I think I might just turn this into a blog to my son.

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:38:13 -0500

You know, TO him... for him later in life to come back and read and say, "Wow, mom is a little messed in the head."

I guess I'll start it today.

Dear Kol,

Yesterday we swore in the 44th President of the United States of America. This was an exciting time for Darren and I as we watched the whole thing on CNN. You were being a little fussy so I gave you some Sweet Potato puffs and then a bottle. Shortly after President Obama was sworn in, you fell asleep in my arms.

President Obama is the first African American to be elected but I am far more excited by his eloquence and ability to grasp the whole political situation at hand than skin color. I believe he will address the issues that Bush ignored or perhaps laughed off... and I believe he will turn the proverbial corporate pig around. It is with high hopes that I look at your future today and see better things. What parent WOULDN'T want better things for their child?

All in all, yesterday was a good day for you, for me... for America.

I tried making wonton & matzoh ball soup... Yeah, note to self: Start matzoh balls BEFORE the wontons next time. Our wontons nearly disolved, leaving the pork & shrimp balls free floating among the matzoh balls and soup.

You are curled up in your Pack n' Play, head in a corner like you always do... sleeping peacefully. I think you're still recovering from that nasty cold. You had a high fever for a while and a horrible running nose that you don't want us to wipe for you. You make it sound like we're attacking you or something. I'm glad you're feeling better.

Well, off to save the day... by changing a diaper and preparing a bottle, of course.

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It has been a good long while...

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:25:35 -0500

Hello again, everyone.

On December 25th, Kol will be 7 months old. It has been one hell of a half year and I look forward to closing his first year next May with his very first "cake in face" or "face in cake" moment. He loves his food...

I LOVE PRUNES!!!

Angel Eyes... in BLUE???

Kol's First Santa Visit

I am currently jobless as the market has turned sour and there isn't much call for A/P Consultants right now. End of year things might light up as a few companies will discover that sometimes it takes another person to process the end of year closings while the rest just try to keep up with the flow of every day work. My headhunter has a good lead on a local project though so with a little luck I'll have something by the end of the week.

That's about all for the moment, gotta go change a diaper and clean the house... big party here this weekend, gotta get ready.

Hope you have been well and I look forward to hearing from you again!

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Isis is a freak!

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:06:35 -0400

So last night I took a nice long hot soaking bath, it was good until I tried to get out and bruised the back of my left thigh. OUCH. It's a Jacuzzi brand tub WITHOUT all the awesome jets and stuff, if it gives you an idea of the width of the rim. It sits on a frame that has been finished with tile all around and was "overdone" by that I mean the guys went a little crazy and made the frame too big, they had to come back and adjust it, make it smaller in some areas… therefore, I think the outer frame of the tub is a little too wide. I have to straddle the nearly 1ft. deep tub/frame to get in and out and it's not comfortable. I slipped a little and came down hard on the outside corner with the back of my leg. The muscle is not happy with me.

ANYWAY. So I clean out the tub, take a rinse shower and go to bed. We're watching a little "Courage the Cowardly Dog"… and I hear Isis start with her nightly tirade of pathetic mews… at least, that's what it sounded like at first.

Explanation: Every night, Isis sits on the edge of the tub in the corner and talks, practices her meows… tries to say human words. (I swear that's what it sounds like!) Sometimes we make fun of her. : P It's fun to listen to, really. She thumps around getting in and out of the tub to sit on the edge or back or in the tub itself to talk to herself.

Back to last night, it sounded like that's what she was into. Then I heard a thump and a desperate cry-meow. I get up to see what she's done this time.

I walk in and she's damp on her tail, backside and left side. I ask "What the hell did you do? Slip in the tub?" She looks at me as if I were giving her a bath and continues crying as if I'M keeping her in there. There's cat hair all over the nice clean tub, ALL over. She's giving me those "You're giving me a bath!" dirty looks. "How dare you!?" and all I can do is laugh. There's no water in the tub save for droplets left from the rinse.

She's looking as though she was caught in a light rain and crying. I can't help but to laugh at her and call her out of the tub. Dipshit doesn't seem to get that nobody is KEEPING her in there and continues crying and pleading with me with those horrified bath time eyes.

