may bee pictures

it's been a while since i posted pictures of the bees. these pictures i've got at the bottom of this post are almost a month old now so the bees have made much more progress since them. but we've not taken any more recent shots.

in these pictures you can see that they've built the comb, laid brood, and started capping honey.




not a great shot, but you can see the marked queen at the bottom.


the hubby checking out a frame. you can see that they've built comb down on the bottom of this frame. we have to clean that up periodically so they don't start building the frames together (which they did this last time we checked.)


the capped brood is all throughout the middle of the frame. capped honey is in the bottom right of this picture. the watery-looking stuff throughout the frame is honey in the process of becoming honey.

since these shots were taken a few weeks ago we have added another box (a super) with 10 more frames on top of each hive. when we checked them this past weekend the one hive was really far along in having the top box filled with honey-in-progress. the second hive is a little slower, but they're still moving along in there too. it had been over 2 weeks since our last check on the hives, so things were quite a mess. as i mentioned earlier in this post, a top and a bottom frame were stuck together, so when we went to pull the frame out it pulled the one under it too. that was a little tricky to fix. also, they attached one of the frames to the side of box so that when we took it out it ripped the entire frame. not sure if they'll be able to fix that. but we'll check this weekend and see what's happened.

zucchini!

i'm afraid to post this because it'll jinx it. but for the first time in years and years of growing zucchini i finally have a fruit growing on my plant! my zucchini and squash plants have always been devoured by squash bores. i thought they got them again this year, but perhaps not. on our one zucchini plant we have one that's about 3" long, another that's about 2" and it looks like a 3rd is coming up! woot woot!

baby strawberries

i forgot to mention in my last post that we had a bunch of baby strawberries coming up in the yard. how cute!


they were like nature's little candy!

garden progress

i've been doing a lot of work in the garden over the past weeks and weeks and weeks, not that you can really tell to look at it. it's been so much work and there's always more to be done. i mean, what did i expect when i bought all those seeds?

but i finally got around to taking some pictures of the progress thus far. check it out:


tomatoes. i had to cover them up because our rotten cats kept rubbing up against them and killing them.


either squash or cucumber. i can't remember which ones! hopefully we'll soon find out.


when i dug up the grass for the garden i put it on the other side of the house hoping to get some growth. it looks awful but maybe someday it'll spread?? by the way, i've got some shots of the bees that i'll post at a later date.


shot of the whole side garden(s).


onions, garlic, herbs and teeny tiny eggplant and green peppers in the back.


another view of that shot while mokey looks on.


the patsy's beans are doing pretty well in the back yard.


corn and louisianna purple pod peas and king corn are growing a little slow because of lack of sun.


the intent is for the peas to wrap themselves around the corn but the corn is so small it's not really being effective.

by the way, all these pictures were taken before the big rains this week. so everything's grown quite a bit this week! and this afternoon i planted some more okra because the first batch didn't really take too well. and i also planted some insectiary mix next to the garlic. more to come as well...

update on the rain barrel

this afternoon as the ominous rain clouds were descending our area, we carefully studied the roof and put the barrel in a perfect spot that was right under an eave of the roof and close enough to the garden that we wouldn't have to tote the water too far.

as the rain crashed down we excitedly peered out the window to see how much water was gushing down the roof into the barrel.

none. rain was basically going everywhere except in the barrel. hrumph! guess we'll have to relocate it and hope for better luck next time.

yo, check it!

i made a rain barrel today!



(this is obviously not where it's going to go. i have to figure out which eave has a good spot.)

big moves in v'burg

the hubby has been out of town all week helping his mom move. it's been a difficult week for the whole family. but i am so proud of the work that he and his sister and brother-in-law have put in. they have successfully moved his mom from a 3 story, 2,000+ square foot home into a tiny, one bedroom apartment. they've gotten everything out of the home and it's now all but completely empty. (animals included!) what a large accomplishment!

when they started the week no one thought that they'd be able to get everything done. we just thought they'd get as far as they could and at least have his mom living in her new place. but by monday night her stuff was in the apartment and she was spending the night there. the rest of the week they spent selling, donating and purging. it's been so difficult for them, but i am just so amazed and proud of the work that they've done.

