Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Kiran says to keep Jesus on top of the stable (which is better than the trashcan) this season.

Did you know....

that my SIL is due 18 days before me???

COUSINS!

I need help

I have a favor to ask you guys. I'm a bridesmaid in my friend Jilly's wedding on Dec 31. She just asked us to wear black dresses. So I had the black dress that I wore in my sister's wedding from last year when I was 18 weeks pregnant with Kiran and I planned to wear that. But I guess that its true that you show faster (much faster) with the second. I'm only 11.5 weeks and its very tight. I don't think I'm going to be able to fit in it at all in another week and a half. So.... I'm asking you all if you have a black maternity dress I can wear for one night??? I have a fancy jacket I can wear with it so it can be strappy or sleeveless or whatever. Thanks!!!!!

Hi

I bet y'all are wondering where I've been. Eh, you probably haven't. Anyhow...

I'm at the beach.

And at the beach, you can be lazy and not feel one ounce of guilt.

So I'm at the beach, being lazy, and not feeling guilty. :)

Today

Today we are thankful for Zofran.

Many thanks to all of you for your prayers and well wishes and "Hope you feel better soon." I am happy to report that I am feeling much better...thanks to a magic pill. Remember two weeks ago when I threw up so much? We thought it was a stomach virus? Yeah it wasn't. I went back to "normal" morning sickness for a few days then last week I started waking up every day and throwing up every half hour until either the medicine worked or I went to sleep that night. So my doctor and I decided I'd just take it every day before I got out of bed. Oh I haven't thrown up all week and I've really felt pretty good (minus the regular pregnancy stuff- tiredness, weird food aversions and cravings, etc).

So today we are thankful that there is such a medicine like this that is safe for pregnancy.

Oh and when I went to get my prescription filled at Target, the prescription had on it the directions of
"Take 1 pill 30 minutes before chemo treatment, then another 8 hours later." When I picked it up, the poor pharmacists were like
"Have you taken this medicine before?"
I said "yeah"
they said "Well you know then to take it 30 minutes before your chemo treatment..."
At this point I realized what was going on and I interrupted them "No wait No I don't have cancer I just can't stop throwing up because I'm pregnant."
I felt so bad :(

Due Date

First it was July 3. Then it moved to July 15. Today Dr Hardin and I made an executive decision to make my due date July 7. Y'all pray really hard that this baby comes one day early....on July 6. See both of my nephews are born on that day. My sister-in-law had a kid then; so did my sister. I want one!

Dr Appt

Today we went to Maternal-Fetal Medicine to determine if I needed to take shots of lovenox throughout the pregnancy to protect me from blood clots. We were pleasantly surprised when we were ushered in for an ultrasound! We saw our baby, measuring perfectly at 10 weeks. The little arm was even waving at us! The heart rate was 167 and everything looked good.

We then met with the dr and went over our options. We were both really impressed with him. He gave us information- benefits and risks of both treatment and no treatment and then basically left the decision up to us. With his guidance, we've decided to not do any shots unless circumstances change like I need to go on bedrest or something like that.

So basically today's appt was great! Bonus ultrasound and no shots! Woohoo! Tomorrow I get to see my regular OB.

Baby Grant

I figured I owed you an explanation.

The people who owned our house before us had a 3 year old son named Grant. They, like all good parents, purchased the wooden letters of their son's name to adorn his wall. Unfortunately they chose to glue the letters to the wall. I have yet to figure out how to get the letters off without destroying that part of the wall. So we just decided to call our new baby Grant and not worry about getting the letters off.

Now if we could only agree on a middle name...

Welcome Baby Jesus

Kiran has been taking things to the trash for us but only under close supervision because we keep the trashcan cornered off so she can't you know play in it. Whenever we have a dirty diaper (yeah we totally get her to take her own dirty diapers to the trash!) or a piece of paper that needs to be thrown away, we head to the trash can where an adult moves the stool that is blocking it. Kiran meticulously puts the trash in her right hand, opens the lid with her left hand, places the trash in the can and closes the lid.

Today for the first time, Kiran went to the trash can all by herself and tried to furiously push something in the already full trash can. Unfortunately, it was the Welcome Baby Jesus book we've been reading at bedtime.