I ask, "Does Isis WANT a bath?" and I reach over to turn on the cold water a smidge. The drain is open, no worries. I figured she might even walk over for a drink. Nope… she stares daggers at me as if I'm really going to bathe her and REALLY starts in with the crying. So I turn the trickle off and stand back so she can jump out. Isis sits there and cries, still looking as if I'm trying to drown her.

I finally have enough giggles at this odd display and coax her over to the side of the tub where I can reach her and lift her furry and damp butt out. She stops crying. Walks into the bedroom and starts cleaning herself. Resolved.

I guess the only relation I can pull is when a kid is swinging on a swing, is used to the swing… does it every day. Even does a few little "Look mom tricks" like jumping off in midswing but one day doesn't get footing and eats a little dirt… then cries. That's got to be the closest thing I can think of. The whole time you're thinking "I TOLD you not to do that…" and the kid knows, that's why the tears came.

Maybe Isis slipped and fell back into the tub? Was that why she was looking and sounding so pathetic? The cat can jump well enough, I don't know what her deal was last night but it was the most pathetic display I had ever seen a cat produce for such a little tiny bit of water and a thigh high clearance.

Should have taken a picture of her in the tub. If she does it again, I'm doing it for sure.

Hilarious cat.

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Sunday/Monday recap.

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:18:56 -0400

No offence to my MaryKay & Avon gfs but geeze… it’s so much easier to find a shade of foundation that matches me at Kroger (of all places) than it is going through a specialty company.

Yesterday, Darren and I went shopping for some Passover goods, had an extremely abridged Seder at our house with Sal & Daniel last night. By abridged, I mean… we simply ate. Anyway, while we were at Kroger, I decide I might like to try some foundation again.

So we walk over to the make-up area. I grab a few bottles and hold them up to my face for Darren to judge because they don’t have any bloody mirrors up anymore… PROBABLY to get people to stop doing what I did next. They DID have a moderately mirrory base to the display that I was able to look at.

Not being satisfied with glazed glass bottles masking the true color inside, I open a bottle. To hell with guessing, right? I find one that looks close enough with shade room for a little sun catching later… I take a little blob and smear it across my cheek. Oh yes. Preggy brain has failed me once again. Forgetting just how little it takes.

So I’m staring down at my poorly reflected self in disbelief of what I did. Giggles start. I look at Darren, he bursts out laughing. So we’re standing in the make-up section of Kroger laughing at this huge ridiculous foundation spot on my face. (Pretty much the entire “Apple” area.) I didn’t think to take a picture. Priceless.

I needed a good laugh. : )

Darren produced a paper towel he had picked up from the meat department and I wiped it away. Once the giggles subsided, we went about our merry way.

Dinner was good: matzo ball soup, beef brisket, mashed potatoes, gefelte fish, matzos and horseradish. I like the potatoes I got this time, they were clean enough that I just had to wash them down before I pealed them instead of scrubbing away a think outer skin of dirt and crap. Ver’nice. It wasn't a proper Seder, I think I'll try one next year. We'll be raising Kol Jewish like his daddy so I had better get prepared to celebrate the holidays properly.

The Seder at Lois (Darren's mum) and Rich's house was nice, the abridged Seder is about 20-30 minutes long vs. the PROPER 2+hr. Seder. Lots of important history involved.

Anyway, it was a good weekend plus Monday. Got a lot done... Thank You cards were the worst, but when you have a shower... you HAVE to say thank you to your guests. Even if they didn't bring anything, a thanks for coming. : )

Kk, back to work. *sigh*

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Birthing Class Rant: What a waste...

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:10:46 -0400

I ache today, bones hurt… joints popping.

It's really just my knuckles, knees and hips. OMG, I'm getting old. No, really… it hurts like a bitch. Took some Tylenol, hasn't taken the edge off. Can't take anything good. Fucking pregnancy. I just want my son to be here already.

Went to the first birthing class last night, it was as bad as I feared. I felt like we were in kindergarten. Played some group ice-breaker games to get to know one another. I was hoping it would be a MUCH smaller class, there were about 40 people there and the "instructor" couldn't explain how to get out of a cardboard box. I was shocked at the number of people who knew NOTHING about pregnancy/labor/birth.