and big thanks go out to all the family and friends who pitched in and helped. it certainly wouldn't have happened if they didn't have all those hands helping!

now, if you know anyone who wants to get a steal on a cute 3 story, 2,000+ square foot house, i know where you can buy one!

happy birthday, rachel

birthday wishes go out to my cool older sister. big ups, rach!

look at doozer

about a month ago we started letting our cats outside. up until that point they were strictly relegated to inside. but we got tired of hearing their whining so we gave in and let them outside. it was probably the best thing we've ever done with them. they love going out and socializing with other neighborhood cats, chasing squirrels, digging up my garden, and having other adventures. so now we can just leave the screen door unlatched and they can come and go as they please.

this afternoon when i stepped outside for a minute i notice this black clump next to the stairs.



boy, he was out like a light!





so cute!

women be shopping

i hate shopping. it's just not how i want to spend my time. but sometimes it's just necessary.

and, because it was that time for me, this sunday i headed to the mall to get some new summer work clothes. it was just necessary. and i'm proud to say that i not only got some cute things, but i got great bargains! i got 1 skirt, 1 light sweater-thingy, and 4 blouses/shirts. it was approximately $243 in merchandise and i got it for less than $78 total! that's right, people! booya!

somehow i feel vindicated when i get those kinds of bargains. like they didn't "get" me so badly. so, take that, mall!

where did april go?

remember when i said i was going to be busy with work events this month? yea, that was no joke. plus, i had a birthday, an anniversary, an out of town trip, and all those little and big things that go into maintaining house and home. all this activity has been great, but i sure am looking forward to slowing down.

a few weeks ago i made it up to ny/pa for my niece's first communion and a visit with a friend. here are the pictures.

we've also had several bee checks. this past week we put an additional super on both hives so they can keep building comb to grow more larvae and store honey. did i tell you we got a little taste of their honey? we had to remove stray comb from various places in the hive a few weeks ago and some of the comb already had honey stores. the taste really was just that-we licked our fingers basically. but it sure was good. very honey-rific.

still haven't had a chance to get all the seeds and plants in the ground. we've got things coming up in a bunch of places though. and i picked a few eensie strawberries from our back yard earlier this week. i also got a big flat of local strawberries which are yumms. i love this time of year when everything starts coming in.

i've gotten a lot of questions about the foster care stuff. we're still moving along with it. it's just not really anything very exciting. we've had to have doctor visits, fingerprinting, and references. we're trying to schedule dhec (department of health) and fire safety inspections right now. once we get that done we can register to attend the classes. we're trying to get the classes in may so that we can get it over with but i'm not sure if we'll be able to get all those things done in time. so things are slowly rolling with that.

my husband is the best

he sent these to my office today.



thanks, babe, for the flowers. and thank YOU for 7 great years!

birthday wishes

i've had this song in my head all day. erica explains it here.

happy birthday, erica and mamaw/juanita!

busy bees

we had a very busy and accomplished weekend. in addition to having some last-minute visitors for lunch on saturday, we also did our first bee inspection after installing them a few weeks ago. and i did a bunch of gardening both saturday and sunday.

the first bee inspection went very well. they're very active hives, which is a lot more than i can say for the hive last year. we found the queens in both hives. and both hives already had a bunch of capped honey, which was really cool to see. in fact, when we installed the hives, we left out one of the frames to give them a bit more room for the first few weeks. the result, then, was that they built wax and stored honey in places that they shouldn't have. so we had to remove the wax and honey stores from those places where they shouldn't be. so we got a little taste of the honey they're making. it's very honey-rific!

i also planted louisana purple pod peas, squash, zucchini, and tomato. i wanted to plant more than that, but it was just too much to do in one weekend. we're moving the garden to a different location this year, so we had to dig out a big section to make it ready. today we dug out a section of about 14'x5'. that's just for the tomatoes! i've still got cucumber, peppers, okra, and eggplant to plant. i don't know when i'll get all that done. but i'm very happy with how everything looks so far.

tonight we went for korean food with some of baldman's coworkers at dj house. i tried kim chee soft tofu stew. it was very spicy and excellent! now i'm so full and tired i just want to fall into bed.

easter in greenville

we had a great time this past weekend visiting friends, friends and friends in greenville. the highlights included great food, yummy bevs, excellent company, fabulous easter vigil service and a brisk hike. all around good times! nicole took a few shots and i posted them on flickr if you're interested.