This is wrong on so many levels.

First of all, is she jealous that we've been reading and talking about another baby? This does not bode well for Baby Grant when he/she arrives in July. I hope she doesn't try to shove him or her in the trashcan.

Second of all, its a book about JESUS. Really Kiran? You couldn't have chosen Yum! Yum! I'm Ready to Eat! or The Belly Button Book. Oh no- she's trashing the Jesus book.

Y'all pray for my daughter.

Sporadic Posting

Sorry for the sporadic postings lately. I thought I just had a stomach virus last week but this week has been quite awful as far as throwing up/nausea goes. I haven't really felt like being on the computer at all. So I'll just throw up some pictures of Kiran and save my deep thoughtful posts for a later time.

Kiran was proud of herself for climbing up in the blue chair by herself

This is our other child- the one we call "Crazy Hair"

Kiran likes to put bags on her arm, wave and say "Bye-Bye"

Home

What a loaded word.

I've thought a lot about this word over the past few years. I especially thought about it as we lived in a foreign country- where we didn't have most of the things that remind us of "home". We would love it when we'd receive a package and inside was a taste of home. But really is that what home is- a taste? a smell? where the heart is?

This weekend I finally felt like our new home was home. For the first time, we stayed home all weekend. We didn't drive to Greenville for anything. We spent Saturday in the yard raking and bagging leaves. Many of our neighbors were also out and about so we got to see many of them. A neighbor brought us a gigantic piece of cake leftover from her daughter's birthday party. We went to sunday school and church at a local church and met some really nice people. We shopped for furniture in our town. It was so cozy, so homey.

Sometimes I wondered if I'd ever feel like I was at home again, like I did when I was a kid at Bendingwood Circle. I think a little sense of wandering is good for we are strangers here on earth. But my heart yearns for that familiar home, that sense of belonging. And it was nice to see it begin to flourish here in our new home.

If you know me, you know I love to travel! (surprise!) But what many of you don't know is that I love to come home equally as much. I love experiencing new cultures, seeing new sights, and expanding my experiences,but I also love how much it makes me miss home. I love how it makes me crave the familiar and how wonderful it is to step through the threshold of home.

I hope your holiday is filled with a sense of home wherever you may be.

Merry Christmas to all my South Asian friends

Anyone Have the Number for the Guiness Book of World Records?

I think I am the world's best thrower upper.

I've done it 18 times today. and counting.

I am quietly (ok not so quietly) approaching my personal best of 22 times in one day set in April 2006 when i was pregnant with Kiran.

My dr called in a prescription for Zofran, the nausea medicine they give to cancer patients on chemo. But I've thrown up 4 times since I took it so I'm not convinced its working.

But I know what does work is prayer. So please take a moment and pray that my body will kick this and get back to normal. Which is only throwing up 2-3 times a day.

And thank God for my in-laws. They took Kiran all day and I honestly don't know what I would have done without them.

Seriously?

Jonathan and I were both excited to sleep in this morning since Kiran was spending the night at her grandparents'. J has had to get up at 6:30am to get ready before Kiran gets up. Jonathan gets Kiran ready for the day so I can just lay around moaning when I finally drag myself out of bed. Anyhow, J was planning to sleep till 7:45 and me until.......whenever.

At 6:45am our phone rang. It was our trash service. The truck was outside and they noticed we hadn't pulled our can to the curb. Did we have any trash we wanted them to take? Seriously. I mean that is the best customer service I've ever heard of from a garbage company but seriously? Calling at 6:45? To see if we forgot to pull our can? Wow.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2 big meals eaten on Thanksgiving

3 cousins

8 hours in the car

4 Christmas trees picked and chopped down

8 throw ups

1 Christmas movie watched (The Family Man)

4 overtimes for Kentucky and Tennessee

25 munchkins from the new Dunkin Donuts

2 new pairs of shoes

0 pictures taken :(

Advice

I really was looking for stocking advice. You have given me lots to think about. I like the idea of a pattern even though I'm not the craftiest. However, I think I could follow a pattern. We went to Pottery Barn Outlet today and they had cute stockings that were cheaper than the regular ones and 30% off. I figure if I wait till closer to Christmas, I can score some pretty cheaply.

