Happy Thanksgiving!

So yes, things have changed just a little bit since we got here. We are getting more and more comfy in our little apartment every day. I did get a new job. Vanessa got everything right. They had a web developer position open up that required some adobe suite skills, and knew that I had a little and so offered me that position. They said it had nothing to do with my project management skills, which I guess I believe, but between you and me, I was complete rubbish at it. There is a very fundamental difference between doing, making, and creating, and getting someone else to do, make, or create something. That something was usually a really convoluted report. This new job is much better for me, and I've already been able to learn a whole bunch and have actually felt useful. That's really nice.

So on the whole, Indiana has been pretty nice. It's still in the 60's here most of the time which is lovely, and the leaves are changing now. My office building is right on the shore of the Ohio river, and it can be a spectacular view, to the point of distraction. I still get distracted by the leviathan river barges as they push their load upstream and downstream. If I catch one in the corner of my eye, I immediately turn into a 5 year old boy, totally incapable of focusing on the matter at hand, generally a meeting or discussion that I'm suppose to be leading. The birds are fun here too. They are flying south for the winter, and some of the flocks are so large, you cannot see the ending or the beginning of them. They literally stretch for miles. I've been trying to capture how cool that is with my camera, but have failed to do so so far.

Anyway, enough blabbing. Here are some pictures that I just processed for your viewing pleasure. The stacks and pipes are actually the steam stacks of the power plants that my company owns and operates. It's my silly attempt to be a little bit like Michael Kenna.

Gobble Gobble

Baby Jed and Mom are leaving town to go visit Jed's great- great- grandma for Thanksgiving.
Poor Daddy has to stay home alone. If you have a moment, take pity and send him a email (www.michaelstanfill.com) or comment to brighten his lonely 12 days!
We'll be back the 27th.

Michael's Bored

Well, we've been here in Indiana for a month and a half now. We've moved twice already. We bought a new car, a new washer, and have a brand new baby. Well, it seems like he's a new one every day because he shore the heck ain't the same baby I had last month! We've had a haircut or two and, well, Michael decided he was bored. Our life is in such a rut. After all, we've had this couch for four days now. He needed something to spice things up.

So he got a new job.

Yes, that would be a DIFFERENT new job than the new job he started last month.

We get bored easily around here.

He's been offered a position as an "Applications Analyst" which he was informed can mean whatever you want on a resume, but in this particular instance he will be a web manager. Rumor got around Vectren (the utility company where he's been working all along) that Michael has mad Photoshop skills, and so when one of the web managers up and quit they offered M the position. He will be a "front end developer," which means he won't be doing the heavy programming but instead will be managing their web user interface, graphic design, data flow, color, online promotion, e-business, etc. So, essentially, it is PERFECT for my computer and technology loving artistic genius. Same pay, same benes, same promise of an MBA, just that now it's a job that I think he's gonna love!

I actually promised Michael he could put this post up but I was in the mood for posting and I don't have anything else to talk about (more snot, more dishes, more diapers, ho hum) so, um, here is a special space for him to clarify and correct everything I said wrong:

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OK that's enough. :c)

He starts the new job this week though they will be phasing him out of his old job for the next month. Kudos to my studmuffin spouse who is SO DESIRABLE that the departments of Vectren are fighting over him. What a man!

Settling In

Well, we're settling into our little townhouse at last. It is small, and ghetto, but everything is covered with a nice layer of fresh paint so you can really hardly tell except for the vague musty smell and the upstairs toilet that doesn't flush anything more dense than three squares of paper... Along with the apartment, however, has come a whole host of exciting changes. I shall list them for you, for ease of access and consumption.


EXCITING CHANGE #1
We bought a washer! Yes, as part of my sacrifice in giving up my long-cherished dreams for a dishwasher, we settled for an apartment with washer/dryer hookups (apparently in Indiana it is NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to find the two washing utilities in the same space. I was told by more than one older, balding apartment manager, "Well, don't you think any woman would prefer the cabinet space to a dishwasher? I know I would." Obviously these men have been married for more than 25 years and haven't touched a sink since college. I almost snorted my glass of water the first time I heard this line.)

