Racing notes - 9.4

I would love to go to Europe - not on something like the amazing race, where you get a 30-second view of everything, but for a few months to meander my way throughout.
They started in Russia and ended in Germany this week. I liked the gnome roadblock, but as for the detour - no way would i do the bottles, i just don't like those odds - didn't anyone learn from the dolls the day before?
BJ and Tyler are still my favourites. Lake and Michelle were easier to take this week - her sarcasm was irksome, but still...not as much yelling or degradation, so i call that a big plus. Does team double D have the ability to do anything on their own? They are being such sheep! Argh. MoJo is still quite blah, hopefully some more personality will come through soon. The frat boys have too much personality - again, we get it, you're horny, blah blah blah.
Ray and Yolanda are still a great team - i wish i knew why they are middle of the pack instead of at the front. Fran and Barry continue to do better than I thought they would - and i have to say they are, so far, the least annoying "older" couple they have had on the show.
Dave and Lori seem to struggle and straggle a bit and the promos for next week don't look promising for them... Desiree and Wanda - not shocking that they got the boot, but I was kind of hoping Dani and Danielle would go - just to annoy the frat boys and thwart their "tongue wrestling" plans.

Hard time

Ok - at day care when someone has misbehaved they have to sit out. Once they have been in the quiet area for a bit, one of the teachers will go over to talk to the child and they say, "Are you having a hard time? Tell me what happened..." Olivia's translation, when you do something bad, you do hard time. Maybe that's not a bad mix-up/takeaway?
Take care,
V

Tootsie says

If you want to know what the dinosaurs think...
Extinction stinks!

While dancing along to the Great Dinosaur Mystery tonight, Carrie the boy doll somehow hurt Carrie the girl doll (also know as lily and leeva) and had to sit on the chair and do "hard time."
Wha-hut? Apparently sometimes at daycare they have to do hard time until they realize what they have done wrong and are ready to apologize. Olivia herself, it seems has done it for hurting her friends. Sometimes I have to wonder who she is when we're not around. I'm checking on this hard time thing tomorrow when I drop her off, just so that I understand it a bit...
The adult expressions that we drop and they pick up and latch on to.
We've also been told that sometimes she is not Olivia, but Olives - turns out that's what the day care staff call her. Don't tell my Gramma M (one of the original Olives that Olivia gets her name from. The other being Gramma J), she'll have a fit - "Olive, it's the worst name! But Olivia is different, it's nice."
Take care,
V

Racing notes - 9.3

I like the two-parters. The look of disappointment on the frat boys' faces was funny in a mean way. I can only imagine how much teams look forward to the pit stop - which essentially provides them food and sleep, but not this time. They did the detour - i said i would have scrubbed, but i think the dolls were the better choice, and they did the road block - awesome - i would have done that one in a heartbeat, but no pay off at the end, just the next clue.
I was happy that, although the hippies dropped from first, that they are still in the running. I loved that they jumped out and scared people at the first stop. They so rock! i heart them.
I wonder why Desiree and her mom chase Wanda for the pool block? I thought it was pretty obvious you were going to have to swim... Same to Ray and Yolanda...
Lake and Michelle, especially Michelle, did nothing to endear themselves to me. They are just so completely bitchy with each other. I hope i never talk to Alan that way (i probably do, but i hope it's not too frequently - yikes!).
Another good leg of the race - The race is appointment viewing again!
Take care,
V