So yeah most of you picked up on my little "hint". Caskey Baby #2 is coming early July 2008. I'm only 7-8 weeks along. I think I'm only 7 weeks, my dates say 8 weeks, I'm not measuring 8 weeks so I get to have an ultrasound on Monday to determine due date! Yeah, I've been sick. It just started last week but ugh the torturous first trimester. Those of you women who have wonderful non-sickly pregnancies, I am totally jealous of you. The nausea/vomiting hasn't been as bad as it was with Kiran (but there is still time) but the food aversions have been crazy. Almost all food smells repulse me. I ate spaghettios for dinner tonight for the first time since college so I wouldn't have to smell the rotisserie chicken that Jonathan & Kiran ate. Poor Jonathan couldn't even come close to me last night after he grilled and had chicken smell in his hair.

Ok enough- but I'm sure you will hear plenty about this pregnancy. I admire women who can wait to tell after their first trimester; I'm terrible at keeping this secret.

Christmas Stockings

*courtesy of Pottery Barn

I have NOT been listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving unlike some people (ummerrittum) but I have been thinking about Christmas some. I can't even remember what Christmas decorations we own because they have been packed in a box and sitting in an attic for the last two Christmases. I haven't gotten them down yet but I know we have two stockings from before we moved overseas.

I guess my question is How do you buy stockings? I want to have cute stockings but not too expensive. And how do you plan for your growing family? I mean before Kiran we needed two, this year we need three, next year we'll need four since that is how many of us there will be by then. Do I buy four? What if we decide to have another kid down the road? Do the adults have stockings at your house? Jonathan & I always have since we got married but growing up just us kids had stockings. Where did you get your stockings?

I Know You Really Come For Pics of the Kid

I am waaaay behind in posting pictures of current events so I'll try to do a little of that. I actually like to wait a few days before posting events because it gives me time to talk to people about it. If I post that same night then my conversations go something like this:
Me: "We went to the Fall Festival at Taylors yesterday."
You: "I know. I saw it on your blog."
Me: "Oh." *awkward silence*

So a couple weeks ago, we went back to TFBC for their fall festival.

Kiran was able to have deep conversations with some of her friends

Kiran with her cousin on J's side, Buzz Lightyear

Kiran had the most fun running around the ballfield
Kiran with Grandma, Chief and cousins from K's side

It is still very surreal that we are here and able to go to a fall festival and see every one of Kiran's cousins. We love it.

I Like to Clean Out

I like to go through my house and throw away, give away, sell items we don't use. So imagine my surprise when going through my medicine the other day and I found this:


You can't really see but on the end it says it expired sometime in oh 1997. yikes. That has got to be toxic.

Then last week I was cleaning out items from the car that we bought from my grandmother. There I found this:



Yes that says EXP June 1994. To be fair, I was not in possession of this until recently. I also learned between the last picture and this one how to use the macro feature on my camera!

This medicine was in the same bag. It expired in 1992. Thankfully my house is not rid of all expired medicines esp those that are at least 10 years past their expiration date.

Target

So you go to Target to buy some needed items for the house. You get five items. The set of plastic drawers doesn't have a tag on it. The cashier asks you how much you thought it was. You think and err on the side of high and say, "$13.99." The cashier plugs something in and tells you your total. You think the total is kinda low but whatever. Later you look at your receipt. Two items that you bought (meaning were on the conveyor belt and then in your bag) were not even on the receipt. These two items together costs about $4. Another item you see was supposed to be $2.19 but it says tootsie rolls $0.10. And then you see the cashier plugged in the drawers as merchandise $10. Only one item actually rang up correctly.

What do you do?

State Book

Thank you for all your help with the state book. I took pictures of the finished product. I never could have done it without you people.
I mailed this book to one of YOU! Someone who does not live in Michigan, Texas or Virginia. You'll just have to wait and see who gets it.

I shamelessly stole the Motivation for Moms on the sidebar from my sister-in-law. I love the ideas it suggests. Even if I don't do them, it helps keep me focused on what is truly important.

