International Date Line

Tonight we went to the annual Tiefel New Year's Eve Party. It was fun as usual, even though we were only there for an hour and a half (Jared's family was in town so we just made an appearance at the party and then went back home to celebrate the New Year with them). While we were I learned an interesting fact.

Apparently, back in 1892, the U.S. convinced Samoa to switch to the east side of the international date line in order to align their days with the U.S. and nearby American Samoa, a trading partner. In that year, they celebrated July 4th two days in a row to make the switch. Samoa was the last place on earth to see the sun set. Now, New Zealand and Australia are major trading partners and this causes problems as those countries are on the other side of the date line, meaning that even though they are really close together, when it's sunday in Samoa, it's already monday in New Zealand. In order to remedy this problem, on Thursday at midnight, they skipped right to Saturday the 31st. They are now the first place on earth to see the sunrise.

What I learned: Samoa skipped a day to move to the west side of the international date line.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/30/samoa-skips-friday-in-leap-across-international-date-line/

Internet

We have Time Warner Cable for our internet provider. We have never had any problems whatsoever with them. However, we are paying about $58 a month for the internet. After getting half a dozen offers in the mail saying that you can get internet for $19.99 a month through AT&T, I decided to call yesterday. Right now we get 10mbps with Time Warner for $58 a month. AT&T could offer us 6 mbps for $29.99 with a $36 activation fee, and after one year the cost went up to $48 a month. I then called Time Warner to see what deal they would give me to stay. They said that if they offered me $29.99 a month, I'd get around 750 kbpm, which I don't know if you can check your email in less than 20 minutes with that speed! So basically, they could offer me nothing to stay with them, which I was quite surprised at seeing as I have been with them for 10 years. But tough economic times call for cutbacks, and I unfortunately don't have the luxury of being loyal at the cost of $30 more a month. So I called AT&T back and set up an installation. I figured that after a year, if they don't keep the price the same after I call and complain, then I can shop again.

Then today, I got a call from Time Warner Cable's corporate office. They wanted to know why I was switching and I told them that I could not afford more than $30 a month for internet. They then offered to continue giving me the 10mbps that I am currently getting, and they would reduce my monthly payment to $29.99 a month! The other thing is that a) there is no activation fee, which I would have had to pay to AT&T and b) after one year, the price only goes up $5 a month (instead of AT&Ts $18). So I decided to stay with Time Warner and cancel the AT&T install. And now I'm going to save $30 a month.

What I learned: It is a huge headache to be frugal. Also, Time Warner will offer you what you want to stay, but not when you call them to cancel. You have to wait for the corporate office to call you because they have the authority to offer you things that the regular customer service people can't. So if you call them to cancel/complain, wait a day or two after you've canceled and they will call you!

Approved!

Today we got our official medicaid cards in the mail along with letters saying that our coverage was backdated to September 1st. I guess it's normal procedure when you apply for medicaid that they backdate it three months from when you applied. This is awesome news because we have a bill from Avery's ER visit in Montana (which is from the beginning of September) that was not covered at all by our insurance because we hadn't reached our ridiculous deductible yet. Now, medicaid will cover it as secondary insurance and we most likely won't have to pay anything! This also means that Avery's last two doctors visits (one for an ear infection: $226; one for the allergist: over $500) will also be covered now. I am so excited. I guess the only way for Americans to get health insurance that actually covers things is to get government insurance. Gasp! Oh yeah, and you have to be poor, too :)

What I learned: Avery and I qualified for medicaid, backdated to September.

ER Visit

This morning, Avery woke up with a bad cough and he was wheezing when he breathed. He seemed fine otherwise all day. Later in the evening, his breathing was getting pretty laborious and I counted that he was breathing 80 times per minute. According to Web MD, if your child is breathing more than 50-60 times a minute than you should immediately take your child to the ER. Well, I thought this seemed a bit hasty since Avery was still playing and acting normal, other than the breathing. So I called the 24-hour nurse hotline at my doctor's office and per the nurse, I indeed needed to take Avery to the ER. So mom drove me to Children's Hospital and Jared left work and met us there. There were about 4 other kids in the waiting room who were all breathing just like Avery. After two different doctors looked at him and after a chest xray, they determined that he did not have pneumonia, but a raging chest cold that was causing him to have slight wheezing in his upper respiratory tract. This is good because it means the wheezing is not asthma related. They said it was most likely a virus but since one of his ears looked like it was about to be infected, they decided to put him on antibiotics anyway. He also received a breathing treatment (a nebulizer with albuterol in it) which significantly slowed his breathing and cleared his passages enough that it stopped the wheezing. Altogether, we were only there about 2.5 hours, so it wasn't that bad. But we didn't get home until 1:00am, which means that Avery didn't go to bed until then. So now we have to deal with his sleep schedule being severely off again. Gah!

As a sidenote, I was thinking about where Avery could have gotten sick since we haven't left the house in days except to go to church and none of my family is sick. Then I remembered that I brought Avery to the church nursery during the Christmas Eve service on Saturday because he was being too talkative during the sermon. The last time I brought him to the nursery to play, he got fifth disease. So I don't think I will ever play with him in the nursery again!

What I learned: Avery has a bad virus and luckily he does not (as of yet) have asthma. Also, the church nursery apparently is a breeding ground for disease, even when you go there when no other kids are there!

Presidents' Life Span

I was reading in Time today that the average life span of the first eight Presidents was 79.8 years. This is amazing considering that the average life span at that time was under age 40 for men. The article also states that despite the belief that being President lowers life expectancy due to increased stress, 2 out of 3 presidents have outlived their contemporaries. I am really curious to know why this is as it seems completely rational to me that being President, no matter what the economy is like, or whether or not we are at war, etc, is one of the most stressful jobs you can ever have. Maybe it's because most presidents only have it for 4 years (obviously some have it for 8). After those years, it seems that most presidents make a career out of writing an autobiography, or doing the lecture circuit or simply "retiring." So maybe the real reason is because while they might have a super stressful job for four years, much of their later years is spent in a more relaxed manner than most. Who knows.

What I learned: The first eight U.S. Presidents averaged 79.8 years old, almost double the life expectancy at the time.

London Season

Ok ok, I know I use a lot of my posts to talk about new games I've played but I think it is a completely valid thing to count as something I learned. Sorry to all of you who read this blog and don't like gaming!

Today we went to the Sonnenberg's to play games all day. And when I say all day, I mean it (we got there at 8:50am and left at 10:30pm). While I played 7 games today, there was only one new one that I learned.

