. I said that it's one of my favorite movies of all time, and I had at least not demanded her first name be Buttercup. She failed to see the positive side of that, as well. I even made a super sad face, but she was unfazed.
I'm sure I'll be bugged about this for the rest of my life, but I still stand by it. Buttercup would have been an awesome middle name.
I guess it'll have to do for the next puppy's middle name ... male or female. I don't care. Someone is going to have Buttercup as their middle name.

And we have apples!! After a fashion, of course...

Well, there it is! Do you see it? Right there; the little green leaves? Pretty awesome, right?
Sydney and I are so exited to present our little apple seed sprouting up in the soil! He's the first of a few sprouts (we hope), as we planted several seeds in the pot. And we're so damn excited that I Instagrammed the thing and plastered it on Facebook so everyone could share in our glory and delight. There is a second sprout ready to break through on the other side of the pot, and I now have more hope than ever that we may see some real apple action.
Of course, Sydney thinks we should have apples within the next few months, or even a year, but I've tried my best to explain that it'll probably be several years, and we won't be able to move and travel with the tree once it gets to a certain size. (In the long run, I guess this may not have been such a good idea.) ... But until then, we will love, nurture and protect our little sproutlets.
Oh, don't worry, I'll keep you updated.

And happily, no April Fool's

ITEM!: This April is going to be pretty awesome. I've got a couple little trips planned, and plenty of time hanging out with family and friends. It will all be good stuff, and I'm excited to get to it.
ITEM!: I finished the Princess Bride book, by Cary Elwes. It was just as easy to read as I figured it would be, and was light on the brain, as well. I've only got two books on my Pile right now, though I discovered another to be purchased for the Nook. I'm at a loss as to what I should read next. Maybe I'll let Sydney or Cooper choose for me.
ITEM!: Brian and I watched Into the Storm tonight. I recorded it from HBO or something, and it's been sitting on the DVR for a week or so. Anyway, let me tell you something: it is not a good movie. The characters spend the entirety of the film saying silly things, taking a really long time to make decisions, and doing ridiculous activities. There are logistical holes a mile wide, jarring continuity issues, and so many weird things afoot. This movie gets labeled as "I watched it so you don't have to."
ITEM!: I almost forgot to pick up my kid from school. ... I'm a good mom.