Keeping up with India

Man in India marries dog as atonement

Fitz

First of all, you guys are awesome. You really came through for me this weekend. Because of my blog post about J being gone this weekend, Kiran and I had lunch at CFA with an old middle/high school friend and we walked around the beautiful lake at Furman with a college friend and her son. And I fully intend to blog about that later.

But this blog is about the Fitz Fam. Last night, I was able to hang out all my brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews on my side as well as my dad's brothers and sister-in-law. I always love it when my dad's two brothers come to town. There is always lots of laughing (Did you know there is a Medal of Honor Museum in Charleston?) and singing and just plain fun.

Unfortunately, the reason for this reunion was not so jovial. We found out this week that my dad's mom has cancer. Its an aggressive form of lung cancer that doesn't have good long term prospects. We would appreciate your prayers as we deal with this the best we can. The destination is certain, but the path unknown.

Uncle Scott surprised us all by flying in from the Middle East. Mom Fitz was quite surprised!

Uncle Will with his stylish nieces!

Mom Fitz with her sons and great-grandchildren

Linens-N-Things

I didn't have time to read our local newspaper yesterday so I decided this morning to go ahead and put it in the recycling bin. At the last second, I thought well I'll just flip through to see if there are any good ads or anything. Wouldn't you know that there were 11 Linens-N-Things 20% coupons sitting in there. I'm not a big fan of Linens-N-Things because they do the whole -N- thing but thankfully Bed, Bath and Beyond accepts competitors' coupons.

On another note, Kiran just dropped her second cookie down the air vent in our kitchen floor.

I'm counting this as today's thing for Kiran's room. I have a really cute lamp that goes with her bedding but it needs a shade. It needs a small shade that clips onto the oblong bulb (you know what I'm talking about?). Where can I find these lamp shades? I just need a solid color- maybe pink or yellow. I checked at Target while I was there and didn't find anything that fit the bill. Thanks!!

If you were wondering what to get me for Christmas...

I just saw this.
Its a giant cupcake pan. It makes cakes that look like this:

How fun!!!

We did something in Kiran's room!!!!

It was a learning experience. We are calling this one our practice house. In a few years, we will sell it and all its holes to new owners. So I used a drill for the first time tonight...

And we hung what was hopefully the hardest thing: a picture frame with hooks.

I just wanted to make sure you knew this was a joint project. I couldn't have done this without J's expertise. And sense of humor :)

South Carolina

I am working on a book about the States for a 4th grader's project (Sorry Mert it got "lost" in a stack but I'm getting it done now!). The book is being sent from person to person, state to state, all school year until it finally goes back to the 4th grader. Each person is to write about their state. So..... help me brainstorm what to include about South Carolina.

I've thought of:

• mountains
• beaches and Charleston
• Fort Sumter and the Civil War
• something about the capital?
  

What else should I include?

Amazing Race

My favorite show started tonight- The Amazing Race! I live vicariously through these people. I desperately want to be on the show, travel to all the cool places and perform cool cultural tasks. But I can't go on TV. I make fun of the stupid things that people say on there (My ox is broken!) and I know people all over the world would be making fun of some of the things that would come out of my mouth. I just can't handle that.

J is going to be out of town Thurs- Sun for tournaments. Does anyone have any good ideas for fun things for me & Kiran to do while J is gone?

playing in her crib

A Ferocious Lion

Our first trick-or-treaters showed up at 6pm. It was two young boys. Kiran ran to the door and helped me give them the candy. They turned to leave and Kiran began WAILING. She stood at the door and SOBBED. The boys looked distraught. They didn't know what to do. Eventually, they moved on and Kiran recovered.

a rough start

But Kiran really enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Kiran was a little unsure about going up to the neighbors' houses for candy but we convinced her it was a good thing to do.

She never kept that mane on for more than oh 2.4 seconds at a time.But she hung on to her one-of-a-kind trick-or-treating bag from Jill!

We ended up staying at our neighbor's house for a while. They have an 11 month old baby girl. I spotted them weeks ago and pegged them as our top contenders for our new best friends. And every time we hang out with them, my initial impressions are confirmed more and more.

Caskey jack-o-lantern

Kiran helping with the trick-or-treaters

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday to Uncle Jordan!

