Monday, August 30, 2010

Getting Around to it

I have a baby-book for Sawyer that sits on the dining room table most days. But I started filling in some of the details recently and my new favorite detail is this:

#1 song the Day I was born: Fireflies by Owl City

I didn't recognize the title at all, so I looked it up. SO COOL! I love this song!



And just because we got interested in it... here's the #1 song from the day Stephan was born:



And mine didn't have embedding available.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Stephan explanes Music to Anna

Me: So, was Rush related to Guns N Roses?

Him: Um, no. Rush put out their first album in 1974.

Me: So before Guns N Rose?

Him: Yes, they were in the same era as Led Zepplin.

Me: Okkaaay...?

Him: Ok, so in the 1950's you had music that was all pop-y and like, gay.

Me: ... ok...

Him: And the 60's was all acid-induced Woodstock which transitioned into the hardcore rock bands in the 70's with two guitarists and a singer.

Me: I'm getting out the computer.

Him: WHY?

Me: Because I don't know what's worse, me not knowing this already or your description of the last 60 years of music in 2 sentences.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Overheard: I Miss.....

...not why you'd think...

Me: Hello?

Her: Hi! I'm drunk dialing you!

Me: It's 7:30pm

Her: YEP!!!!

Me: What did you drink?

Her: RUMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!




....I miss being drunk at 7:30pm

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Sigh = More Mommy-Blogging

a.k.a. Anna whines about life


Sawyer is fussy lately. I think he's getting more teeth... how long does teething last? He fell asleep at 8pm for the night. My dad is coming to babysit in the morning so I cleaned the kitchen from dinner; washed, cut and froze green beans from the garden; peeled, shred and froze a gallon of zucchini; scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom; threw in a load of laundry, and now it's 11pm which might be why I just totally misused semi-colons many many times in a row.

And now I forget why I started typing. But I can't erase it because I did that funny semi-colon thing and I don't want to waste it. So... uh... OH!! Yeah, so there comes a time during the night when I'm looking around a living room/dining room combination trying not to be dismayed by how much is left to do. Then I pick up a throw pillow in one corner of the room and just vow to work my way around the room from there.

I guess I got distracted by blogging. Sorry. Back to work.

More Smiles for You!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Overheard: 12:38am

Me: You're using WebMD to diagnose me?

Him: No. I can't diagnose anyone. I'm just reading.

Me: I trust you though.

Him: If I end up in the ER this week....

Me: .... ??

Him: No, I mean, if YOU end up in the ER this week...

Me: Yeah, I was going to say, you have to work this weekend, so you better end up in the ER.

Overheard: Guest Blog (kind of)

Him: Ok, what do you like about living here?

Me: The food? Hanging out with our families so often, except that that's offset by how much I miss hanging out with our Montana friends.... why? What are you doing?

Him: Um...

Me: Are you BLOGGING????

Him: I'm just writing it in a Word Document and you can make it pretty.

So, here it is: Stephan's take on this whole moving thing...

Him: OK…it’s true, we miss our Montana friends daily. It’s also true that if one more son of a @#$%^& cuts me off in traffic only to slam on his brakes and flip me the bird, that I will be facing charges for aggravated assault and battery. I figure Blagolavich got off…so can I. I do want to say that this new phase of our life is filled with good things. Watching family members smother Sawyer in kisses, seeing grade school buddies for a Sat. night beer, and yummy ethnic foods are all good for the soul. We have a beautiful home (with curbside garbage and recycling!), a membership to the Field Museum, and the greatest football team in the history of the NFL plays 40 minutes down the road. Someday, we might win the lottery and be able to afford a ticket! I’m learning a ton at the ‘big city’ ER and both Anna and I are checking out adjunct staff positions at community colleges.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

I Miss Montana

Kristen is in Montana right now, visiting. Stephan and I just cancelled our planned trip for this fall due to (several) financial constraints. Wednesday marks the start of the 2010 Fallon County Fair. All of these things add up to Stephan and me being crabby about missing Sawyer's birth-state.