"do you ever get stung?"

whenever i tell anyone about my hobby of raising bees i immediately get the obvious question about getting stung. "sometimes," i say. "but they're usually very calm."

well, for the record, i got my first bee sting this week. i wish i'd taken a picture of the sting because i tend to get a little bit of a reaction. i have only myself to blame, though, which is usually the case when you get stung. the bees honestly would prefer not to sting because they know it's their kiss of death, literally.

it was monday night and i needed to feed the hives*. but i didn't get a chance to go outside until after it was dark. that's rule #1: don't mess with the hive after dark. but i was stressed because i wouldn't have time to feed them the following day. so i thought i just HAD to feed them right then. so i went outside (without gear or the smoker) to the first hive and managed to successfully get the lid off the mason jar, pour the sugar water into it and screw the lid on with no problems. there were a few bees eating on the lid but i avoided them and they avoided me. done and done.

the second hive was where the difficulties started. first of all, there were a ton of bees congregating at the entrance to the hive. i wasn't sure what they were all doing there** because they should've, i thought, been inside their hive watching tv for the night or something. i was already nervous because it was past dark. and i was in a rush. and then i became more nervous because they were displaying behavior that was unusual to me. but instead of walking away and doing it later when the conditions were better, i heard the voice of my grandmother the food pusher saying i had to MAKE SURE THEY EAT!!! so i got the mason jar and pulled it out, turned it over and there were a bunch of bees on it. no problem, i work with the bees all the time. but i couldn't see very well and when i started to unscrew the lid i hit them around more than they wanted and one of them pegged me on the middle finger. oooh does that hurt!

after saying a few choice words and walking away for a minute i was able to get the food in the jar and put it back in place with no more stings. but the damage was already done. within a few minutes my finger started to swell. thank goodness it wasn't my ring finger because i hadn't taken my ring off like i normally do when i work with the bees.

tonight, 3 full days later, my finger is finally almost back to its regular size. at its most swollen my finger was so big that the wrinkles in the joints were gone. it felt like it was going to pop! and it was so warm to the touch. but no permanent damage. it's just very uncomfortable. and then very itchy! ice, ibuprofen and benadryl help a lot though.

so, to answer the question, my bees do sting when provoked. but let's hope that doesn't happy often.



*they get fed a mixture of 1/2 water and 1/2 sugar in a mason jar which is upside down with holes in it. it sits in a feeder that is placed at the entrance to the hive.

**the hubby pointed out in retrospect that maybe they were fanning themselves because it was a kinda warm night after a hot day and the hive has to keep a certain temperature.

32

thanks to everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes! yesterday was a really nice birthday. certainly much better than last year's when i had a car accident on my birthday. i kept remembering that all day, especially when i drove past the wreck site hoping that "lightening wouldn't strike the same spot twice."

i worked at a school all day yesterday but the kids were fairly well behaved and i thought it went well. on my break between classes i spoke with some family and got some nice emails and voice mail messages. then last night i went to a work event for my office, which was really nice. the weather was beautiful (in the low 90's yesterday) so we sat outside the cafe and had a few drinks with dinner. we had to leave a lot earlier than i wanted. but we had to get to church, which, of course, is good reason to leave. after church my hubby picked up a six pack and a cake for me at the store. so we continued to celebrate at home while i opened the rest of my presents and talked with more family and friends.

i took the day off work today so i look forward to lazing around a bit and putzing around the house.

so far 32 ain't so bad.

bee pictures

"bees nuts!"

i've uploaded our pictures from the bee instillation. check out the flickr set here.

bees (take 2)

the bees are in! and installed in their hives.

i say "hives" because we have 2 this year. after our failed attempt at one hive last year we figured we'd double our luck this year and hope to have better success.

we took some pictures of the instillation this evening but i'll post them tomorrow, i think. i want to veg out to some dancing with the stars for now.

important (and fun) april events

you may be wondering "what can i do for fun and interest in april?" well, april is sexual assault awareness month (commonly referred to as saam). it also happens to be my birthday month and my wedding anniversary month. so, come out and commemorate all of these things with me at any and all of these events that my work is facilitating.

