We're all okay.

It took us forever to get down Park to our house, and they won't let us drive to our street.
Almost every house on Park from 46th to Minnehaha creek has huge trees ripped up at the roots. Portland is the same way. There are shingles in my yard, but we were untouched. One block over has several trees down.

I had no idea any of this was happening until FP and I went out for lunch. FP was driving home on Park minutes before all this went down.I noticed a change in the sound of the wind but never looked up from my editing. I am one who always goes in the basement when the sirens go off. Then when we get a real tornado, we get nothing. Weird. I haven't heard of any injuries anywhere. I am so grateful that we were so lucky.


One short block from our house







about three blocks away


Where the most damage was






the roof was taken off this house and the windows were blown out on the porch

I turned on the TV

while I got dress this morning, something I rarely do, and whatever channel I was on, spent a good 5 minutes talking with "experts"about whether or not it was appropriate for Michelle Obama to wear shorts. On vacation. At the Grand Canyon. In August.

I'm not sure whether laugh or cry that we have time and energy to devote to things like this. Or maybe I should just be proud that our First Lady is a sensible woman who dresses appropriately for all occasions. In my mind there is some kind of pathology involved if you wear a pantsuit on a family vacation in the desert.

Swine flew?

Ugh. I am usually the last one to worry seriously about this kind of stuff, but I have a kid now, and about half my class has families that regularly travel to Mexico. We are just coming off of spring break, and my hubby isn't feeling well (I'm feeling better after my weekend cold though).

I KNOW it is unlikely that we will come in contact, and even if we did, the people who have gotten it here are doing okay. I just need to continue to wash my hands 56 times a day (fat lot of good that has done me).

The wife of a colleague of mine got him to go in to urgent care this weekend when he had fluish symptoms. They chastised him for not going to the ER sooner, and then tested him. He said the test was QUITE unpleasant. I'm kinda shocked the news hasn't reported that fact. Maybe they do have an ethical bone in their bodies.

I knew there had to be something

USCG footage of the crash in the Hudson River:


It is amazing to me, how quickly the passengers got out of the plane.

Step two!

Dropped Home Service Plus form Centerpoint. I have spent enough to pay for a whole new dishwasher since I've had this, and the one time I needed to use it, for our dryer, they couldn't get there for two weeks! What's the point?

Step one has been a failure so far. Wells Fargo sent a letter that says I have to keep mortgage ins. for the whole loan. I gotta ask them about that because it also says stuff about the value they look at being the purchase value, not the current value, which doesn't apply in our situation so I'm suspecting they didn't look too carefully at my loan before sending me a form letter.

UPDATE: It's not over yet, WF says they don't really have any say, I need to talk to FHA. Glad I didn't accept that as the final word.

Okay, I still haven't cut the cable, but I did get the info today. Holy cow we are spending a lot on television! almost $100 a month, and that is too much. So I'm investigating DVD recorders and Apple TV. Now that I am aware of other options, I feel resolved to be done with anything beyond basic cable.

What to do, What to do?

I have never been one for new year's resolutions. My new year occurs sometime in mid-august. That is when my life really changes, so this one is simply a formality. But I am considering a few:

MONEY MONEY MONEY
The looming economy has me scared. I have had one credit card company cancel my card for non-use, and another lower my limit. Which is fine, since they have been raising the limit to crazy levels for the last 8 years. But that worries me because I expect it to get worse before it gets better.

Pay off debt.
We don't have much beyond the house and one car, which ain't bad considering I've been sporadically employed for the last 5 years.

Save $1000 in an emergency fund.
Ala Dave Ramsey. We haven't had one since I got laid off before we got married. My hubby is not a great influence in this department, but at least he has had steady work for the last 5 years. Can't say as much for myself.

Cut the cable (I suppose this is a subset of the saving)
I have fantasized about this a million times, but when it comes to picking up the phone and even finding out our options for reducing our costs a little bit. I hesitate and my resolve weakens. I know we can live full lives without 200 channels. Man, I wish they had an ala carte plan. Pick 20 channels, plus public access and we'd be plenty happy.

