Lay Lady, Lay...

I love that song. It was just on, and it is one of those songs that just changes your mood entirely. It is one of those songs, at least for me, that makes me feel mellow, romantic and even kinda sad, all at the same time. It makes you want to go home and slow dance with your man (or woman, or whatever/whomever makes you happy). It has made my day. I love how a song can do that.

Things have been fine this week, although everyone in our house is sick in some way. I think our house has a sickness spell on it and I wish the gods of the winter cold would lift this pox. It is starting to make me angry.

But in brighter news, we are excited to head to Iowa Saturday, assuming we make it through any type of supposed snowstorm. Gus is going to "unwrap" his Christmas gift from us Friday night and then we will head out Saturday. I think we are getting him a farm animal play set thingy. Not sure what the exact name of the toy is, but the farm animals make sounds, and you can put them in different places in this big barn. He loves to compartmentalize things, and he loves things that make sounds, so we should have a winner.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all. I may post between Christmas and New Year's, but merry wishes to you and yours just in case. Stay safe and warm and happy.

ek

I can't think of a good title right now

Sorry, it's Monday. My brain is still waking up.

The weekend was nice. We did have the family over Saturday, even though the predicted snowfall actually happened. Fortunately, the roads were okay. The party was fun and chaotic. We ate chili, cornbread, chicken balls (they are actually really good...my mom makes them...but the name is just weird/gross), cake and other stuff. We basically pigged out and had a great time. And KU kicked butt against Ohio, so that was a nice bonus.

We leave on Saturday for Iowa. Trying to figure out who gets the job of checking on our 3 cats while we're gone. Probably our really nice neighbors who live across the street. On our trip we were going to drive into Chicago to visit Andy's Grandmother and Great Aunt, but we've decided not to. I'm kinda sad, but we'll see her again soon hopefully and hopefully we'll also get to go into the city next time.

This week I'm putting together little bags o' candy for our neighbors. Not all of them, mind you, just the ones we know. :) We do have some very lovely neighbors, so it'll be nice. I was going to make cookies, but that didn't happen. So, hopefully they like chocolate! I figure if they don't like chocolate, well, that's their loss, right?

We still need to buy Gus' xmas gift/s. Yikes, nothing like cutting it super close. I think I'm going to leave it up to Andy to run to Toys R' Us and buy something, since he works in KC. Gus already scored some cool toys from my parents this past weekend. He received the original Tickle Me Elmo and a singing bear (the bear sings a Barry White song...it's weird and hilarious). Gus loves them both, but he especially loves the Barry White bear. The bear sings (and dances to), "Your my first, my last, my everything..." It's really funny. He also scored some much-needed pajamas and an outfit from my parents. Oh, and he got a Thomas the Train toy, which he likes.

Anyway, have a good Monday.

ek

Chili and cake...and snow?

We're supposed to have my family over tomorrow for our "Curtis Christmas" (mom, dad, sisters and niece and nephews). But it's also supposed to snow like mad here tomorrow, so I'm afraid the fam won't make the trip to Lawrence. I'll be bummed. I've been looking forward to this for awhile, and we won't see my family over Christmas since we'll be in Iowa. I guess we'll see what happens. We're supposed to get 5-6", which is crazy for Kansas, I think. But I think it's always a bit of a crapshoot, so we'll see.

But if we do have this party, I'm making a big pot o' veggie chili and a birthday cake for my sisters and Andy. Kerry and Andy both share a birthday with baby Jesus, and my older sister, Shana, celebrates 35 years on December 26. Lots of Capricorn action up in here. So, I'm making a lemon raspberry 3-layer cake with cream cheese frosting. If it turns out well, I might even take a photo of it for the blog. I never bake, so I'm excited to try it out. It'll be semi-homeade, which will make it easier. I think it'll be good. I think I'm going to make a veggie chili and then give folks the option to melt goat cheese in their chili. Andy and I tried this last time I made chili and it was SO GOOD. I love goat cheese. Shout out to epicurious.com and foodnetwork.com for their recipes.

Anyway, hopefully we won't be stuck with a giant pot of chili and a 3-layer cake tomorrow with no one to eat it. If no one comes over, maybe I'll take some around to the neighbors. That would be so weird and hilarious.

Have a great Friday!

