birthday

Our boy is ONE!  Okay, so that's really old news.  I've shared it via Facebook oh, about a month ago when it was actually his birthday.  And unless there are a bunch of lurkers here, all my readers are on Facebook too.  That kinda takes the wind out of my blogging at times.  Yet another reason to abandon social networking (just one of many reasons).   I didn't really go into detail about the week long birthday extravaganza over there either.  I did however post photos and to me one of those is worth a bunch of words, maybe not 1000 but in come cases close.  To some extent I feel like, what's left to say but on the flipside I'm sure there is a lot if I scrape below the surface.  Let's see . . . 

We started J's birthday with a trip to the zoo.  It was warm and sunny and we headed straight to his favorite exhibit - the reef.  It was early in the morning and the zoo was pretty much empty.  He got to crawl around the exhibit and explore all the fish.  They had wires covered in broccoli and the fish would swim by and nibble.  As much as he loved the reef fish, he was not real happy with the manatees next door or the sea turtles.  

After a few more exhibits we had lunch then left for dessert.  Graeter's is just down the road and J got to have his first ice cream.  First he had that distinctive look of horror I've seen other babies have.  Why would Mama give him something so hideously cold, but then again it WAS yummy so maybe another bite - ooooh, just as cold.  He got used it; don't we all . . . and he loved it.  We had planned to go back to the zoo after his nap but they closed too early so we opted to hit the park instead.  J had a great time in the swing.

The next day his aunts and cousins arrived from Texas and each day was filled with playing . . . back to the park, then to the mall and of course all over the house.  

We went back to the local park first on Thursday night and J got to try the little kids jungle gym.  He loved the tunnel and tolerated the slide.  Getting dirty in the mulch was pretty fun too and I'm pretty sure it ranked higher than the slide too.  Friday was the trip to the mall.  The mall has a zoo themed play area with a tree in the center and animals all around it.  The animals look like they are hard plastic but they're foam.  They're weird but cool.  I kept expecting them to be hard but ever one was solid enough for kids to climb it but soft enough that you could fall on it and not get hurt.  I still can't wrap my brain around it.  J took quite awhile to warm up to the idea of all the animals and kids and adults. Eventually he did though and he headed straight for one of the tunnels.  

Saturday was the big party.  We had a few friends over but mainly we kept it to family.  J was awesome and seemed to have a good time.  He played upstairs with his cousins and friend while most of the adults were mingling downstairs.  Then it was gift time.  Amazingly the gifts kept his attention and he sat patiently looking at everything.  He liked the bright colored wrapping paper but also his new books.  The videos he wasn't too sure about and the other gifts were in boxes which he loves so he was excited if for no other reason than he had a new collection of boxes to push around.  

We got his cake from Clarencedale bakery in Campbell, Ohio.  They made my baby shower cupcakes as well as the cake for my dad's birthday.  J's cake was not as delicious as my dad's but it was still good.  It was enormous.  It was 2 full cakes high - I thought when I was asking for 2 flavors that each would be a 1/2 height and hence the cake would be of normal height . . . nope.  I got two cakes on top of each other.  The top was banana and the bottom was chocolate - they were separated by a layer of chocolate ganache.  Yum.  J's cake was banana and can you believe I did not get a photo of it?  It was quite cute and matched the bigger cake.  

J didn't dive into his cake.  He took some icing and that was it so I had to cut a piece out for him to see what it was.  I thought for sure he'd dig in then but no.  He did eat the slice I'd cut and put to the side but then he lost interest.  We gave him his dinner next and he found that much more appealing.  After dinner & cake he worked off his sugar high until it was gone, leaving him rather cranky and confused.  He wanted held but not held - he wasn't sure what he wanted and that frustrated him more.  I think we'll keep his sugar intake as low as possible.  Maybe he can have cake again at his 2nd birthday.

Sunday we all went to brunch and by all I mean our family in from PA and TX.  Then everyone scattered hitting the road for a long ride home, a day of flying or for us just a quick jaunt up the road.  I find Sundays rather melancholy to start with but after a long weekend of family fun and a party there is the potential for a really bad letdown.  That afternoon we filled our time organizing all of J's new stuff though so I stayed mentally occupied.  Of course what I really mean by "organizing" is that we shoe-horned it all into his room and our guest room upstairs.

a day without paper towels

We ran out of paper towels this week - the horror.  I have a love hate relationship with paper towels and hence with their existence in our home.  They are so wasteful.  I spent a whole day without them (I had planned to spend longer but a certain someone arrived home with them).  I'm addicted so when they re-enter the house I use them.  The hand towels are inches away in just as plain sight but I grab the paper towel.  Ugh.  I need  a 12 step program for paper towels.

