So I was in the bathroom getting ready for the day. Avril's hanging out in my room, just doing her thing, chattering like usual. I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying until I heard, "Mommy, I just really need you to focus right now."
I wonder where she picked that up...?
Ok, I've never actually run a marathon, but in my mind it compares to this quite easily. Derek has been gone for 5 1/2 weeks. He flies into Columbia Friday night at 10:30pm... it can't come soon enough! It's gone by pretty fast, actually, but it's also been the longest six weeks of my life-- depending on which day it is and my frame of mind. Boy, do I miss that boy! I'm so grateful for the wonderful family and friends that I have had out here to support me.
Thanks to Camas my cousin for coming out to little K-ville from the Big Apple and spending who-knows-how-much time traveling for a weekend. Thanks to my mother-in-law Zan for coming out for a week to play with me and my girls, to paint Avril's room and to otherwise keep my mind off of my missing husband, my problems and my guilt (refer to Jayne's post on the subject...). Thanks to great friends like Brenda, Melody, Tara and many others who kept me occupied and shared their concern and time with me.
You all offered so much... but no one could give me the one thing I needed most: my wonderful husband! Thanks anyway; it's the thought that counts.
Melody reminded me that I had yet to get her a copy of her yoga pictures... 
Which were taken in May! I haven't had a chance to look at them on my own yet; here's my list of excuses:
-when I got them Derek was still here and he's a major computer hog
-the old computer's cd burner doesn't work-- nor does it even open
-as soon as Derek left for Texas, the new computer stopped working
-it finally started again, but by now I'd just forgotten!
So, I decided I should probably post a few pictures...
thanks to our generous photographer for taking the time to do these with us for nothing.
First, this seems more scary to me than interesting: my toothy little almost-eight-month-old thinks it's a good idea to start trying to crawl up stairs. Do you have any idea how many stairs are in my house?! I knew this day would come. I was just hoping it wouldn't be for another couple months! Also, she's got two more teeth coming in on top! Or she will soon.... I can't believe how big she's getting and how fast! I'm so sad Derek is missing out on so many of these fun developments.
Which brings me to my second point of interest: Derek in Texas. Yeah, that just plain and simple sucks. I mean, how do you tell your two (almost three)- year-old that Daddy isn't coming home for THREE MORE WEEKS? It breaks my heart 
every time I hear her crying about how much she misses her Daddy. She fell off a chair today and after I comforted her and she calmed down enough to talk, all she could say was, "I want my Daddy!" I just feel so inadequate! I know I can only fulfill half of her needs: I can't imagine trying to be a single parent. And every time I have to tell her she won't see Daddy for three more weeks (2 1/2 now), I torture myself by trying to imagine what it would be like to tell her Daddy's never coming home. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Anyway, I didn't bring that up to complain. What I really wanted to say was that Derek is loving The Texas. Although it's so hot he feels weird if he's actually dry, he's really enjoying his combat training, land navigation and weaponry training. I'm so proud of him for following his patriotic sense and serving his country this way. I miss him something fierce and hope he never has to leave again. But underneath it all, I'm just proud to know I 
married a man who won't shirk his duty when it calls.
On the other hand... when he loses his rifle during night navigation, I kinda have to wonder what's really going on over there!
I was looking at my blog titles! I use way too many exclamation points! I feel like everything I said yesterday I shouted! Maybe I just need to have a screaming contest with Avril! Get it out of my system! At least I'm not only speaking in "?"s! Jake: What is it? Elaine: It's nothing. Jake: Tell me. Elaine: Well, I was just curious why you didn't use an exclamation point? Jake: What are you talking about? Elaine: See, right here you wrote "Myra had the baby", but you didn't use an exclamation point. Jake: So? Elaine: So, it's nothing. Forget it, forget it, I just find it curious. Jake: What's so curious about it? Elaine: Well, I mean if one of your close friends had a baby and I left you a message about it, I would use an exclamation point. Jake: Well, maybe I don't use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do. Elaine: You don't think that someone having a baby warrants an exclamation point. Jake: Hey, I just chalked down the message. I didn't know I was required to capture the mood of each caller. Elaine: I just thought you would be a little more excited about a friend of mine having a baby. Jake: Ok, I'm excited. I just don't happen to like exclamation points. Elaine: Well, you know Jake, you should learn to use them. Like the way I'm talking right now, I would put an exclamation points at the end of all these sentences! On this one! And on that one! Jake: Well, you can put one on this one: I'm leaving!
Meanwhile, I thought it appropriate to include a bit of the script (since I couldn't find the video clip) of Seinfeld's Season 5: The Sniffing Accountant. Enjoy. (I did.)
Naturally, I have to blog about Independence Day when it rolls around.
I would be an ingrate if I didn't say a bit about how grateful I am for the freedoms we enjoy in this country. The freedom to think, live and believe at our own discretion. The freedom to speak our minds. The freedom to worship- or not- by the dictates of our own beliefs. The freedom to bear arms, to be able to protect our lives, our families and our property. The freedom to seek out our opportunities, also known as the Pursuit of Happiness.
Note here the difference between the right to the Pursuit of Happiness and the "right" to Happiness. Refer to the Bill of No Rights, as penned by Lewis Napper. Here are a couple of my favorite "non-rights":
ARTICLE III:
You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.
ARTICLE IV:
You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
Apparently Trogdor was seen burninating the California countryside. I only just heard of this, but it appears that this has been going on since before Arnold became governor.
I found this site, the Gender Genie that boasts 80% accuracy of it's ability to predict the gender of a given writer. It turns out, however, that I'm really a man. I plugged in a piece that I wrote on my myspace blog and it gave me this score:
Words: 994
The Gender Genie thinks the author of this passage is: male!
Now, that being said, I tried a couple different passages and passed myself off as a female a couple of times as well. I'm really kind of conflicted in my feelings about blogging like a man. However, here's a bit I read on some feminist's blog (disclaimer: I hate feminazis):-use language as a way to create and build relationships
-consist of stories, anecdotes, and narratives
-use hedging, as in “sort of,” “it would seem,” and the like
-employ what she called “empty adjectives,” like “adorable,” “super,” and such
-use “tag questions,” as in “You’re cold, aren’t you?” or “This is delicious, wouldn’t you say?”
-have a specialized lexicon, such as striating “pink” into “rose,” “blush,” “mauve,” and “magenta”" from Feminist Mormon Housewives
Having read that, I'm glad that I don't use a lot of hedging and empty adjectives when I'm writing seriously. On the other hand, I love tag questions and I feel like I need to use more stories, anecdotes, and narratives. And who knows? Maybe I'll check out the site again and try to see what they're saying. But my repugnant feelings for feminazis are the subject of another blog.
I'm at an impasse with my pictures. I want to post some absolutely ADORABLE new pictures of my girls, and maybe some video. But here's the problem. We have two desktops right now: our old one broke down a while ago, so we bought a new one and then the old one wound up getting fixed. So we're basically waiting for the old one to just up and keel over. Also, the cd drive refuses to open. Meanwhile, our beautiful, NEW, shiny computer is on the fritz. And it is bad. It broke down three (3) days after Derek left. Three weeks ago. It still is getting figured out and fixed.
So I've got this brilliant videocamera that also takes pictures. And if I could install the software (which conveniently is available on a cd that came with the camera), I could upload all my cute pictures here. But no. Neither computer is in any condition to take more pictures. And I was so excited to have the new, bright and shiny computer all to myself this summer. Some things are just not to be...
