Month: December 2005

For our family Christmas gift, we splurged and bought a new stereo head unit for my car that integrates with the iPod. Subarus have this unfortunate problem where there’s no easy way to upgrade the stereo, it doesn’t come with an aux input, and because it didn’t come with a tape deck we couldn’t use a tape adapter like we do in the Jetta. We’ve even tried FM transmitters, but something about where the antenna is in the car makes them not work very well. But Denis recently found a company that sells replacement panels for the dash and found a (relatively) inexpensive head unit which would work with the iPod. Denis hooked it up last night so we could listen to good music on our trip.

It sounds good. Really, really good. In fact, we listened to the iPod for six hours straight today. I’m not sure I like how the integration works, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. But it sounds great!

(We won’t go into the fact that 20 minutes into our trip we realized that there was hot air coming out of the vents no matter where the temperature control was set – the climate controls and the stereo head unit share a panel – and we had to turn around and go back home to fix it. Luckily, my brother has tricked out his car a bit and knew exactly what the problem was – I guess it’s happened to him before, too – and he happened to be at my parents’ house when we came home, so we were back on the road after not too much angst.)

Today is my 30th birthday. I feel like I should have something meaningful to post, since I’m so old and wise, but I don’t. :)

Saturday we had some friends over, who graciously helped me decorate my tree and gave me lots of goodies and delicious cake. And earlier this evening, my parents and grandparents took us out to dinner. (Note to the wise, try to intercept the waiter before he puts a sundae down within reach of a toddler. Otherwise, there will be chocolate sauce everywhere before anyone has a chance to blink, let alone move the sundae. And then, a tantrum will ensue because the sundae has to be pried out of said toddler’s death grip. I’m just saying.) My brother gave me booze and coffee (well, ok, good booze – kahlua and irish cream), and my parents and grandparents gave me knitting stuff: a gift certificate to my absolute favorite yarn store, a knitting pattern-a-day calendar, and several really nice knitting-themed books! Plus, my mom knit me a beaded(!) hat.

I’ve decided that tonight I’m actually going to go to bed while it’s still my birthday. Hopefully that won’t mean that someone won’t get a finished Christmas gift!

I will never, as long as I live, plan to make Christmas gifts for (nearly) everyone on our list and not actually start them until November.

It’s 1:30 in the morning.

I’m still up. Not because I can’t sleep, but because I don’t have time to sleep. In fact, I have so much to do in the next week I can’t imagine when I’m going to ever sleep again.

Oh, and before anyone on my list starts feeling guilty, part of the problem is that I am/was in three concerts over the course of a week and have auditions to play for every night next week for the high school musical. Someday, I promise I will learn how to say “no” to something.

I am so tired of being told that Carrie doesn’t speak yet because we’ve taught her to sign. I’ve lost track, because she’s learned so many this past week, but I can count at least 40 signs that she knows and uses regularly. Sometimes she’ll just sign them, sometimes she’ll sign and point to whatever she’s talking about (if I don’t get it the first couple of times) and sometimes she’ll sign it in response to me saying a word – it’s really cute when you ask her to say “cheese” for the camera and she signs “cheese”. In fact, there are signs I’ve never used with her that she’s picked up off of our Signing Time videos.

I really think she wouldn’t be talking if we hadn’t signed with her, and she’d just be a much more frustrated child because she wouldn’t be able to communicate at all. Because she can sign, she only has tantrums when we don’t let her hold the paper ketchup cup at Wendy’s herself, instead of having tantrums over wanting a banana instead of grapes with breakfast and not being able to tell us.

But I keep having to “defend” my choice to teach her sign to various family members, acquaintances, complete strangers, and even health professionals. Seriously. Just stop, people! I already know I’m a bad mom, so just keep your opinions to yourself! I swear, next time someone asks I’m just going to say that fill-in-the-blank family member is deaf, so we’re teaching her to sign so she can communicate with that person. Oh, and she speaks clearly and in complete sentences, except around people she doesn’t like!

I baked some cookies this afternoon for tomorrow’s MOMS club cookie swap. They’re Andes Candies cookies. I couldn’t find my recipe in any of my cookbooks, but the internet is a wonderful thing – here they are. I ended up with 7 1/2 dozen instead of the 6 I was supposed to have. Oh, darn.

And they are delicious.

This is only the first of many holiday baking projects over the next three weeks. I can’t decide whether to hide my scale until January or actually try to fit in a little extra exercise. (As if toting a 20+ pound toddler and chasing after her all day isn’t exercise?)