After arriving at the house, I inquired where my cousin Wendy was and I was told she was in the bedroom, working on finishing up her board game so that we could all play it. I was surprised that I had not once heard that she was making her own game. I was intrigued. Later in the day, the board game was apparently ready and six of us sat down to learn London Season. It is a game that takes place in June 1814 and revolves around the theme of ladies trying to win husbands. Each player is a lady who has a set fortune and rank and has "stats" relating to how beautiful, virtuous and accomplished she is. Throughout the game, you try to raise your standing by gaining beauty, virtue and accomplishments. You attend dances to charm men, go to church to earn virtue, and even attend the races at Ascot to raise your income. The game is wonderfully themed (as any Jane Austen fan would attest) and very well thought out.

This was the first time the game had ever been played so it took almost 4 hours from the time we started reading the instructions (which we did out loud so we could all see what did and didn't make sense or what wasn't clear to benefit Wendy so she could edit the rules) to the time we all (except for Blake, teehee) had a husband. For being the first time the game had ever been played, there were no glitches and nothing that didn't make sense. It was a really good game and I am proud of my cousin for making something so awesome. I can't wait for it to get published so I can buy it. She needs to get in a lot of test plays however before it gets close to that point, so I'm hoping I can play it again this week while they are still here (they live in Des Moines). Great job on the game Wendy!

What I learned: How to play London Season; also, my cousin is super talented and awesome.

Chinese Christmas

Merry Christmas! Today was a great day filled with lots of presents and delicious food. Avery had a wonderful time with all of his toys that his grandparents and aunts and uncles got him (Mom and Dad did not get him any toys, anticipating the amount he would get from others).

The last present and probably the most surprising gift we opened was a gift from my Dad and Neal. Last week, they took our server home to update/upgrade it as it was older and slower than we would like and they said they could piece together some things to make it better. Fast forward to this afternoon and looking at this last present, it was shaped like a computer tower, so we thought, oh, it's the computer tower they fixed for us. Awesome! So Jared and I opened the box and found a computer tower inside. Upon taking it out of the box however, we noticed that it was covered in black duct tape and that while it was heavy and not empty, it clearly did not have computer bits inside of it. So we took off all the tape and opened up the case to find a wrapped present inside the tower. The present was a laptop! Apparently their neighbors had two identical laptops, neither of which worked. They told Neal and Ken if they could get them to work properly, they could keep one. So they kept one and loaded software on it for us and even put TV shows and other programs on it that they knew we wanted. It was such a surprise!

One of the things that Neal included on it was the Mandarin Rosetta Stone. He knows that Jared (and I) want Avery to learn Mandarin and that we need to learn some ourselves in order to accomplish this. So we loaded it up and I started doing the first lesson to see what it was like. I put the settings to pinyin because let's face it, there's no way I'm going to learn to speak some of it AND learn the symbols, at least not unless we move to China. So the words are at least recognizable and somewhat pronounceable but the inflection of each syllable is what is hardest for me. I also found that I easily recognized the words by sight after learning them but could barely differentiate when just listening to the words. This will be problematic as I will need to learn how to say the words in order to say them to Avery. Who cares if I can recognize the words in pinyin?! (<--insert interrobang here). I have a long way to go, that's for sure. We got Avery the Little Pim videos from the library for him to learn, but he's still a little too young for it. We figured it's better to at least start hearing it now though!


What I learned today: Mandarin is going to be the most difficult thing I will ever try to learn. I also learned the words for water (shui), tea (cha) and juice (guozhi) among others. ***Sidenote: All of those words have symbols over a lot of the letters but I don't know how to do that here so you get the English bastardization of the pinyin :)

Fill or Bust

Last night, mom, Neal and Blake were playing a dice game called Bunco. It reminded Jared that he had a dice game that he hadn't played in awhile called Fill or Bust so he ran downstairs to find it. He brought it up to be played but the boys left after Bunco, probably tired of rolling dice. So today, Jared taught me how to play. It is a simple dice game where fives and ones score, as well as three of a kinds and a straight. There are also cards that dictate how your turn will be played out. It is simple enough to learn and the cards keep the game interesting enough so that each turn isn't just rolling your dice and scoring.

Later in the day, I taught my Mom and she said that she learned this game in Norway but it was called Chop Chop. The only difference was that there was no deck of cards that went along with the game. Does that count as me learning two new games then?

What I learned: How to play Fill or Bust

Life on the Farm

As previously mentioned, my mom is giving me gifts every day for Advent. My gift a few days ago was a new game called Life on the Farm. The game was created to properly simulate life (expenses and income) on a farm and comes highly recommended by the Minnesota Farm Association. Today, Jared and I played the game before going to bed. The game took about 3 minutes to learn (according to the box, the game is for ages 8-108, but I think a 5 year old could play easily) and was really basic: Roll the dice, move the allotted number of spaces, do what the space says. There are farm expense and farm income cards to pick up as well as spaces to go to cattle auction. There are also spaces that say things like "A car hit your cow. Lose one cow," and "a hunter cuts your fence, pay to repair," etc. The winner of the game is the first to have a herd of 60 cows and the original $10,000 you started with. Since I have a thing for cows, I found this game fun but it was clearly meant for children. The only skill involved was deciding how many cattle to buy at each auction as you might not want to spend all of your cash in case you had a few farm expenses before you received any more income. Other than that, it was all in the roll of the dice and the draw of the cards.

What I learned: How to play Life on the Farm.

Coupons

I ventured into Michael's today to buy some picture frames for some Christmas presents. I was glad to see that most of the frames were 40% off. I grabbed what I needed and headed to the checkout. I noticed that several people in front of me were wielding coupons and I wondered why I had never seen a Michael's coupon before. Granted, I don't buy the paper so I just get whatever coupons and store ads come in the mail, but still, I was jealous of my fellow customers and their extra thriftiness.

When the lady in front of me checked out, she too had a coupon, but it wasn't a Michael's coupon; it was a 40% off coupon for Joann Fabrics. I was confused. Upon questioning the coupon, I found out that Michael's accepts coupons from Joann Fabrics. They must be owned by the same company, because why else would another store accept a 40% off coupon from a competitor. Turns out, the lady in front of me was buying an art book of some sort and the coupon didn't work on books. I waited with bated breath to see if she would offer the coupon to me, hoping it maybe expired that day and would have been thrown out otherwise, but she didn't. She put it back in her purse, obviously to use at another time. I was sad. I could have saved 40% more!

What I learned: Michael's accepts Joann Fabrics' coupons.

Inventions

Today I was reading an article in Time that listed the 50 best inventions of the year. Some of them are totally impractical (like a $100,000 razor) while some are really usable by the masses. My favorite one was a pen that remembered what you wrote and could translate it digitally onto your computer. For example, an artist wants to sketch something on paper and wants to send it to a publisher. The device has a little box that sits at the top of your paper and you just draw (or write) and the box records the movements. Then you hook up the box to your computer (like a flash drive) and the image is instantly transferred digitally. I don't know if I'm explaining this well,  but it seems really cool and useful for normal people, too. You could also take notes on paper for a class or just jot down a to-do list and then put it directly onto your phone or computer to store it digitally or to email it, etc. The article did not mention how much this device would cost, but I thought it was cool. There were a lot of other cool inventions, too but I'm too tired to think of them now.

