Ackbar Is Adjusting

Well well well.

What a week it has been.  Nothing too exciting, but not pretty exciting all the same.

Yesterday I went out to a friends' house to use their high speed internet to apply for medicaid (thank you fellow tax payers) but the stupid government is stupid.  I also forgot the password and login codes for the application we had started.  So no medicaid for us yet. 

Then I came home and got really annoyed because my bra kept on sliding up above my boobs.  I couldn't believe they had gotten so big!!  Stupid milks and stupid double 'merican double standards.  All the women want big boobs but the stores refuse to sell bras big enough for big boobs.  Turns out I put on my sports bra-like bra backwards.

Today the concrete guy (Josh 2) came and poured the cement for the parent's patio.  A big blue cement truck came and put giant ruts in the hill of the yard.  I photo-documented the whole thing.  Lilly liked to be held and to watch the cement work.  First they poured it, then they smoothed it, then they sprayed a chemical on it, then they sprayed the top muddy layer of cement off.  The little pebbles are exposed, like the sidewalks at Vanderbilt.  I never knew how they did that, but I wondered a lot while walking around there.  There was some issue with the chemical they sprayed on, I personally think they were sold the wrong one, but it didn't work like it was suppose to.  Josh 2 called the man and cursed him out a bit.  It looks good still.

Josh and I helped gather leaves to put leaf imprints in the top of the steps cement spots.  Then we gathered sticks for the fire we are having tonight.  Dinner is hotdogs over the fire.  I was thinking today about how much fun I was having.  How satisfied with life I am.  What if I was still in Nashville?  I'd sit in the office all day, clean my computer...digitally and phsyicaly, maybe read some blogs, read about organization, then drive home and sit inside there, watch the neighbors, then go to game night.  Now I do miss game night, a lot, but I love being outside so much more than anything else.    AND I did clean my dad's laptop.  I got all the dust off and dug a ton of dust out of the mouse wheel. The wheel button, not the ball below..he has a laser one now.  I didn't know you could get so much dust and fuzz into the mouse wheel.  I also got all of the laundry folded and put away.

Now I'm enjoying a crisp Angry Orchard Hard Cider.

Josh had a hard day too.  Lilly peed right on his hand and as she did she shouted "PEEEEEEEDOM" William Wallace style.

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This is Not What I Was Going To Write When I Sat Down

This morning I got up earlier than normal and was preparing to make Buttermilk Pancakes for my family.  I was busy conning my mom into clearing off the countertop and wiping it down, when she asked me where my coffee was.  I was too busy working to pour it.  So I stopped and got my coffee ready.  But then I didnt' even sip it or taste it because it was back to work measuring out the flour.  Then I realized that the measuring spoons were dirty from the night before when I made me a mug brownie.  So I washed all the nighttime dishes.  I still hadn't tasted my coffee.

When I worked for the last 4 years my routine in the morning was the best part of the day.  I get to work, I say hi to my coworkers I pass, and try not to make too much conversation before coffee and while I still have all my stuff in my hands.  Then I set my stuff in my office.  My lunch bag goes on the tray on the bookshelf and my purse goes on the floor below it.  My coat gets hung up behind the door and my hats, scarfs and mittens go on the tray next to the lunchbag.  I would get made fun of for my hats and scarfs and mittens because since I'm from Michigan I should be able to handle the cold.  I do handle the cold...by wearing hats, scarfs, and mittens. Durh.  Then I would be questioned about not keeping my lunch in the fridge...isn't my food going to spoil and make me sick?  Little do they know, that's why I don't get sick ever...I constantly live on the edge and injest germs to build my immunity.  Quite like the Dread Pirate Roberts and iocane poison.

