Happiness Is

Happiness is sitting on our new reclining couch with the baby asleep on my lap, a blanket over my toes (the weather is up and down like a roller coaster over here), my phone and iPad within easy reach and nothing begging to be done today.

This is me rejoicing.

Cheeta: Week 2

I can't promise to do a post EVERY week for Cheeta but things change so quick at the beginning it helps me keep track of what happened when.
This week we saw an increase in awake time, so after eating he does not go immediately back to sleep. This is adorable of course because when clean and full, he is very focused on our faces and memorizing who we are: 

Or the mop next to his head.
I can't count the number of times this week Tarzan has said, "I love holding him like this!"

Cheeta also has decided he likes to be held while asleep - I blame Tarzan for that one; all those hours at the computer, reveling in the fact we made another human being - so once he is asleep, we take a few extra minutes walking around in the dark to make sure he really means it.
There have been a few adventures this week; Thanksgiving being his first long drive (2 hours out to my parents' house and then 2 more back), meeting his cousin Ted - neither one of them seemed to care much - making it through Mommy's first solo day and his first rainstorm. (Bring it! The Jungle needs the rain.)
Big news; we are making progress in the nursing department.
I think.
We will find out at the pediatrician's office this week if Cheeta is gaining weight. I'm encouraged by the number of wet diapers he creates and then...then there was the epic poo of this afternoon.
I share this not to embarrass my son - who, if he is like his father will take pride in the story one day - but as an illustration of my belief that he is, in fact, gaining nourishment from somewhere.
I am not as naïve as you might believe. We have had one blowout diaper over here already that got on clothing and went down legs, so when I heard the telltale noise from Cheeta's direction, I did not panic. I took him to the bathroom and laid him on the changing mat, undid the legs of his sleeper and waited. Sure enough, there was another of the distinctive sounds. And I waited that one out too. When there had been a few minutes of silence I thought it was safe to start the clean up. I used the diaper to get the most I could, reached for a wipe, while holding Cheeta's heels up slightly out of the goo, and was totally surprised when the poop came shooting out, over my hand, down the front of my robe, onto my slippers and - silly me, I jumped - then on to the wall.
In three places.
Naturally, in the stunned pause that followed, he decided to pee on me as well. Figuring we were really done this time, I started to clean it all up - bless Tarzan for the newspaper in the bathroom - only to have more poop arrive on the scene. A little less distance, just as much mess. Followed by more pee.
Poor kid ended up dressed in a diaper and a towel crying on the couch while I got changed, tried to restore order to the bathroom and prayed Tarzan would get home from church soon.
(He did not get back soon enough.)
This is me still cleaning it up.

I Am Thankful For Heat

I started off this month's series with a post full of thanks for the cooling ability we enjoy in this day and age. And refrigeration is a wonderful thing.
But so is heat.
And since the atmosphere over this country has decided that though yesterday was summer still, today it is fall. I took my first warm shower in probably 8 months today and it was glorious. I had forgotten how nice and relaxing heated water can feel.
I pulled both the sheet AND the comforter over myself last night and the snuggly feeling this morning was like a brand new discovery.
(I wonder if it's pregnancy that is messing with my memory or just that it's been a long weird summer and the body forgets, like when you're sick you don't remember what well feels like and vice versa.)
I am thankful for the ability that a lot of people and places have to change the temperature of the environment with the touch of a button. I begin to see how complacent we would become if it was comfortable all the time.
And of course, heat cooks our food, so now that I feel comfortable turning on the oven to make cookies or roast something, Tarzan's dinner options just opened wide up. I can cook more than pasta (stovetop stuff) again!
Though it's said in an amusing way for the theatricality in the movie "Cast Away" I can understand the character's pride when he makes fire for the first time and all the options that he suddenly has to work with.
Heat is a beautiful thing.

This is me thankful for warmth.

I Was Thankful For Weather

I was going to write about how thankful I am for weather - and I truly am thankful for the seasons, whatever counts as seasons where you live - but I am very mad at the month of November this year.
I am not one of those who criticizes the sky when it rains - I love the rain. In fact I have always loved the rain. I am sure most of my childhood sicknesses came from splashing in puddles while it rained at too cold a temperature for me to be outside in bare feet.
I don't love snow but only because it is so heavy to move and is the cause of so many accidents, vehicular and pedestrian. I do love the silence of a snow storm and winter with the slower pace and the holidays and the vacation from school and the talk of peace on earth and kindness. It's one of the times in a year I can wear a sweater and not expire.
I love the fall, the changing colors of trees, the different seeds and pods that get scattered around, the crunch and brush of crispy things on the ground, the preparations and storing for the winter months. My birthday is in the fall.
I love the spring with the new buds and grasses, the smell of freshness, the planting of seeds, wet dirt, open windows and warmer days.
I love summer; the newly cut grass, the chlorine of pools or the salt of the beach, the heat of the sun and the seeking of shade and drinking lemonade and eating ice cream.
I love that we live on a planet that has so much variety. Going south of the equator will switch the seasons all around and seem like a whole new place. Christmas being hot and summer vacation having snow.
I also love order and logic and that's why the weather is bothering me so much right now.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot November?! It's 90°F in November! How does that make sense? It's been the weirdest summer/fall in terms of weather; cool far into August and now it's like the temperature is trying to make up for it's lapse in attention and is shoving all these hot days at me. Not amused November, not amused at all.

