I Think This is Really Neat

Last week Jackie was over and we got into a conversation about the art and science of photography.  If you haven't ever really thought about the way a photograph works you should talk so someone who does or find out through research.  The process is really really neat and it is really remarkable that someone figured out that we can capture an image on a piece of paper using this little box called a camera that works a lot like the human eye and the brain, chemicals, and light exposure. 

Well, this morning I found a really neat article on the National Public Radio website.  Keeping the Photography 101 course I had last week in mind, it was really mind blowing to see the quality of the images you are about to see from photos taken so long ago.  

Also, what is even cooler to me about these WWII era photos is that they have been shown to us in color!  I don't know about you, but when I think of "old times" I imagine them in black and white... because that is the only image we have of way back when.  I can remember looking through my grandmother's old photographs and wondering what color the women's dresses were.  I even asked my mom one time what color her dress in the photo from her childhood and being so shocked that what looked like gray was bright red!  So it is really really neat to me to look through these pictures and really see that people "back then" lived in color!

Go to this website and then scroll down to "A Vibrant Past."

Post Not Meant to Call Anyone Out and Also, This Post is Kind of Inside Jokey, Or So I Thought.

So last night I was having dinner with my favorite "their last name begins with L" friends.  I needed some clarification on a topic that came up: the (querky) pet peeve of the Comic Sans font.  So I asked this Comic Sans Hater, "what exactly is Comic Sans, I know it's a font, but what makes this font so annoying to you?"  

I understand having pet peeves and annoyances about things like 

• people that drive 60 mph in the left lane
  
• people that wear socks with their sandals
• people that interrupt too much

But I had never heard of a pet peeve against... a font??? (Am I the only one here?)

Anyway, so I asked and what I got from the answer was that it was a font without the little marks on the ends of the letters.  Ok, fine.  I thought nothing more of this conversation for the rest of the night.

This morning.  Sipping my coffee, watching Sopranos, wondering "what can I post what can I post" and the thought came to my mind, "google comic sans and see what happens."  Apparently there are a LOT of Comic Sans Discussion going on out there... a lot.  Here are a few that I thought were interesting.

• Hater site 1
• Informative Site
• Informative Site

Global curse, eh?

What's your stance on Comic Sans?

Church

The great thing about being at home on a cold rainy Sunday with sick children and hot coffee is that God is here too.  I don't have to be in a sanctuary to marvel at His miracles.  I see them in the way H's perfect tiny fingers reach for the colorful music making toys that dangle above her head and the way that L is stretched out on her stomach in sleep so deep and peaceful that it makes me envy curling up in her white crib and listening to "rainforest" sounds.  Watching my children, and remembering our time in the NICU, has the power to stop me in my tracks, tear up a little, and whisper, "Thank you Lord, thank you so much."

Saturday Night

It is the weekend and it seems that we have reached the point of the decline of the RSV horrifics.  L is having a hard time tonight but it only took H a day and a half through the worst part...L should be catching up. H is almost back to her sweet observant self.  When she is well she is cool as a cucumber and checking things out.  When L is well she is chatty and silly.  Tonight, after L had been asleep for a couple of hours she woke back up (of course just as we sat down to eat supper) so we gave her a bottle and a breathing treatment, and some cuddles.  She sat in my lap just shrieking and shrilling like she was telling me all sorts of things.  Harper never budged.  Hopefully tomorrow will start to look normal.

Nick and I split a bottle of Pinot Noir and he Top Cheffed a cuisine of Portabello Tortelline, break sticks with marinara, and a side of Cesar Salad.  We have 4 episodes left of season 2 of The Sopranos.  

Have I ever mentioned that somehow I manage to get into some of the greatest TV like 2-3 years after it has gone off of the air?   Sex and the City - I fell in love with this show 2 years after it ended.  Now, I have every episode on DVD and have watched the entire series at least 5 times through.  This week we started The Sopranos and though I am enjoying (but wincing) the show I am pretty confident I won't be watching this one over and over.  

Now the question on all of your minds:  When will I commit to West Wing?  Yea Yea... it's coming.  

(Technically I have seen every episode of West Wing, subconsciously, since Nick has played 1-2 episodes before he goes to sleep EVERY night in bed since we have been married 3 year now.  Occasionally, I will pop my head up when I hear a great tune i.e. New York Minute, Brothers in Arms, Hallelujah because it is hard to pass up peeping in on the some of the greatest episodes.)

Would also like to watch:

Grey's Anatomy

Friends

Mr. Ed 

This Breaks My Heart

Last year I bought the 20th anniversary Oprah DVD collection and cried while watching an old couple tell the story of how they met.  He was a little boy held prisoner in a concentration camp during WWII; she was a little girl that passed by each day and tossed an apple over the fence to him.  This went on for years until one day the little boy moved camps and they never saw each other again until after the war and they met again, recognized each other, and fell in love.  Sound amazing and miraculous right!?

READ THIS

RSV

There really isn't much on my mind lately except for

-aspirate

-nubulize

-feed

-aspirate

-nebulize

-feed

The babies have RSV.  Wheezing, gagging, choking, and not sleeping.  It is like having newborns again.  But you know, it is a privelege to be the one to ease their pain, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health... when you say those vows to your spouse you are saying them by default to your children even if they aren't born yet.