Then I go to the kitchenette and make my coffee and fill my water bottle.  If I'm good, I washed my water cup and coffee mug the night before.  I'm usually not good though.  So I wash the items.  My mug is green and large and has a pretty brown flower petal pattern. I  bought as a gift for my friend Kimmy, but loved it so much I kept it.  It's a perfect office coffee mug.  Large, pretty, yet still professional. And if there's one thing I learned there, it's that looking professional and looking like you work hard is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than doing good honest hard work.  I truly can't emphasize that enough.  My water cup is more about my personality.  It's the plastic kind with the lid and plastic straw.  It looks like a fountain drink cup, but it's reusable.  It's dark grey black transparent with a red straw.  It says MTAC and has a red moon circle thing design. I got it from the Mid Tennessee Anime Convention Josh and I went to, and our friend, Amy, helped very hard to make happen. 

I fill the water cup up with water from the tap and I think about everyone else who uses the filtered fridge water.  I wonder what the true difference is.  What does the filter filter out? When was it last changed?  How does running through tiny plastic tubing effect the water?  How is my tap water going to taste today?  You don't drink it during the end of summer/fall after all the water has dried up and it starts tasting like algae.  Sometimes I'm judged for drinking the tap water.  Sometimes it's suggested to me that I don't drink it b/c I'm preggers, sometimes I'm in there with the drinking water people and they agree with me that it doesnt' matter.  It all depends on who is in the kitchenette with me at the time.  Mostly I try not to make eye contact or get in the way if I'm in a bad mood.

I prepare my coffee before I fill the water cup.  It's a Keurig machine.  I open it up, and take the old cup out that everyone didn't throw away when they were done.  I toss it into the garbage can. I got really good at making it.  Once I got pregnant, if I missed, I just left it on the ground.  Ain't no way I'm bending over for that.  Then I put my dark roast coffee kcup in.  I wonder if there is a difference in caffiene in the dark vs. light roast.  You can find the answer in one of my previous blog posts.  And I make my cup of coffee.  I have the same cup of coffee every single day.  Every. Single. Day.  Same height on the mug, same strength of coffee flavor, spash of whatever white liquid I can find in the fridge (sometimes it's half and half, sometimes it's milk, sometimes it's soy milk, sometimes, if I'm lucky, it's coconut milk or almond milk), and some sugar.

Then, once all that's ready, I go sit down at my desk.  Sometimes, one lady is in there and she's a talker, and she talked to me through the whole process and then I leave and she's still talking.  I can hear her in the kitchennette chatting on to no one.  I feel bad, leaving like that, but after a few years, it just happens. 

At my desk I take my first sip and start typing up emails to my friends and family, thinking about blog posts, maybe reading some USDA articles and I get on with my day.

And that's why you have just read this post...I took my coffee today, sat down and typed while enjoying my coffee, just like I used to.  If I didn't, if I kept on making the pancakes, I'd still be half way done with my first cup, instead of my second!

All About Ackbar

Yesterday Lilly learned that she can talk non-stop.  She sure has a lot to say and I have a feeling it's all bossing me around or bad jokes.  She does smile real big then look to the side with her eyes and rub her hands together like she's doing something sneaky.

Ackbar caught a mouse, we assume it was him, and ate the head but left the body by our car.  Dad told me to take care of it, so when I was taking the bucket of litter to the woods (no need to throw it out) I asked him to put it in the bucket since he was wearing cloves.  No.  He told me to just kick it away.  Kick it away?  We are in the middle of the parking area, there are no trees around for like 30 feet or more, where am I going to kick it?  So I said no, you kick it.  And he did, right under Josh's car. "There, something will get it."

Ackbar climbed the plumb tree in the orchard.  He explored all of the branches.  The trunck goes up maybe 5-6 ft then splits into branches that go outward making a canopy instead of going up higher.  In total I think it's a 10ft tall tree.  Ackbar run up and down all of it looking for the blackbirds that were flocking in near by trees making tons of racket.  I took pictures.  Then Ackbar ran into the tent and inspected it while Josh packed up and took it down.  We camped in the orchard.  Then Ackbar spent a good three minutes sniffing around in some cut grass clumps looking for the perfect spot to poop.  We then discovered that he has diarrhea (mouse heads) and Josh had to wipe his butt.  No worries, he got his flea medication the same day and soon he will get his worm meds.

