It was all going so well!

Today was going pretty well until around 3 this afternoon. I had my yearly physical this morning and W went over to a neighbor's house to play with her kids during my appointment. He didn't fuss once. Hurrah! We got home around 11 and he took a nap for nearly 3 hours. Hurrah! When he got up, he really wanted to go outside, but it was really rainy. I could tell that he wasn't going to have a "nice, quiet afternoon" so I got online and found an indoor play center just north of Princeton. I loaded him into the car and off we went. Not five minutes from our house, the "check engine" light came on in my car. Ugh. That is the LAST thing we need right now... I called Mike to see if he wanted me to take it straight to a mechanic or take it straight home. He opted for taking it straight home, so home we went. I hated to even bother him with this not-so-good news, seeing as how he had a root canal this morning, but there wasn't any way around it. When we got home, it was still raining, but W would not be satisfied with just coming inside. I let him run around a little bit in the rain since it wasn't especially cold. He went down the slide once, but decided that wasn't such a good idea since it was so wet. When we finally did get inside, both of us were soaked, so both of us got into comfy clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, stacking blocks and listening to music. Not a bad day, all things considered.
I'm just stressed about the car and what might be wrong with it. Sigh.

Deleted post

I deleted the post with the picture of Gwyneth Paltrow because the picture wasn't available anymore. Since the whole point of the post was to show the picture, there wasn't any point in having the post up anymore. Sorry if you missed it; I think you can find it on Perez.
In more serious matters, check out this piece from the NYT. It's about Laura Berg's 2005 letter to her local weekly alternative paper, The Alibi (think Jackson Free Press-style paper). Berg is a psychiatric nurse for the VA and is being threatened with charges of sedition. Sedition? That's right, sedition. As in promoting rebellion against the government. Those of you who remember anything from high school American history will recall the Alien and Sedition Acts from 1798, which were basically just the Federalists' way to silence the voices of opposing factions, namely, the Democratic-Republicans, as well as to get rid of foreigners living in the US that voiced discontent with American policies.
Anyway, so this nurse wrote a letter to The Alibi voicing her extreme displeasure with the way the Bush Administration had handled the Katrina disaster and the ongoing Iraq conflict. You can read the text of the letter here. Someone at the VA didn't like what she had to say and, under the pretense that she was using her VA computer to write this letter, initiated an investigated. So this letter got passed along to the powers-that-be and it wound up in the hands of the FBI, which investigated Berg for sedition. Sedition? I think not. Just an everyday person who had the courage and the eloquence to say what many of us (myself included) have been thinking the whole time. The point of all this is that she's been awarded $10,000 by the PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award for her letter and subsequent struggles. Good for her.

New machine

I got a new sewing machine yesterday. It's actually a used one, but I got a great deal on it. It would retail for over $400 and I paid $150. It's a Huskystar 219 and it's made by the Viking company (you know, the stoves). I haven't used it yet, but I have big plans for it this week.

Oh, the insanity!

As if gas prices weren't already high enough... Bush is hell-bent on picking a fight with Iran before his term's up, and this only bolsters his resolve. Insane.

U.S. cargo ship fires warning shots in Persian Gulf, Navy says

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A U.S.-contracted cargo ship fired warning shots in the Persian Gulf at two small patrol boats believed to be from Iran, U.S. Navy officials said Friday.

The crew of the Westward Venture, which was under contract to the U.S. government, reported that it radioed a warning and fired flares before resorting to warning shots Thursday, the officials said.

The ship carried a Navy mobile security team that is authorized to respond to perceived threats, as do all military-contracted ships in the 5th Fleet's area of command in the waters surrounding the turbulent Middle East and East Africa, the Navy said.

The cargo vessel was en route to Kuwait and about 50 miles from the Iranian coast, according the reports.

The Revolutionary Guard, part of Iran's military, says no such incident took place, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have been high this year. The United States and Iran, which have no diplomatic relations and blame each other for problems in Iraq, have had at least two other tense incidents in the Gulf since January.

This month, the U.S. military reported that three small Iranian boats approached the patrol ship USS Typhoon in a "taunting manner." Two of the boats turned away, but one came within 200 yards of the Typhoon, prompting a crew member to fire a warning flare.

Through its state-run news agency, Iran denied reports of the April 10 incident, saying the U.S. media "tries to portray the Persian Gulf as a turbulent area in order to prepare the grounds for the permanent presence of U.S. forces in the region."