Really, how can you go 8 months and not look up ANYTHING? I don't claim to know everything, not in the slightest but some of these people were doing good if they knew what a baby is. The worst part? The instructor pretty much caters to people who DON'T know anything about pregnancy. Good grief… what have I gotten myself into this time? I thought it would be more of a BIRTHING education… you know, Lamaze, breathing techniques, relaxation techniques, what to expect from the staff, what the staff expects from you and most importantly, stuff about BIRTH.

I felt like the majority of the time was spent on going over the same topic, how the baby goes through the pelvis… ok. Yes, I understand that the baby must go through the pelvic bone, not rocket science and nothing we can do ourselves will change how it happens. Moving on?? No, no… let's demonstrate how the baby goes through the pelvic bone again. Didn't catch that the first 50 times? Well, here's another go. Exciting. May I have another demonstration please?

We'll spend a few seconds talking about the difference between Braxton-Hicks and REAL contractions. Now let's spend an hour talking about labor contractions. Shouldn't that be the other way around? I'd much rather know the difference between the two instead of looking at a chart for an hour about how contractions look on the monitor. As if I'll be caring when it comes time. I doubt I'll be looking up and getting excited when the "needle" goes bouncing. No, I have a feeling I'll be curled over in pain spewing vile curses upon the houses of the attending staff. Don't think I'll be too interested in that chart when I've got a big one coming on. I just want to know when it's for real, k thx bai.

Also, what kind of idiocy is this? It's 9:30 at night… with a room full of pregnant women. At what point does one decide that it's a GOOD idea to end the last 15 minutes with all of us on the floor with the lights dimmed and relaxing music playing? I THINK she was trying to get us to meditate and relax but instead it was more like putting us all to sleep JUST before it was time to get BACK up off the floor and drive home? Couldn't we have done that at the beginning of the night? Why, for a 3 hour class does she wait to use the pillows and mats we brought for the last 15 minutes nearly putting us all to sleep???

Next week? We're supposed to bring Massage Oil. Normally, this would interest me a bit… but right now? I'm thinking… what the hell are our partners going to massage if we're fully clothed and in public? Our arms? Hands? Feet? I'm not a big fan of getting oil on my clothes, maybe I'm a rare breed but I'm not taking my shirt off in front of 19 guys and 20 something women I don't know. Sorry. Not too keen on getting a leg rub right now either… kind of hard to shave them now.

Rant over.

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Memory Scare.

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:05:06 -0400

Sarah came over last night for a tutoring session with Darren. From the little bits that I heard over my book, I think it was good. The mathematics covered were things that I might have once learned in school but have dutifully forgotten in an attempt to replace them with more… useful information such as pinball physics and random music facts. After they finished for the night I thought to myself, I think I might be able to do trinomials again! *Shock* I immediately began to wonder what more important information I may have just forgotten and nearly cried at the realization that I wouldn’t know exactly what I forgot because it’s… gone.

*sadness*

I hope it was a random useless trivia thing and not something important like the qualities of Hydrogen Peroxide or H2O2 which was first created in the UK by the burning of Ba (barium salt) which then produces barium peroxide or BaO2 and is mixed with water to create Hydrogen Peroxide and without a proper dilution, while inflammable itself, when in contact with a flammable substance like paper or cotton COULD cause spontaneous combustion or explosions. I don’t suggest mixing it with acetone at full strength, either. Thank the gods for dilution else we’d have all killed ourselves off early by accident. There is a long list of COMMON things it can react violently with. It is also a very good oxidizer.

Also, apparently I’m mildly allergic to Hydrogen Peroxide as of somewhere around 2000. I’ve been testing the theory again lately and I’m still getting negative results. Which reminds me, I need to get some new toothpaste.

I guess I kept that little tidbit.

What a geek.

I need to buy some Orange Glow or something to clean the wood floors, I have some swiffer pads but... meh. The floor deserves better. The cats don’t want sticky paws either, ew. I’d wax the floor if I didn’t think the cats would kill themselves slamming into the fridge or a doorway.

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Busy bodies: repairs, installs and other fun stuffs.

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:17:01 -0400

This past weekend, Darren and I got a bit done around the house.