But I digress. So, I have my very own SPACE SHIP WASHING MACHINE to match my new space ship car. I am so modern! So spoiled! So hip! We decided since I am probably going to use this washing machine almost every day for the next 25 years it was worth investing a little extra moolah for something that actually cleans clothes, in contrast to washers I have used in the past. So, we bought this one:
We have been known to sit and watch the spin cycle as a family, jaws dropped in awe. Did I mention we don't have a TV? All the sudden the other appliances in the house have become so much more thrilling.

EXCITING EVENT #2
We borrowed a couch from Michael's parents. Well, it's a loveseat. With a blue slip cover. But it fits perfectly in our tiny little living room. I rearranged everything yesterday and it looks simply lovely placed diagonal against the corner with my huge green fern behind it.

EXCITING HOME ACTIVITY #3
I painted a bookshelf. Inspired by my RS Enrichment "Home Decorating" group, I decided to paint our nauseating rose bookshelves. Michael wasn't with me, so with my mother's sage interior design advice ringing in my ears ("Just buy whatever you like and when you put it all together it will always look good."), I bought a bright blue Montana Summer Sky color and painted my bookshelf the next day. Since my kitchen has nowhere near the storage capacity required for my daily cooking rituals, the bookshelf has been transformed into a food storage shelf. Yes, it's garishly bright. Yes, it matches nothing else in our home. But looking at that shelf makes me happy every day. Here's a really bad photo taken with my grimy cell phone:
Doesn't nearly do it justice. These shelves GLOW.

EXCITING CHILD UPDATE #4
Jed himself deserves at least a dozen updates. He changes EVERY DAY. Astonishing! Yesterday, he couldn't play the little tikes piano because the keys were too small. He woke up today and started banging on it like a pro (future pianist!) He crawls. Yesterday he started following me around the house. I'd put him in the bedroom while I put on my makeup. I can easily see him from the bathroom, but I looked down for a moment and when I looked up again... he was gone! My heart lurched and I did a wild glance around. And then, a touch on my foot. I looked down and there he was smiling up at me proudly, sharp tooth gleaming from his drooling mouth. Yes, a tooth. And another on the way! He rolls! He pulls himself up on the edge of his crib! He makes all sorts of consonant and vowel sounds! He laughs and sings to himself and smiles all the day long. He's huge. I can't even begin to describe how much he has changed in the last month. We have photos and videos on the way when we get our computer stuff hooked up. Here is a grimy cell-phone photo of him proudly getting up in his play-pen bassinet and smiling at his mother's chagrin.


THRILLING UPDATE #5
I do pushups almost every day and I am happy to announce that my ugly post-preganancy arm flab has completely disappeared. It even appears that I may be developing an ARM MUSCLE. I know, I know, try to hide your gasps of astonishment.

FUN EVENT #6
Michael and I taught Institute the last few weeks. We were only substitutes but oh, how I'm going to miss it! Such fun! We taught the Old Testament and much to my surprise, Leviticus and Numbers are far more fascinating now than when I was 14, the last time I bothered to read them. Our students were hilarious and smart and delightful in every way. I am jealous of their new teacher. Apparently, however, we don't have the requisite "maturity" necessary for a full-time Institute teacher. Oh well. Maybe in ten years we'll be old enough. It is kind of weird to teach students older than us.

SORROWFUL OCCURENCE #7
Baby Jed and I are sick. And he's teething. So pretty much life has been one whiny, snotty, drool-drenched round of nursing and sleeping. Hopefully all will be well soon. We have been to bed at 9 PM every day this week, which explains all those unreturned phone calls. (Difficult when you're asleep before your free minutes kick in!) We'll return to real life soon.

Well, I think that's enough titillation for one blog entry. Hope you can all calm your racing hearts and muffle your cheers. It's nice to be back online. More (quality and non-grimy) photos and updates coming soon, promise.

Happy Halloween!

Baby's first words?!?!