What I learned: A device is in development that will allow you to digitally recreate anything you write or draw on paper.

Pea Straw

Yesterday, my post was about Knecht Ruprecht, a man in German folklore. In his description, it states:

"Tradition holds that he appears in homes on St. Nicholas day (December 6), and is a man with a long beard, wearing fur or covered in pea-straw."





My mom read this post and asked me what pea straw was. I said I didn't know, so I decided (with her prompting) to find out.

Pea straw is the by-product from growing peas. It's basically the dried vines of pea plants after the peas have been harvested. Today, pea straw is commonly used as garden mulch (it reduces the amount of water loss from the soil) or for animal bedding. This is all very interesting, but what I really want to know is a) how can a man be covered in pea straw and b) how/why did this become part of the folklore? It would be like us saying that santa's elves are covered in hay. Those crazy Germans.

What I learned: Pea straw is simply the dried vines of pea plants.

Knecht Ruprecht

Today, Jared and I took Avery to the Domes as Mondays are free for Milwaukee residents. We wanted to see how the third dome was decorated for Christmas (we went three years ago and they had Christmas Trees everywhere representing different countries). Well this year, the dome just had poinsettias in it and then randomly placed throughout were painted figures made from wood representing different Christmas personas from different countries. Each figure also had a plaque briefly describing the legend/folklore of each.

The figure I found the most interesting was Knecht Ruprecht, loosely translated as Knight Rupert or Servant Rupert. Because I'm being lazy, here is the description of him from wikipedia:

In the folklore of Germany, Knecht Ruprecht, or Knight Rupert, is a companion of Saint Nicholas. He first appears in written sources in the 17th century, as a figure in a Nuremberg Christmas procession.^[1]

Tradition holds that he appears in homes on St. Nicholas day (December 6), and is a man with a long beard, wearing fur or covered in pea-straw.^[2] Knecht Ruprecht sometimes carries a long staff and a bag of ashes, and wears little bells on his clothes.^[2] Sometimes he rides on a white horse, and sometimes he is accompanied by fairies or men with blackened faces dressed as old women.^[2]

According to tradition, Knecht Ruprecht asks children whether they can pray. If they can, they receive apples, nuts, and gingerbread. If they cannot, he beats the children with his bag of ashes.^[2] In other (presumably more modern) versions of the story, Knecht Ruprecht gives naughty children useless, ugly gifts such as lumps of coal, sticks, and stones, while well-behaving children receive sweets from Saint Nicholas. He also can be known to give naughty children a switch (stick) in their shoes for their parents to beat them with, instead of candy, fruit and nuts, in the German tradition.

What I learned: Germans have ridiculous folklore, where they can have a character who leaves a switch for parents to beat their children with. I wonder how many parents used that excuse: "Oh look, Knecht Rupert left a switch in your shoes because he knew you were naughty. I guess I have to beat you now!" How terrible!

Perry Como

Today Jared and I went to my friend Angela's Christmas band concert at Holy Hill. I have never been to Holy Hill and wish we could have driven there in daylight so I could have seen and appreciated the rural beauty of the Wisconsin countryside. Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed the concert performed by the Lakeshore Symphonic Band. I was especially impressed with the conductor's resume (a graduate degree from the University of Michigan will do that). I was also pleased to hear the concert ended by playing Sleigh Ride, the song my middle school and high school band always ended our Christmas concerts with.

After the concert, we were so graciously invited to eat dinner with Ben's family at the Fox and Hounds, a rustic German-like tavern a few miles east of Holy Hill. The restaurant featured 7 fireplaces and was decorated for Christmas. While the food was on the pricier side, they have a deal for buy one get one free dinner entrees. Whilst enjoying our dinner and listening to the Christmas music playing overhead, Ben's mom commented that Perry Como (whom I am only guessing was singing the Christmas song that was playing at the time) was a barber before he became famous. It was a random but interesting observation. I decided to check on this when I got home since it was so random.

Not only did I find out that this was true, but I found out a lot more. Here I was thinking that he was a barber as an adult and then made it big maybe in his late 20s or something. But no, Perry started working at a barber shop to help support his family at age 10. By age 13 he was good enough to have his own chair at the barber shop. At 14, he had his own barber shop! While he was very musically gifted from a young age, he had no aspirations to be a musician. Instead, he wanted to be the best barber in town. Crazy.

What I learned: Perry Como worked as a barber starting at age 10 and was aspiring to be the best barber in town before he became a professional singer.

Self-weaned

This may be more of a realization than something I learned, but realizing something means you didn't know about it before you realized it, so that's the same thing as learning something new, right?

Today I realized that Avery hasn't nursed at all for about week and a half-two weeks.

Since he still wakes up a lot at night, I thought night-weaning him might help him make the transition to sleeping better and for longer. The problem is, then he got sick, so we couldn't deny him liquids when he asked for them, so we started giving him a bottle at night. Eventually, he never asked to nurse any more during the day. Anytime we thought he was thirsty (because he hadn't had anything to drink in a few hours) we would bring him a bottle of milk and he was perfectly happy and content about this. I never once had deny him nursing because he just stopped asking for it. Next thing I know, it's been almost two weeks and he no longer nurses. I know that this is normal for a toddler to self-wean when their mother becomes pregnant. I wasn't actually intending to wean him any time soon, preferring to let him self-wean, but I had no idea it would happen so quickly and easily.

I am both happy and sad about this change. I am happy because a)it was beginning to hurt a lot due to me being pregnant and b) I was honestly getting tired of nursing him on and off all night. But I am also sad about this because he is growing up :( Obviously this was going to happen regardless of how long he nursed, but it was such a wonderful bonding experience that we've shared for the entirety of his life and it's sad that it's over.

Now, if only he would sleep through the night so easily...

What I learned: Avery self-weaned (well, during the day; we prompted night time weaning) in less than a week.

The Synonym Game

Tonight my mom, Avery and I went to game night at the Sonnenberg's. Gary had a new game to test, sent to him by the makers. It was called the Synonym Game. Basically, your team rolls the die, moves that many spaces, picks a card corresponding to the colored space you land on and then you have one minute to think of as many synonyms of the word on the card as the number you rolled on the die (so if you rolled a six at the beginning of your turn, you move six, pick a card, then have to think of 6 synonyms of that word). Each space has a letter on it, spelling the word "synonym." You have to successfully win the card on your turn to earn the letter of the space you are on. Whomever spells "synonym" first wins.