Like many others, I also need to break my addiction to Facebook.  I'm doing better.  Better is of course relative.  I have hidden certain people so I'm feeling better about the site but I still find myself refreshing the page.  Refreshing the page!?!?  That is so unnecessary.  I need to visit at most 1x a day.  I'm just not sure how to make that happen.  I'm getting closer though and I've stopped taking all those horribly written quizzes!  It's a start.

 In addition to de-cluttering my online life, I also need to spring clean and de-clutter the physical space around me.  I feel like I'm always de-cluttering and not really cluttering.  I guess it's that I tend to move my stuff around and even out but it's not actually gone.  I have a 3-season room FULL of furniture.  I tried unsuccessfully to sell the stuff at a garage sale and now I'm moving on to Craigslist.  Once that is done I'll feel a lot better but not great.  J has taken over the upstairs.  There are toys everywhere and after his bday it's now officially crowded and cluttered.  Honestly the only two possible cures I see for this are him outgrowing the toys or us moving.  I do hope it's the latter.  That is another blog unto itself .

This feels like wasted space.  I haven't said anything worthwhile.  To be honest, I think I'm dancing around the worthwhile.  

I'm baaaaack

I must admit I've been lurking on my own blog.  I've been visiting often, with intent to write.  I have ideas, I have thoughts, but I have no motivation to actually write.  I want to, but I can't seem to start. 

Spring has arrived, sort of.  I love seeing the flowers and new leaf buds on all the trees.  It's one of the few things I miss about driving into an office for work. . . I miss seeing the trees develop leaves.  They start out as a vibrant green full of shades of yellow and as the season progresses they darken to almost emerald.  I love the brand new color of the spring leaves.  I'm noticing most days are breezy and sunny with temps in the mid 50s which unfortunately is just a smidge too cold for nightly walks.  We've gone out less than a handful of times so far but soon, very soon we'll be out every night enjoying the neighborhoods, monitoring house sales, saying hello to neighbors we haven't seen since fall.  

During one of our walks we opted for ice cream as if it were mid-summer.  We have 3 places that sell ice cream in a reasonable walking distance.  Two are right across the street from each other however, I'm boycotting one (UDF) and the other is fine but only offers soft-serve chocolate & vanilla.  We wanted more options so we strolled past those to the third location, Ollie's.  It has apparently been in town for about 4 years but we only discovered it last summer.  It offers flavors that are neither typical nor unique . . . as in it's no Baskin Robbins with the typical array of options but it's no Jeni's either.  It falls in-between with flavors like Cranberry Gelato and Chai.  With such intriguing flavors one is not certain what the product tastes like.  I mean for every Starbucks I hit I can get a Chai that tastes a little different so how do I know what their frozen version will taste like?  Unfortunately, there is no option to try their ice cream.  

Last year we arrived to see a tiny store covered in signs . . . no strollers, no samples, extra spoons 5 cents, etc.  This year there were no signs so I thought perhaps customer service was making a comeback.  Nope.  I was unable to get a sample of the Cranberry Gelato (or anything else).  Hesitantly I ordered it anyway.  And I wondered - what will I do if I dislike this?  Isn't it worth a tiny sample to ensure I am happy?  Otherwise I will have to hand them back the entire cone if I dislike it and that's a huge waste.  I also suspect that wouldn't go over well.  Sigh.  So now after battling all last summer with ourselves over whether or not to patronize this local, non-chain, mom and pop ice cream shop we have had to decide not to return.  It's not like they woo us with friendliness to compensate for the no samples.  They are generally just not very friendly.  They don't even offer to describe their flavors!  I'm so annoyed.  We visited well over a week ago and I'm still annoyed enough to rant here.  

I think customer service has been disappearing everywhere, but with this economy I expect it to make a comeback.  By expect it to make a comeback, I mean if a place doesn't offer me good customer service I will take my coveted spending elsewhere.

I'll be sure not to rant in the next blog entry!  :)