Category: Photos

Paris in July – Tennis anyone?

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France 261Here we are at the French Open in 2010, the clay courts are cool, right?  The line was long to get in and then I didn’t have proper ID so we had to wait some more, but we had a great day, even if we spent too much time baking in the sun.  It was fun to get up close and personal at the smaller courts and in the earlier rounds that meant we saw some great matches. Another great day in Paris with friends.  (I look like I have an elf ear, right?)

I post this today in honor of Andy Murray’s Wimbledon win yesterday!  The first British man to win since 1936.  I was so happy for him and loved his emotion after winning the title.  We’re tennis fans here (Jason more than me since he’s actually a good player) and we’ve been to two of the four big tournaments, next up, Wimbledon!

(courtesy of Birdbath)

Being a mom on Mother’s Day

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It ‘s almost hard to remember what my expectations were before becoming a mom.  I vaguely remember thinking that I knew it would be hard, but that I was obviously stronger than the normal woman and would handle it with ease.  I also remember that when I occasionally envisioned my small one that I pictured all of the sedate activities that I enjoyed, coloring, reading, games- you know, things that require  staying in one place for a period of time.  Oh, the joy of pregnancy, when all of these things were still possibilities 😉

I am not a baby person.  Before I was pregnant I often joked that if I could pop out a 4-year-old we would have had six kids.  In this, my expectations panned out.  I think that first year was just to test my toughness.  My toughness is still tested every day, but that first year was something I don’t think I could handle again and get my sanity back when it was over.  Even during these terrible twos, Gage makes me smile and laugh in amazement at his intelligence and personality.  Life as a mother gets better every day and I am so blessed.

I am not the mother I thought I would be, but I am the mother Gage has got and I am trying to be the best one I can.  He inspires me to be better.

Happy Mother’s Day, ladies.  I finally feel like I’m enjoying motherhood enough to appreciate the day 🙂  It’s easy when I have this face to kiss every morning…

IMG_1368IMG_1295IMG_1322IMG_1423IMG_1327These were all taken the last week.  Can you believe how big he’s getting?

P is for Postcrossing

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Blogging from A-Z

I almost titled this post Puke, but decided that not too many people would want to read it.  I was hit by the Puke bug early Wednesday morning and today have been out of bed for maybe 4 hours.  I am feeling better though 🙂

A few months ago I wrote a post about postcrossing.com (here), At the time I’d received 5 postcards from around the world – now I’ve received 24. Here’s the breakdown

  • Postcards by country

  • Country Received Avg travel (Received)
    1 Belarus 2 14 days
    2 China 1 42 days
    3 Czech Republic 1 35 days
    4 Finland 1 15 days
    5 Germany 3 8 days
    6 Israel 1 19 days
    7 Netherlands 2 11 days
    8 New Zealand 1 19 days
    9 Poland 1 79 days
    10 Russia 3 21 days
    11 Spain 1 25 days
    12 Taiwan 2 20 days
    13 U.S.A. 3 5 days
    14 Ukraine 1 22 days
    15 United Kingdom 1 10 days

And here are a few of the fun cards I’ve received. I received bookish ones002 Ones for the holidays007and ones that make me smarter008(sent to me by an ER doctor in Israel).

Here are some fairly standard messages009I never know where that next postcard in my mailbox is coming from and that’s a big part of the fun.

I’d write more, but I think it’s time I head back to bed.

I is for I Got Smoked

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Blogging from A-Z

001This post could have easily been called I’m a Loser.  Oh, Ohio State and every other team I had picked to make the Final Four (I’m looking at you Michigan State, Indiana and Kansas).  You guys let me down!  I have now lost this March Madness bet with my husband 3 years in a row!  A record in its 16 year run.

So, because of my Big 10 love gone awry I am now subjected to our next 5 movie dates being dictated by Jason.  sigh.  I’m really looking forward to crashes, violence and juvenile humor.  No, I’m not.

I’m okay with Louisville winning.  I’m just not okay with me losing.  Again.

