our experience loading the POD...

...or - "how much stuff do you think I've really got!?!" Here's the deal - moving sucks. Huge. Especially when you do it the Rarely-Home Family way. We move out of our condo about 3 weeks before our new house is done being built. Smart, no? Instead of packing a truck, driving to Utah, renting a storage unit, unpacking the truck, getting a hotel for 2 or 3 weeks, renting another truck, loading the storage unit again (by ourselves, of course) and then unloading the truck again (hopefully with help from the new church family)...just a minute...sigh. That list exhausted me. Okay. Instead of doing all that, we decided to go the POD route. The POD was delivered early Sunday morning, and we could "pack at leisure". [BTW: Whomever came up with that term deserves a strong slam on the head. No one packs at leisure. I read, nap, watch movies, and lay on the beach at leisure. Not pack.] Then, our POD would be retrieved and then delivered to us at our new home whenever I made the phone call. Sounds easy, right? Well... PODS come in 2 sizes: 12X8X8 and 16X8X8. The company only uses the 16 foot units for moving, and saves the 12 foot units for local storage. Supposedly, the contents of a 1500 sq foot house can fit into a 16 foot POD. Did you hear that? Supposedly. Depending on whom is asked, our condo is/was 1080 or 1150 sq feet. Certainly not 1500 sq feet. When the POD was delievered I took one look and muttered a swear word* under my breath, ignoring the unapproving look of my husband. After all, it was Sunday. Fact: Nathan is a master at packing things and making stuff fit into places I would never expect them to fit into. We had another friend helping pack the POD Monday night that is another genius packer. And still? So much stuff got left behind. Given, it's all stuff. But also? It would have been so nice to have used the old hand-me-downs just a few more months, until we had taken care of moving expenses before replacing them. What got left behind? The dining room table and chairs. But the leaves to the table? Somewhere in the POD. Admittedly, not sad about this. Add to the list: the boys' dresser, and 2 bookshelves, our recliner, a bunch of kids toys and odds-and-ends, the charcoal bbq (yes, I know we're planning on buying gas when we get there, but I will always think food cooked on charcoal bbqs taste better than on gas bbqs), and Jacob's slide. I'm sure there's more. Here's the best part. I called my dad Monday morning and told him I had a feeling the dining room table and chairs might get left and I was worried about my grandma (his mom) showing up in Utah in September and wanting to know where everything was. His answer? "Tell her it didn't fit! Don't worry about other people, especially Grandma!" When my dad found out Jacob's slide didn't fit, I was suddenly supposed to worry about other people. DUDE - the slide? It was bought for my brother when he was 2 or so. He is now 18. It's in fantastic condition, but it's 16 years old!! And I got to deal with the "I would've wanted it back if you weren't taking it/giving it away" "we could've figured out how to get it back down here" on the phone. I didn't want to give it away! Jacob loves the slide!! If I could've figured out how to get the slide to from SF to LA I would've been able to figure out how to get it to Utah! And also, the recliner? Belonged to Nathan's grandfather. Was about 15 years old. Had this terrible "massage/vibrate" feature that made me feel like I was having seizures. Great nursing chair. But again? 15 years old. And when Nathan's mom saw it waiting for a new home by the dumpster, she about had a seizure of her own. Dear People, It's just stuff. (but I really wish a lot of it was in that POD right now) *what qualifies as a "swear word" in our family is still under negotiation. My "d@mns" and "he!!s" - while not frequent - most certainly qualify to Nathan. It's not that I look for opportunity to slip the words in, but hey - sometimes a POD gets delivered to your house and you just know there's no way everything will fit, and then...you know.