A Hermit Life

I am having a hard time figuring out what to tell you following.  All of the most interesting parts of my life right now, the best commentary, the funny observations, are not mine to share.  They are my parents and they live a hermit life in the woods.  Someday I hope to have my own hermit life in the woods.

Some rules I will have in my hobbit house.  Yes, it will be underground and with a round door...the has been established for a while.  Rule #1:  I only do dishes in the morning or before dinner.  I do not do dishes after dinner. 

That's as far as I got on my rules. 

What can I share?  My dad gave me some good advice.  Yesterday I was watching him do some underground plumbing to add another outdoor spigot to the line connected to the old outdoor spigot.  He dug a ditch to put the line in and I learned about the draining of the pipe and the plastic bucket protector.  And I noticed that my dad dug a shelf into the ground to set his tools on.  That was an amazing idea!  It would take me years to figure that trick out.  Heh.  Dad says he's been digging water line ditches since he was a kid, so he's had years to figure it out.  Anyways, I was trying to talk to him about the shelf and how impressed I was.  He told me "Well, to work underground you've got to dig a hole."

So simple, yet so deep.  Before you start any project, you have to get to where you can work on it.  Before you can invite yourself over to use a person's pool in the summer, you've got to become their friend. 

I've been going to yoga with my mom.  It's an advanced level class and it's amazing!  I assume it's advanced, we are doing stuff I've never done before.  There is one move, Camel Pose, which I call Camel Toes in my head, that I cannot do.  You sit up on your knees, with your toes down, then reach behind you and bend backwards and grab your heels.  Sounds easy, but I just don't bend that way.  Most of the women are my mother's age, or closer to that age than mine.  After Yoga we go to a diner owned by one of the ladies and eat breakfast/lunch.  So far I've eaten Eggs Benedict (DELISHIOUS!) and a Baked O which is not a Big O.  A Baked O is a ring of oatmeal cake cut into slices and topped with fruit.  It's warm and oatmeally and not sweet like cake.  It's not my favorite.  I then had just plain oatmeal.  It was very good.  I didn't top it right, so I might try again next time.  I had almonds on it and craisins.  Next time I want fresh blueberries and almonds with more butter, milk and cinnamon and brown sugar. 

Anyways, there the ladies talk.  Many are local artists.  I'm getting the in on the art scene and on what the big red building in Newaygo is going to be turned into.  But not the big red building with the lions on top.  They all stop to listen to me talk when I talk.  I don't know why.  Are they being nice? Are they truly interested? Or are they treating me like a youngling?  I don't know, but eating with them reminds me of a feel good woman movie.

About parenthood?  Well, Lilly has little fits when she's nursing and she finishes one side.  She gets very angry and waves all of her appendages around.  I think it's the cutest thing ever, but it worries me.  How and when is she going to express that anger when she is older?  I feel that I have the same anger, so maybe I can help her work through it.  My anger is expressed when I am forced to do dinner dishes after dinner instead of in the morning.  I get angry and complain loudley and flale around.  I still do the dishes on time though.  I may complain, but I'm still a responsible adult.

In Which We Experience Different Color Roofs

We signed up for WIC yesterday and it was pretty much the opposite experience of what I thought would happen.

First my directions I had written down, said go into the building with the red roof, facing M37.  So we did and that was the wrong building.  We needed to go to the one in back with the green roof.  We did.  The first window we stood at told us it was the wrong window and the right one was the one "right over there".  WHY WERE THERE NO SIGNS!?  I don't know.  And I was a little worried at not being 5 min. early for the appointment.