This is me; is it wrong to want the weather to match the calendar pictures?

Could Be Worse

It's still a little unsettling for me to have Thanksgiving and Christmas in the warm with the green grass but it could be a worse life than living here where it's 76 degrees on December 31st.

This is me and it's a shift I can live with.

So There New England!

One of the things I hear the most from people who don't live in The Jungle is that they like having 4 seasons.
I will admit, the odds that it will snow here at any point in the year is minimal to none.
But.
There is proof positive that the trees do change color:

This is me and it's close enough for me.

Lamb vs. Lion Situation

Do people still talk about March coming in/going out like a lamb/lion?
I remember it being very common when I was growing up but not as much any more.
If it's a fair simile to use I want to proclaim March in The Jungle came in like a lamb this year. It was soft and sweet. The sun was out, the breeze was blowing, it was clear and warm and I had the top down the whole way to work.
Didn't do my hair any favors but it was best drive of my life.

This is me hoping it doesn't end.

Record Day

I think today is the first day I have left for church when it was dark - well not really dark but cloudy and grey and early; 8am meetings - and come home when it was dark.
(No baptisms or anything, just regular RS President stuff.)
The leaving and arriving in the dark used to happen when we lived in the Frozen North but we were much, MUCH closer to the top of the world then we are now.
It was just a really long day. Which threw off the dinner/calling family/post church activities. Thank goodness tomorrow is an almost-holiday.

This is me and there has got to be a better system.

Drainage Matters

The down side to all this rain is that Stingy lives on a hill.
A very steep hill:

And in the manner of roads on steep hills, her street angles back and forth to allow the water to drain all the way to the sewer and not flood anyone's property:

My luck, or Stingy's, depending, being what it is, her driveway opens right where the water changes sides of the street:

So, when I stepped from the car today, it was into the wave of water washing down he hill. And it went right up, over my shoe, down into my socks. Both of them.
It was not good.
But it got a whole lot not better as the day went on.
First I walked the dog in my soggy socks. Then I went to work at Aunt Ritchie's and she has specific rules about no shoes in the house, but I couldn't walk around in my literally dripping socks, so I took them off too, but then my feet were super cold, so I wore the shoe covers she keeps to protect the carpet from service personnel.
That was marginally better.
The house boy noticed my socks dripping onto the garage floor and suggested they go in the dryer - but even by the time I left to go home they hadn't dried out enough - and my shoes were still sopping, so it's been a day.

This is me with - albeit warm - wet feet.

Comparison

It's raining today and I enjoy the benefits that come from the rain, however, I am feeling a little wimpy for feeling the cold.
It's 54 degrees outside in the wind and the rain today.
Once upon a time, when I lived in the Frozen North, 54 degrees meant we shed out jackets and ran around so excited that summer had finally come. Of course, that was after six months of snow, boots, fur hoods and numbers in the negative numbers. The WAY negative numbers. So I suppose it's like they say and it's all relative.
Plus, we don't have insulation or central heating in our house now and we had both when I was growing up.

This is me and it's a different world down here.

Weather

It's seldom that we get what is termed "weather" out here in the Jungle. At least weather like the rest of the country gets.
So when it does come, it's a surprise - people SO freak out on the roads - but it's also cool and exciting because it's new.
We're getting some rain this weekend and sometimes, when it takes a break, we get crazy clouds:

With the sun setting behind the rain clouds and the new clouds rolling in over the top, it looks nice:

This is me and it's nice.

Sad But True

I caught this on FB the other day:

And I laughed so hard. It's true, so true. It's reasons like this that I am glad I don't live in Th Frozen North anymore. 75F in November anyone?

This is me and I've lived it, so I know.

No Promises

One other thing that bothers me about Fall; the volatility of the temperature.
65 degrees in the morning and I decide it's a good day to have pie for dinner.
By the time church is over, it's 92 degrees outside and the concept of turning on the stove makes me ill.
But I made the mistake of suggesting the pie idea to ATL and Tarzan and they are both high on the imagining. (We haven't made pie since it was cool enough to turn the stove on last April.)
So what am I to do about that?