To Nathan, on your 33rd

Last night, Nathan asked me how it felt to be married to an old man. a) he was 12 hours early; and b) is he the last person to hear that 40 is the new 30? Really, now...I've been 30 for a few months and - when I remember that I'm no longer in my 20's - have no problem with being 30, since I won't be 40 for 10 years. And if he's 33, he's got 7 years to go before we're talking "old". I digress. Today is Nathan's birthday. He's 33. We're at his parents house this week. More on that later. I've been deep into reminiscing about the past the last few weeks. And our marriage has lots and lots of "past" - three whole years and almost 4 whole months of memories past. See? Lots. Dear Nathan, Three years ago today was your first birthday as a married man. We were living in a crappy apartment in the best town in the world. June 29, 2003 was hotter than my worst nightmare - Phoenix on a bad day. But we'd been married almost 4 months and I was still eager to please you. (Ah, the good old days.) So I told you that yes! I would fix anything you wanted for dinner. And dessert? Name your cake. To my great horror, you took me up on the offer. Our apartment was on the third floor. It wasn't air conditioned. And we had a wall of beautiful windows that the sun hit beginning in the early afternoon, which turned the hot apartment into a boiler. For dinner, you picked lasagne - your mothers recipe. That sauce, when done according to directions, takes hours to cook. Thank goodness I'm not one for directions (and thank goodness your mother didn't notice that night). I thought the lasagne and the hot oven was going to be the worst of it. No! The cake. Do you remember what kind of cake it was? I do. I've never made it again. It was some kind of fancy chocolate cake. But the best part was the icing - it was a chocolate whipped cream icing that had toffee bits folded in. The worst part? Getting whipped cream to whip in the super hot apartment. Not so easy. Getting the chocolate toffee whipped cream to keep from melting as I spread it on the cake? Even tougher. Your parents came over for dinner. They climbed up the stairs to our 3rd story furnace and stayed just long enough to gobble down dinner before bolting for the air conditioned car. Smart people. You, my dear. You were worth every drop of sweat that day. I'd do it again in a heart beat. I love you!

The Weight of Distance

You might remember when my best friends moved a few months ago. K left in March and S left in May. Those ladies were like appendages to me and I haven't been the same with them gone. Especially this week. Last Monday, K gave birth to her second baby, a beautiful girl. If it weren't for the fact that I was moving out of our condo seven days later, there is a very good chance I would've been on an airplane out of town. I was anxious to see K, and the new baby. And who was going to watch the older daughter, and cook dinners and help clean the house when K's mom left a few days after the baby was born? Seeing just pictures over the internet instead of actually holding that new baby and seeing my friend? Really hard. Yesterday, S told me that she's pregnant with #3! She is wonder woman. #1 turned 2 just a couple of months ago, #2 is barely 9 months old, and yes - this was a planned baby. Wow. And to be able to tell her I'm excited for her and mail her a YEAH! card is not the same as a big hug. That I am apart, forever, from my best friends is setting in. And breaking my heart all over again.

The "My Furniture is Uglier Than Your Furniture" Contest

I have no idea if this will work, seeing as I have probably 5 regular readers. But if it somehow worked, I think it would be a blast. If it's going to work, my readers are going to have to recruit people - somehow, anyhow. Our dining room table is a hand-me-down from a friend of my grandma's who went into a nursing home. My grandma got this table for me, and believe it or not, I've been really happy to have it - most of the time. I love that it has so many leaves and can fold down to a small 4 seater table, or fold out and expand to a huge buffet table that can seat a ton of people. But. It's so ugly. The table is currently hidden under packing things, so I'll just tell you that it's a terrible dark orange/brown/yellow wood color that's terribly scratched. So I've always had to keep a table cloth on it. And the chairs. Oh, the chairs. If this contest ends up working, it's going to be hard to beat these ugly chairs. My entry to the contest: Here's a close-up of the seats. If you're brave enough, share your ugly furniture pictures and post a link in the comments to your blog.

If you're selling, we're likely buying...

Two mornings ago I woke up in the morning after a very vivid dream where Nathan leaned over and told me "Honey, I just got laid off." With our move and all, that would be quite inconvienent. I became more alert and saw Nathan getting ready for work in the dressing area that's just off my side of the bedroom. After I filled him in on my dream and calmed my quickly-beating heart, we decided that - should he actually get laid off in the next two weeks - we'll still move. I'm odd in that I need a contingency plan for everything. And no, I'm not kidding. While eating breakfast I couldn't get that dream out of my head. And the huge-ness of the inconvenience that not moving would be, especially now that 3/4 of our house is packed. And especially since we bought 2 memberships to family friendly places while we were out buying the new house. Actually. We bought both memberships before we were officially under contract on the new house. Silly? Faithful? You pick. The funny thing is that we're not spenders/buyers like that. At all. But, hey - when I see a good deal...get out of my way. Needless to say, we'll be spending lots of time at Thanksgiving Point and Hogle Zoo. And our town has a pretty awesome community center that we can't wait to join, in addition. [Edited to add: we were at Thanksgiving Point and the zoo anyhow. We just didn't wake up and say "hey! Let's go buy memberships to places we've never been! No. We went. We liked. We bucked up a couple more bucks for a membership. Capice?] Joiners.