On January 6, five boats belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guard "harassed and provoked" three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel leading into and out of the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military said.

Though the United States deemed the encounter "significant," an Iranian official told Iran's state-run media that it was not a serious incident.

TGI...T

That's right. TGIT. Thank Goodness It's Thursday. Since Mike works Sunday through Thursday, today is sort of like Friday for us. It's a good thing, since I am worn out from W. The weather has been beautiful this week, so we've spent most of our time outside. This is a good thing, of course, but he is in constant motion and is always trying to run off where I can't see him, which isn't good.

Irresponsible journalism?

How can a network call a race when the polls have been closed for a little over an hour?
Have they forgotten the 2000 debacle? HELLO!!!
Oh, and since it's so en vogue to put "-gate" after anything controversial (ie, Watergate, Monicagate, Bittergate), I have a suggestion for what to call the situation between the Democrats and their fight for delegates: deleGATE.

Too much

This is just too much.
What's next? Charging for oxygen masks?
Air travel is hellatious enough as it is. This just means people will be trying to carry on more and more crap, not only making security lines worse, but also making it more difficult and time-consuming to get on and off the plane.

D-day for Pennsylvanians

Decision day, that is. Pennsylvania's presidential primary is today. That's all I've heard about in the news the past month, seeing as how we pick up Philly news stations here and all our ads contain Hillary or Obama. It's pretty much do-or-die for both candidates... Hillary is out of money; Obama desperately needs to win Pennsylvania's delegates. For more on the importance on this particular primary, click here.

Taste and See

We made it to church yesterday, believe it or not. I was really able to enjoy the service since we left W in such a good humor in the nursery. In honor of Earth Day, one of the hymns was "For the Beauty of the Earth", which is one of my all-time favorites. The pastor's message was thought-provoking (as usual) and both Mike and I were able to extract good stuff from it. The pastor's sermon was titled "Taste and See" and was based on 1 Peter 2:2-10, which is pretty chock-full of illustrative stuff (tasting the goodness of God, Jesus as the cornerstone of the Church, the community of believers, etc). The pastor hit on all those points, but the part that really hit home for me was the first part. It had to do with consumption (again, appropriate considering that Earth Day is Tuesday). He spoke of one of the so-called "Seven Deadly Sins", gluttony. When I think of gluttony, I think of over-indulgence in something, usually food. The pastor pointed out that gluttony is not necessarily over-indulging in, say, food. Rather, it is putting too much importance on food--either over- or under-consumption.
Huh.
Okay, so this made sense to me, as a person who sometimes (still) struggles with the desire to under-consume. I know that when I was deep into my eating disorder, food (avoiding it) was the center of my life. Most of my thoughts revolved around food--how to avoid eating it, how to lie about what I had or had not eaten, how hungry I was, how "proud" I was of myself for avoiding food... You get the idea. Anyway, food had taken over my life. I had a spiritual and psychological hunger. At that point in my life, I was a glutton. I turned away from everything that had previously made me happy and content. I needed nourishment (spiritual and physical, really) but didn't see how to get it since my mind and soul were focused elsewhere.
So where does that take us with 1 Peter? Well, God gives us gifts (food, family, friends, the earth, etc) to enjoy. Our job, as humans, is to taste/experience these gifts and enjoy them. We are to take care of them, be good stewards. The pastor asked, "Would we really need as much if we really tasted (enjoyed) what we had?" Good question. I don't think so. I look at W's toy box and see it overflowing with toys he rarely plays with. His favorites are near the top and stacked to the side, but the majority of the stuff in there is ignored. Whose fault is that? Mine. A lot of times, I buy him a new toy not because he is bored with his current selection, but because I am bored with his current selection. I kind of think that's how society at large operates, though. Maybe it's just human nature.
Which brings us back to the pastor's message and God's desire for us to turn to Him. The last verse in the passage mentions the people's reception of God's mercy, something all of us have a shot at. Shouldn't that be enough?

Photographs

When we were in MS this past March, we had some professional portraits made by Melanie Thortis, the photographer with whom Mike worked at the Rankin Ledger. We received the CD with the pictures on it over the weekend and they are FANTASTIC. W was pretty fussy throughout the shoot, as it was late in the afternoon and he was tired, but you can't really tell. She took the pictures at my parents' house, mainly in the backyard.
Here's a sampling:

R.I.P.