The exhaust fan in the laundry/litter box room died so we went to Lowe’s and bought an “upgrade kit” which was a newer more efficient motor, fan, and grill than the cheap-ass one that was already there and cost a lot less than buying a brand new fan. Only about $27 for the kit which had the most important thing we needed… the motor. YAY! Darren did the actual replacement, which thankfully wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be! Just awkward to do. I prepped the new motor, fan and grill and it was a quick swap. This motor is quieter and seems to pull air better. Meaning less fresh cat cookie smell! Yay!

I also finally installed the spice racks Dad & Kay gave me for X-mas. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, I asked for cheapies and they delivered… my fault. LOL They didn’t install as well as I’d hoped but they’re there now and I got to try out the drill and I’ve finally got my spices in some semblance of order so I’m happy.

Bought a 5 gallon bucket to clean out the fish tank with. (Yes, you need a 5 gallon bucket when you’re cleaning a 29 gallon tank, I don’t suggest filling the bucket more than half way before dumping it.) Played with the pheesh while I cleaned their tank. It was hilarious, I’ve never seen such “in your face” confidence from fish before. They were nibbling on my wrist and hand the whole time I was siphoning out the gunk and old water into the bucket. It tickled. All of my previous pheesh wanted nothing to do with me when I was cleaning their tanks. Maybe it’s because they’re all adolescents?

Switched out my Dodge for Sal’s Mercury again so that Daniel can take his driving test in an automatic. He & Mei Mei really sum up the Asian stereotype of driving. She’s always bumping into things or leaving the lights on and draining the battery, he keeps failing the driving exam. I love them both dearly but now I understand the Asian driver joke.

The crocus flowers are coming up, they look silly, I don’t know why I planted them. The flowers are just sticking out of the mulch and starting to bloom. Ridiculous looking things, really. Just a little parsley-like sprig of green and a single grape sized yellow flower popping up straight out of the Earth here and there in my flowerbed. The whole plant is MAYBE 2 inches tall at the highest point.

Told Darren that I’m going to buy a couple of flower boxes for the porch this year, dig up the bloody strawberries that WEREN’T supposed to creep and throw them in the boxes so they can’t go anywhere. I LOVE the strawberries, they’re delicious… they just need some form of containment system else they’ll take over my side bed and the plants themselves aren’t very pretty. I’ll ruthlessly yank them out at the roots and throw them in the boxes, I have a feeling they’ll do just fine. If anybody wants a few strawberry plants, you’re welcome to come yank some starter creeps for yourself… they grow creeping arms like mad if you need a little ground cover in a bald spot.

Otherwise, all are welcome to stop by the Kamnitzer house and grab fresh strawberries this late spring/summer/fall. I use an organic non-toxic pesticide, please rinse well before nomming.

Other news: 30 Week mark is today. This means 8-10 more weeks until I can finally be done with pregnancy. Ug. I never want to get pregnant again, I told Darren that next time I'd rather adopt! LOL Really, I'm quite happy with only having one child, I was an only child myself (Well, I have half siblings that I never lived with) Darren was an only child too, we turned out just fine! : )

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The dreaded glucose test results…

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:38:21 -0500

Got a call from Jennifer, Dr. Balaloski’s nurse. My glucose test results are in… AND… she wants me to come in for further testing. *CRIES* This doesn’t say straight out that I’ve got Gestational Diabetes but they’d like to do the 3 hour test to make sure. *deep sigh*

I was so distraught Saturday and Sunday after listening to the voicemail. I had just bought myself a bag of bunny series M&M’s for a treat, because women always need chocolate, right? Well, that bag remains unopened since I got it home Saturday. It sits on the coffee table, all good looking and full of chocolate joy and I very nearly opened it yesterday. Self restraint can be a wonderful thing, no?

The Girl Scout Cookies that I ordered from a friend & neighbor’s daughter just came in Friday… I have two boxes each of Trefoils & Thin Mints waiting on me. Gah! Why???

Ate some oatmeal for breakfast yesterday, a bowl of spinach salad for lunch and a cup of cottage cheese. Made a moderately reasonable dinner last night, took the steaks from the fridge and trimmed ALL of the fat, seriously… there was a plate of fat trimmings that weighed half the total of the steaks! I used one of the sushi knives (if you want to do dainty work with meat, get yourself one and keep it sharp!) Marinated the steak bits in a sesame-ginger dressing mixed with an Asian dry-rub and some Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese 7 Spice Powder, kind of hot) Stir-fried in a little veggie oil mixed with dark sesame oil for good flavor. Added a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies and went to town. I have to remember to buy more brown rice. I’m getting lazy in my pregnancy… not chopping my own vegetables!!!