Halloween Notes

• Kiran loved the trick-or-treaters that came to our house. She would run to the door and stare at them. Most of them were really great to talk to her, wave at her, etc. One guy said to Jonathan after receiving his candy, "Thanks and congratulations on the baby!"
• Someone was out in a golf cart totally decked out in spider webs. That is stylin'.
  
• Kiran went trick-or-treating at 2 houses and came home with 4 pieces of candy. Not bad for the first time. Plus she wouldn't wear her mane. She probably would have gotten more.
  
• I don't mind the big kids so much. I just wish they would make an effort and be in costume. I'm thinking next year of posting a sign that says

No Costume, No Candy so Don't Even Bother.

Big Wig

Last night, LP hung out with our kid while Jonathan and I hobnobbed with the big wigs of the conference where J works. I interacted with the president of Furman, Elon, ASU, and Wofford as well as others. By "interacted" (thats for you mert) I mean spoke to, sat at the same table as, stood behind in the buffet line, overheard talking to someone else, etc. I did actually speak with Furman's esteemed, Dr. Shi. He claimed to remember me but then he called my dad a saint and then I knew he was faking.

Kiran had a ball with LP last night and slept 13 hours without a peep.


Here is Kiran's crib! Today I bought crib sheets, washed them and put them on. I also picked out pictures to go in her frame and picked them up at CVS. I still haven't picked up the drill.

Pumpkin Patch

I don't remember ever going to a pumpkin patch when I was growing up but it seems to be the fad these days. We saw an advertisement for an apple farm/pumpkin patch so we stopped on our way back from Greenville one day. I guess the drought really got to the pumpkins because the patch was a little... dead. Kiran still had fun but we did actually buy our pumpkin from Walmart. I hate buying stuff like that from Walmart but we went to Lowe's first and they were all sold out.

Kiran found one!

I got it, Mom!Sad pumpkin patch :(

P.S. Yesterday I didn't do anything for Kiran's room. But today I got the drill and laser thing from my dad. Now I just have to go find my courage...

Graciousness

Alicia used to talk all the time about God's graciousness. She would point out things He'd done like providing the money for her to fly back to America to be in her best friend's wedding and just gush at how gracious He was. It was a little bit of a foreign concept to me- I'd never thought about those things that way. But this week, I really felt some of God's graciousness.

On Wednesday, Kiran and I took a road trip to Lancaster to visit Jonathan's grandparents, Grandmom and Granddad Helms. The day we moved into our house (early September) Jonathan's grandmom fell and broke her hip. She had surgery and then later that same week, she broke it again requiring another surgery. After staying in a hospital and a rehabilitation hospital, she is recovering at home with full time care.

Kiran with her great-grandmother

Kiran & I had the best time with Jonathan's parents and grandparents. Kiran was just a ham... talking, signing, getting into everything... and Grandmom and Granddad just ate her up. They loved having her around and Kiran loved interacting with them, esp Grandmom because she kept giving her fresh chocolate chip cookies! Grandmom and Granddad were in great spirits and we really enjoyed ourselves. Kiran was worn out- she slept from their driveway to our exit- almost 2 hours!

Kiran checking our her great-grandfather

Did I mention that they are both almost ninety and until last month lived completely on their own on their farm as they have for more than 60 years??? Anyhow, God was so gracious to allow us that trip on Wednesday instead of Thursday as we had first thought because the very next day, Jonathan's granddad fell and broke his hip. He had surgery today and it went very well. They are expecting him to even be able to put pressure on it as soon as tomorrow!

I just know that no matter the future or how many more trips to Lancaster we have, that Wednesday trip will always be one of the most precious memories I keep.

Accountability

I need some accountability people.

On getting Kiran's room put together. Sometimes I get so busy in maintaining our house and throwing the bouncy ball 563 times and going to Target that I just forget to work on some of my projects, i.e. Kiran's room. Then at night when I have free time, I can't do it because she is asleep and in bed. In her room.

So I'm asking you to keep me accountable to do ONE thing each day to her room. Ok?