Oh, Gus is currently reading to himself in his room. It's so cute. His little chipmunk voice is awesome. Earlier he dialed some random number on the phone and then handed it to me, as if to say, "It's for you!" Cracks me up.

ek

It's quiet here

It's so quiet at work right now, and it's going to be a ghosttown soon. It's finals week at KU, so the students are tucked away, doing what they do during finals week. I see very few of them, and when I do, I'm reminded of the sleep-deprived days of final exams. They look like zombies. I don't miss that. Next week the students will be gone for holiday break (for a month), so it'll certainly be quiet here. Most faculty leave for a month, too. It is nice, but sometimes I miss the activity. If it's too quiet, I just get really sleepy.

Not much to report. Andy is in Austin until tomorrow. It's been fun hanging with August, but lately he has been screaming to get my attention, and it's not cool. I try to reason with him, but so far that hasn't worked. I've just been ignoring it as much as possible, b/c I've read that's the best way to deal with tantrums or screaming. It's hard, though, b/c it kills my nerves. I've caught myself a couple of times telling Gus in my stern librarian voice, "Okay, this is really disrespectful and it's most unattractive, as well." Ha! After I say it, I always either roll my eyes or laugh outloud at myself b/c I sound so silly talking to a toddler like that. I'm sure later it'll come in handy to be reasonable and somewhat calm, but for now, the only thing that actually works is saying "No!" very firmly and not cracking a smile. Or ignoring him. That really makes him mad and he usually stops. Anyway, he's a wonderful kid and I love him like a momma should, but the screaming...oh, lordy! Fun times. Fun times.

I'm running to get a space heater today...for my office. During the holiday break the powers that be at the University think it's cool to shut down the heat almost completely while the students and faculty are gone. Hello...what about staff? So I'm taking matters into my own hands. I want a green space heater, so we'll see how fancy I can get. :) It'll be better than wearing my coat at work.

I'm listening to Pandora radio right now and sometimes they just miss the mark. I wish Pandora could read my every mood, b/c this Cat Stevens song is not doing it for me right now. Skip...

Oh, here's an awesome photo of August eating lunch. He gets really excited when he makes a huge mess. Ah, my little man. Ignore me in this photo...it's not the most attractive angle.

ek

Sick of being sick...Happy Holidays!

I've been sick since Thursday, and it's getting old. I have a really nasty cold + fluish stuff, too, so it's no fun. I think I caught my cold from Gus, but for all I know, we've just been passing it all back and forth to each other. Andy has yet to succumb to the bug, so that's good, especially since he has to travel this week to Texas.

The weekend was nice, even though I didn't feel that great. I felt terrible on Thursday night and basically went to bed around 8:30pm or so. Friday wasn't that much better, but I still went to Andy's work holiday party. It was nice, but my stomach was killing me, so I was afraid to eat anything b/c of that. The food was awesome, too. After the really nice dinner I immediately went to bed. Andy stayed up with his co-workers and had a good time, so that is good. I felt bad for being a party-pooper, but I felt like crap at that point. All I wanted to do was curl up in bed, which is exactly what I did. I was kinda sad b/c I bought a special dress and shoes for the party, and I literally had them on for about 3 hours. And Andy's work holiday parties are amazing...they do it up. They have a catered fancy meal at a hotel, and everyone goes all out on their outfits. Andy said that it was like prom for grownups, and he wasn't joking. It is always really fun to see the different outfits. There were over 700 folks there, and they feed you, let you drink from an open bar all night long (until 1am) and then most people do afterhours drinking after the bar closes, and they put everyone up at the hotel. They also have a 70's band playing music all night. So, it's really fun. I wish I could've enjoyed more of it. There's always next year.

Saturday the weather was iffy, so my family's xmas thing was off (although the weather never really turned into the "WINTER WEATHER STORM!" all the weather folks were promising). My father-in-law and sister-in-law, Lindsey, were in town so they came over with Anthony (Lindsey's boyfriend) and we all hung out and watched the awesome KU game and ate pizza and mexican food. My stomach felt better by Saturday, so that was good. I was starting to get really bitchy b/c I couldn't enjoy a damn thing to eat. I really love to eat, so it was nice to pig out again. Lindsey is moving from Iowa to Kansas City, so we are psyched. She found a nice apartment downtown (she's working downtown, too), so that was good. Anthony is a PhD student at KU, so it'll be awesome to have them both here for awhile. Here's Anthony reading to Gus...Gus loves Anthony and vice versa. Although Gus doesn't recognize Anthony when he puts his glasses on, so that's funny. He left his glasses off this weekend, so all was well.