Let's all take a moment of silence to memorialize the passing of my sewing machine.
On Friday night, in the midst of making liners for my matchstick shades, it quit working. I took it to the repair shop in Saturday, where they regretfully informed me that the gears were shot and that it would cost $189, plus parts, to fix it. It's at least 30, maybe 40, years old, so I don't think I'm going to go that route. It'll be cheaper to get a new one, but that's going to have to wait until next month, because the ol' bank account can't handle it till then.
So if anyone has a machine s/he loves/hates, please let me know, because I'm in the "research" phase of this purchase. Singer? Brother? Pfaff? Elna? Bernina? White? I'm overwhelmed!

Rolling over

Don't you know Jerry Clower is rolling over in his grave over this!

This... is....

That's right, Jeopardy. A few months ago, I took the online contestant test. Well, I received an email last night saying that I had done well enough on the test to qualify for an in-person interview/audition for the show. So on May 29, I'm heading into NYC to do just that! Wish me luck!
Now I need to get to studying some random facts....

We FINALLY uploaded pictures!

We hadn't uploaded pictures from our camera to the computer since Easter, so here are some pictures of things I've been working on lately. Also, here are some recent (well, a month ago) pictures of W.
Here is the pillow I made out of the Spring Line-Up cross stitch I did.
Here's a side view of the pillow. By the way, this was the first thing I sewed on my sewing machine! Not bad, huh?
Here are the shirts I embroidered for the church's silent auction that was held last Friday night.
Here's a picture of Mike and W from our visit to the Gulf Coast. We spent a few days there visiting his parents when we went down to MS for Easter.
There's a really cool kids' museum in Gulfport. W had a great time exploring all the neat stuff they had.
There was a "train" that W enjoyed. He liked putting the "coal" into the "fire box". The coal was actually chunks of black foam.
There was an "airplane" that W liked piloting. He really likes steering wheels. He let Mike co-pilot for a little while.
Here's W challenging his Grandpa Bobbly to a rousing game of Tic Tac Toe.

Outside the museum they had some nice play structures. One was supposed to be a train. Here's W crawling through one of the train "cars".
Totally unrelated, here's W's first self portrait. He knows how the camera works; I found him with it a few weeks ago and he was taking his own picture with it. Very nice.

I got WHAT?!

Tagged. That's right. Tagged.
Here goes, as per Mama Can-Can:

I got TAGGED!

The rules are:
1. the rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. at the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago: trudging through my Senior year at BHS... Ready to get OUT and head to Smith!

Five things on my to do list today (since it's after 7 pm, this is actually stuff I got done today--minus #2, which has yet to be done):
1. Take W to story time at B&N
2. Do 2 loads wash
3. call my mom
4. get outside and enjoy the beautiful day
5. shower--didn't get one yesterday

I enjoy:
cross stitching, sewing, gardening, reading, working sudoku/crosswords, spending time with friends and family

Three of my bad habits:

-not checking voicemail

-nibbling at cuticles (on thumbs these days--it used to be all ten of 'em!) when anxious/stressed

-not keeping in touch with friends

I have lived:
Brandon, MS

Northampton, MA

Alexandria, VA

Washington, DC

Jackson, MS

Pearl, MS

Lawrenceville, NJ

I want to know more about (a nice way of saying TAG!):
I don't know... Anyone who would do this, I 'spose.

1.Rani
2.Will
3.Frances
4.Kate (my favorite secret-reader)
5.Andie (another favorite reader)

That's all. Over and out.

April 9

April 9 is a sacred day for me for two reasons. Eleven years ago, on April 9, 1997, my dear friend Evan killed himself. On April 9, 2003, I was released from Renaissance (the place I went to for treatment for my eating disorder). It's the day he chose to die, but the day I chose to live. To today is a big day for me--Five years of working on my recovery! I posted a while back about all of this, so I won't go on right now. To see that post again, click here.