Yesterday I washed the mattress pad and put it on the mattress.
Today I cut open the cool photo frame that Brenna & Geoff gave her. I can't hang it yet because I need a drill and I'd like to have some sort of leveling device mainly the cool laser level that my dad has. I attempted to find some photos to put it in but we haven't printed out pictures in years! So I opened Picasa to find some pictures to print. No good ones from the last few months. So we have to have a photo shoot.

Update on Kiran's Health

Last week, we had Kiran's hemoglobin checked again. Instead of being up like the drs thought it would, it was back down a little. After consulting with the hematologist, her pediatrician has decided to try iron drops for 2 months to see if it helps. It sounds to me like they can't really figure out why her hemoglobin is low. Anyhow, pray with us that the iron drops will help her body regulate the hemoglobin back into normal levers.

Ask and you shall receive: tresalejandros has put up a slide show of pictures from Meredith & Paul's wedding so you can go check it out!

MOPS

I attended my first MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group this morning. Everyone is assigned to a table and that is their group for the semester (year?). Groups are randomly drawn from a hat at the beginning of the semester. I was put at Annie's table. There were four other women at my table. All 4 of them had 4 children. Every one of them has a set of TWINS. Every single one.

About a half hour later, another woman joined our table. She only had three kids and no twins. Except the fact that she herself was a twin.

G105 Roommate Reunion 2007

Jill, Lauren, Merritt & I roomed together in G105 North Village at Furman U our senior year. Our initials were JKLandM. We told Lauren we asked her to room with us because we needed an L.
So anyhow, JKL&M reunited in the High Country to have girl time and throw Jilly a lingerie shower since she is marrying Mr. McPhail on Dec 31 (8pm wedding, dancing till the New Year, how fun is that??).



Friday night, after I tortured Merritt & LP by driving past Happy Valley Elem, driving through Main Street Blowing Rock and driving past my house, we arrived to Mexican Fiesta made by Jill. We just talked. It was wonderful. The four of us are so different, yet we really fit with each other. As someone said that weekend, we were close at Furman because of proximity, we are close now because we choose to be.



Saturday morning we headed to Moses Cone and hiked to the firetower. The views were amazing although we were just a few days before peak leaves. We had lunch at Jill's parents' home in Banner Elk, our High Country home. We visited Jill's future home and crammed in a little shopping. Then we threw Jill her lingerie shower.




Jill was awesome. Sunday we headed to Banner Elk Christian Fellowship to hear Jill's dad preach it. We were not disappointed. And so goes another roommate weekend.

Wisteria

Before picture from the doorBefore picture from the other side of the room

This weekend, two of my bestest buds (Jill and Lauren P (and Merritt in spirit)) came over for a sleepover and VOLUNTEERED to help paint Kiran's room.
We did one coat of Wisteria with a few touch ups. We finished in 1.5 hours. Then we sat down to some Edy's Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream and Grey's Anatomy.

after from doorafter from other side of room

Jonathan & I put together the crib that we generously passed on to us. But because of some complications, the mattress is too high so Kiran would flip out of it in 0.6 seconds flat. So we're debating
1) breaking the entire thing down and drilling new holes
2) moving Kiran into a toddler bed
3) letting her sleep in her pack-n-play until she's 12

I love the color and I really loved the help. THANK YOU GIRLS! It looks great but I still have so much more I want to do in her room before I consider it done. I need to hang the letters of her name (thanks brenna & geoff), hang the photo thing, set up all her bedding/room stuff (which I found at an awesome consignment shop- I really need to blog about that), find a white dresser or sand & paint the brown one, find a white glider, buy window treatments and put up, find a bookshelf, get storage bins/baskets, etc. So its a work in progress but at least its a purple work in progress.

Wedding Hopping

Tonight we went wedding hopping. First stop, Taylors FBC. For you Taylors folks, we went to Meredith N's wedding. For you India folks, we went to Paul Poe's wedding. It was very sweet. Meredith didn't stop smiling the whole time. And she wore a veil with sparkles in it.

Then we went another Kelley's wedding reception. It was fun because we got to see some people that I grew up with. That is sometimes fun, sometimes not. But tonight it was fun. I don't have any pictures because I didn't take any. Although that is not true. I did take some but they were all on Tommy's camera that I stole and took lots of pictures with. Because he has a digital SLR and I am guilty of coveting his camera. It was sweet. I totally want a digital SLR now....Christmas present? I'll add that to my list.

