GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!

That is all.

Arttix, I loathe thee.

All I wanted was a memorable night for our next anniversary. But you couldn't even give me that.

(appropriate icon? why, yes, yes it is.)

Obviously I post on my blog more often, but I thought I'd let you all know how things are if you haven't checked over there.


This is my little monkey, Nathaniel. He will be two months old on Tuesday.







the big sister keeps me very busy because she has become much more demanding recently (gee, I wonder why?)

Well, it would have been fun to have a baby born on Talk Like a Pirate Day...

Alas, there be no rugrat joining our crew today, so I'll try swabbin' the decks or something....

ARRRRR!

It's sad when you grow up and you realize some of your favorite childhood characters have deeply rooted mental issues. Maybe we got it from them?

For example, take the Winnie the Pooh characters:

Pooh: short-term memory loss
Tigger: ADHD
Piglet: general phobias
Rabbit: OCD
Eeyore: depression
Owl: narcissism

Just wanted to thank you all for your good thoughts and prayers. My grandma has decided to make a go for recovery and will be doing therapy to help get her back to living normally. She's still struggling with her speech, but she's stubborn (gee, wonder where I got that from?).

Now if you'll just direct some of those happy vibes towards my belly, I've got a stubborn little boy to get out. ^_^

yes, I'm still here (if you check my other blog, you'll see that.). Our move went great, though we're still adjusting to "city life." I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant and hoping to get this little boy here soon!

I just wanted to ask for your good thoughts, wishes, hopes, and prayers (however you see fit to do it) for my gramma, who had a stroke this morning. Some of you know how close I am to her. It's still very touch and go about any recovery, but we could use all the happy thoughts we can get right now.

in addition to the Sailor Moon tapes, I am now also offering the following:

-- a Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances) wallscroll. It's a lightweight plastic material, rather than fabric. Not bootleg.

-- collectible Kare Kano cards (in no particular order)

-- several Kare Kano manga in the original Japanese ( vols. 8, 9, 10)

-- collectible Card Captor Sakura cards (some foil and from the second movie omake)

It's not that I don't enjoy my anime items, but at this point, they're either gathering dust and taking up space, or will be ruined by little hands. I'd rather see them go to a good place. ^_^

In order to reduce the amount of things we have to pack up in this move (Ammon got a job, hooray!), I have the 3 Sailor Moon movies on VHS (original Pioneer label, not Geneon Signature Series). I will give them to whomever wants them, for the cost of shipping.

Let me know!

why in the name of all that is good and holy in this world do they have to do THIS to me?

"My Fair Lady to be a Big-Budget Remake"

And to cast HER in the title role? I wish I could say to whoever dreamed this one up, "there will be blood."

even Adobe is in on the conspiracy!

I got an email supposedly from LJ (with the subject line in Russian) that they had received a request to change my password. I didn't make this request. The links were legit, but it really really bothers me. I changed it anyway, just in case. I don't want some freak from the far corners of the earth hacking into my journal.

So if you really want to keep tabs on me, you can find me at my blog.

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm posting more at my other blog now, so that I don't overload my f-list with tons of pictures and whatnot. If you want to keep track of us, we're at http://ajallenfamily.blogspot.com.

I still like LJ for keeping in touch with friends, so I'm not going away completely (curses! some of you are saying). Plus I'm not going to renew my paid status here anymore. I need the money elsewhere right now. :P

a conversation between father and daughter:

"do you want mac & cheese for dinner?"

"no."

"do you want a cheese sandwich?"

"no."

"do you want yogurt?"

"no."

"do you want... a swift kick in the pants?"

"...please?"

(and this is where I nearly choked on my toast.)

Most of you know I'm a freelance proofreader. Without sounding too cocky, I'm pretty good at what I do. I've been doing it professionally for the last 5 years. I was trained well; in fact, I trained others to do the same thing.

That being said, it really really hurts to receive an email from the Director of Publishing Services for the composition company I work for saying that I royally messed up on a nearly 2000 page textbook and and the publisher and president of Longman are probably now throwing my name around their offices like an obscenity.

It's worse cause I can't defend myself in person and I have to keep blubbering on in emails saying how sorry I am for messing up. There's nothing else I can do about it because it was hard copy and I don't have any PDF files (aside from the ones they sent me today) to double check myself. I don't know how I missed so many blatant errors; aside from the fact that I was working on two other books and a magazine. I know now I need to pace myself better and not try to take on too much work at once.

You know, it's a good thing I wasn't also pregnant at the time. Then it really would have been a mess.

I hope this doesn't jeopardize my future work with them. I really can't afford to be out of a job right now.

Colon Cancer: The Destruction of America's Favorite Punctuation

I Can Has Masterz?: Internet Animalspeak and the Downfall of Human Society

L33tness: The Rise of a New Vocabulary

My Stupid What?: The Search for the Missing Apostrophe

The World of Internet Acronyms: Taking a Trip on the ROFLcopter


and, my personal favorite:

Killing Widows and Orphans: Assassination Tips for the 21st Century

Good morning! *shake shake shake*

It may have been in Nevada, but I felt it over here, almost 200 miles east of the epicenter. No damage, of course, but more like wondering why the bed was shaking and the window blinds were swaying.

and I'm not talking about Mickey Mouse, although he is a new favorite around here.

No, I'm talking about the food-hoarding kind that squeezes its way through tiny holes and leaves its droppings in my TOP DRAWER among my dishcloths. When I first found the food in there I was a bit puzzled because the drawer itself is too tall for Piglet to reach, so I knew it couldn't be her. She doesn't hide food anyway. Then when TLP pulled everything out from under the sink and found a pile of weeks-old leftovers (mostly stuff Piglet didn't finish), I knew we had a serious problem.

It's since been cleaned out and some d-Con is now back there, but it must be an industrial strength mouse or something, cause it hasn't died yet. Not that I'm waiting for that smell, either. One more thing to make me sick to my stomach, that's all I need. I'm hoping it doesn't die behind the lazy susan in the corner cause we won't be able to reach it if it does.

I'm off to buy a regular trap and load it up with peanut butter and oats tomorrow, just in case.

wow, two weeks into February and I haven't said anything. Yikes. Well, it has been busy. I've got work again (what was I thinking when I said yes to philosophy of science? UGH!) and a crazy little girl. Seriously, I just put her to bed and I can hear her jabbering away in her crib.

At least I have things like this to keep her busy.

I thought I'd end the month with another picture. I'm attempting to make an ABC book for Audrey and this is one of my pages.

though those left here will mourn the loss of such a wonderful and great man.

President Gordon B. Hinckley passes away at the age of 97

--Nursery is a wonderful thing -- when you're not the teacher for it. ^_^ We got to go to Sunday School today, hooray!

--Audrey learned to climb up on the chair and turn on the piano keyboard with no help.

--Here is her new list of words, bringing the total to 86 87.

marker
colors
circle
shower
cereal
table
chair
puppy
ganpa
nana
house
juice
dip
silly
shhh
ear
eye
mouth
cold
brr
bowl
peaches
snack
stuck