april 1: yours truly's birthday, holy thursday, and saam kick-off day! thought you couldn't jam all that into one evening? well, think again! join me and other advocates to end sexual violence as we celebrate at gotham bagel cafe on main street. we'll be there starting at 5:00 pm and free music and dancing starts at 7:00. i'll be heading out a little before 7:00 to go to holy thursday mass. if you're so inclined, you're welcome to join me for that too. it's one of my favorite masses of the year!

april 6: i'm facilitating a free child sexual abuse prevention training at newberry county library from 4:00-7:30. this event is free and open to the public so register at our website. it truly is a really great program, if i do say so myself--very important for parents and adults who work or volunteer with children.

april 10: we're partnering with richland county sheriff's department and the ymca to provide a free self defense course for teen girls and women from 9-1:00. this event is also free and is really fun. the teens must be at least 14 years old and have to have a parent's permission. sign up here.

april 14: walk a mile in her shoes. calling all men! we need you for this event! join us in five points at 6:00 pm for this walk to raise awareness about sexual violence against women. we're asking men to literally walk a mile in women's high heal shoes. women are encouraged to join as well, but they don't have to wear heals. the event is only $10 and you get a t-shirt included in registration. it will be a fun and purposeful event, so please join us! register here.

april 21: denim day. encourage your company or office to allow their employees to wear jeans on this day to remember victims of sexual violence. denim day is an international event commemorated around the world. click here to read more about why we wear jeans on this day.

april 24: we have two things going on this day. we're hosting another child sexual abuse prevention training. this one is in lexington from 9-12:30. we're also going to have a booth at lexington kids day. lexington kids day is an amazing and fun event and if you have kids i encourage you to attend. in the park behind the courthouse in lexington they have a big festival with free games, food, and other vendors for children. stop by anytime during the day to see my agency at our booth. we'll be distributing free information about child safety.

happy birthday, david

today would've been baldman's dad's 56th birthday. in honor of that, here's a smooth picture of him with a wee baldman.

dss update

it's been a while since i posted about the fostering process, so i figured i'd just give a little update. last week we handed in the application to our caseworker. from the date that we handed that in (3/15) they have 120 days to get us through the whole process. it could take less time if we move quicker with it, but i have my doubts that it'll be anything less than that.

we have a few things that i know we must work on (i.e. medical reports, fingerprinting, references). but i'm also just waiting for our caseworker to call us with next steps. more likely, i'll be waiting a few weeks for her to call and when she doesn't i'll call her.

ok, last trip down memory lane... for now

we liked birthday parties in my family. this is my sister's 6 birthday as my dad lights her candles. of note in this picture is our long time family friend, robin, to the right. she is now married and has kids.


here's my family eating breakfast. i loved our kitchen when i was a kid. actually, i still love the kitchen. there's a lot i really like about the picture. and i wonder who took it if my mom, dad, brother and sister are all in the shot. did i take it?


look at these cuties in their uniforms. we wore those things from kindergarten till 8th grade. and then traded them out for another set through 12th grade. every year we took a picture of us on our first day of school. this shot must've been before i started school since i'm not in it.


mom and a friend in her bedroom. people say i look a lot like my mom. guess i see it here in this shot. i always loved that wallpaper, by the way. it had cool birds and flowers on it and i remember staring at it whenever i was laying on their bed.


don't know who the dude in this picture is. if any of the family knows, you can post it in the comments. my brother, of course has a cape on. that was quite usual for him as a child. actually, it wouldn't be that unusual for him now as an adult to have a cape on. and the brown corduroy couch! we had that couch until i was in high school and my mom and stepdad moved out of philly. that was the best couch in the world! so big and comfy!


we always used to sell lemonade when we were kids. i don't remember a lot of people buying (it's not like we lived on a busy street), but i do remember a few people having pity on us and purchasing a dixie cup of that sweet goodness. i love my brother's little visor. dork! and i think that might be my grandparent's car in the driveway.

more vintage waldie

here are some more shots of my childhood that the family has been passing around over the past few weeks.