WFMW: my bookmarks

Most people have multiple computers in the home right now. When I first started jumping back and forth between the laptop and desktop, it was a pain not to have all my bookmarks on the current computer I was on. I discovered www.mybookmarks.com It took a little bit of work getting used to having 2 windows open all the time, and switching between them for bookmarks, but now I don't even notice, and I've got all my bookmarks handy no matter which computer I'm on.

what not to say: a primer

As we're preparing to leave our home, I've thought a lot about the memories we've made and experiences we've lived while here. And I've been thinking about our failed adoption a lot. More than I've expected to at this point, almost nine months out. If you've read my early archives, you might have read a little about the twins we lost. We were matched with their birthmom 1 month before she was due. We spent a week with her in PA before the birth. I spent 16 hours with her the day the were born. I held the boys when they were minutes old. We held them and loved them for three days. We named them. Benjamin and Elijah. Ben and Eli. If what you read earlier was from the January archives, you got a very rosy picture of the situation. I was in a very hopeful period then. Now realisim has set in completely. I can't go back and read what I wrote then because I'm afraid that I might be upset with myself for being so silly, so hopeful. Why am I writing this now? Because in reflecting on that period, I heard a lot of comments that dug the knife in deeper, and I allowed myself to be hurt more. I was never mad because of what was said, just hurt. Now, this far out, I realize even more than I did at the time that most people have very little - if any - experience with this type of situation. So, here's some things not to say. "At least you have one at home." The failed adoption was like a death to us. We hoped and prayed for a child, then found out we would be parents to twins! We planned for a month for those twins, who we both knew were boys from the minute we were matched (the birthmom didn't know the gender of either baby until birth). We held the babies, took pictures, named them, announced their birth to family and friends via phone and e-mail, received baby gifts, wrote thank-you notes, bought clothes and bottles and formula. And then, when they were three days old, they were gone forever. If we had birthed those children and lost them to death at three days old, their loss would not have been made easier by coming home to Jacob. "It was meant to be." We'll just leave that one at that. This isn't something that anyone going through a difficult time is comforted by hearing. "Maybe you can raise them on the other side of the veil." I didn't want to raise them on the other side of the veil. I wanted those babies in my arms. Right then. Right now. "It must be what's best." 1 - even if that was true, that is a hurtful thing to hear: their current situation is better for them than what they could've had with you. 2 - it's far from the truth. The boys were taken out of the hospital into a very dangerous, perilous situation which I won't detail right now. "Maybe this happened so they could have someone to pray for them forever." Ouch. God would put us in a situation to lose a ton of money, lots of hope (temporarily), and go through an almost unbearable amount of pain just to make sure there would be two people to always pray for these boys? Not that it's an impossible scenario, but I choose to believe that God wouldn't do that. He didn't do that in this situation. "You'll be ok soon/this too shall pass." Healing comes over time for any pain, that is true. But when you're in the midst of intense sadness, confusion and despair, this comment just feels like someone is trying to dismiss all your very real emotions.

I'd say I'm speechless, but that just about never happens

Linda Hirshman. Not one of my favorite people. Not that I like to judge, but I'm not feeling very badly about it right now. I'd heard all the hulla-baloo about what she has said lately about women choosing to stay home to be full-time mothers, and temporarily - or permanently - foregoing the workplace. And it didn't upset me a whole lot because I thought I'd heard it all before. Old news. Then I caught an interview with Ms. Hirshman on Good Morning America last week. And I was floored. And I became sad, so very sad at what she had to say. And it made me so very sad that she seemed so emotionally distant from what she was saying. When Kate Snow, the interviewer, showed a picture of herself with her baby daughter (and second child) she asked Ms. Hirshman if that baby should never have been born (Hirshman basically believes that educated women should be working women and, if they choose to procreate, have no more than one child). Hirshman started to backpeddle, and say that what she has written is not her opinion. No! It is fact brought about by lots of research. I did a little more reading on Hirshman and her opinions and research this weekend. But I couldn't do enough research because I was beginning to not think so rationally about the topic anymore. I was aggrivated. As an educated woman, I was annoyed. And I tried to get everything I'd read out of my head just for some peace, but so much for that. So today, when I found this quote, I was happy, because Julia (click to read her entire post on the subject) said it better than I could've and now I can let my head have a bit of peace before I go back to organizing and packing. What do you all think? After the boys go to bed tonight, my bedtime reading might be the comments from Julia's post today:

My problem, however and small though it is, is with this statement: "child rearing [is] not worthy of the full time and talents of intelligent and educated human beings." As hard as I have tried to put my personal feelings for Patrick aside and look at it objectively, I just cannot get past this assertion. It makes children sound like a tomato plants. Do you know how hard it is to screw up a tomato plant? Very hard. Do you really need to just feed kids and water them and make sure no one backs over them with a mower? Isn't there more to raising a child than that or am I kidding myself? Toilets, sure. I can understand why the idea of a female PhD quitting her research position at the Mayo solely to clean bathrooms might be a societal loss, but should child-rearing and housework really be in the same sentence like that?

some newer pictures of the boys

Josh in May

Josh's First Hickey I went in to get Josh around 10 one night to give him a late bottle, and found his pacifier stuck to the side of his face. I, of course, thought it was hilarious. Maybe just because it was late and I was tired.

Jacob's Personal Spa

This would not normally be allowed in our house. But it was hot, and I was tired of saying "no" all day. He was outside throwing rocks into the little fountain, which was off, while I was inside, IMing my sister. I'd look up every minute or so and check on him. Then I looked up and couldn't see anything, but could hear splashing. My heart stopped. Then I saw him sitting in the fountain having a ball. And after Nathan got home, we even left Jacob in there to play while we ate dinner (we could see him from the table). First peaceful dinner we'd had in a long time.

bookworm overkill

We're out of town for the weekend - a last jaunt to a favorite coastal hideout before next weeks packing frenzy begins. We brought the computer so we could catch up with the Netflix (that Lost is addicting!), but other than watching movies, I planned to stay off-line and just "be". Well, Jacob and Nathan went swimming and I was inside watching Josh as he napped, and TV was uninteresting and the reading material I brought wasn't quite engaging enough. So I hopped online and caught up on some reading. And I was going to stay off line, but I just had to update with this: We were in our room for about an hour this afternoon for Nathan to work. The kids were supposed to be napping, but Jacob spent the time opening every drawer and examining every nook of the room. He found the Gideon Bible pretty quick. Tonight he couldn't get himself to sleep. He got up, got the Bible out of the night stand, and crawled back in his makeshift bed on the floor. Nathan and I were watching Lost, but listening to Jacob turn pages and "read" the Bible outloud. He really can't go to sleep without a book (or 10) in bed with him - and he's not even 2 yet!

warning labels

I just cut Jake a piece of cheese (and am laughing extra hard when I re-read that because it reads oh-so-close to "cut the cheese") and noticed for the first time a warning label. On cheese. It reads: Warning: Made with milk or milk derivatives. What? Cheese is made with milk? No... And then I was reminded of the warning labels on Jake's "fruit snacks" (yo-go's): Warning: made with milk and soy products. So, ok - the soy I wouldn't have guessed. But again with the milk? Yogurt = milk ---> not so hard a connection. And then I started thinking about what obvious warning label could get slapped on my forehead right now.

Warning: Emotionally fragile until mid-July. Those nearby are encouraged to back away slowly.

What would your warning label say?

saying "good-bye" to Sesame Street

Jacob woke up from his nap today yelling at me from his bed: "MOM! MOM!" I walked in there to see him, still tucked under the covers, holding out his orange sippy cup for me to take. "Mom. Ago. Ago, mom." Huh? Ago? I get apple juice, "lem-ade" and milk. But ago? I'm guessing he meant "agua", probably courtesty of Sesame Street. So, dear Sesame Street, we bid you farewell. Thanks for teaching Jacob some letters, some numbers and a bunch of songs. Thanks for babysitting him so I could shower. But the Spanish? Dude, I can hardly understand Jacob's English. Ago? (and if you really think my Sesame Street boycott is going to last more than 16 hours, well...probably not.)