What I learned: 1. Thinking of synonyms with a time limit is harder than you might think, even for those of us who often play word games 2. There was not enough "variety" in the game to really spark my interest. For example, at one point, my team rolled 4 or 5 ones in a row, meaning we only had to think of one synonym for five turns, and suddenly we were over halfway done with the game. The game was a neat concept but it needs tweaking.

Library Fine

Upon the recommendation of someone in my book club, I had checked out We Need To Talk About Kevin from the library. Now usually, you can keep books for three weeks and then renew them at least once, if not twice. I kind of count on this sometimes, knowing that once I have a book, if I don't have time to read it right away, I can always just renew it and at least it is sitting there, ready to be read in the meantime. So with this book, I didn't get around to reading it (or starting it at least) until a day or two before it was due.

So on the due date, I went online to renew it and to my surprise, someone else had put a hold on the book, meaning I couldn't renew it! This has never happened to me before! Not only that, but by that point, I knew it would take me a few weeks to read it (it was a heavy, depressing, yet very good book) so now I had to feel bad turning it in late knowing someone else is waiting for it. Needless to say, it unfortunately did not make me read it any faster. The fact that the library has a 5 day grace period and only $0.10 a day late fee after that didn't help me either.

Next thing I know, it's been a few weeks and I just finished reading it yesterday. I went to return the book today only to find that I had a $25 fine on my account because they assume I must have lost it and must now replace it. Luckily, I did not lose it and the fine was taken off after I turned it in. The lady at the desk told me that she thought the book had to be 6-8 weeks late before that fine is placed on your account, and I really thought it was only two weeks late. Clearly my sense of time is off (I blame it on pregnancy). After the $25 fine was removed, I had a $3.20 late fee, meaning the book was 32 days late. Oops.

What I learned: The library charges $25 if your book is a month overdue.

Fifth Disease

So as I've previously mentioned, Avery had a fever for four days and it finally subsided yesterday afternoon and he hasn't had it since. However, last night he woke up screaming like he was in a lot of pain and was very hard to console. Then this afternoon, we noticed he had a rash on his head, torso and back. My mom said it looked/seemed like Fifth Disease. Now don't worry if you haven't heard of this ailment. In all my extensive reading and research since before Avery was born, I have never stumbled upon this disease. Upon further investigation on Web MD, I decided that he most likely does have it.

Fifth disease is called such because it is considered the fifth childhood disease, behind measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox. It's nickname is "slap cheek" because the rash usually is on the cheeks and makes it look like your cheeks have been slapped. Regardless of the odd name, Avery definitely seems to have it. The good news is, he is no longer contagious as once the rash appears, the contagious period is over, meaning you usually don't know you have it until you're done spreading it. The bad news is that since it's a viral infection, there is nothing that you can do about it except put rash cream on your skin if it itches or bothers you. Fifth disease also poses a risk to pregnant women, but the dangerous period is the first trimester and seeing as I'm at 18 weeks, I should have no cause to worry. Plus, apparently Sam had this when he was 15 months old and none of us caught it, which means we probably are immune to it. Anyway, Avery seems to be doing much better and now that we know what he has, we can at least continue to give him medicine for pain as some of the symptoms include headaches and joint pain, which might explain Avery's screaming fits for the past five nights. Let's hope this passes soon.

What I learned: Fifth Disease is not a made up disease and Avery has it!

Suleiman

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mom is giving me Advent presents. Today, the clue was
"Suleiman's Empire. Look inside."

I have heard of Suleiman but could not place the name. In my head, he was a Persian emperor in maybe the  1100s or something. But that couldn't be right as a) we don't own a Persian rug (or a Persian anything for that matter) and b) you can't exactly look inside of one anyway if we did. So I had to look online to find the answer.

Suleiman I, also known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the longest reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1520-1566. Not only was I off regarding where he ruled, but I was way off on the time frame. I also read that he married a girl from his harem, which was not the traditional thing to do, and her name was Roxelana. For some reason I found this funny and kept hearing the song "Roxanne" in my head. I wonder if Sting was inspired by this historical person to write his song..ok, probably not, but it is ironic that this famous prostitute was named Roxelana.

If you haven't realized it yet, the clue meant I had to look in our ottoman for my gift. Clever.

What I learned: Suleiman was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the 1500s (during the life of Luther!); I also realized that I don't know that much about the Ottoman Empire and now I want to read more about it. It's odd that I have studied this time period extensively and did not remember learning anything about Suleiman, probably because European history is taught way more often than any other type of world history. Clearly I need to broaden my studies!

Sign Language

When Avery was 10 months old or so, we started doing some sign language with him to help him communicate. He very quickly picked up the sign for "milk." Experts suggest you start with three basic signs: milk, eat, and more. We found that you use the sign/word "more" a lot and thought this made perfect sense to start with this sign. For months Avery just signed for milk and never did any of the other signs.

Today, Avery started doing the sign for "more!" We soon realized however how impractical this sign is. Whenever Avery is eating for example, we ask if he wants more and we do the sign. The same goes for when he's drinking water or watching Sesame Street or we're reading him a book. So now when he does the sign, we're not always sure what he wants! He sometimes wants to eat and sometimes wants a drink and sometimes Sesame Street is over and he wants to watch another episode, but he also wants to eat while watching it. Basically, he does the sign for everything now, even milk. We're pretty sure he thinks the sign means, "hey, I want something." It's still super cute and eventually we guess correctly and he gets what he wants. But now we are going to try really hard to do signs specially for eating and drinking when he's eating or drinking so he learns more specific signs. I hope he catches on soon instead of getting confused that we're changing signs on him!

What I learned: Avery now understands and does the sign for "more." Also, we need to be more specific in our signing now so we can communicate better.

Advent Presents

This morning, my mom pointed out to me that I had not updated my Advent calendar today. So I went to the calendar to update it, and there was a folded up sheet of paper in it. Upon opening the paper, it had a clue telling me to look under the diapers. I did as directed only to find a present! I ripped it open to find a box of sour patch kids! Yay! I was happy but confused. Why was my mom randomly giving me candy?

She said that last year, she played this game with Afton and gave her a small present for every day in Advent and so now she was going to do it with me. Yay for presents :)

What I learned: I am going to receive one small gift every day until Christmas for Advent. I think I like this tradition.

Confession

I have a confession to make. Most days, I write down what I've learned for the day either by putting a note in my phone or starting a post but not finishing it. Then a few days later when I have more time I edit posts I didn't finish and post all the ones I'm behind. This explains why one day you might check and it looks like I haven't written an entry in four days, but then the next day, there will be five new entries, claiming to be from the previous five days. It's not exactly cheating. I do learn something every day and I do write it down, I just might not write the blog every day. I admit it would be easier if I did write one a day but lately it's been a bit hectic here as Avery got a fever for the first time tonight (I say that as I type this on Wednesday, but he got a sick on Saturday night, and was subsequently sick for five days). His, and therefore our, schedule has been off for days; he's not napping normally and some nights not going bed until midnight. The point of this story is that when sitting down tonight, Wednesday the 14th, I realized that I failed to write down what I learned on Saturday, 10 December. This is the first time this has happened. I feel like I failed at my mission to learn something new every day and write about it.