So what did we do?

Played a little Chris Ladeux, drank a Coors Light, and made fun of the president for a while. I'm fighting the urge to buy a deep-fryer and throw some dough into it.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Ch-ch-ch-changes!


I took a lot of comments very seriously about my last website/company name ideas and I came up with a different solution to the whole thing. Amazingly enough, it's the old solution with a different phone number!

Check out the new website and let me know what you think!

Monday, August 9, 2010

It's not just Me

A friend from Montana posted this as her Facebook status and it made me cry:

I love living in the country. I enjoy the smell of the grass, the smell of dust hanging in the air after hearing a car go down an dirt road, and even the smell of grease mixed with dirt in the breeze near the equipment. I know, I'm weird.

It brought back a very distinct memory for me of the first week after we moved to Chicago. I remember going outside and the air being completely devoid of smells. No scents at all. I know, it was winter, but still- no smells. No cows, no dirt, no car exhaust... I've often heard people from other countries talk about how America doesn't have any smells. Well, it's true. I could tell exactly where in Plevna I was just by what I was smelling at the time. Food cooking? The Bar. Hay and horses? The West road out of town. Cow manure? Somewhere near Fuzz's farm. Wheat? Hwy 12 West toward Miles City. Grass? The North road past the Plevna School.

My brother is known for tracking scents and naming them, driving around and around just to locate a good one. But isn't it weird that things don't smell in the city (I'm excluding some obvious city-smells: garbage, sewage, homeless people)?

Friday, August 6, 2010

I Never Thought I'd Miss...


I posted this photo album to Facebook a few weeks ago, and wanted to reproduce it on the blog but there are 50 photos involved and I'm just not that dilligent.

So if you want to check out the 50 Things I Never Thought I'd Miss about Montana but Do Now just click on the link.

Warning: This will take you to a Facebook photo album. You need not be logged into Facebook to see it, but if you have, let's just say for instance, sworn off Facebook for any specific length of time (let's say 90 Days for example) you may not want to click on the link.

Just sayin'.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

A Matter of Scale

I'm going to skip linking to the many entries I've made extolling the virtues of the Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner ("extolling" was for you, Kristen!)... but it's become an important symbol once again. Picture this: In Montana I plugged the vacuum into the wall in the kitchen and vacuumed my whole house.

In Illinois, I have to plug the vacuum into three different outlets to get the house cleaned. Does that mean that this house is 3 times bigger? It sure feels like it. Now, every time I vacuum the house I think of how much more compact that house was. And I miss it.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Begin starting... NOW!


What am I starting? A new massage and Healing Touch company! I've named it, given it a website, scheduled a few publicity dates, and thrown the proverbial dove into the wind. When I started a business in Montana it seemed easy enough. I had a cheap but amazing space in the hospital, and instant clients. Here, not so much.

Although the process for gaining and maintaining a client base is the same, for some reason I'm much more nervous about the stability of a company in "the big city". In Montana I had nothing to lose, and, I suppose, I still don't. But overcoming the fear and doubt that ride along with the decision to start my own project is something I'm working on.

Even saying that it's my own, like I own it, gives weight to this ephemoral massage therapy company.

Check out the website, email me with comments and suggestions. I may not change what I'm doing based on what you say, but I like getting the feedback.


Check it out: Your Place or Mine

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Radio in the City

I can't find the post where I described the radio stations in Baker, MT. But you remember that we had 2 stations: classic rock and Western (not country). One thing I noticed just today was how annoying the commercials are i the city. In just one commercial break tonight the commercials were:

Cash 4 Gold
Debt Consilodators
America's Lost Masterpiece
Hydroxatone
Some weight-loss pill that's not a pill
Mortgage Reduction Help

I'm not sure what is bothering me about all of these. Maybe I'm just too used to listening to public radio... but I'm not all that concerned with being poor, old, or fat. And if I was, I wouldn't call any of those people to help me with it.

Am I wrong?