my brother and sister are on either side of my mom as santa and i'm in front. i love that we're all wearing matching IUP outfits. my granddad worked for the university for many years so we often got IUP stuff for christmas. (this might be the only time you see my sister as a child not in a dress;)


me and my sister in front of the fireplace. what was up with the stockings and shorts?
notice on the left side of the mantle there's a glass-domed clock. that clock is famous for being broken at some point after this by my brother. unruly kids!


my 4th ? birthday party. mom always made a cake and decorated it however we wanted. i can't remember how this cake was decorated. one year i remember i had casper the friendly ghost cake.


my sister's 5th or 6th birthday party. i think the dining room is a different color by this time.

blast from the past

my mom sent me these pictures today. how sweet are they?


this is the house i grew up in (until 4th grade). i loved this house. it was big and old but it had some really beautiful things about it - the huge porch, the iron fence, the big trees around it (which gave me plenty of leaves to jump in during the fall). we used to play baseball in the driveway. and (though you can't see it) there were big cement steps that led up to the porch. i used to pretend that the steps were my bathtub and i would take sidewalk chalk and make a spout on the side of the step. even back then i loved baths.

speaking of baths...


AHHH! brilliant! i love that my sister is pretending to sing into the hose. that's classic "rachel." man, that was a great tub! check out the claw feet on that thing! and, gotta love the vintage 1970's towels. we used those things until they were rags.


how sweet are we with our little stuffed toys? my bear didn't have a name but he had a badge like a police bear. my brother's bear's name was geegee (is that how you spell it? correct me, ben). he has kept that bear all these years and now his daughters have it. i don't know if rachel's doll had a name. but she sure is nappy, huh? i think i remember having this picture taken. we pushed mine and rachel's beds together and we were being all goofy. i think mom had to bobby pin my brother's hair to make it stay down.


here's my sister on the swing on our porch. we later replaced this swing with a bench swing. what i love about this shot is the yellow bushes in the background. those bushes were so beautiful when they were in bloom! this shot is looking toward the front of our house onto the street so you can see the catholic school across the street. that's where i attended kindergarten through 8th grade.

ok go did it again!

i posted a while ago about the amazing videos by ok go.

check out this new one:



brilliant! it makes me happy.

free tax returns, anyone?

just finished filing my tax returns. urgh. i hate that process. but it was made all the easier and cheaper this year. beehive.org allows for free online tax preparation for households making less than $58,000/year. it leads you to an h&r block site and it's really easy to use. check it out here:
http://www.thebeehive.org/money/pay-taxes/file-your-taxes-free-online

locally, united way of the midlands also provides free tax preparation, but the income bracket is a little lower ($49,000). click here for more information on that program.

anybody want to garden this summer?

every year around this time of year i get spring fever and start envisioning my summer veggie garden. and inevitably i start looking through seed catalogs and lust for 1/2 the things in there.

today was a gorgeous day so i sat outside on the swing in the backyard and looked through southern exposure seed exchange's catalog, circling a million and one things that i want. of course, the problem is i never really know what's going to work and not work in my garden. the other problem is they send a ton of seeds in each pack, way more than i need for my little garden. so i'm putting a call out to my dear readers to see if anyone is interesting in splitting seeds with me.

i've listed below the seeds that i'm thinking of ordering. if you're interested in any of them (you don't have to want all of them), let me know in the comments section or send me an email. if there's something not listed here that you found in their catalog and you want to order it, let me know. i might be open to splitting it with you. the seeds found at sese are mostly heritage, organic seeds and have a history of being grown in the south. some of them work in the north too though so if your garden is not in sc, check out the links to read the information for the plant.

louisana purple pod pole beans $2.85/pack
hickory king corn $2.75/pack
marketmore cucumbers $2.25/pack
early black eggplant $2.65/pack
powder puff asters $1.99/pack
memories of mona cosmos $2.45/pack
wild garden perennial insectary $5/pack
even' star winter arugula (if they have it in stock soon) $2.50/pack
winter bloomsdale spinach $2.35/pack
cilantro $2.10/pack
sage $1.99/pack
creeping thyme $2.30/pack
cosmo romain lettuce $2.50/pack
evertender okra $2.85/pack
amish snap peas (if they have it in stock soon) $2.50/pack
carolina wonder bell peppers $2.50/pack
tromboncino squash $2.50/pack
arkansas traveler tomato $2.25/pack
neptune tomato $2.75/pack

fostering update

a few weeks back i gave a vague update on the fostering situation and our progress with dss. for documentation sake (a NECESSITY when dealing with this preposterously bureaucratic agency), here's what's been happenning.