Just rereading that paragraph makes me want to jump back into bento making. I’ve got plenty of ingredients for proper Japanese cooking including the mirin/sake, shichimi togarashi, ground ginger, mustard powder, assorted sesame seeds, powders, oils, pastes, bases, nori and a ton of other stuff that I can’t remember just sitting up there collecting dust. In 3 months I’ll have all the time in the world to dream up lunches, so long as Kol is sleeping.

I hope that when Mei Mei comes back from Chengdu, she’ll have a little time to teach me some of my favorite Szechwan (Sichuan) style food, I’m so jaded on Americanized Chinese food now that I’ve had the REAL thing. Her hot pot is to die for. I’d like to incorporate some into my bento but she always tells me that “when it’s cold, it’s no good!” LIES, it’s still good! : )

I’m afraid that when Mei comes over to review my pantry she’ll throw all of my Japanese specific spices out. Many Chinese still dislike the Japanese for history reasons or otherwise. I happen to love both cultures, she’ll learn to deal. Older women & men have a harder time adjusting sometimes.

As I sip on my beloved orange juice, I wonder… If I fail the 3 hour test, will I have to give up one of my sweetest cravings?

Oops, I believe my ADHD kicked in again. Wish me luck in my 3 hour test!

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Larry, Daryl & Daryl , what am I going to do?

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:23:13 -0500

We got home yesterday just in time to catch one of the Daryl balloon mollies popping out some fry. Now… this isn’t such a big deal for most people but when you see her pop out two and eat one before you can finish “OMG She just….” *gulp* It’s something that will stick with you till the end of time. Seriously. We doubled over with laughter but marveled at how she could have barely popped it out and turned around to eat it. This is part of the circle of life, I know… but whoa. Bitter.

“Hi ma! I’m your new--” *gulp*

She then proceeded to pop out another 25-30 fry over the course of a few hours. Darren and I diligently fishing out what we could to put in the breeder net and continuing to wonder about how we only saw 2 or 3 the last few times. Can they seriously eat THAT many???

About an hour in, I made the comment… “Well, if I had to give birth to that many kids… I’d probably eat a few too… if just to save myself some sanity in the long run.” ROFLMAO

So.

Now we’ve got 1 Orange Balloon Molly, 2 Black Balloon Mollies… 3 adolescent Black Balloon Mollies and about 25 baby Black Balloon Mollies. Anybody need some fish? I’ve got three happy adolescent Black Balloon Mollies ready to go to a good home and I’ll have at least 20 more ready in about 2 weeks! Any takers?

Also, tried “Flyers Pizza” last night. Talk about nice, they don’t skimp out on toppings and their veggies seem FRESH! Nice.

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Sicko, White Out & Head Sitter

nobody@vox.com(Amanda) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:00:09 -0500

Darren caught what I had, and he makes it look much worse. Oops! I took him home yesterday, gave him tea and chicken broth. He napped for a little bit and then woke up for the evening. He said he was freezing.

I was sitting upstairs at my desk when I heard a funky sandy sound at the window. I peek out the blinds and freak. At first I thought it was white smoke swirling outside the window drifting up from the porch, then I realized that it was snow. Very fine snow. White out!!! It covered the ground quickly. We went down for some soup and more hot tea and relaxed for a while. Isis got another good kick from Kol… I got another dirty look from Isis.

I left Darren on the couch to nap a little and went up for my shower and went to bed early. He came up later and fell asleep. A little bit later he woke up shivering and put on some sweatpants and a heavier shirt. Darren coughed most of the night. Between him, Kol and Kaizen I’m not sure exactly how much sleep I got… I think about 4 or 5 hours. Not terrible but not great considering I went to bed early. LOL

Trying desperately hard to behave myself today. Eating carrots and TRYING to pay attention to my work. It’s tough when all I really want to do is pick up a book or turn on a TV, grab an assortment of cookies, a glass of milk and zone out.

Kaizen has taken to sleeping on my head… anybody else have this cat “problem” and a solution? I don’t mind so long as she sits still, sometimes she cleans herself and it drives me crazy. I hate slurping sounds. Ew.

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