40 Reasons I Heart Cindy

My friend, Cindy, is having a BIG birthday today! Here are FORTY reasons why I love her:

1. She is real, real smart.
2. She has traveled extensively.
3. She is SUPER artistic.
4. I try to copy her drawings, but fail miserably... She doodles better than I can draw when I'm trying really hard!
5. She inspires me to dream big!
6. She sets ambitious goals and ACCOMPLISHES them!
7. She loves her boys unconditionally.
8. She has raised well-adjusted, funny, responsible young men that are a joy to be around.
9. She is devoted to giving her littlest guy all of the love, attention, and assistance that he needs.
10. She has been through hell, but doesn't show it.
11. She is witty... which I LOVE!
12. She thinks that I'm funny, too.
13. She treats my little Hannah with love and respect.
14. She cooks delicious food - and makes it look effortless!
15. She is patient with me.
16. She motivates me to never give up... especially with school.
17. She is opinionated!
18. She stays apprised of current events.
19. She loves to travel.
20. She likes to try new things... particularly hole-in-the-wall restaurants. So fun!
21. She is a strong, independent woman.
22. She has fun (and slightly CRAZY) stories.
23. She doesn't judge me.
24. She took me to get my first pedicure!
25. She is entrepreneurial.
26. She is a writer!
27. She is empathetic of other people's struggles.
28. She is a licensed interpreter for the deaf.
29. She is a teacher.
30. She is a scrapper... ;)
31. She helped me to create a super-awesome scrapbook for my mom's 60th birthday.
32. She is happy to have Hannah come over whenever I do, which saves me the limitations (and cost) of a sitter.
33. She makes delicious beverages!
34. She loves to sing... and is REALLY good at it!
35. She has offered to give Hannah voice lessons in the future.
36. She talks to her boys the way I talk to Hannah... like they're on our level.
37. She is generous - with her time, attention, and talents.
38. She strives to better the lives of others... and goes to great lengths to do so. Like all the way to Kenya...
39. She gets irritated by stupid people - JUST LIKE I DO!
40. Because she's an amazing woman, and I want to be like Cindy when I grow up!

Love you, Cindy-Lou-Who!!!

Happy Friday

My friend at work introduced me to this website, xkcd.com, a while ago. Remember my Nintendo Surgeon post? Same site... And the author posts new comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so it's easy to enjoy regular fits of giggles. If you like math, science, Lord of the Rings, romance, Star wars, Firefly, or computers then you might like it too. Fair warning: a few of the comics contain "bad words" but most of them are just fine.

Here are a few of my favorite. A few of the pictures transferred over a little smaller, but any attempts to enlarge the pictures only made them too blurry to read. I've linked the title for each comic directly to that comic on the xkcd site, though, so it's easy to get to the original:

#702: Snow Tracking

#730: Circuit Diagram

#155: Search History



#87: Velociraptors

This one looked like my brother's handwriting.

I actually googled the author, just to see if it was really Mark. It's not.

And perhaps my very favorite:

#135: Substitute

May these comics bring a little laughter to your Friday... Like they did for me!

Injuries and Imagination

Tonight, Hannah and I were having some snuggle time before bedtime. Admittedly, snuggle time has been lacking a little lately since we've both been having a hard time sticking to the schedule. So by the time she's getting into bed, I'm nearing cranky time and we're lucky to get everyone to bed without any tears... At any rate, tonight I had warned Hannah that she had about 2 minutes before I came in to attack her and kiss her face. So she was already in her jammies and ready for snuggles when I got there.

However, instead of just scooting over like normal, she rolled onto her left side and curled up with her body pillow. I started to sit by her anyway when she said, "My whole side hurts.. It might be from the cartwheel (which must have been amazing, since she also managed to jam a finger when she fell doing it). Or it might be from getting slammed in the car door." Another fun injury from playing with her new friends up the street... a friendship that I'm beginning to question...

Being the concerned mother that I am, I asked her where her side hurt and to let me see it. She pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal a thoroughly normal abdomen. So I said, "Where does it hurt?"

H: Right here. (circling most of her left side)
M: (still not seeing anything) Where?
H: Right here... Where it's preparing for a bruise.
M: It's what?
H: Preparing for a bruise. I can feel it.
H: (now pointing at a higher point on her rib) See... it's really pink here.
M: (slight pause) That's because you're alive.

Snuggle time continued as normal... In recounting her day, she told me all about her genius but failed plan to swing in the baby swing on the playground in the backyard. She explained that she does this all the time. From the way she described it, she seems to almost perch on the swing as her legs don't quite fit in the holes anymore... I really wish I had a picture of this pose. (Note to self: See if Hannah will pose for a picture in the baby swing.)

Not Hannah, but this is how the swing SHOULD be used...

It would have gone just fine, but I had the audacity to call her while she was swinging, so she had to stand up in the swing - Don't worry, Mom, I was holding on to the chains - and then jump off the back of the swing. It was a total surprise that she subsequently fell on her face and may or may not have eaten dirt and wood chips.