the most exciting 2 year old birthday party EVER

Yesterday we were at Kohl's getting Nathan's fathers day present. (and if you think I can go into Kohl's and get just one thing - ha! wrong!) I turned to Jacob, who was doing a shockingly good job holding onto the stroller as he was told and I brought up his birthday - just a month away! "Your birthday is coming up. Should we have a party?" "Nope." "No party? For your birthday? Do you want cake?" "Nope." "No cake? Should we sing?" "Hmmm...nope." "No singing, no cake, no party. Hmmm. Do you want toys?" "Nope. No toys." At this point, I'm thinking schweet! We're scheduled to move into our house the day after Jacob's birthday, and my responsibility to make him happy on the big day just got incredibly easy. "So, Jacob. You want no toys, no cake, no party and no singing. How about ice cream." This. This is where I screwed up. Should never have mentioned ice cream. "Ice cream! Yes! Ice cream!" "Okay. You want ice cream on your birthday. Any chance you're going to want cake to go with it?" "Cake! Yes! Cake and ice cream! Yes, mommy!" "And presents. You've probably changed your mind on presents, too. Books and toys?" "PRESENTS! Toys! Ice cream! [insert hilarious almost-2-year-old laughter here]" So, that will be our wild and raucous celebration of Jacob, on his special day. Ice cream. Presents! and, of course, cake. Two days ago, I bought a new wallet. I was just transferring the goods from the old to the new and gave Jacob my old wallet. His favorite thing lately has been getting into my bag and rearranging all the cards and whatnot. Now, I'm realizing I made a mistake - I should have saved the old wallet for his birthday gift. Hours of fun. Who knew?

Random observations about Utah

1) Chapstick is about to become my constant companion 2) The cheap lotion (Suave, my current favorite - and I'm picky) will simply not cut it anymore. We need to pull out the big guns now. 3) Early summer bedtimes will be a hoot/disaster. Note to self: you are moving to Utah, not Alaska. (I embrace early bedtimes, no matter the season...I'm all about grown-up time with the hubs) 4) The pace of life in our new town? Slow. It appears that people drive the speed limit. OhmygoshwhatamIgoingtodo?

Oh, wishing for the days

What days? The days where I can go up to a person and say "I am going to buy your house for this much money and I'd like to move in on this day" and the person will say "sounds peachy" and we'd shake hands and the deal would be DONE and official because hey - we're both people of integrity and it's just a whole lot easier to do it that way than to fill out 958 pieces of paper that require my signature and/or initials approximately 14,327 times. Boy, oh boy. That said, the house buying adventure went pretty smoothly. In fact - we're still on said adventure. We found "the house" quickly - it was the 2nd of 15 or so houses we looked at one very long Wednesday this week. It didn't quite feel like I anticipated; the "oooh, this is it" similar to the wedding dress "oooh, this is it". Our house will be wonderful for us. It's in a town that feels quaint and old and small to me, although I'm sure it's only a matter of time before that town gets built up just like the rest of this quickly growing state. The house is brand new (something we didn't plan on) and not even finished. In fact! The house will not be completed until at last 2 weeks after we move out of our current home. Which means! Nomads are we.

randomnity

1 - I was greeted by Jacob this morning (after the 1:15 am and 5:00 am screams of 2 year old in-coming molar distress) peeking his head around the corner (I was already feeding Josh in the dining room) and looking at me with a smile while saying "W, X, Y, Z!!!" like it was some amazing secret he couldn't wait to share. In addition, he's been peppering our morning with "Good Morning, Mom!" and "Good Morning, Dad!" and "Good Morning, Joshie! Kiss? Hug?" after which he smothers Josh (really, near-smothers Josh, really) with kisses and hugs and love. I have almost forgotten the midnight wake up screams. 2 - To be added to the list of "things I shouldn't blog about until we talk to the involved humans in person" is this tidbit (but not to worry, since the in-person conversation will happen in about 1 hour): Yesterday, we were asked to speak in church on the 25th, since we'll be moving on/by the 28th. Fine. No big deal. Last night it got moved up to the 18th, which, I decided this morning, is a big-deal, and will not actually happen. I don't mind speaking in Sacrament Meeting as long as I have sufficent notice, which we have at two-weeks. But now that we only have 4 Sundays left in California, and two are already spoken for, I have become wildly possessive of the other 2 Sundays. Sunday 1: today. Sunday 2: out of town - house hunting. Sundays 3 and 4 are now officially "reserved" for a 1) potential return trip to the new state if we have a last second house thing I need to take care of, 2) a last minute trip to my family's home in the SC (southern CA) to say good-bye, or 3) a 2-3 day trip to Monterey and Carmel, just in case we can't take the trip during a weekday - which is such a special place to us that it is just as important to make that trip as it is to say good-bye to family and best friends. 3 - I broke down. I bought a Bumbo. I love it. Josh loves it. Unfortunately, Jacob also loves it. He is currently 5 pounds over the weight limit for the bumbo. How much fun will it be to a) watch our new baby receptacle collapase under Jacob's crushing 27 pounds of body weight? or b) try to keep Jacob out of the "elephant seat!" (there's an elephant on the front), especially now that he has declared everything in a 200 mile radius as "mine". 4) Yesterdays mail box contents included 10 pieces of mail, which included:

• 1 Netflix DVD (the first 4 episodes of Lost, Season 1 (3 of which were visually consumed last night) and man-alive are we hooked - I get it now, people, I get it.)
• 4 items of the "vote for me on Tuesday" variety
• 5 items of the "buy my product or the services I have to offer!" variety. Given, two of the items came from companies we had a prior relationship with (a magazine I let the subscription expire on that we loved and would actually re-subscribe to if we were still going to be here, and the realtor who helped us buy our current digs), but I still don't like junk mail from anyone. The environment, people.