Marching Penguins

We rented March of the Penguins on Saturday, after deciding it might be something Olivia could watch with us. She was enthralled by it for the first two-thirds and then her attention waned. But she did run and grab her penguin toys and stuff them under her shirt to keep them warm and protect them from the cold.
She then told everyone she watched the marching penguins and asked for it again on Sunday. We didn't see that one coming - asking for it again, and now we are going to have to explain that it belongs to a store and we were watching it for only a while, and now it's back at the store. She's starting to "get" sharing, so there is hope that this concept will be agreeable...
Alan bought me Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, so I am looking forward to seeing that again. We also found time to watch the 40-Year-Old Virgin, which we found pretty funny.
We made Rice Krispie squares, muffins and chocolate chip cookies in an effort to being using up opened pantry items in earnest, so we don't have to move them! Three weeks to go. After another Saturday evening filled with bass thumping against our wall (no idea which neighbour this comes from, i just know i am way too sensitive to sound to handle this for much longer) and doors banging open and shut, "three more weeks" is my new mantra - although it's subject to frequent change as the count down goes on.
My mom is here for much of the week helping us get packed and cleaning stuff - I feel so spoiled, and it feels so great! Except she hurt her back recently, so she better take it easy!
My dad remains in Mississippi, doing network and landline infrastructure repair in Biloxi and surrounding areas. He said it's still pretty devastated in a lot of areas there - some with minimal power at best, but he's not there for too much longer (which I'm thankful for given that last week he ended up in the hospital with pneumonia-like symptoms - the doctors tried to get him to sign for an EKG and MRI, but he said, "No, I'll just take some medication, thanks!"), so we will see him the flesh soon! Good Luck dad! Hope it goes quick and your trailer dries out a bit!
Take care,
V

Racing Notes 9.2

So, here are my predictions, now that we have seen two episodes. The Hippies, MoJo and Ray and Yolanda as the final three. Those are also the teams I would hope will end up in the final three. Team Double D is truly annoying and not the smartest, but they could shock us yet (did you see her bicep? They are in good shape). I don't see the older couple lasting very long and I wouldn't be sad to say buh-bye to Lake and Michelle. The nerd team continue to be half endearing, half nauseating. I liked the Mr. Wizard comment though. The mom and daughter team are just kind of there - not very much personality-wise yet.
I was not surprised to see team Frosties go - I don't like it when people spend the whole car ride bitching and crying and yelling (and believe me I know from experience how easily that can happen, but you have to find humour in everything going on around you as well).
Unless I've missed anyone, that brings us to Team Frat Boys. Ok, I get it, you would like to get laid. You would "spank" Mo if she didn't have a boyfriend and you can't wait to get in DD's "panties." Why behave like that on TV - maybe it will endear you to some friends, but I'm hoping at least a couple of women remember these two, and how they clearly view women, and turn them down publicly for all that free love they seem so eager to share.
Take care,
V

By George!

I forgot to mention this. A couple weekends ago - we took Olivia to her first big screen movie! She got to see Curious George in all his cinematic wonder.
Curious George has long been the bedtime reading of choice for Olivia, so when we saw that there was going to be an animated movie, we really wanted to take her. We were worried that she was too young, or wouldn't want to sit for the whole movie, but we should not have feared. She is, after all, our daughter. A visit to the bathroom right before and one right after was more than enough. Sharing a hotdog and french fries with daddy for lunch and having a handful of m&ms as her movie treat, the girl sat enraptured with the little monkey. There was a teary moment involving animal control (animated, that is!), but some reassuring words later and a rescue by the man with the yellow hat and we were good to go.
It was nice to be at the movies with her, and it was even better that every adult in the audience was there with a child, so when there were breakouts of conversation or spontaneous trips out of the theatre and then back in, no one minded at all...
And as an added bonus, we now have a new music choice to mix in with Raffi and The Great Dinosaur Mystery, Jack Johnson and friends doing The Curious George soundtrack - it's a nice option to have!
Take care,
V

My punny girl

So, i was very excited yesterday because Olivia made her first joke! A pun no less...
Here's how the story goes:
We were in the car driving home from day care yesterday and Olivia was being goofy in the back seat and i said, "Oh Olivia, you are a nut!"
(I call her a nut all the time) and she laughed and i said, "What kind of a nut are you? Are you an Olivia nut?"
"No..." came the answer.
"Are you a peanut?"
"No..."
"Are you a Brazil nut?"
"No..."
"What kind of a nut are you?"
"I'm a donut!"
Isn't that awesome?? I let her know that she is a very funny girl and makes me laugh.
Take care,
V

