Andrew's Fashions

So you all may remember my commentary on my husband's style picks for Mia this past Summer. That was when he chose to dress her like this...

























Well, you'd think with 8 months of coaching from his wife and some positive encouragement, perhaps his fashion picks may have improved. However, I returned home from work the other morning to find Mia dressed like this...


































Improvemet from July? Maybe a bit. He insisted since both items had "stars" on them that they definitely matched. I think she looked a bit like a bruise covered in snowflakes.

What does it all mean?

I'm weird.

I know that's not really news to any of you all... but let me tell you what brings up the topic this week. I've always kind of known this, but have really begun to realize in the last few weeks that I have serious issues with letting people go.

It seems that old friends, former coworkers, random people who have come in and out of my life, and even exes (to a smaller extent) are rather continuously on my mind. I'm always wondering what these people are up to... or why I've lost touch with them... or what kind of jobs they're doing now... or what would happen if I ran into them... or why we don't seem to have been good enough friends or acquaintances to actually keep in touch and whether that's my fault or theirs or both.

Here's a few examples of how this haunts me:
1) I frequently google people's names just to see if I can figure out what they're up to or if they're at least still alive.

2) I've searched facebook and myspace for all kinds of random people for the same reason. I still may or may not add them as friend cuz I never know if they would even remember me. They may, for all I know, think it kinda creepy that I even remember them.

3) One of my former coworkers from job #3 after college, I've just recently heard as a dj on one of my fav radio stations and I was SOOOO excited just to discover that he was still out there. (I keep thinking I should email him at the station just to say "hello"... but again... just feel it might be weird to do so.)

4) I recently found a coworker from job #2 after college by searching for her son, because I figured he probably had a facebook account being in that age bracket. I actually emailed her son who I knew verly slightly when I worked with her. Turns out she'd (according to a return email from him ) love to get in touch with me again and I now have her phone number. I just have to muster the guts to call **due to my serious phone-a-phobia**

5) I still worry about a bunch of the guys I dated in college and hope they're doing okay.

6) It randomly upsets me that no matter how close I thought I was to most of my high school friends back in the day and how much I thought I'd be friends with them forever, I'm not really close to any of them anymore *save one or two* (other than blogging or random weddings or baby showers.)

7) I promised my boss at job #4 after college that I'd not lose touch and that I'd randomly call or pop in. That has happened approximately 2 times since I left that job... I suck at that.

8) For those of you that know the Iowa boy story, he's still someone who I feel like I should be in more constant contact with, but we just can't ever seem to have any regularity of emailing or talking without some sort of strange drama involved in it. This bugs me.

Hmmm... seriously, I think this must be some sort of pychological disorder. Should I really be that invested in people who I haven't seen in 2 years or more?

I think the major causes of this disorder is that I have this weird idea in my head that God puts people in my life for a reason, and I'm always wondering if I learned everything I was suppose to from them or vice versa.

What do you think?

The Season of Lent -Fast From; Feast On

I posted something similar to this in 2006... but I like this version better.

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
Fast from discouragements; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on verities that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.

William Arthur Ward (American author, teacher and pastor, 1921-1994)

10 Things

1.) Happy Happy Valentine's Day Yesterday!! It's my favorite. And POO to all of you who say it's "Single's Awareness Day"... you know, it's all in your attitude and this day can be just as wonderful and lovely for you as it can be to any coupled person in the world. You just have to frame it correctly.

2.) I'm happy to report that Mia can now follow simple commands such as "Can you go get mommy a diaper?" And " Please spit that out."... Unfortunately she doesn't yet seem able to grasp "Your crib is a fun and nice place to sleep for the ENTIRE night... you should sleep there." All in good time I suppose.

3.) I love my job. I had my yearly review yesterday and my boss is stellar. I love what I do there and how everyone is so cooky and neat and how the spiritual life is so important to all of them and how it cracks me up when they feel comfy enough around each other to let their "true colors" shine.

