And, 2 years later!

Oh my.  It's been over 2 years since my last blog.  I was thinking that I should blog again to write about those things that I'm thinking about that I can't really send to anyone in an e-mail, really, as it just wouldn't make sense. 
Anyway, so I had another birthday this week.  It was pretty uneventful (thankfully, actually).  Another year older and to go with that, more grey hair.
I have a question for anyone who is over 30 years old.  Is that the turning point from being a young person - when  you start to get old and crackity and cranky?  It seems like that's what is happening to me.  My knee hurts when I walk up stairs.  Injuries don't heal as quickly.  Sometimes, something will just hurt for no reason.  - And, I don't know if it is just me - it might be because everyone is different, but even though there were responsibilities before, doesn't it seem like there are more after you turn 30?  Ugh!

Getting older by the minute, until next time.

New chapter / page / etc - or... my experiences in the new adventures of staying up late and getting up early, who needs sleep phase

Today is the last day of my maternity leave. Yes, that's right! It's been a long time.

My life has changed so much in the last year. Well, I can't say that it hasn't been changing all of my life - but with everything else that I've experienced this has been the most life changing event. This trumps my getting married, even.

On August 25, 2010, the most wonderful thing happened. Mike and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. And, you know - people used to say that having a child is like nothing else in the world - that you love them more than anything else. It's true! On her first day in the world I realized that I loved her already. I loved her so much that I can't even explain it. I felt (and feel) like every moment that passes is one that we'll never get back with our daughter - what a strange word that is - my daughter. I have a daughter! She is amazing and she has changed my life forever.

When I was pregnant, I wasn't so sure that I was going to like this having a baby thing. I mean, would I like taking care of a baby more than going to the gym, taking classes, working on computers, and walking the dog? How about my freedom to take off for a weekend on a moments notice? I do think that I'll miss some of the freedom. But, it's so worth it. Will I enjoy spending every moment I can with my daughter? Absolutely. Now I have someone to share the things I love with (in addition to my husband, of course) - haha. And, she's not like the dog, you can bring her in the store with you - she can travel too!

I decided to take a few minutes today and blog - mostly because my husband commented on one of my posts a couple weeks ago reminding me that I have a blog and because I guess it is a way to document how I'm feeling now and also because I could be cleaning the house, which I never can seem to do these days.

The last day of maternity leave... the last full day by myself with my little girl - who is currently napping by the way. She usually takes a good nap in the morning, even though her waking time varies. Tomorrow my in-laws are coming to visit and my mother-in-law will be staying with us for a week to take care of the baby while we are at work. This will help me to establish a routine with the baby for the following week when she will be going to daycare. I visited daycare the other day and am happy that she is going to a place where she can learn and socialize but I'm also sad that I'm going to miss all of that time with her. In a way, I think having the time away from the baby will make me a better mom though... by this I mean - sometimes, after taking care of her all day long - not to sound like a bad mom, or at least I hope I don't - I am playing with her, figuring out what she needs, making sure she is fed, worrying about her and sometimes, after a while - I do love taking care of her - but I don't feel like playing or talking in a fun voice when she is ready to play late at night. Sometimes, I am ready to relax and am so tired but she wants to play and I try - but I'm probably not as fun of a mommy as I could be. So, I think going back to work will help us get in routine and help me be more fun when I am with her... and maybe stop me from laying down next to the crib in her nursery as a break from exhaustion, or maybe cause me to do that more often - who knows.

No sleep, haha - I had plenty of preparation for this from when I was on call! At least the person who I need to help is not in India.

Anyway, I'll leave this blog post by saying - I'm looking forward to enjoying my daughter. It's also true about what they say about time - it goes by so quickly, like my maternity leave has. I can't believe she is 9 weeks old.

And, speaking of her - she is starting to wake up... and I need to get on with cleaning as we have company coming!

Relaxing day

So, a lot has been going on lately so I decided not to do anything too much today - just whatever came up but no plans. I had a couple options - a group of friends were going to Ithaca to see a band and another group was going to see the movie "Watchmen" but I decided to stay around home and go out shopping by myself as I have not done that in a while.
This morning I got up at 8, fed Sam and ate last night's left over dessert (I had a Pampered Chef party last night which might be why I decided that I wanted some down time today) and watched "Good Morning America". I never watch TV. Today I did.