Needless to say, I'm sure I did learn something "today" and therefore do not count it as too much of a loss, other than this point being completely confusing to those of you reading it, wondering which day I'm talking about. I suppose it would be a lot easier if I just made myself write a new post every night and therefore avoid this debacle in the future. Duly noted.

What I learned: I should be more consistent with writing every night as it seems my method of writing five blogs in one go has proved to no longer be reliable.

Chicken and Dumplings

When I got married I received a lot of different recipes from relatives as gifts so as to pass on traditional family meals. I had a lot of these in a recipe box already but some of the recipes came on full sheets of paper and I had yet to organize any of them. So at the beginning of this week when I was making the menu for the week, I decided to finally get things in order. I discovered that I had a recipe for my Grandma Miller's chicken and dumplings and realized that a)I had no idea how to make dumplings, b)I have never eaten dumplings and c)I have never really known what dumplings were made out of. So I decided to make this recipe.

Today was the day to make the meal and I discovered that not only are dumplings basically just dough but they are also really simple to make. I think the dish turned out well except that I used way more chicken than the recipe called for because I had it (you can always have more meat, right?) and didn't think it would matter, but then there was not enough sauce to properly drop the bits of batter into it. Instead I had to just place the dumplings on top of the chicken and therefore, the dough didn't sink into the batter and get all gooey and juicy. Instead, it all stayed right on top of the chicken, making a sort of crust over the top of the dish. It still tasted fine, but I guess it probably wouldn't officially be called dumplings. Now I know for next time-when it says to use three chicken breasts, don't use five.

What I learned: I learned how to make dumplings, even though I sort of made them incorrectly...

Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert is awesome. He never fails to amuse me, whether he is giving me the news, interviewing, creating a Super PAC, singing Rebecca Black's "Friday" or ballet dancing with David Hallberg. He has won Emmy's and a Grammy and has created television's greatest ruse. But somehow it still surprised me to find out that Stephen Colbert performed on Broadway. Oddly enough within two days I found out about it twice: I read an article in a magazine that mentioned it in passing and then Colbert himself had Stephen Sondheim as a guest on his show where they talked about Colbert being in Sondheim's show Company (while that episode was on last week, I was a bit behind and therefore didn't see it until today). Is there anything this man can't do, entertainment-wise at least?  The only bad thing is that it was a concert production of the show with the New York Philharmonic (apparently they do this sort of thing often with Sondheim musicals) and they only had four performances, which means, I can never see him in it. The performance also had Neil Patrick Harris in it though! Man, that would have been a great show to see.

What I learned: Stephen Colbert is more awesome than I had originally thought.

Panic

I would like to think that I can do things without making mistakes. I'm sure most people do. However, I also really do think that I should never make mistakes and if I do they are somehow inexcusable and show that I am somehow flawed and less of a person because of it. Fortunately, I am not so harsh on other people and feel like I am very understanding when people do make mistakes, unless of course they are repeated numerous times and are due to lack of caring or paying attention, etc. Then I get annoyed. This happened at my old job a lot. I was so organized and meticulous that I would easily get livid with people who made the same mistake over and over and over again AND didn't seem to care that they did.

Well now I am that person. I messed something up not once, but twice. I would love to blame my mistake on pregnancy or severe lack of sleep, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter why you make a mistake. It matters that you made it and that now, you are going to seem less reliable, less organized or less detail oriented to the person this affects. This thought is very unbearable to me as those things are my greatest strengths.

Thankfully, after some frantic phone calls and emails, I was able to find out that my mistake did not affect anything due to the fact that the next person down the line didn't have time to do the next step yet. I am saved by someone else's busy schedule. Phew. I still have to own up to it, admit my mistake and fix it so that the next person doesn't in turn mess up. This mostly makes me feel better as the outcome will not be affected, but part of me still feels like I have failed and must be less of a good worker now. I know this sounds ridiculous and harsh, but I have had such a high standard for myself when it comes to work and I kept that standard even when I worked at a job that I hated and where I was better than most of the people there (work ethic/productivity-wise). I would hate to think that staying at home for 14 months has weakened me in any way.

The good news is, the panic I had today was all for naught as my mistake has only been revealed to me so far. The bad news is, it will be hard for me to forgive myself and think I am still a good worker.

What I learned: I learned that a) I made a mistake at work for the second time now and b) I find it very hard to believe I can still be trusted to be a reliable employee (I didn't realize I would be so hard on myself because this has never happened before)!

Herman Cain

While watching TV today, I found out that Herman Cain is suspending his presidential campaign. Now to avoid getting too political or making any comments on his personal troubles at the moment, let me just say that I personally will miss Herman Cain being in the race because man oh man, does he make me laugh. Now I honestly don't mean that in a mean way, as much as I might disagree with his policies. I mean, he seriously is hilarious and says the funniest things just because he is such a normal joe who is no way prepared or ready to be a politician. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It is what it is. When he's asked a question, he answers bluntly (when others might stop and think about how he should say something) or he waits entirely too long to answer (when others would have an answer prepared for something so often asked). I feel like he should be on that show with Bill Cosby, "Kids Say the Darndest Things." He brings an air of naivety to the race that is almost refreshing. While I think he had the longest shot at being nominated, he at least kept things interesting and funny in a race that is bogged down with too many candidates to remember.

My favorite quote of his: "I'm ready for the 'gotcha' questions and they're already starting to come. And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I'm going to say, you know, I don't know. Do you know? And then I'm going to say, 'How's that going to create one job?'" (Oct. 7interview with CBN News' David Brody)


What I learned: Herman Cain will no longer be running for President.

BRAT

Last night while I was walking Avery to sleep at 3am, I felt a sudden pang in my stomach, my mouth started watering and BAM, I was downstairs throwing up (after handing Avery off to a very tired and confused Jared). It was really random. When I got back to bed, I thankfully found Avery asleep (although I was kind of pissed because I had been walking him for an hour and then he fell asleep in 4 minutes with Jared...). I however could not fall back asleep as my stomach was reeling. Throughout the course of this morning, I got sick 8 more times. I was incapable of keeping down food. Soda crackers, chicken broth, a breakfast bar, water and tea all proved unsatisfactory to my innards and were thoroughly discarded soon upon arrival. To make me feel worse, I actually had jury duty today and had already postponed it twice due to nursing and now I had to literally call in sick for jury duty. Jared took care of Avery while I laid in bed and made several sprinting trips to the bathroom. By lunchtime I moved to the couch to make the trip to the bathroom much easier (and faster). My mom took over watching Avery when she got home. I was literally helpless. I didn't want to move, not even to roll over. What on earth did I have? I literally did nothing for Avery all day-I didn't change his diaper, feed him, put him down for naps, or put him down for bed. I did NOTHING.