in early january i started making phone calls to dss. i left a message on the number i found online and didn't receive a phone call for a day or two. so i called back, got a human being who stressed how much dss needed foster homes. she asked me which county i was from and gave me another number to call. i called that number, left a message and a few days later i got a phone call back. naive me didn't document the dates of these first phone calls, but i'm fairly certain that at this point it was either the week before or the week of MLK day. the man i spoke with during this hone call was an intake worker who took my general information (name, address, etc) and then said that they would mail me a packet of information and a case worker would be in touch with me shortly to schedule a visit to come to our house and speak with us about the process. at the time when i talked with him i though he said that all of this would happen within 3 days. but 3 days came and went and we didn't hear anything. so then i thought maybe i misheard him and it was really 3 weeks. so i waited 3 weeks.

3 weeks to the dot a package arrived in the mail. it had pages upon pages of applications but no information about the fostering process that would answer any of our questions. so i waited a few more days for a phone call. nothing. so on friday, february 5 i called back and left another message. that monday i got a call back from a supervisor who apologized and said that it was possible that they may have assigned me a case worker who was on maternity leave. she said if that was the case, they would give us another case worker. but her intake coordinator was not in the office that day so she said she would have him call me.

tuesday, february 9 i received a call from the same intake coordinate who i had spoken with previously. he remembered doing the intake with me but he said they could not find it so he had to do it again. i asked how that was so if i received a packet in the mail and he thought that was odd. so we redid the intake. i asked when i could expect a call back and he said he was going to give it to the case worker that day and he said he wouldn't be surprised if i got a call back that afternoon. he said "definitely by the end of the week."

two days later, no phone call from the case worker. we did, however, receive another of the same application packets in the mail. thanks for the expedience on that one, dss. by the end of the week i had not received a call back.

on wednesday, february 17 i called the county dss number again to find out why i'd STILL not yet gotten a call for a home visit. i actually got a human being instead of an answering machine and she gave me our case worker's name and number. she said the case worker was not in the office that day but indicated that i could leave a message and she would call me back. so i left a message with the CW telling her about how long this process had taken and that we wanted to get the ball rolling by having her come out to our house.

no call back.

this morning (friday, february 19) i was at a work event- an internship fair for social work students at usc- and i just so happened to see that there was an adoptions supervisor from dss there. so i went up to him and explained my situation. he was very upset that we've not been helped and have gotten the run-around. so he gave me his card as well as the name of our CW's supervisor. he said call the supervisor and tell him our predicament. he said the supervisor was very good but he said if for some reason we didn't hear back from the supervisor, call him directly and he would help.

so this afternoon i called the supervisor. he wasn't in the office and did not have voice mail so i had to leave a message with the woman who answered the phone. when i told her what was happening she said that she would give him our message and that our case worker was in the office today and i could call her now if i wanted (she couldn't transfer me). i told her i would call her, but i didn't get a chance to because the case worker pretty much called me immediately back. i guess if you involve a supervisor you get results!

she said she didn't get my message from the other day because she "was not in the office on wednesday and was not able to retrieve her messages." (whatever that means?) so we proceeded to talk about scheduling for her to come and visit with us at our home. she said, "when is good for you?" and i said that my husband and i would be available next week during any evening except tuesday. and she said "evening!?" i said, yes, we both work during the daytime. she responded "well, that's not going to work for me because i work 9-5." i was stunned. surely we're not the first working people in the world to want to foster a child through our dss system!