1. ipod nano
2. dyson vaccuum
3. nikon slr digital camera

I don't ask for much do I?

Swiffer

I have some coupons for Swiffer that I don't need. I have 5 sets of 2 coupons each. One is for $3 off any Swiffer Starter Kit and the other is $0.50 off any Swiffer refill. I'll give them to the first people who comment or email me and want them.

Friendship

Our willingness to take risks and trust in each other
brings meaning and joy to the journey of friendship.

- Steven B. Wiley

Its HERE!

My blog book appeared on my back porch last evening and it looks awesome. I am really impressed with it and I'm totally motivated to format We've Been Outsourced: The Second Year.

I would recommend this to anyone thinking about turning their blog into a book. The pictures are quality and the writing looks professional (the style not the content). Next time I'm going to pay a little more for a few more pages so I can make my pictures bigger. The pages with six pictures on a page and text (it was the default page- it may have changed by now) are a little cramped for my taste.

I used Blurb and my 200 page, hardback, book cover included was only $40 with shipping. I did have a coupon code giving me $15 off. They did not pay me to recommend this to you. Although another coupon code would be nice :)

Blog Posts

I've been having trouble posting pictures to Blogger; hence the absence from blogging. Because really I'm not an interesting writer. And I no longer live in a mysterious country. I just have a super-cute baby oops toddler that you keep coming back to see.

Actually I think the problem may be fixed now but I've already written this blog post in my mind so out it comes.

My mom commented (to me not on the blog) how she was impressed at how I made a blog post out of hamburger buns. My life is really not that exciting now compared to our daily mishaps in India so I have to get creative. I told her I could make a blog post about anything. Whew was that a challenge?

Like my new hair dryer. I got a new hair dryer today. Why do I need a new hair dryer? Because my hair has decided that its going to be curly now. It won't dry straight anymore. I'm not sure when this transformation occurred but I'm pretty sure my hair is about 4 years behind the gel-your-hair-wear-it-in-curls trend. Anyhow, I used a diffuser this weekend and my hair curled up. So on my weekly pilgrimage to Target, I picked up a hair dryer with a diffuser in hopes of making my hair presentable to people other than my toddler.

And no, I did not pay $5 more simply because it was purple.

We love books

Yesterday Kiran and I joined the Spartanburg County library (yep Kiran got her own card; she can check out 25 books also). On the way home, we drove through the bank to deposit some money. The sun was shining right in Kiran's face so I took a library book and read it to her/blocked the sun while we were at the bank. When we drove off, she was doing good holding the book in her hand and flipping through the pages. I got a phone call (from a new local friend yea!) and kinda forgot that she had a library book back there. When we got home, she had indeed started eating the book. In fact, she had book stuck between her two front teeth.

I hope they don't charge us for a damaged book.


p.s. Its daddy/daughter weekend because I'm heading out the door to Roommate Reunion 2007 in the High Country. I'll be thinking of all of you mortals while I enjoy a little piece of heaven. You can see the forecast here.

Neighbors

We met another set of neighbors yesterday. Turns out the wife's dad is the Chancellor at USCUpstate and her stepmom is Dr. Vecchio, a history professor at Furman. That's for all your Furman history majors who read this blog. J was a history major but he never had her.

Breakfast Snack

This morning right after Kiran got up, she found a bag of puffs in her diaper bag. She decided to have a snack before breakfast. She opened them and ate every last one of them off the floor.

Hamburger Buns

Last night, Jonathan and I were packing up dinner after eating a pork roast that my crockpot had made. We had lots of pork left over and Jonathan commented that it would be awfully good with some barbeque sauce on a bun. But we didn't have any buns and we've already spent our grocery money for the week. I'm trying really hard to stay under budget for October so no hamburger buns. I walked into my mom's house this afternoon (did you get that- i still love that I can say that- i walked into my mom's house this afternoon) and she said, "Hey we have some extra hamburger buns we aren't going to use. Do you want them?"

Happy Birthday to my Favorite Brother!

We left the birthday balloon up for you Will! Happy Birthday! Its your last birthday as a single man..... enjoy it!