1-7 local channels
8 & 9 WGN & ESPN (gotta get the White Sox)
10 BRAVO Between design shows and Project Runway, I always seem to end up here
11 E The Soup!
12 TNT Law & Order fixes
13 USA MORE Law & Order fixes
14 TLC Flip this or that house, I can't remember
15 HGTV
16 Noggin I'm a Blue's Clues addict
17 BBC America: Coupling and world news
18 Game Show Network Match Game, Weakest Link
19 Probably TCM or something like that
20 Discovery MythBusters is a good fall back too.

sigh, I'm off to call Comcast

There is nothing on TV for me

on Tuesday nights. I'm hoping my hubby will be amenable to snuggling on the couch with me and watching a Christmas-y movie.

I didn't bring any work home with me on purpose. I just left my teacher bag on the floor in my room. It is hard enough to like teaching this week without thinking about how sucky my kids did on the last math test. Geometry is hard. Apparently. Though it was my favorite math area. So many great formulas and rules.

It has been a while since I posted a photo, because our daughter just stopped being cute all of a sudden.
Of course I'm kidding, since we have one of the current top five cutest kids in the world.
(You do too? What a coincidence!) And just to prove it:

Jon & Kate plus hate

Peder posted a while back about how I watched a show called Jon & Kate Plus Eight and how he could not stand the way Kate treated Jon. I did enjoy it.

After watching one particular episode, I was so disgusted with Kate's behavior I'd decided I'd had it with the show. It has become so crazy about the parents, their bad behavior, and product placement. Those kids will write one heck of a tell-all book in 20 years. Now they are advertising (to a degree I thought was only reserved for presidential candidates 4 days before the election) a "wedding episode" Wow you mean to tell me they aren't even married? Just kidding. Of course they deserve to have a second wedding in Hawaii. They have 6 whole kids, a nanny, personal chef, landscaper, and a grueling film schedule.

If you've seen the show and another TLC one called 16 Kids and Counting, you might enjoy Tom & Trix Plus Six, a blog serial that pokes fun at J&K+8. It is pretty scary when you look at how cartoonish their lives are. Make sure you read the "trading "spouses episodes that start in June.

SNL Debate

I'm kind of surprised they didn't do more with Biden's ridiculous anecdotes.

I called it!

I told Peder the night she spoke at the convention that it was too bad Tina Fey wasn't on SNL anymore because she is perfect to play Sarah Palin. Regardless of your politics, ya gotta admit, the mannerisms, accent and look are dead on.

Click here

Baby Borrowers

Did you watch this show last night?
I had Peder record it because, I'd read about it and was curious. They take 5 teenage couples, set them up in a house, a day or two later add, in a baby for a few days, then trade the babe for a toddler/preschooler, then a preteen, teenager, and finally an elderly person.

Peder liked to point out that of course this is nothing like reality, because you find a way to deal and get some kind of a rhythm over time. It doesn't just switch overnight. I told him of course this isn't realistic, but you notice that the ones who are pushing for the family soon are the girls. They always think of the cute sweet baby they are going to have. Rarely do they talk about how great it'll be to have a 16 year old. I think it is an interesting idea.

The most pronounced reaction for me was when all of the girls were told they had to wear a pregnant belly for A DAY. One of the girl tried it on, her boyfriend snickered, (I can't believe she didn't) and she proceeded to pout for the rest of the day. She would not wear the belly. Se said he didn't respect her. (I guess she proved that she doesn't deserve it) Her boyfriend wound up apologizing and he wore the belly until the baby arrived. I gotta say, I have a lot of respect for most of the guys on this show. They have done a pretty kick ass job so far.

I also have a lot of respect for the parents. Many of them had been young parents themselves and were in this to help open some eyes. The whole time the parents were watching what was happening on a monitor, and could intervene at any time. There were also professional Nannies shadowing the "families" but they would only intervene if the child's safety was at risk.

NOOOOOOO!

Paul, next time there's a storm, you can come to our house and do the weather. Please please please don't move away again!

Lost

Without knowing what happened on LOST.

We were snuggled on the couch happily watching LOST, about half an hour behind on DVR time, When everything went dark. NOOOOOOOOOO!

