Violet,

Put your Christmas wish list here and I'll post it to the official wish list (which you can't see, but all the parents can interact with so that you don't get two of the same thing, etc.).

The last few days it has finally started to look and feel like fall. The trees are beautiful and the weather is freshly cool. Much to the dismay of Jeff and Kadie, I have left at least two windows open the last three days (the coldest it's gotten inside is 67 and it usually warms up to 69/70 during the day), but when I woke up this morning I realized that I've slept a lot more deeply this weekend than I have in a long time, so I maintain that they can don a sweater if need be.

Jeff is...

I've sent you a couple of things to hopefully help with your new transition in life. I didn't want to wait until Christmas, so consider them early presents. There are some cookies (I know you often talk about baking yourself, but these had great reviews and I figured it couldn't hurt to have some commercial stuff available for quick grabs) and a couple of cookbooks (one is used - it's apparently no longer in print - but a lot of people said it was a great resource, so I'm hoping it's in good...

About 2.5 hours to get home this afternoon. Gotta love that commute. We were minutes away from missing the 6:00 deadline for picking up the kids.

I found this on Facebook, but since Jeff rarely goes there anymore, I wanted to repost it here. I think it's worth the effort.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: -Knowing when to come in out of the rain, -Why the early bird gets the worm, -Life...

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. - Chinese Proverb

Kadie felt her first earthquake just now.

USGS says it was a 5.9 magnitude centered 34 miles NW of Richmond, VA at 1:51pm local.

Our house shook rather hard (objects moved about, but no damage) and it seemed to go on for a good 30 seconds or more.

Kadie and I were sitting on the couch at the time. Kadie was playing the Wii, so, at first, I thought it was her bouncing about with the controls, but just as I looked up to tell her to"bring it down" the shaking got worse and I...

Lisa,

Thought you might want to take a look at this article:

How a Physician Cured Her Son's Autism...

With the recent combined family experience, were any decisions made regarding travel plans?

I've discussed this with Jeff several times but he's adamant about wanting to stay in the US. Though I'm a true blue American, I'm a little more open to the possibility of living abroad.

For years now, I've been reading emails by Kathleen Peddicord, who has spent years traveling the world, finding little havens that cost very little to live in, and publishing packets of info (everything from how to apply for local healthcare, to how to apply for residency, and whether residency is...

As I was pulling out of the parking lot at work yesterday afternoon, I swallowed and felt that all-too-familiar lump in the back of my throat that told me germs were in full-on attack mode. I tried not to think about it, but I went ahead and downed a measure of Nyquil that night, just to help my body sleep through it. It didn't work. I was up most of the night, struggling to breathe, trying not to swallow, and wishing I took better care of myself.

I forced myself to get up and get...

We were going to try the sedated ABR again with Kelan on the 13th (last week), but I took him in to the local ENT to get them to measure for fluid in his ears, and both were full up so we had to cancel the ABR.

The ENT asked how many times Kelan had had ear infections. I told her,"we've been told he's had fluid three times now, but I don't think they were really infections." To which she actually replied,"Fluid...infection...same thing." I think I was able to contain my snort well...

Let me just say, to start off with, it's not like he doesn't do them...I'm just talking about tonight (when I've already signed on to do them myself).

I was washing my french press (for those of you not familiar w/ one, it's a glass container with a top that has a strainer you push down on - it's to make coffee...you push the strainer down to push down the coffee grinds and then pour out the coffee) and it decided that my hand was much too big for it to handle...though I'd like to...

My hips started aching again yesterday on the drive home. I'm feeling much too old for my age today. The aches have spread down to my knees, ankles, and feet. I had plans to clean the house today, but I'm thinking I'll sort through Kadie's clothes instead (she still occasionally comes down wearing high-waters or shorts that look painted on).

We deprived Kelan of sleep and didn't give him his morning bottle or snack. As long as one of us was actively entertaining him, he seemed to not even care. If it hadn't been for Jeff's help on the ride in though (a nice hour's drive with traffic), Kelan would have conked out early in the trip.

We got there and had the run of the place, which was good, because it took a while for them to come out to get us. The first test was to check for fluid in his ears, which, unfortunately, they...

Kadie has asked for this for Christmas and her last Scholastic order form had the entire series for a good price, but I've never read any of them. From what I've heard, I'm skeptical of the content (apparently, the kid is pretty obnoxious). We've started steering Kadie away from the Junie B. books for the same reason (that, and the grammar is atrocious - yes, it's written in 1st person, but when a kid is learning English, it doesn't help to have them read very poor examples of it...

11 months and 1 week ago, I was in excruciating pain and running a fever. They put me in the hospital for three days of IV antibiotics and then I spent the next 2.5 weeks on oral ones. Numerous tests were conducted, but they never figured out what was wrong with me. This morning, I felt that pain again as I was dropping Kelan off at daycare, but I pushed it off, thinking,"No way!" Of course, I then had two hours to sit in my car and stew about the increasing aches and stiffness. By the time...

I caught a pretty nasty bug Saturday night. Woke up at 3am Sunday and barely made it in to the bathroom. Had tacos the night before, so that was pretty nasty. Because the vomit spell didn't cure the stomach queasiness, I went downstairs to sit on the couch. That way, I wouldn't disturb anyone and I would be closer to a bathroom that had washable paint (the master still has flat paint and, well, it wasn't pretty). Spent the majority of the early hours in the bathroom. At one point, the dry...

The local rock radio station got an offer for a contest this morning. The guy that owns the Bunny Ranch out in Nevada (I assume it's a, well, you know...) apparently knows the DJs quite well and offered to give"one lucky listener" a chance to live the"Charlie Sheen Dream" for a day: air fare to Nevada, a limo to/from the airport, a VIP room with TWO"bunnies" for the day, etc. They did state that drugs were not going to be part of the deal, but they didn't mention whether or not alcohol...

Kadie informed me this morning that she had already decided on what she was going to do for her science fair project this year...running a hamster through a maze. When I informed her that we didn't have a hamster for this, she told me we could rent one. When I told her that you can't really rent animals (at least not hamsters), she started in on the argument that we needed to buy one. I told her, in no uncertain terms, that we would not be buying a hamster. The discussion ended with a very...