Then, sometime before 9 and while listening to the weatherman say that it was going to be beautiful in the morning and not so beautiful in the afternoon (we had a high of 50 today - woo hoo! Muddy mud everywhere) I took Samuel for a run around the neighborhood which was wonderful. We enjoyed what sunshine there was and then came inside for breakfast.

I hung around with Mike and did some browsing on the internet.
I went shopping around 4pm and got back a while ago. What a crazy place Marshalls is on a Saturday - so many people.

Well, Mike just called and wants me to go over and play some card games with friends. Should be a good time although all of this "relaxing" has made me very tired!

More cold

After yoga tonight I took Samuel around the block. That is as far as we could go, however. It's 3 degrees here so Samuel started lifting his feet and looking at them. He was trying to explain that his feet were freezing with his facial expressions and then he realized - my ears are freezing too! So he shook his head vigourously.
I said, "Come on Sammy - let's go!" and he and I ran a 1/4 block until we were almost home. I guess his threshold is the same as mine - I don't like going out when it's less than 15-20 degrees.
Tomorrow's Friday thank goodness. It's been a fairy busy week at work - just a lot going on not anything in particular. People are getting together at a friend's house to watch that movie "Wally". I watched it a couple weeks ago when I decided to make pizza and invited my mom and brother over for the experiment. Turned out pretty good actually and I think I'm making pizza again this weekend. I don't know if I'm going to watch the movie or not but it was really a good movie. "Eva!" "Wally!"
We've been thinking about buying a new house recently as this one is kind of small and if kids are in our future we may need more room. Plus - it has a couple quirks (as any house does I know). For example, it's cold because it's not well insulated and the windows are old and the basement occasionally has water issues. We've done a lot to it though - like painting the outside and having some people install a new roof with plywood and everything. Do you know we can't into our attic here? That's so strange - there is this space above us that we'll never look at. Well, I guess the roofers took a look up there. I wonder if they found any insulation.
Anyway - so, since we've been thinking about getting a new house I signed us up for this mailing list where they send e-mails based on your requirements and you look at them and then if you want to go see them then you call up the realtor and say, "I want to view x house". We haven't decided what ones we want to look at yet but I'm getting ready! Oh yea.
You know how you have all of these things that are not fixed but you really should fix them but, eh - they really don't matter because it's just for looks? Well, we had our toilet upstairs leak (I know, gross, but it wasn't what you are thinking - kind of clean water leaking from a seal and wrecking the ceiling below) anyway - so one night I'm in my office and I hear this "drip, drip" - the paint on the ceiling was holding I don't know - like 2 liters of water. I yelled up the stairs to Mike - and we ended up draining the water into a bucket and ripping the paint off of the ceiling because it was now loose from being full of water. It was like that for a year or so - and since I'm thinking about how we are going to have to sell our house I decided to patch it up and fix it.
I used putty to clean it up a bit before the holidays and last night I used primer to assure no staining and painted the spot with celing paint.
That was a pretty large story for a small point - right?
Ugh, that's all for now. More blogging soon.
Onward.

Freezing Rain and Snow and other Randedomness

Samuel and I just returned from our nightly adventure through the neighborhood. Tonight we had the chance to ski and slide through the streets. It rained all day today - freezing rain and just wet rain all which turns into slush when snowed upon. I do like it when the weather changes - also, I like it when the scenery changes for our walks.

All through December houses in our neighborhood were decorated with lights and yard ornaments. One yard "blow up" contraption actually sang to us. It was the Christmas band. Mike commented that it must have been driving the neighbors nuts - though, I don't think anyone would have heard it with the windows closed. Only crazy kooks like me who walk around at night to exercise and deengergize their animals. There was another house that we dubbed the "North Pole" as it had so many decorations throughout the yard. You could see it from the main road and it was at the end of one of the horseshoes that make up our neighborhood. And then there was the house with the horribly bold blue lights.