By early evening, I was feeling better enough to sit up and my mom suggested I eat the BRAT diet. What on earth is the BRAT diet? Apparently it's what you should eat when you have an upset stomach: Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast. I personally would change bananas to broth, but that's because I hate bananas. So I had applesauce for supper and it was the only thing I kept down all day!

By 10:00pm I was feeling much better but decided to go to bed. Avery thankfully had the best night he's had in weeks and I woke up feeling more rested than I've felt in a year and a half. I am now completely better and chalk it up to either food poisoning or a 24 hour stomach bug. I have to admit though, I almost feel like it was worth getting sick to have an entire day off, do nothing and get tons of sleep and to finally feel rested. I seriously can't remember the last time I didn't feel tired.

What I learned: When you are spewing your guts out and can't keep anything down, remember the BRAT diet.

Harry Potter

Today I went over to my dear friend Angela's house to watch all the special features from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. Warner Brothers is being lame and only putting the special features on the blu-rays for HP, so now I have to rely on the hospitality of my friends with blu-rays in order to enjoy the awesomeness that is Harry Potter (thankfully, they very willingly oblige).

I'm sure I could list about 20 random things that I learned while watching the special features today but I won't bore you with that. Instead I will just comment on the coolest thing: Warner Brothers is opening up Leavesden Studios for tours permanently! You can go and see all the actual sets and everything! And, it's completely affordable at only 28 pounds for adults. Too bad I don't know when my next trip to London will be :(

Check it out: http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/

What I learned: Harry Potter will live on forever at Leavesden Studios for all to enjoy :)

College Football Isn't Over Yet

After Michigan beat Ohio State last Saturday, I assumed the season was over, because it usually is the last game for Michigan every year. I forget that the season still continues for some teams and I especially forgot that for the first time ever there was going to be a Big Ten Championship game. Today, Wisconsin beat Michigan State for the Big Ten Championship. I can't believe that I forgot this was happening. I would have loved to watch this game, specifically because a) I hate Michigan State, b) Wisconsin is my #2 team that I root for after Michigan and c) it was a really close game so I'm sure it was exciting to watch. But alas, I completely missed it. The good news is, Wisconsin is going to the Rose Bowl for the second year in a row. I plan on putting that game (which will be playing 2 January) on my calendar.

What I learned: Wisconsin won the Big Ten Championship game and is heading to the Rose Bowl.

Shoes

Today my mom, Avery and I went to the mall so she could do some shopping. While we were there, I decided to get Avery sized for shoes. He has never worn shoes because he wasn't walking full time until 6 weeks ago and there's no point in wearing shoes if you're not walking, besides the fact that having your baby wear shoes while they are learning to walk actually stifles a natural gait and can hurt their ability to walk. Anyway, I went to Stride Rite because they are advocates for wearing good shoes as babies (as in, soft soled shoes that actually move and bend. It's amazing how hard it is to find shoes that bend for kids. They need to bend, people!). So he got fitted and apparently he should wear a 5 1/2. So we tried on a few pairs of 6s that were all HUGE. So then we tried on some 5s and they were all too big as well. I don't know if the lady didn't fit him correctly or if all the shoes we picked just ran big in their sizes. Regardless, we were trying on only the cheapest shoes they had ($19.99) and they didn't come in sizes smaller than 5 and plus, Avery wet through his pants, so we left the store without purchasing anything.

Now Avery still doesn't have any shoes. I'm annoyed because I cannot fathom spending more than $20 on shoes he will grow out of in a few months but I also don't want to buy cheap shoes that are hard and don't bend because I will be potentially ruining his feet. It seems that all the more affordable shoes I find are also crappy. GAH!

What I learned: It is a lot harder to find and buy shoes for a toddler than I would have ever imagined.

Help at Last

After Jared received information a few weeks ago about his new health insurance options at work, we were annoyed to find out that to keep basically what we had before, the premium was going to go up $200 a month and the new family deductible would be $3000. Seeing as we are barely even breaking even every month now, this news was somewhat devastating. Who knows how on earth we will be able to afford this! There is a cheaper option that would keep our premium almost the same but  it is just a health savings account, meaning we're still paying everything out of pocket pretty much. So I broke down and applied for Medicaid. If we get it, we can choose the cheaper option and not have to worry about out of pocket costs because Medicaid would be billed as secondary and cover everything.

As I was online last night trying to check the status of my application, I realized the plethora of services available for people who are, to put it mildly, struggling. I realized we qualified for some other programs that will really help us out. I just now feel bad that I didn't look into it a year ago and we could have been getting this help for the past year! Oh well. Now I have to start the long process of applying to even more things, bringing documents in and interviewing to prove I'm not scamming the system. But man will it be worth it. Yay for being poor! Ok, maybe not.

What I learned: Wisconsin offers a lot of programs specifically for mothers and children, but also for families who are struggling.

Chinese Parenting Tip?

My sister-in-law Anna is currently teaching English in Yinchuan, China. While she was back in the states for the summer, she related to us several stories, anecdotes and cultural differences. One of the things I found the most interesting (and disgusting) is that babies in China wear split pants-not diapers. They therefore relieve themselves wherever and whenever they please, whether it be in a building, in public, on the streets, on a bus, etc. This is completely socially acceptable. What is even worse, the parents are not expected to clean up after their child when this happens. The defecation is just left in its place until a worker cleans it up.

Fast forward to today when I was at playgroup with a group of moms. One of the moms, Jess, shared that she was also in China (in Yinchuan, too) a few years ago and related the fact to the rest of the moms about the split pants and babies going to the bathroom everywhere. I knew all of this since Anna had told us this summer, but then Jess continued and told us this: starting when babies are born, the mother whistles every time the baby goes to the bathroom (assuming they catch the baby in the act). After a few months, the baby associates whistling with going to the bathroom. Then, whenever the mom is somewhere where it is more convenient for the baby to go to the bathroom, the mom holds the baby out in front of her and whistles, and the baby goes to the bathroom! They train their kids like Pavlov's dog! I don't know whether to be shocked or impressed. I guess if I was too poor to buy diapers, I'd think of a way to control where and when my baby went to the bathroom, too if I could. I still can't believe that it is not expected for the mom's to clean up after their babies though. It's one thing to be too poor to buy diapers. It's another thing to walk into a building and have poop on the floor.

What I learned: Chinese mothers train their babies at a very young age to go to the bathroom on cue.