Harper was diagnosed on Tuesday and Lily's symptoms are mimicking Harper's about a day behind.  The Dr. said the virus will plateau at the worst stage for 3-4 days then start to taper off.  I believe we are in the worst now so hopefully through the weekend it will get better.  I didn't have the days to take off but I also did not have a choice.  This virus is contagious but in adults shows up as the common cold so if Nick and/or get it it won't be as bad.

For now we are just waiting it out.  Thanks for all of your words of encouragement and prayer.

In Response to Mush

Even though I didn't make the list  I am going to post on a related subject of how sometimes I feel like mush.  And I am going to keep this short and simple.  For me, Mush happens when I am knocked off a routine.  I have an AMAZING schedule for work in which I leave the house at 7:15am and am home everyday by 4pm.  I work 180 days out of a 365 day year and I don't have to ask for additional time off... I can take it when I need it and no one questions me about it.  This is really great especially now that I am a mother.  

But it happens at the end of every vacation I have ever had where I get antsy to go back to work.  I get tired of looking for things to clean around the house, closets to organize, fighting the urges to snack, or beating myself up for the exercising I should be doing with all of this time off.  I get to the point where I really need to go back to work and the routine of being a working mother in order to keep my sanity, confidence, and balance.  

On Friday, when Nick and I had our date, we were driving to the mall to make an exchange and I said, "I feel so icky, almost depressed... I wonder why?"  Then it dawned on me... I said out loud, "This is the first time I have left the house in 6 days!"  We had been to Walmart on the Sunday before our date and since then every grocery, bank, starbucks, formula run was done by Nick.  I have this thing when I am home with the girls that I AM HOME with them by their side playing with them, teaching them, or just watching them - because I know there is always a countdown to when I have to go back to work.  And in those moments I don't want to leave but at the end of that chunk I scream inside, "Gaaaa I have got to get out!"  

If there was a sudden windfall in our house and we could afford for me to quit my job to stay home with the babies I WOULD absolutely, hands down.  But there would still be a couple of days a week or maybe three mornings where I would have them go to Mrs. Mim's house for them to play with her kids and so that I could do some of the things that I enjoy doing that help me feel balanced.

Feeling All Grown Up

Do you ever have moments where you really feel grown up?  Besides the obvious answers like buying a house or having a baby which are really grown up things we fall into.  I'll give you an example.

Tonight I came inside from taking Ali outside and the house smelled like cornbread and home made squash casserole (leftovers from New Year's Day feast) and the scents of my childhood came rushing back to me.  I have vivid memories of waking up from naps after school and volleyball practice and hearing pots and pans clanging downstairs and smelling whatever my mom was cooking for dinner.  We had squash casserole often - a family favorite.  So anyway, tonight as I smelled it in my own house it really made me realize that I am a grown up.  I pay the bills, I feed my children and put them to bed, and I cook squash casserole.

A Date

Today, the girls are at the sitter's house and Nick and I are spending the day together, not cleaning the house, not doing laundry, not balancing our checkbook but doing Nick's favorite thing... going out.  We may start doing a little browsing at East Chase and then at noon we are seeing a movie.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  We were also interested in Valkyrie but I wanted to see a movie that I would not be asking a million questions throughout.  Watching Band of Brothers has me very interested in the goings on of WWII but I have at least one question per scene and I want to see something that I can just enjoy.  After the movie we will be dining on sushi at Street Cafe thanks to the gift card we received for Christmas from my stepmom.

Nick and I haven't had a date in months and have felt the tension of cabin fever lately since we have been on vacation but restricted to the home as babies with colds do not really permit going out and about so easily.  Tonight Bama plays in a Bowl Game so that will make for good entertainment as well.

So far my resolutions have been followed through with pretty well.  My overall resolution was really to stop sweating the small stuff and congratulate myself in making small, baby steps, if you will, toward wellness each day.  So, cheers!, to being with the one I love today and out time together as a couple!

New Year's Day

Today I will spend the day with Nick and Jason and the babies eating soul food:

Jason's cornbread, turnip greens, black eyed peas and my boiled corn on the cob and homemade squash casserole.  Yum!  We will be starting the complete series of Band of Brothers and hopefully finishing it today too.  

What wonderful weather to start 2009.  Sunny, cool, windy.  I am watching the Today show right now and noticing the projected fashion trends for 2009... all up and down the streets of New York are gals in their beau's blue jeans.  Katie Holmes was spotted wearing Tom's "skinny" jeans with the bottom of each leg folded up to make a big wide cuff.  If you have ever tried on your hunny's jeans you may be boosted in confidence in how easy they fall down OR, like me, you may envy your hunny's trimm(er) waist and feel just how vastly different the male and female shape is!  Just a little fun tid bit for all of you out there too sexy for your own jeans.

That is about all I have for now.  I need to go clean up the kitchen before we get in there with our sleeves rolled up.  I always picture Gordon Ramsey standing over my shoulder when I prep the kitchen and how unacceptable grease splatter marks and non-sparkling cutting boards are when aspiring to be a Top Chef (cross TV show references here).

How are you spending your New Year's Day?