Anyway, now everyone has taken down the decorations and everyone's yards are covered in snow with an ice coating. The whole road is slippery so if you run and stop fast with your feet like a skateboarder you skid across the slush. There is a tree about every three houses on the curb. Old Christmas trees now forgotten. However, Samuel thinks that they are a thing of interest! Not for peeing like you are thinking though. He never picked that habit up. I'm glad about that. Sniffing discarding Christmas trees is a luxury in the dog world.

So, I was supposed to go to the Linux Meetup group tonight. I decided that I was going to go after I heard the weather forecast this morning. It probably would have been fine driving home but I just did not feel like driving through it tonight.

I'm studying for a Linux certification - probably RHCT if I can find out a place where you can take the test locally. From just looking quick on RedHat's site the closest location to take the test is in NY. I'm probably going to call them to see if there is a site closer.
I guess the RHCT test is pretty hard and most people fail it the first time. I would be very disappointed to travel to another city and fail the test. I would prefer to take one of the workshops first or at least take an example test so I know what I'm getting myself into. I've been studying a little for the test but the material is kind of dry especially since most of it is review. I wouldn't mind doing the training a different way - like "hey, setup this server" and use the following commands. I like figuring things out.

We never did go X-Country skiing on Dec. 27 by the way. Didn't want to drive out somewhere far and discover that the trails were closed. I did go snowshoeing last Friday night by moonlight to some old WW2 bunkers and co-hosted a group of snowshoers on Sunday with some people who just wanted to try it out at Beaver Lake. Fun winter times.

So, what's next?

Thoughts

Mike and I were planning on going to Highland Forest today to go Cross Country Skiiing. Well, it decided to get extremely warm - a balmy 36 degrees - so, it's raining. Not exactly good for skiing across snow. We might be able to slide down in the slush or something.

We'll see - I'm going to check a few sites online. Sometimes we can travel up north a bit and it will be perfect. I actually do not mind it being a little warmer - I won't go out if it is below 15 degrees.

I have raynaud's, a condition where the blood vessels in my hands and feet constrict not allowing blood to the fingers and toes. I have to be really careful making sure that I have hand warmers and toe warmers available during all winter activities - or fall or spring or cold night activities for that matter. Heck - sometimes I even have a problem inside my house when walking on the cold floor or opening the refridgerator. What a pain it is really...

Anyway - yea, were planning to do some outdoor activity. Should be fun.

Sameul is sitting next to me right now and I can tell that he wants to play with his tough toy frisbee because he is using it for a pillow. A minute ago he was pushing it into my lap as to say "Will you throw this please?" or "Just try and get this toy from me" - I threw it to him a couple of times.

I'm listening to pandora right now. You ever do that? It's streaming so not good to do at work necessarily but it's pretty cool for home. So - go to the site - make your own radio based on an artist that you like. I typed in "Moby" - now I'm listening to "Moby radio". Basically you get to hear a lot of different music in the same genre.

Last night Mike and I went to Santangelo's on Old Liverpool road. I was so full afterwards. Good Italian food.

Oh - and thank goodness the holidays are almost over.. there is always a couple of weeks before Christmas where I am always thinking about the proper thing to do in regards to gifts. I want to make sure that everyone is happy but then eventually I realize that the whole worry process is silly because most of my family would be happy no matter what I get them. I give that advice to other people. My brother called me at work on Christmas Eve - "What would mom like better - silver or gold jewelry?" - I told him either way would probably be fine but that I know she wears a gold ring but I had gotten her a silver necklace. He ended up getting her a watch that had both gold and silver on it. That works.

Brrrr - it's freezing in here. I bet it's 70 according to the thermostat though. It seems like this house is just cold sometimes.

Anyway - I hope that everyone had a really good holiday. I'm looking forward to New Years.

Thank you to the Anonymous Snowboarder for blogging inspiration - however, who are you?

Wondering

So, it's that time of year again when things get really stressful for most everyone I think. And, it's not just the Christmas holiday that is the problem. It's like everything must be done by the end of December. Well, OK, so we'll have to really celebrate New Years this year.
Hope everyone's holidays are good.