"when is your lunch break?" she asked. i laughed. "my husband and i are both social workers. we don't really get a lunch break," i responded. she was being very unhelpful so i said to her that i was shocked (yes, i used that word) that this wasn't an issue for most people. i said, "aren't there other foster parents who work and can't meet during the day?" she replied that most people will meet first thing in the morning or meet at the end of the day at like 4:30 and "if it runs over to 5:15 or something that's okay with me." well, ms. case worker, i'm so glad that you will inconvenience yourself 15 minutes for me considering the fact that we will take off work to come home and meet you for what is YOUR JOB!

so basically we left it that i have to talk with the hubby to find out when we both are able to take off work so that we can come home and meet her during her working hours. every supervisor that i've spoken with so far from dss has stressed to me how badly they need homes for foster kids. if they want to know how to get more homes, perhaps they could talk to their case workers about flexibility and working evening hours if it's necessary. oh yeah, and about returning phone calls.

belated presidents day tribute

i (almost) missed my chance to wish our beloved presidents a happy presidents day. i can think of no better way to memorialized this day (yesterday) than with this beautiful picture that i stole from erica's blog.



(this picture was lovingly painted by noah ginex and commissioned by fuzzy for his wife. and, yes, the star is not there in the original painting.)

animals need a good home

i don't think i've mentioned, but the hubby has been out of town all week helping his mom in mississippi. it's been a long and difficult week for him and his sister as they try to work through the (literal and figurative) mess. progress has been made, however slow and difficult. his mom has agreed to give up all but one cat (allie) so she can move into a smaller, more manageable place. if you don't know tricia, you don't know what a miracle that agreement is.

so, the long and the short of it is, if you know anyone interested in a cat or a dog, let me know. these are the good ones, the animals that are family. we have to find homes for woofer and saddie, both outside dogs, and buffy, bobbie, and bootsie, all sweet inside female cats. if you want to see pictures, you can look them up at baldman's old post about all the cats that were once here.

viewing baldman's old post lets you know how much progress has been made. to go from having 26 cats and 3 dogs down to just 4 cats and 2 dogs is a serious accomplishment. and by the end, we'll just have 1 cat left for her to keep. how did allie get so lucky?

saturday snow

it continued to snow last night until about midnight, i think. and, all told, we had about 8 inches, or so says the state. i dreamed in the night that all the snow was melted when i woke up, but that proved to be false. i ventured out around 9:00 AM and took some more shots. i have the whole set at flickr. it did get fairly warm today so much of it has melted, but i think it'll be a few days before everything is gone.

duh

yea, so i might be the biggest moron every for not originally finding the camera in its "hiding place." i won't tell you where it was because then you'll know how serious my moronism (?) is, but let's just say it was in probably the *most* obvious spot ever.

now that i have my camera, here are the latest shots as of about 10:30 tonight (and still snowing):

no more snow pictures

well, it's been about 4 hours since i took those first snow pictures. i was going to go out and snap some more shots in the backyard. but i can't find the camera! wtf? our house is not that big! but i can't seem to figure out where i put it.

i'd say at this point we probably have about 1/2 foot of snow on the ground. our backyard is beautiful! actually, columbia in general is beautiful in the snow. i was out and driving around tonight* and it was such a pretty sight. a rarity-columbia in the snow.


*thanks, margaret, for the sushi party! great fun! and i enjoyed the adventure of driving home in the snow. i almost forgot what it was like.

snow in the south

one of the things i always loved about snow when i was growing up (other than days off school) was how quiet everything got outside when it was snowing. like, the crazy, busy world just came to a halt for a few hours or days.

our house is like that now. the quarry and factory are shut down so the constant hum of their work is gone. and it's just cozy and warm inside, but blustery outside. i can't remember the last time it snowed here. certainly not since we bought our house which was 2 years ago. we'll see how much we actually get.

so far, here's a peak:

everything you hear about dss

7 phone calls
over 5 weeks of waiting
2 of the same application packets received in the mail

still no movement forward with the fostering process

ahh, dss, i would like to defend you, but so far you're everything we've always heard about you.

another thing for the list

i told you i was going to be adding to the list. here's another thing that people say that really bothers me:

5) when i say to someone that i'm not feeling well, have a headache, or any sort of minor ailment and they respond with "ohhhh!?" wink, wink. nudge, nudge. "that may not be a bad thing!" meaning, if you're not feeling well you surely must be pregnant. i've gotten these types of responses starting immediately after i got married. and they've steadily continued. in fact, someone with whom i work and who even knows that we have fertility issues said something along these lines to me yesterday.

sheesh!