Oh, skip to the moment we walked into the building.  There was a giant wall mural on the wall of a woods/nature scene of Newaygo County.  It had every animal and bug and plant that we see in the woods when we go on a walk (and combine a lifetime of walks into one mural).  I've never seen a Puma, but they are native to here.  We were confused as to why there was no Wolverine. :/  There is also the alphabet hidden in the mural.  A sign said it was for parents and children to look at instead of having toys in the waiting room.  A local artist had painted it.  I wish I could have one of those in my house so bad.  I asked Josh if his mom could paint Lilly one. I bet she could. ;)

So back to finally getting to the correct window.  Inside was a very nice lady who instructed us to come into her office (the other side of the window, but we were able to go through a door).  She didn't introduce herself, she didn't ask about who Josh was, she just jumped straight into finishing up my paperwork.  I didn't even know at this point if I qualified for WIC or not.  She was the sweetest, nicest, most absent minded lady I have ever met.

Then two minutes into the interview, another lady came and asked if our lady could help her.  And the lady was like, What? I just started this intereview.  Only in a polite friendly way.  And the other lady gave her a LOOK and said something in code so we wouldn't be eaves dropping.  And our lady was like "okay!" and rushed out of there.  Then we sat there for five minutes listening to a young boy scream like he there was an exorcism conducted on him and the wall behind me kept on shaking because someone kept on bumping into it.  We have never heard a child be so angry and scared and yell like that.  Turns out he just didn't like getting his finger poked so they could check his iron levels.  I can understand that.

Then the lady came back and finished getting me my WIC card.  I asked her about where to get Medicaid, and she said the building with the green roof.  Which if you remember, is the building we were in now.  HA!  I felt totally vindicated when she said that because Josh had questioned my directions I had written down about going into the red roof.  It was my fault!

Then we thought we were done.  Nope.  Then we had to go talk to the lady who needed help with the boy.  She weighed and measured Lilly (10 lbs and some ounces!).  She weighed and measured me, and commented on how the height I gave were was shorter than what I was, and usually women round up!  Well, I knew my height, 5 foot 1 and 3/4 inches tall.  I don't like to confuse people with the 3/4 inch part, so I just round down.  I can't round up because I'm just not that tall.  If I was, I'd be the same height as my mother.

Then we talked to her for a while about nutrition and answered more questions.  OH YEAH! When she poked my finger for the iron, I was prepared for the pain.  It's my least favorite thing to do.  And it didn't hurt!!!  It was the best finger poking experience I've ever had! I  made sure to tell her.  Then she explained to us about the little boy we overheard.

So she loaded my WIC card. It works a lot different than I expected.  I get a package that can change as Lilly grows older.  On it is a list of food I can get for the month, and I must get that food exactly.  I can get three 16oz jars of peanut butter (that's a hella lot!), but it can't be Jiff brand because Jiff is making their jars only 15oz now, and that won't work.  I can get a lot of cheese and a lot of milk.  Mostly food that is good for breastfeeding mothers to make sure I get my nutrition.  Which makes me super happy, I had been trying not to eat all of my mom's peanut butter!  I knew I wasn't getting enough protien and filling up enough at my meals here.  We eat mostly fruit and veggies, which is healthy for people not nursing.  I've even been choosing to drink cups of milk and orange juice, normally things I don't like.  So I was really happy to get this.  WIC is a supplemental food card, NOT food stamps.

Then after that interview, where the lady was super nice and not judgey.  I was able to get Lilly immunized!  It was on my list of things I wanted to do badly, and I didn't know going in, it would be that easy!  I just filled out a form at the first window I stopped at in that building (luckly I had brought her hospital paperwork with her first shot recorded on it!), and then they took us back and Lilly got her immunizations.  I think for $16 each.  Not over one hundred like I was expecting.  Lilly cried and was soo sad and angry.  I cried a little bit.  She is happier today.

After that, they made sure I saw a nursing consultant, and we talked and answered questions I didn't even know I had, and she gave me an insert for my breast pump to make it fit better! I had looked at walmart, miejer, and target for this insert and Babies R' Us, and it wasn't anywhere.  I almost paid a lot of money to order it off the internet!  Did you know that babies drool because they are teething or starting to?  I didn't!

After that we were finally able to leave.  It was so easy, didn't require repeat visits and many appointments to wait for. The people were nice and respectful.