The Second Time Around

When I was pregnant with Avery, I spent a lot of time thinking about being pregnant and reading up on pregnancy, birth, parenting, babies, etc. I also had the "luxury" of having a boring and mindless job which gave me plenty time to think about things all day. For example, I would wonder if the baby was a boy or a girl, what he/she would look like, what my baby could hear, what he/she was feeling, how was my birth going to go. etc. I basically thought about nothing else for nine months and in return, I was super prepared for the pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. I was really educated on a lot of different topics I never knew much about, like unnecessary medical interventions, breastfeeding, babies' sleep cycles, co-sleeping, slings, and attachment parenting. I was ready to be an awesome mom (and would like to think I am doing a good job!).

Now that I am pregnant again, I discovered how little I think of baby #2. The obvious difference is that instead of sitting at a desk doing data entry for 40 hours a week, I am now taking care of a toddler full-time and clearly don't have as much time to daydream about whose eyes my baby will have. But is that really the only reason I don't think about it that often? I wonder if it's because it's easy for me to think, "I already read all the books and did it once before so now I'm a pro and know everything." As I was thinking about this today, I realized that it is really bugging me that I don't feel as connected to my baby yet like I did with Avery (in utero I mean) because I think that since I was reading all the books while I was pregnant I learned about things as they were happening and could relate. Now that it's been almost two years since I've read some of those books, while I've retained a lot of the knowledge, all of the little details are what I feel like I'm missing about my baby's developments and milestones.

I am suddenly worried that I am short changing my second child already and he/she hasn't even been born yet. I never want to do that (as I'm sure most parents don't want to do!) and while I'm sure I'm being overly paranoid about the effects this is having on my unborn child, I still feel like he/she deserves more attention, at least mental attention, than I am giving him/her now. I have therefore decided to go to the library (hopefully tomorrow) and get some of those books and read them again (Go Dr. Sears!). I know that it's going to be impossible to match the excitement and novelty of my first pregnancy and birth because everything is so new and you don't know what to expect. But that doesn't mean I know what to expect for my second child, or any subsequent children for that matter. While my medical knowledge and parenting style will remain the same, each child is uniquely different and I need to start remembering that now, yes, even in utero, so that my second child can feel special and unique from the get-go. I'm not giving birth to Avery #2; I am giving birth to another child. Yay!

What I learned: I have been too busy to realize and fully appreciate the presence/miracle/person-hood of my second child (coming soon!) and there is no good reason for me to not be actively thinking about this child as I did for Avery. I need to get on it!

The Sing-Off

***SPOILER ALERT***

This post is about the finale of The Sing-Off. If you have not yet seen the season finale and plan to, do not read any further!



Tonight my mom, Avery and I watched the season finale of The Sing-Off. This is one of my favorite shows because A) Ben Folds is a judge, B) the singers have real talent and are entertaining and C) I love a cappella music. As an extra bonus, since Avery loves music and singing, it's so much fun to watch it with him because he dances along and claps and gets so excited every time the music starts. But back to the point-this show is awesome. I was very disappointed though with two of the group's final performances (Urban Method and Pentatonix). Since this week doesn't matter since the votes were in and tallied, it seemed like the groups just didn't practice, which for a finale show, regardless if the performance matters or not, you would think that it would feature some of the best performances, and some of them were just crappy.

With that being said, the show was still awesome, especially when Ben Folds performed Not the Same with the Dartmouth Aires. In the end, I really wanted Pentatonix to win, for Dartmouth Aires to be second, and Urban Method to be third. And I was right! I love it when I'm right (or I guess, when most of America agrees with me). I am sad that the show is over and that I have to wait until next fall to see it again.

What I learned: Pentatonix won The Sing-Off and America and I agree on something!

Side Effect of Pregnancy?

Tonight I attended Advent by Candlelight at my church. It was a beautiful event that included desserts, finger foods, wine, singing and a short program. In the program, we watched a "music video" of a song that Amy Grant wrote about how Mary felt being the mother of Jesus. The video however was just scenes from the movie The Nativity Story with the song playing over it. The scene specifically was when Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem, Mary is on the verge of giving birth, Joseph has to find a place for her, they find a stable as a last resort and she then gives birth to Jesus.

I don't know if I can blame this on the fact that I'm pregnant or the fact that I am now a mother and have experienced childbirth and the joys of motherhood, but it took every ounce of self control I could find to not break out sobbing while watching this. It's pathetic, I know. But seriously, I don't know how I held up. I think this might be the first time I've seen a movie or anything with a scene like that in it since I gave birth and so it's hard to tell what the cause of my emotions really was (although truthfully, I'm sure it was a little of both). But in the end I saved my dignity (not because I would have lost it had I cried, but I would have lost it had I burst out audibly sobbing, which is what would have happened had I not been successful in containing this welling up of emotions).

What I learned: Being a mother/being pregnant makes me appreciate/empathize/remember when I watch things with other mothers/pregnant women, which apparently leads me to gush with almost uncontrollable emotion. Great?! (<-- insert interrobang here)

Rivalry

Anyone who knows anything about college football knows that the greatest football rivalry of all time is the University of Michigan and Ohio State. This is not an arguable point. Today, they played again for the last game of the season (which they have been doing since 1935). As a Michigan fan, I know (and have witnessed) that the last few years have probably been the roughest in U of M history. It's been painful to watch the past few years as we switched coaches and tried to match the right players with the right coaches. This year however, we were set to come back.

Going into the game today, Michigan was 7-2 and Ohio State was 6-5. Not only was our record clearly better but we were clearly the better team. However, as most people know, this oftentimes makes no difference when it comes to huge rivalry games. The rivalry itself voids out all preconceived notions of who will win based on the performance of each team for the entire season. So going into the game, it's still anybody's game.

This game was stressful to watch. Michigan let Ohio State score. Michigan let it get too close for comfort. I was beginning to think that they were doing this to keep the fans on the edge of their seats for dramatic effect. We should be winning, and winning by a lot. In the end, Michigan pulled out a win, 40-34. Phew. Even better? We broke a 7 year losing streak against Ohio State. Hail to the Victors!

What I learned: The Rivalry has been the last game of each teams' seasons every year since 1935 (with the exception of 1942, 1986 and 1998) and Michigan had lost the last 7 games against Ohio State. I guess I didn't realize it had been that long because I didn't want to think about it being that long. Good thing we turned that around today!

Stats

Today, Jared was bragging about how many people have looked at his blog, specifically how many people have looked at his blog that live in other countries. I thought he was making this up because how on earth would he know that? In turn, he thought I was joking that I didn't know this was something anyone with a blog can check. So again I didn't believe him. He proceeded to show me the "stats" tab on my blog that shows not only how many page views, but what countries the page views originated from, what internet browser the blog was viewed on and what operating system was being used. It's like I can stalk my own blog. As of today, here are the stats for page views from other countries:

Russia: 37
UK: 6
Germany: 5
Peru: 1

This makes me really curious to know if my blog was A) viewed accidentally, B) came up in a Google search and clicked on, only to be backed out of after they realized it was not what they were looking for, or C) there are genuinely people in Russia who stumbled across my blog and are reading it. If C is true, I would love to know!