Last night

Well, we went out last night and had a nice time. We did not, in fact, wind up seeing a movie. We were planning to see Leatherheads, but when I was checking showtimes, I read some reviews, none of which were very favorable. We thought about seeing another movie, 21 or The Bank Job, but in the end, settled for having a low-key late dinner at TGIFriday's while watching the Final Four on the big screen TVs at the bar. We wandered around Barnes and Noble for a little while, too, which was pleasant. When we got home, we peeked in through the window to see Justin, the babysitter, sandwiched between a sleeping Maggie and sleeping Kramer on the sofa. It's nice to know they miss us when we're gone... Yeah right!
Big score of the day: I needed new athletic shoes. I had been wearing the same pair of New Balances for a ridiculously long time and needed a new pair, not necessarily a fancy-schmancy pair, for the gym. So I got some Asics at Kohl's today. When I tried them on, they fit great. It was hard to tell how much they cost (of course) so I went to the "price check" kiosk. Originally $69--on clearance for $13.99. What?! They had two pairs left, both in my size. I guess not that many people wear 6-and-a-half?? Really, I should have gotten both pairs, I suppose, to have another pair when this pair goes ka-put. But I didn't think of that then--I was so thrilled about my great deal. This is what my shoes look like, except that they're purple where the blue is:
I also got a silly t-shirt in the juniors section. It's incredibly tacky, but I love it. It's got characters from Sesame Street all over it. W loves it. It's definitely a "wear around the house" shirt, not only because of the design on it, but also the fit. You know how all the stuff in juniors is incredibly tight... The largest size they had was a large, and it fits me like a glove. No dryer for this shirt! I hate my shirts being uber-tight, so I won't be wearing it out in public. But it's a great shirt. It makes me happy.

Tonight

Mike and I have a Hot Date tonight. After W goes to bed, the son of one of our neighbors (the ones who don't do Halloween) is coming over to babysit and Mike and I are going to the movies. I don't know the last time we saw a movie together. Prior to seeing Juno back in February with my friend Rebecca, the last movie I had seen was Fahrenheit 9/11, and that was in 2003 and I was by myself. We are going to see Leatherheads, with George Clooney, Renee Zellweger and John Krasinski.
We got the backyard planted yesterday. I'm cautiously optimistic about my plants. I'll post updates as things progress.

Surprise?!

And this comes as a surprise to WHO?!
Did he not find a car dealership to attach his name to on the Coast?

This is too much!

Maybe I'm the last person on the planet to hear about this, but I just wanted to share:
New Kids on the Block reuniting
Yes, it's for real. It's not April Fool's, I promise.
And check out the accompanying picture: Danny Wood looks goofier than ever.

It's been three years?!

Yesterday was our three year wedding anniversary. Since the three year gift is leather, I got Mike a new black belt to wear for work. I got a new wallet to match the purse he got me for my birthday (which, to be proper, is fabric, but it's a wallet, which is usually leather, so it works). Our real gift to one another is a newly-landscaped backyard, which we're going to start really working on this weekend if the weather cooperates. Keep your fingers crossed.

Mahna mahna

W absolutely loves this song. It's on one of our classic Sesame Street albums; he actually "sings" along with it. When we were out to dinner over the weekend and he started getting fussy, all I had to do was start singing "Mahna mahna" and all was well.

It's been 10 years?!

That's right. My 10 year high school reunion is fast approaching. I just got the scoop on it today. It's scheduled for July 19, which stinks for 2 reasons:

1. July 19 is W's 2nd bday
2. my mom will be here from July 17 till July 23

I'm a little irritated that it's schedule so soon. Most of my classmates are still in MS, so it's not a big deal for them to make it. For me, though, it's different. Airfare has gotten more expensive over the past few months, and Continental just announced (as I posted earlier) that they're getting rid of the non-stop flight from Newark to Jackson.
Awhile back, Mom generously offered to "treat" me to a trip down for the reunion. I'm torn, though. I'd want Mike to come with me, but even with Mom paying for one ticket, it'd be around $300 just for airfare, plus getting/paying a house/petsitter and the $100 per couple for the event itself to cover food, DJ, space rental, non-alcoholic bevvies (there's a cash bar), and "decorations".
Not to mention the fact that I haven't exactly been the best at keeping up with my classmates. When do I see them, it's nice and all, but I'd say I haven't spoken to probably 85%+ since graduation. Is it worth shelling out close to $700 for this? Mike didn't go to his, and that was back when we were still living in MS (I was 8 months preggo and pretty much confined to the bed/couch, but that's besides the point). So I guess you could say that I'm torn as to what to do. That money would go pretty far in my kitchen remodel....

Stupid airline

This stinks.