30 Days, 30 Posts

When I was growing up, I remember my dad writing during breakfast. He'd have his 3-ring binder full of paper and a mechanical pencil and he'd scribble away while we all ate our toast and cereal. I know he still begins each day by writing. In the winter, he might be at it for hours, and my mom brings his oatmeal and tea upstairs to him. In the summer, when he's working in the fields, he just gets up early so he can have some journaling time each day.

It's a pretty amazing habit, don't you think?

One thing I've realized over the past month is that it's kinda fun to put some words on paper (er, screen) every day. Some stuff comes out that might not otherwise (exhibit A: the inadvisably titled 11/23 post), but I guess that's all part of it. Course, typing my thoughts into Blogger is about as far away from what my dad does as two writing mediums could be. This is, after all, a man who still cannot type.

Although I make my living in the publishing industry, I'm not a writer like my dad. I don't feel compelled to write. I enjoy it; and I'm enjoying having this little outlet for it, but the sharing part of the blog is just as satisfying. I'm not sure what that says about me. I'm a narcissistic writer?

Anyway, it has been a good 30 days. I somehow managed to post each day -- meeting the challenge I'd set out for myself. It helped that all of our out-of-town travels were either one-night affairs or were to places where friends willingly provided laptops at 11 at night. I'll now probably be taking the weekend "off" and deal with things like putting away the last 2 weeks worth of clean laundry and trying to find all those Christmas gifts I've stashed away. These are good activities for what looks to be a snowy, sleety day tomorrow. But never fear! I'll be back...most likely with pictures. Thanks for reading!

Word Play

Tonight's post will be brief, since there's a Packers-Cowboys game on...the first Packers-Cowboys game to actually mean something to the season in quite some time. Brings back old memories. Old, bitter memories.

So, just a quick recap of some of Nora's new words:

Peez - please

Des - this

Miiiine - obvious. This is aimed at anything and everything she wants that we dare to keep from her pudgy little hands.

Ohie - Owen; not to be confused with "owie" which means, uh, either that she's hurt or she doesn't like something. It's a subtle distinction.

Boopbaw - football

YEE-AH! - yes. Mere words can't do justice to how cute this one is. "Want some milk, Nora?" "Yee-ah!" she says like you've just offered her the most exciting thing ever.

Appow - apple; though it also, apparently, means banana.

Outide - outside; this was used quite a bit over the Thanksgiving break. Then, after about 10 minutes outside, and refusing to keep mittens on despite the biting wind, she'd be walking toward the door, wanting to go in. This repeated every half hour or so.

Go gak - go Pack, uttered tonight before the game. That's my girl!

&%$#@!!

It was bound to happen.

When I'm mad, all my efforts to be careful about language seem to go out the window, and, unfortunately, the f-word happens to be my old standby for venting frustration. I've tried alternatives like fudge or fiddlesticks...they do nothing. So, this morning, Owen said it. Specifically, he said "you're a fucker pants" and I knew immediately the time had come for momma to really start watching her dirty ole' potty mouth.

Now, I think he does get points for creativity. The "pants" part was his invention, since I've never uttered that exact phrase (although perhaps when I was 4...). He probably heard smarty pants or something similar at school and just did a little editing.

So, is that a silver lining? Creative potty mouth?

Moo Moo Mizzou

I really don't follow college football. I usually know whether Wisconsin is having a good year (only so-so this year, right?) but beyond that, I don't know much.

But then, my alma mater went and had a great season. So I kinda kept my ear to the ground for word about them. Beat Illinois, tromped Nebraska, lost to Oklahoma, beat No. 2 Kansas and wow, suddenly they're the No. 1 team in the country. My school...with a shot at the national championship. The little town of Columbia must be absolutely BUZZING right now.

I don't know why, as an alum who didn't really follow Missouri football when I was a student, I'm so excited about this. I guess it's my chance to reminisce about my college years, chat with co-workers who are fellow alums, and just be part of a big group something.

Course, making the whole scenario more interesting is the fact that the team Missouri plays this weekend -- the team they have to beat to have a shot at the national championship -- is Oklahoma. Not only is OU the one team they've lost to this year, it's also the former school of a good friend and co-worker, who actually IS a big football fan. So, I'm sorry Stacy, but I have to say, Go Mizzou!

(By the way, Moo Moo Mizzou was on a t-shirt I bought 15 years ago during my first year at the school. At the time, I thought it was the perfect bridge between Wisconsin and Missouri...but I still don't get what it's supposed to mean.)

Home Wrecker

Last night, I realized we're in trouble. And by that I mean I discovered Nora, while we weren't paying attention, had climbed up onto a kitchen chair and was happily doodling away with a marker. Luckily, she'd also found a piece of paper to doodle on and only a small amount was on the table...and her chin. She was not happy when I traded the marker for a crayon, and gave me a sour look and a plaintive "miiiiine!"

This was after we'd already taken away the pair of screwdrivers she'd been walking around with earlier when she started using them to stab at the new paint job in our bathroom, and also after we had to liberate her of the two pencils she was using to draw on the bathroom tile. Sigh.

I'd kinda forgotten about this stage -- able to get almost anywhere, but too young to understand the rules. I don't even want to imagine the fate of our Christmas tree.

Come a Long Way

Sometimes, to remember how far you've come, you need to take a look back at where you've been. The above picture is our bathroom exactly 3 months ago.

Today, we painted it. I never thought painting would be such a milestone, but I've also never been involved with a drywalling project before. So painting is HUGE because it means the cycle of mudding the walls then sanding them smooth, then finding more spots to mud and sand is done. Jon did all of that work, and I think we were both surprised by how long it took. It gives me a whole new respect for my parents, who tore down plaster and lathe, reinsulated and then drywalled...AN ENTIRE HOUSE.

Anyway, here are some pictures. The first one shows the new color and shower tile. There's still some big work to be done -- you know, the sink, a medicine cabinet, real lights -- but I need only look at the second photo to remember how much it has already changed for the better.

The Day After

Well, I'm happy that I still have an unbroken posting streak this month, even though the title of last night's post may have been a little too literal. But hey, sitting in a friend's kitchen and typing while also carrying on a conversation kinda sucks the attention away from details like, oh, grammar and spelling and thinking too long about an appropriate title.

Come to think of it, holiday weekends must suck the attention away from blogging in general, since I'm not feeling especially prolific today either.

We're back in Milwaukee after about 2-1/2 days away from home. It was a nice break, and the kids certainly had fun, but it is always nice to be home. I sometimes wish we didn't have to travel for every single holiday, that it would be relaxing to have 4 or 5 days at home just the four of us. But, this is the life we've chosen by living where we do -- close enough to visit for every holiday, but not close enough for any of the travel to be simple day trips. Honestly, I think we're so used to it that when we don't travel for a month, I get a little antsy. It's become a regular "activity" for us the way camping or canoeing might be for other people.

Well, tomorrow's a big day. WE'RE PAINTING THE BATHROOM. Those of you familiar with our renovation saga will understand why I felt the need to go a little overboard with the capitalization there. It's a huge almost-finished sign to a 3-month-long project. One of these days, I'll have to post about this whole project...but maybe I should really leave that up to my significant other, since it has really been his project.

That's it for tonight, there's a cold Guinness (notice a holiday pattern here?) and a sci-fi geeky movie waiting for me.