Saturday, April 26, 2008

While Vanessa is gone...





While Vanessa is in Montana, I felt like I ought to post something. I'm posting some pictures of a scene that I came home to a couple of nights before she left. Jed and Vanessa were just having a blast exploring the green jungle in our backyard. It was really cute, and the light was fantastic. Also, the tree is a tree that we have in our back yard, and it's pretty much the first thing that I see when I wake up. It's a great way to start the day.

-M

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Look!

 
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Big Truck

 
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Giggle

 
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Great Grandma

 
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Ooooo!

 
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Oh.

 
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Matching

 
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Cute Boy

 
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Haircut

 
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Friday, April 18, 2008

Michael's Addendum


Vanessa's story was just a WEE bit dramatic. (Except for the Vanessa shaking part ;-) It's a shame that we weren't more awake for it. And I think our bed absorbed quite a bit of the shaking. Darn it.

Earthquake!

My heart leapt awake at 4:30 AM. I was violently shaking. No, the HOUSE was violently shaking! I sat up and looked out the window. No wild weather, but this must be a tornado! The walls were literally shaking inches back and forth, the roof creaking and moaning, the entire house jittering and shaking as if it were about to fly into a million pieces. I began to panic.

"MICHAEL!" I cried. He sat up beside me. "Earthquake," he said, looking wildly around. 10 seconds passed. "Sit tight, honey," he said. "The baby!" I said, lunging for the door. Still shaking madly. If we had any photos on our wall they definitely would have been flung to the floor. Michael pulled me back, went for the baby, and yelled for me to stand in the door. He grabbed the baby and stood in the next doorway. The shaking slowed.

Well, the ground's shaking slowed. I, on the other hand, was still trembling madly. I managed to nurse baby for a few seconds without dropping him. He fell right to sleep and I put him back in his bed. I ran into bed and wrapped my arms around my honey. He laughed and pulled me close as I was still trembling madly. Adrenaline still rushing through my veins, my pounding heart slowed as I relaxed into the pillows.

We pulled up the internet and started to see what was out there. We filed a "Did you feel it?" report with the government, at the same time that something like 6200 other people did that first hour. The whole event started to seem more adventurous and less terrifying. After an hour or so, we decided that it was 5 AM and we could get in a little more sleep. We hadn't gone to bed until midnight and, well, we were dead tired. But not dead, thankfully.

The official report: 5.2 magnitude, 35 miles north of here.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

4.4 Days

Michael and I sat down and calculated yesterday how many miles we are going to save by moving. Our new home is in a lovely location, right smack in the middle between Evansville, where Michael works downtown, and Newburgh, a bedroom community of Evansville and the "nice" place where everyone is moving these days. We also happen to be smack dab next to the church.
Here are the distances to our most oft-visited locations from our old apartment:
Home to Work – 14.7
Home to Church – 6.8
Home to Walmart - 5.6
Home to Parents - 5.0

Here are our current distances and the differences:

Home to Work – 9.8 – Difference = 4.9 x2 x5 = 49 Miles
Home to Church - 1.3 - Difference = 5.5 x4 x 2 = 44 Miles
Home to Walmart - 3.9 – Difference = 1.7 x 2 = 3.4 Miles
Home to Parents - 8.9 – Difference = -3.9 x1 = -3.9 Miles

Therefore, we save:

92.3 Miles a week
370 Miles a Month
4799.6 Miles a year

And at current gas prices (I paid 3.16/Gal this morning) that would be an average savings of 572 dollars a year, which is awfully close to one mortgage payment. Not too shabby.

Also taking into account the time that we save by not driving those extra distances, we regain 106 hours of our life, or approximately 4.4 days of 24x7 driving.

Also, because we are so close, Michael will more than likely start biking to work and Vanessa to Church for her weekly activities, saving another 100-130 miles a week. Hot Dog!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Escape!


Saturday morning Baby Jed had his first foray into the great out of doors! Mommy put his coveralls over his nice clothes and sent him out on the front lawn to help Daddy dig through the dirt piles leftover from the new well installation. Jed wasn't so sure about the mud sticking to his hands (we are learning that there is ALWAYS mud in Indiana) but he loved being outside and chucking dirt clods around! He is so male, it is scary.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Playing with Papa


Michael and Jed scampered around the room playing fetch with this little stuffed Donald Duck for ages. Jed chased and walked and fell on his backside until his little legs were trembling and could barely hold him up. I couldn't tell which of them was having more fun!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Must be Married

Today, while brushing my teeth, I picked up our latest Car and Driver magazine for some light bathroom reading. I ran across a funny article about the latest concept cars ("inspired by a rice cooker") and trotted into the living room to share it with Michael. My darling husband was lounging in the living room, keeping an eye on the ball of destruction, with a magazine of his own. "Hey, look at this!" he said. He held up his hippie "Mothering" magazine and pointed at a photo of a pair of twins tandem nursing while holding hands. "Isn't that adorable?!"

Friday, April 4, 2008

Homeowners

Tuesday, circa 11:30 PM

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Check out them legs!


Are those fine lookin' drumsticks Mom's or Dad's legs... what do you think?