It's been a long time since the power went out during prime time here. It was frustrating to run around finding candles (Thanks IKEA for your giant bags of tea lights.) and to figure out what one can do by candle light. A little "grown up time" was out since the baby was not convincingly asleep. We both wound up talking to people on the phone for a good chunk of the time. I attempted to read by a combination of new snow reflected moonlight and candles, but the book was hard enough to comprehend in decent light.

It made me think about how much more sleep I'd be getting if I just went to bed with the sun. If I didn't have all these distractions

Good weekend

Saturday morning we hit target to get some medicine for Relia, she has a little yeast infection in some of her skin folds. ugh. We picked up some more diapers too. She doesn't go through them as fast as I expected. We got size 2s this time. It is a good thing she has her daddy. I'm so reluctant to admit she is getting bigger that I'd probably still be trying to stretch newborn sizes around her bottom. I worked on fixing the dryer (I think it is better now) and cleaned up in our bedroom a little.

In the evening, we went to Donna's for dinner. It was so much fun to see Janet, Jerry, Liz, Pat & Pudge. I think I want to be Aunt Liz when I grow up. She is a hoot. Everybody loved Relia (who wouldn't?)

Sunday we went for bagels and I worked on getting the scraped spots on the house painted. I did a little bit of editing and Peder and I took turns taking naps with Relia on the couch. Tonight was the first episode of this season's Amazing Race. I didn't realize how much I've missed it.

Me me me

I read other blogs and everyone has stuff to say about current events, issues, cool stuff they find online. Mine is all about me.

What's going on with me?
Not much.

I think some of the novelty of being a mom is wearing off. I'm working on videos, I'm trying to get out for a little while every day. But aside from the joy of staring at Relia as she does all she does, I am kinda bored. That has kept me from writing. I start posts, decide they are boring, and just save them without publishing.

• Relia has been fussy today and wants to nurse a lot. Apparently she heard that she's been doing this whole baby thing wrong and decided to get in step with the other babes. I finally got her to take a bit of a nap in her cradle and all I want to do is sit and watch TV.

• I put in my football picks last night. Peder saw fit to give me some advice, "The favored team usually wins" He thought it was funny that I gave the highest confidence points to the worst team in the league. My reply? "But you didn't see the cute pattern I made with the dots" I think he thought I was serious for a moment. I'm sorry, I'm just in this due to peer pressure. Maybe next year I will think harder about my picks.

Excuse me, I have to go rock a baby...

Okay, I'm back. Babe is in the wrap, and I'm bouncing on the yoga ball.

• We also had a big adventure last night. I had just dropped the babe off at mom and dad's for a little bit so Peder and I could get some stuff in order (figuring out finances) without distraction. Not long after I got home, The sirens went off as Hennepin County was under a tornado watch/warning. My BABY! I knew she was fine, but I had to call anyway to make sure mom and dad hadn't left her out in her car seat so she could get the "full storm experience", or something. They were hunkered in the basement, of course. They even had Relia in her car seat just in case the looming tornadoes made it into the house. I convinced Peder that now that we have a child we are obligated to head to the basement ourselves.

Peder asked me what channel we should watch. WCCO of course. My news channel of choice is KARE. It used to be KSTP, but somehow they turned me off a few years ago. However, when it comes to weather I cannot stray from Channel 4. Do others feel this loyaty? Is it the Paul Douglas factor? When I think weather, I think Paul Douglas. He's been there for me as long as I can remember.
Anyway,
All we got was a ton of rain.

• Ozzie had an adventure too last night. I heard a ripping sound and saw a little kitty butt disappear out the window screen. I screamed "Ozzie!" and began rushing outside. Thank goodness for my calm hubby. I followed him past the fence and watched him dash across the street. Peder had his flashlight and revealed that I'd been following the wrong cat (probably the reason he jumped out in the first place). Back to the back yard to find Ozzie calmly making rounds sniffing everything he could find. Peder and I kept a little distance until we were sure he was more interested in sniffing than keeping out of our reach. Brought him back inside safe and sound.