Racing notes - 9.1

So the race is back - and it really is back. No "famous" couples and no family editions. Two to a team!
I really enjoyed last night's blast-off episode. The teams are all unique and pretty interesting.
I wasn't sad to see the first team go, though. I found one team member was just a big suck-head and had to have everything his own way, so i don't think I'll miss him much.
My favourite moment of the night was at the start of the race, when Al turned to me (pretty offended) and said, "Hey! They're parked in the handica...oh, i guess it doesn't matter." And my husband scored some real brownie points (where did that expression come from? Ok i found something, but i'm not sure it gives a very definite answer) when he turned to me, after a charming moment from team Double D (Danielle and Dani, who assure people on the commercials that they like boys!), and said, "Thank you and I love you for not ever being that type of woman." Ah! Good one Al!
All in all a promising start to the new season.
Take care,
V

catching up

Wow - i guess i haven't posted in a while, but i am going to fall back on the tired pregnant lady and incredibly busy at work (my usual posting time) lady excuses (not that being a pregnant lady is a tired excuse, but that I have been, indeed, quite tired).
And sore. A kind of odd uncomfortable soreness that never lets me forget that i am "with child." Apparently it's my pelvic girdle - who knew? And as I've said before it wasn't much of a girdle to begin with. Hello! What had i identified as my problem area for weight loss? Well just about where that girdle would be. Natural girdle, my ass.
So, Christmas (it's been that long) was fun and tiring. We traveled and hosted and traveled again. Olivia was a total trooper and she just continues to amaze me. She got loads of presents and some good time in with all her family. It just made me want to cry at how much people love this kid. Ok, she's a toddler and has her toddler moments - I'm not trying to hide that or anything, she can get the whines and whinges on pretty heavily, but overall? A very well-adjusted kid who prefers to laugh!
For new year's eve, Olivia, Alan and I headed to the Arthurs' for a nice dinner and playtime for the kids and adults. Olivia did not want to go to bed and was super clingy - which is abnormal, but once again instead of remembering that clinginess and poor sleep is generally a sign of "unwellness" in the girl, we were frustrated by this "toddler" behaviour. Oh, hello chicken pox (and a big thank you to the day care for letting us know pre-holidays that this disease had hit the school - that was sarcasm... it maybe didn't shine through, so i thought i better note that). Many emails and phone calls warning families we had been in contact with later, and all was well (we had her immunized, so the case was really light and literally we had one day of itchiness and two nights of poor sleep and she was fine. Given the cases i saw at day care, which seemed severe, I'm glad we immunized, even though we went back and forth on it a number of times before deciding).
As the new year began, so did the rush to get the house in order to put the For Sale sign on the lawn and get us the heck out of Dodge - or Upton (what you will). Many thanks to family that came over to lend a hand in painting, toting, fixing etc... House sold and finalized within two weeks and the new house was purchased at the same time (All's well that ends well).
So we move at the end of March, also the time i leave work for my maternity leave and the baby should arrive sometime in April - the 21st is d-day, so it will be no later than that day (doctor's orders...).
Olivia is getting excited about the new house and the new baby - as are Al and I. It's already so noticeably different than when Olivia was weeks away from making her grand entrance. I guess a lot of the second child stuff I'm hearing is true. Kid, if you are listening - and I'm typing so if you are listening you have no idea what I'm saying, so i will whisper it to you later when I'm not surrounded by people - we will take many pictures of you and maybe even print some of them off! And I'm sorry if we seem a liitle more laissez faire with you than we were with your sister, but it's actually a good thing!
I am positive more has happened in the interim between this post and the previous one, but that's the big picture - the one from 50,000 feet, so to speak...as you like it.
Take care,
V