This is me; we had pie and I had heat exhaustion. Good times.

Seasons Come, Seasons Go

I love Fall.
My birthday.
Our anniversary.
Halloween.
Thanksgiving.
General Conference.
Football.
Warm days and crisp evenings.
If we're lucky it rains and washes the last of the sticky heat from summer all away.
But Fall also bugs me sometimes.
Why does it seem like only last week the sun stayed up until 8:30 and now it's going down at 6?
We haven't even hit Daylight Savings Time yet.
I don't suffer adversely from the decrease of sunlight, as those with Vitamin D deficiencies do, but people in traffic get really cranky once it gets dark out. And it's a different sort of dark from summer dark. October & November have a harder and colder dark than June & July do.
Maybe it's timing, or temperature, or the fact that there are a zillion things I need to do before Christmas, which is in only 10-1/2 weeks.
Or maybe their really is "something" in the air this time of year.
Whatever it is, it makes me want to go to bed with a book once 5:30 rolls around every day.

This is me and almost overnight, it's Fall.

Pictures Of Spring

The winter has been wonky this year, random cooling and warming trends with no apparent rhyme or reason, so when Spring arrived it was a little muted. We did some work on the front yard but that was because of necessity and time available, not because of season. In the last few days though, I have decisive proof that time marches steadily onward:I am so excited so see the blackberries are growing well. I tend to overdo and then not do with my plants, feast and famine with the care if you will, but I recently realized that the blackberry vines are in a great spot. They get sun but not all day and not the harsh southern sun, when it rains it the roof from the shed doesn't drip on them directly, but they get a lot of water AND the dryer vent provides a lot of humid warmth and they like that. Of couse, so do the weeds.We have a few blossoms on the apricot tree this season, which I hope means that we might actually get an apricot, who knows. It got fertilized this year, which is new, and might have helped. Sorry, this shot is under-focused:And the sunsets this spring have been really awesome:I'm not sure why, it must have to do with clouds and the ozone layer and stuff, but it's really pretty.Completely random, spring is also the time that snails appear in the grocery store:Apparently. I have walked that aisle in the store a hundred times and not seen the escargot kit before. Oh yes, snails, shells and instructions:It's the complete package.

This is me recognizing the season.

Bonus!

It's November 3rd.
Where I grew up we would be shoveling snow for perhaps the 3rd or 4th time this season and preparing for a long haul of more of the same.
Here, in the Jungle, it's 78 degrees.
Do we have a lot of people here? Yes, we do.
Do we have a lot of traffic here and does it drive us insane? Yes we do and it does.
Do people freak out and forget how to drive when it rains four times a year. Absolutely
But right now it's sunny and warm and there's a breeze and half of the rest of the country is buried in white stuff already.

This is me and that's why we live here now.

Slightly Damp

The only down side I have found to owning a convertible is the possibility of a sudden rainstorm from a clear sky while on the freeway driving home from a family BBQ.

This is me and that would be it.

It Must Be Spring

If it's 34 degrees one day - frost on the car window included, no charge - and 88 degrees the next.

This is me and it makes for some tough wardrobe choices.

This Isn't Even A Hurricane Place

How is one supposed to keep a locked, metal, anchored, tied, jury-rigged, weighted carport down in 80MPH winds? (No worries, it wasn't sheltering my new car.)
Because our method just ended with all the joints being ripped and torn off and the long metal pieces flying through the air.
We are lucky no one got beheaded.

This is me and suggestions are welcome.

Judging By The Water Falling From The Sky

It's raining again.
I know I should be thankful - the rest of the country is getting snow by the bucket load - and happy because we need the water for watering crops and drinking and bathing and all that, but I'm not. It's wet and cold and annoying and unpredictable and I would like to drive around my own town with the top down on my car.
There I said it.
Now you can judge me for being selfish.
Don't worry about it, I am judging me.
It's not like I haven't lived through precipitation before. My second year of college it rained so much the water was up to my knees when crossing the street. And I did live in The Frozen North for most of my life.
But in neither place did I own a convertible and I have found it is much more fun to drive with the top down.
On the way home from my parents' tonight I was increasingly anxious about the whistling noises coming from my car. It's true there can be quite a breeze out in The Desert - every car whistles an extraordinary amount - but earlier this week I had driven LBO home from school - with the top down natch - and apparently we did not put it up correctly because on the way to school in the morning one corner popped out and freaked me all kinds of out.
So it made me nervous to hear noises, loud noises, while driving home. There aren't any noises when the top is down.
Of course tonight, it also started raining on the way home.

This is me and look what nice things do to me.