66th

wishes today for a happy 66th wedding anniversary to my grandparents! i tried to find a picture in my flickr collection where just the 2 of them were together. i found this old one from the year before they got married:


aren't they beautiful and happy!?

but i couldn't find a more recent one. maybe that's their secret to a successful marriage for this many years? they're never alone together!

so instead, i found this shot of the whole family at my first cousin, nick's, marriage in october. this picture might actually be more appropriate than one of just them, since without them this whole family wouldn't be here.


obviously, grandmom and grandad are the 2 elderly people on the right. they still look beautiful and happy!

thanks, gradmom and grandad, for our family!

why don't you have kids yet?

not that i have many readers. but a good many of the small number who read this blog already know this. but i've never actually written about it publicly and some people don't know. baldman and i are "sub-fertile." this is a major part of our lives and i've had times where i've wanted to write about it here, but hadn't because i'd not formally "unveiled" it to the larger community. so i'm just going to state it clearly so i can choose to either write or not write about it as i'm in the mood. and i'm writing about it not because i expect or even want sympathy. it's just that it's part of our lives and i'm trying to deal with it.

i'm not going to go into the details because...well... it's private. but basically we've been trying to have a baby for over 3 years. we finally went to the doctor this year and were told that there are issues that make it not impossible, but difficult for us to get pregnant. we could use "technology" (so-to-speak) to assist (i.e. intrauterine insemination or in vitro fertilization) but we're fairly certain that those are not routes we are interested in going.

believe it or not, there are a lot of good things that have come out of this whole "ordeal." but sometimes it's easy to get stuck in our own little world and think of only the difficulties. at times it feels like everyone's gain is our loss. or that all that exists in the world is us and our "problems." so we are working really hard to not let this happen. we have to make a conscious choice every day to remember that there are bigger things in the world and more important things than just our issues. it's so easy to become insular. and we try to remember that there are things we can do to turn our frustration and sadness into something good.

one of the ways that we are trying to turn our frown upside down (without going to toys r us) is that we are thinking about fostering a child. we're still in the very early stages of this process so we don't know where it will lead, but i'm super excited about this possibility and it just seems like something that is so important to do. i'll write more about that in a later post.

i want to end this post with a list of some of the most annoying, frustrating and insensitive things that people can say to a couple who are having fertility issues (whether those issues are known or unknown by the questioner). i think it's important for people to know what we find offensive so people will just stop saying these things:

1) "why don't you have kids?" or "when are you going to have kids?" or "have you thought about having one of these?" (as they shove their kid in your face)
when is it okay to ask about people's sex lives? cause i kinda feel like that's what people are asking when they ask this question. by the way, there's an assumption in this question that everyone wants to have kids and that's not always true. there's also a weird sigh of relief that people have when we say that we want them but we are having issues. it's almost as if people are relieved that we're "normal" in wanting kids because there's a reason we don't have any yet.

2) "do you not want kids?"
again, there is an assumption here and a judgment. as in "why would you not want kids?" and "if you want kids, why don't you have them yet?" and, let me say here. yes, i do want kids (obviously). but that being said, i will not feel like my life is incomplete without having them. i will certainly be sad and i will mourn that loss, but i will still have a good life. many people before me have survived without kids and many people after me will do the same.

2) "just stop trying. i knew someone who couldn't get pregnant and then they adopted and got pregnant"...or..."they were told they couldn't have kids and stopped trying and got pregnant"...or any variation of this.
it's really obnoxious when people say "just stop trying" because it totally negates the fact that there are reasons why people have troubles. it's not because we don't know how to get pregnant or because we are trying too hard. yes, there are people who get pregnant after they stop trying. but it doesn't make me feel better to know this.

3) "oh, you're having difficulty getting pregnant? have you tried.....?"
unless you have dr. before your name or md after your name, and those credentials are associated with with medical science related to fertility, you're not an expert so please keep your advice to yourself. plus, people who say this generally don't know what the issues are. how do they know if it's problems on the man's side or the woman's side or both sides?? and how can they give advice when they don't even know the problems?

4) around the holidays when someone says "do you have kids?... oh you don't? you know, the holidays are really not the holidays unless you have a kid around."
most of the holidays i celebrate are about Jesus. so maybe they mean the baby Jesus at Christmas??

i'm sure there are more things that people say that annoy me but this is all i can think of right now. if i think of more, rest assured i'll probably post them.