4.) I love having people over to our apartment. In the last 2 weeks, A&I have finally started inviting people over again... and it's so fun to host things. I love people... I just don't love to talk to them on the phone.

5.) I am in the midst of probably one of the most challenging things I've ever given up for Lent (save that one Lent when I tried to do bread and water fasts on Fridays... that was HARD)... but Andrew and I have given up TV and it is oddly quiet in our apartment... and we're bored frequently. That kinda makes me sad cuz TV should not play as big of a role in my family as it has been... so Lent is going to be good for us this year. But poor Mia is without Baby Einstein for like 5 more weeks. Though her interest in books seems to be increasing even more than it had been.

6.) Andrew and I went to see Juno last Saturday. It is PHENOMENAL! Go see it. "Your baby has fingernails."

7.) A lot of silly things have bothered me lately... mostly unrelated things ... here's a quick rundown: a) encoded blogs designed to hurt other people, b) cookies for breakfast, c) not being part of the group the way I thought I would be, d) fruitless diets with teeny results, e) politics in general, f) Jose's blogs on myspace... (he he he he)

8.) I've been having very vivid dreams lately. They're generally weird and involve being lost, or forgetting something, or someone having some weird but curable disease.

9.) I invented a dish for dinner last night... it was a variation on a pasta bake that Val use to make in college. I used Penne, chopped yellow and red peppers, onion, fresh garlic, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, mozarella (sp?), and parmesan... baked it all up and boy, was it YUMMY!!

10.) I can't think of a 10th thing.

Hello from my 1 year old!!

It's all about product placement!!!

Dear Dillons Supermarket Manager,

The other day while on my weekly grocery shopping expedition, I noticed something in your store that I found a bit disturbing. It has to do with product placement. Are you aware that you stock your pregnancy tests on the bottom row of the same section as you stock your many forms of contraception? Not only that, the top few rows are filled with lubricants, followed quickly by contraception.. and then at the very bottom the pregnancy and ovulation tests.

Hmm.

The placement of these products made me wonder... Why don't you place pregnancy tests in the baby aisle? Or even the feminine products aisle? In fact... I'd be satisfied if you would place them in almost ANY OTHER AISLE besides the directly below the contraceptives.

Perhaps you think the placement of this product makes no difference. But I assure you it does. Your display seems to say "Hey... here's all the things that make sex more fun... followed by all the things that make safe 'safer' (or at least less productive)... and lastly, if those things screwed up, we also have some pregnancy tests for verification of results of your sexual encounter." Not a very life-affirming display, huh?

Why not give your consumers a happier trip to get a pregnancy test by placing them next to the sweet little baby bottles... or bibs... or toys? Why not remind your consumers of the great things a baby brings... like joy and giggles and smiles that melt your heart? Instead you seem to be reminding us that we could have prevented the little creature all together if we had just used those products located directly above the tests.

Perhaps these are not ideas you had ever thought about. But from a young mother of one who happens to be a big customer of yours, I ask that you please consider changing the location of your pregnancy tests. What joy you can bring to your customers with just a little switch of product placement! After all... that's what marketing is all about.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Consumer

Let that be a lesson to me...

So about 3 days ago Mia discovered that she had a little golden book bout how God is bigger than the boogie man. And it happens to feature her favorite VeggieTales characters.

Well... ever since her discovery she will sort the book out of the 25 or 30 books she has, and with much trepidation (as the book is a bit bigger than things she's used to carrying) she will crawl over to me or her daddy and cry until we read it... and I mean CRY.

I'm getting really sick of this book... and at the same time I'm pretty excited about my daughter's joy for reading!

Mia turns 1!!!

Here's a little clip of what fun we had yesterday! My baby girl is already a year old... that's crazy.

By the time we started taking video, Mia had already flipped the cupcake upside down and began picking at it. But she makes at least one great face during the video...