Yesterday we finally got our Christmas tree and we got a good deal. The tree was marked at $20, but it was obviously mismarked b/c it was a pretty big tree. So the guy sold it to us for $30, and after we paid for it we found out it was supposed to be a $55 tree. So we got a deal. As Andy put it, "Yahoo, we ripped off the Optimist Club!" The Optimist Club is a philanthropic organization...we felt kinda bad. But the dude helping us just said, "Oh, come back next year and buy from us." So, we will. As long as the Hy-Vee parking lot has trees, we'll be customers. It's a lovely tree. I've posted a photo here. I tried to get a photo of Gus in front of the tree, but as you can see, he wouldn't stand still. He's really into touching (very gently, I might add...at least for now) the ornaments. We often say, "Be gentle" when he's by the tree. We say that to Gus when he is around the cats, too, but so far he likes to smack the cats more than pet them. Anyway, I digress...Most every time Gus walks into the living room, he stops to look at the tree and quietly says, "Whoaaaa...." It's freaking hilarious. He's really into saying "Whoa..." Andy thinks he sounds like Joey from Blossom.

That's it from me. Gotta run and blow the ol' nose. Nasty, I know, but it is what it is. Stay warm!

ek

Oh, p.s. Gus' 15-month check up went really well. He had to get 3 shots and just cried a little bit. He was more mad than sad about the shots. The doc said he's in the 80% for weight (27 lbs 4 oz) and 66% for height. Dr. Riordan said, "He's what we call a big boy." If I had known all this back when Gus was 3 weeks old and not gaining sufficient weight, I think I would've had a few less anxiety attacks. I can barely remember when he wasn't gaining weight properly! And that didn't last long...once he (we!) figured it all out, he never looked back. He's been a little buddha ever since.

Feed Me, Seymour!

Okay, I had to post this b/c it's pretty funny. I just called my daycare provider to tell her I'm going to pick Gus up a bit early today, and when she picked the phone up all I could hear was Gus screaming at the top of his lungs. I know that scream. It's the "feed me now or die" scream. I laughed uncomfortably and asked Jen if that was Gus. She confirmed it was him and he wanted his food (it was lunch time). She seemed to think it was as funny as I thought it was, but ooops, sorry Jen! He's a really mellow little dude most of the time, but when he's hungry, seriously, watch out. He'll freak on you if you don't feed him immediately. I can totally relate. Speaking of food, I'm off to lunch.

ek

Okay, ready for spring already

So, I'm hard to please. I wanted winter to arrive and it has. Now it seems the winter has brought with it a variety of nasty colds and sickness to our house, so, BE GONE, winter. Enough already. Gus has had some type of cold for the past month or two. It comes, then it's back, never really leaving us in peace. Now I've caught his nasty cold and I don't feel 100% on top of all of that, so it's fun. And by "fun" I mean it's not fun. Maybe I'm just cranky, b/c, wellllllll, I tend to get cranky when not feeling well. And Gus' rash is freaking back. I actually found myself scolding the rash the other day...yes, I was talking to my toddler's face rash. I think I said something like, "Go away, leave my child alone" or something relatively insane like that. I'm going to see if the dermatologist can move our appointment up. I just want a magic cream to make it go away. I had one, but we had to lay off it b/c it's supposedly pretty potent when used for more than 2 weeks at a time. That kinda freaked me out a little. But it worked, so go figure.

Anyway, sorry for the Negative Nancy outburst...otherwise things are good. This weekend is going to be busy. Tomorrow we have Gus' 15-month check up (even though he turns 16 months old today). He has to get more shots, so I hope he manages. He's usually pretty good, though. And his doctor sometimes takes us to the room with the electric train that runs around the room, so that always distracts Gus. I hope we get that room. Oh, and we have to take the good old Buick in for a check up, too. Babies and cars...check. And then I have to clean my house a bit b/c it's grossing me out. And tomorrow night is the Perceptive Software holiday party, so that'll be fun. Saturday Dave Dierks (gpa) is coming into town for a bit so we're going to a pancake feed with him. And Saturday my dad's side of the family is having their Christmas potluck in Eudora, so we'll pig out a that and see all the cousins on the Curtis side of the family. And there are lots of kids, so it'll be fun and totally chaotic. All of this and still no Christmas tree for us. We've been so busy. I think we'll pick that up Sunday. And my college friend, Brad, who is from KC but lives in L.A., is coming into town this weekend so I hope to see him. I haven't seen him, well, I think since our wedding in 2002, so it's been awhile!

Hope you all have a good one. Bundle up.

ek