5) We spent yesterday walking around another awesome Bay Area neighorhood: Piedmont, just next door to Oakland. We finally made it to the very famous Fentons, which I can now say is just as wonderful as everyone has always said. The menu is much shorter than our favorite ice cream joint, The San Francisco Creamery Company, (and if you click on any link in this post it really should be that one so you can see just how cute their storefront is) which is - fortunately/unfortunately much closer than Fentons - but Fentons is much longer on history. 6) Speaking Piedmont and Oakland and the amazing walk we had in those wonderful neighborhoods: I've been in a quandry the past few days - with the reality of the house selling, the reality of moving, the reality of leaving, the reality that Nathan will now be a "frequent business traveler" as his main office will stay in San Francisco even though we will not - all setting in at once and overwhelming me. I have, about nine hundred dozen times in the past forty-eight hours, considered calling this whole deal off because, really - just what the heck are we doing, anyway? Nathan has echoed every one of my "just what the heck are we doing anyway" 's with "What do you really want, Julie?" and I have refused to answer because, apparently, I am greedy and selfish and want things that I can not have all at once, including a great house with a great yard in a great neighborhood with friendly people (like the man we just happend upon and talked to for about a half hour after our ice cream about gardening) and parks and lots of families with dogs and strollers who take walks every night and lots of quirky fun restaurants within walking distance. Oh, and if I could also request a weekly farmers market within walking distance (and not on a Sunday like the one in Walnut Creek I had to drive by on my way to church every single Sunday: salt + wound = sadness), that would be fantastic, thankyouverymuch.

The house is...

SOLD! The offer came in 14 days after it went on the market, we countered, and they'll be signing our counter by tomorrow morning. Wow. This went so much faster than I anticipated. The dollar amount is fair, but it's going to move quick...I had been sticking to my guns about wanting a 45 day close so we'd have time to find a new house and make a smooth move from one into the other. Last night we decided it would be better to ask for 30 days (buyers had already agreed to 40 days) and get it over with, put the money in our hands. Then the buyers asked for 28 days. Sooo...we went from a July 2 close to June 28th! Whew. We feel very blessed that everything went so well. We thought the last condo in our complex was on the market for 38 days, but it turned out that it was 38 days with that realtor - the unit had been on the market 4 months! And ours sold in 14 days. We are very blessed. And now, very rushed. But excited. And scared. And crazed that this is all! really! happening!

You're invited to dinner! At my house!

But not really! Because all of you, with your families and whatnot? Wouldn't really fit in my cozy place. Plus, the mess? Did you know we were trying to sell our house? Probably, since I speak of little else. And the messes are something we're trying to avoid. So, while I would love to have you over for dinner - or lunch - or breakfast (and actually, I mean it...warm fuzzies), what I should have said was:

You're invited to oogle over the food I serve my family nightly.

But that just doesn't sound as welcoming and fun, now, does it? Nope. On the links there to the right (which I plan on adding to this week, or next week...or sometime in June) (and by the way, is this color scheme just screaming COTTON CANDY or PINK LEMONADE - drink me! lick me! to you? Too cutesy? Hmmm... comments welcome. Where were we? Oh - links...) there's a link you can follow to my food blog. Just go ahead and click on the JulieCooks! link and wham! You'll be there. Why another blog? Like I don't talk enough here? (by the way, this would be post #100, thankyouverymuch) I have enough family phone calls for "you know - that recipe" or "what's for dinner?" that I just decided to stick our menus and recipes online and tell my lovin' family members "find it yourselves, dudes". I chose blogsome instead of blogger so I can easily group recipes into categories to make it easy for ALL of us. And guess what? Now that my fun project messes are a thing of the past, I have to stick to nap-time projects that are mess-free. The computer provides plent of those. So Julie Cooks! will be updated almost daily.