M: You were eating wood chips???
H: Only the ones that got in my mouth.

Clearly, this was all my fault. So we went on to discuss the rest of her day and how she'll always be sure to check in with me so I don't have to call her and make her fall out of baby swings.

And then she showed me how she'd drawn her name in block letters which she was planning on coloring for an unknown purpose. This reminded me that a friend of mine, Ryan (but she goes by Girl just to keep things obvious), has an interesting favorite color.


M: Girl's favorite color is rainbow.
H: Huh?
M: Rainbow.
H: Oh. She like all the colors.
M: No, her favorite color is rainbow.
H: So it's all the colors...
M: ...but put into a rainbow. So all the rainbow colors. At the same time.
H: (subtly irritated silence)
M: She might have made that color up.
H: Maybe you made HER up.

Touche.

Catching up on some old Hannah-isms

Ok - I went through a BUNCH of really old voice notes on my phone... Mostly of "Hannah-isms" that I should post. Here are a few gems that I found so far...

March 9, 2009
After hearing the song Gives You Hell by All American Rejects come on the radio, Hannah said this.

H: It's the Hell Song.
M: Well kinda. This song (which I really like but don't often leave on when Hannah is with me) is called "Gives You Hell."
H: It should really be called The Hell Song instead... Because he says "hell" alot.

Are there awards for awesome parenting? I'm surprised I haven't gotten one yet...

August 9, 2009
Hannah was just getting back home from visiting her Dad and his "sort of wife" Lesa. Lesa's 2 other children live with them, as well as their daughter together - Alyssa. Hannah and Mikayla, Lesa's then 12-year-old daughter, did not always do well. Apparently, Mikayla is really mean.

"She's worse than.... Casey (old neighbor-friend that was a little volatile), my dad, Grandma on a bad day, you on a bad day... all together. Plus 3. Which is pretty serious."

September 25, 2009
Playing Taboo with Me (M), Robin (R), and Grandma (G), while Hannah was giving the clues. Mom (Grandma) was getting a little tired so it was mostly me and RobRob guessing... This is a lengthy one (over 3 minutes on the recording), but the clues and the guesses were too fun to pass up.

#1
H: It's something that it helps you... Hang on. It helps you um...
R: Vin Diesel! (Or maybe she said baby seal... I've listened to it several times and can't tell... But I giggled after she said it, so it must have been good.)
H: No. It helps you work on important projects.
M: Is it a contractor?
H: No.
R: Computer.
H: No.
M: Um... a man.
H: No. It's like really cool ideas... like a clock.
M: An invention.
H: No! It's a tool...
M: A wrench
R: Screwdriver.
H: Yes! A screwdriver.
M: A screwdriver. Excellent.

#2
H: It's something that some people... It's something that fairy-tale people live in.
M: Cottages
R: Cheese
H: Yes.
M: Which one?
H: Cottage.
M: Really? Cottage? Excellent!
R: Cheese, Gromit!

#3
H: It's something that people use at work... I think. And it's a machine.
G: Car
M: Computer
H: No
R: Advanced calculator
H: No
R: Spinning wheel (Or fan blade? She was sitting across the room, so some of her comments were hard to hear when I play it back.)
H: No
M: Slide ruler
H: No. And it has the word "machine."
M: Ok... That's probably not good to say then.
G: Adding machine?
M: A fax machine?
H: Yes.
G: (peeking at the card) It IS a fax machine! Way to go!

#4
H: It's something that you can get books at.
R: A library.
H: (dejected) Yes... I don't think I was supposed to say books, though...
R: It's ok. We'll give it to you anyway.

#5
H: It's something that I do ALOT!
G: Talk
M: Talk? Sass?
H: No
M: Cry?
H: No
R: Dance
M: Laugh
H: No! Nooo....
R: Sing?
G: Draw?
M: Scream?
H: It's something that I'm getting right now.
M: Angry?
H: No. But it's...
M: Frustrated? Older? Tired? Sleepy?
H: No!!
M: I think it IS mad...
H: Yes. "Mad."
(laughing)

#6
H: I don't know if I know this one...
R: It's ok. We'll give it to you anyway. From whatever you say.
M: Just guess and we'll guess what you think it is.
H: Ok, I know it. It's a name.
R: Rigor mort. (Or Voldemort?)
M: Seven
H: Hahaha... No! It's a name!
R: Loch Ness Monster
H: ...and it's a student. A student name... And starts with an "a."
R: Plato?
H: And it ends with an "a."
M: uhhh...
G: Is it a famous name? (pause) Athena? (Side note: Amazing guess, Mom!)
H: (getting exasperated with our fruitless guesses) It's Ariana.
M: Ariana???
G: (peeking at the card) It's "arena."
M: So where did you get that it's a student name?
H: One of the clues was studium...
G: Oh! Stadium... arena!

Great clues, Bug! I loved it - and I love YOU!!!

More to come soon!