G is for Gage Going Gluten-free

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Blogging from A-Z

Gage has always had tummy problems.  We know he’s allergic to milk and we know he outgrew his peanut allergy (he still will not eat peanuts or peanut butter!), but he does still have tummy issues.  So for the last two months he has been gluten-free.  I was worried that we might not find enough that he was willing to eat.  Seriously, when you take away dairy and wheat, your options are limited.  Add in a 2 year-old pickiness and it is a recipe for disaster.  We have found things he will eat, but he has a fairly limited menu.  He eats soy cheese, soy yogurt, and soy milk, gluten-free bread, fries, vegetable soup, corn pasta, mama’s homemade pizzas, chicken apple sausage and most fruits.  Oh, and cookies and raisins.  There are even two gluten/milk free cereals he will eat.

His stomach issues have maybe gotten a little better, but his language has improved so much.  He is still too young to tell us if his stomach feels better so we have to go on his behavior and that has improved.  So, much to my disappointment we have decided to keep him on it for a while longer and see.  It can take up to a year for your body to heal itself from a gluten intolerance.  Why am I disappointed?  It is a pain to go gluten and dairy free.  It is expensive and very difficult to eat out (with a 2-year-old who only wants fries and chicken).  I make a few things myself, but the more complicated the recipe, the less likely he is to eat it.

Do you have any gluten-free tips, recipes or restaurants for me?  I’m open to suggestions since we are in this for a while longer.  And since I like any excuse to post a photo of  Gage, here he is with his grandparents.  This weekend he was doted on while Jason and I snuck away for the night.  It was Jason’s birthday and we went to a mystery dinner at a haunted manor so I’ll also include a photo of that.

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B is for Book Problem, Year 6 QUIZ

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Before I started blogging I had spent 5 years working for Barnes & Noble so I was no stranger to books (and book discounts!).  I had a sizeable library and was happy with my reading to book ratio.  Then I started blogging and all tomes broke loose!  Every year in May I would stack up my unread books in one place and take and inventory of sorts.  Here’s my picture from that first year in 2008…

At the time I didn’t even do a count.

New motherhood being what it was I skipped last year’s wall building.  But then I felt like my books have slowly been taking over every room in the house so I decided it was time to rebuild the wall.  I always rebuild the same way every year so I can find all of the books. (yes, this is silly, but I sometimes get a little OCD about my books).  Two years ago my stacks looked like this

A little bigger at 604.  So, in a marathon of book balancing done while my little one was sleeping I rebuilt the wall minus the 20 some books I read and the 20 odd books I gave away…

Janet 088

And then added in the books I’ve acquired in the last two years.  Needless to say, I got a great workout hauling all these books around the house, but worry about next year’s wall of books if I don’t start reading more!

Janet 090

Okay, now for the QUIZ -Open to anyone- Guess the number of unread books I have in my house by looking at this last picture.  The person who comes closest by Sunday will help me out by choosing one book from the picture as a gift.  (I did at least give you a few numbers from two years ago :))

For all my regulars – I will be awarding points based on how close you get to the real number.

Leaderboard here.  Last weeks’s Florida Quiz here.

Happy Easter Eggs :)

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Yesterday we tried the extra cool Easter eggs we found on Pinterest here.  We only had the pictures for directions so here’s how we did it.

005Gage helped Grandma crack the hardboiled eggs.

007We added food coloring into the cracks and let them dry in the frig overnight.

010Then Gage helped peel of the shells (since he only did one and ran away I didn’t get a picture).  We skipped one step in the directions, rinsing off the shells, and wonder if it would have prevented the color from going all the way to the yolk.  Gage licked one and I ate the yellow one and it was delicious 🙂

Happy Easter everyone!

Saturday Snapshot – 17 years ago

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To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.  Visit At Home with Books to participate.

Yesterday was the 17th anniversary of our first date.  On our first date Jason picked me up after I got home from work at 9:30 and took me to an improv comedy club and afterwards we went to a diner for some food.  Tomorrow will be the 17th anniversary of our second date, a dinner after I got off work.  In between those dates I had a date with some other guy, but the poor thing never had a chance after I met Jason.  Here are a few pictures from that first year together.  We look like such kids! I was 24 and Jason was 19 and we were living in the Washington DC area.

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Saturday Snapshot – Gage before and after

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To participate in Saturday Snapshot: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.  Visit At Home iwth Books to participate.

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Yes, it was only 30 degrees outside but the sun made me think we could finally come out of hibernation. Gage was excited to swing, but shivered the whole time so it was a short trip. As you can tell from the second photo he thought we cut it too short.  Bring on spring already!