What I learned: You can find out a lot about the people viewing your blog...except their intentions.

Stuffing

Growing up, we always had stovetop stuffing for Thanksgiving. I assumed everyone did. I had never had anything different. When I married Jared, his parents came for Thanksgiving the first year and brought their homemade dressing. I was so leery of this that I bought and made stovetop as well. I love stuffing and didn't want to miss out on this yummy dish and for some reason thought that I would not like this "weird" homemade dressing (I mean, it's even called something different!). But of course I loved it and immediately felt bad that I had made back up stuffing. They have brought this homemade stuffing with them every year now and it is delicious.

This year, I stuffed the turkey myself, something I had never done before. For some reason I thought it was more involved than literally just stuffing the dressing into the gullet of the turkey. There's a giant, empty cavity and you fill it. The end. Now I feel silly that I always said I had never stuffed a turkey before and opted for someone else to do it.

What I learned: I learned how easy it is to stuff a turkey.

Medical Exam

Jared and I decided to get more life insurance on me through his work just because it is so cheap compared to any other insurance I can get (apparently insurance companies think fibromyalgia has some effect on life expectancy making life insurance expensive to get for me). However, for spousal coverage, you still have to submit to a medical exam which involves a medical history questionnaire, a urine sample and a blood sample. A person comes to your house to do this an it's only supposed to take 30 minutes.

So the questionnaire asks probably a hundred questions about your medical history. I only had two of the things they ask about- asthma and fibromyalgia. For each medical condition you have, they ask about 20 more questions. In consequence, the medical exam took an hour instead. I can't even imagine how long it would take for someone who is even remotely more "sick" than me. I think I am generally a healthy person and it took so long to do the questionnaire. What about someone in their 60s who has had a few more medical problems? It would take hours to fill out that survey!

I guess I simultaneously felt less healthy than I really am (seeing as a medical history seemed so involved and took so long for me when I felt like I was healthy and it wouldn't take too long) and also thankful that I am not more unhealthy. There were also extensive questions about the medical history of my parents and siblings and I realized how healthy our family really is. Granted, we're all still relatively young, but still, we are so blessed to be in good health and not have any really bad health issues.

What I learned: My family is blessed with good health, despite me feeling momentarily like a "sick" patient when filling out a medical history :)

Work

I started my new job last Friday and I worked again today. It is so nice to be learning new things every day that I would normally not learn. I am learning how to use a lot of different programs and how to do a lot of things with digital photos. I have found that I really like doing everything Sarah has given me to do even though others (including Sarah) think that some of the work is tedious and/or boring. I love it. I also really like having a list of things to do and then doing them and getting to cross them off the list. These all might seem like  really silly things to like or get excited about, but I like it! I am enjoying this job so much and can't wait until I feel more comfortable with Macs so I can do a lot more and stop asking silly questions like "how do you scroll down when there's no scroll bar?"

What I learned: I really like my job and actually look forward to going, which I have never felt in any job I've ever had (and I've had 8!)

Bathtub

For our Christmas present this year, my wonderful in-laws decided to fix our horrible bathroom window. Apparently, in 1926, it was normal to have a full size wooden window IN YOUR SHOWER. The wood on the frame is completely rotted and the wood and slats under the plaster are as well. It's gross and unsightly and I hate it. So after debating whether or not to do replace the window with glass block or to just tear it out, cover it up and get a tub surround, we decided on the latter. My dad and Jared were able to take out the window, board it up and put siding up on the outside of the house (you would never know a window was ever there!) last night and this morning. Then today when my father-in-law Del arrived, he and my dad ripped the tile and plaster out of the tub area, put in sheet rock and applied mud to all the seams. Then Del and I went to Menards and Home Depot to buy the tub surround.

Our tub, which looks like a normal tub, is 64 inches long, meaning we need a tub surround that is that big. After looking at both  of these stores, we found that apparently the standard size of a tub is 60 inches. We're not sure if the tub is original to the house, but regardless, the space for the tub is obviously original. People surely weren't bigger back then, nor did they opt for bigger things than were necessary, so I can only assume that standard tubs used to be 64 inches. Well this is all fine and good except that we need to buy a tub surround that fits! We finally found one at a second Menards that is 63.5 inches long...hopefully we can somehow compensate for that half an inch with the other pieces. I never would have thought it would be so hard to buy a tub surround. The good news: the bigger one was cheaper than the one we were going to originally buy by $45.

The tub surround is going in tomorrow and then our bathtub will never look gross again...assuming I clean it regularly :)

What I learned: Our tub is larger than standard size, and I always thought our tub looked small...

Learning

I find that some days I learn a lot of things and take mental note of them, only to realize when I sit down to write my blog that if  I wrote down the things I learned, they would each be a sentence long. Sometimes you learn a fact but there really isn't even context to write about how or why you learned it. Today I feel like I learned about 12 things, but none of them are worth writing about and I am racking my brain to try to think of what to write.

For example, I learned that you can freeze black eyed peas. We bought a huge bag and wanted to make them all and then freeze them to save us from having to make a lot of small batches because you have to soak the beans for a few hours and then cook them for a few hours. I wanted to make sure you could freeze them, and sure enough, you can. That seems too boring and trivial to write an entire blog about (as I'm typing this I'm thinking about other posts I've written that I'm sure were trivial and boring as well...so maybe it doesn't really matter).

As another example, I learned that scientists found a way to breed mosquitoes who are born with a certain gene mutation that makes it necessary for them to have antibiotics to live. Obviously they will not get antibiotics and will therefore die. The implications are enormous: if you can decrease the mosquito population in areas where mosquitoes carry infectious diseases like malaria and dengue fever, you could save millions of peoples' lives.

I guess these maybe are just as mundane as other things I've learned on other days, but today just seemed like a day of random facts without much substance.

What I learned: A lot of things, including that you can freeze cooked black eyed-peas and that it might be possible to kill off lots of mosquitoes to save peoples' lives.

Phone

My phone has had a "low storage" icon on it for a few days now and it's been annoying the crap out of me trying to figure out how to get the icon to go away since it seems as though I have plenty of storage available on my phone. I tried a few things myself, but nothing changed. Then I asked my dear friends Ben and Angela (who have the same phone as me) and they had a few suggestions, but still, nothing! I asked Neal to look at it or try to figure it out, which he said he would but he's been working and I haven't seen him since the icon appeared. Then tonight I was at my friend Charlie's Birthday party and John, Mr. Verizon Wireless Manager, was there. He had a few suggestions, and viola! It's fixed! Thank you John. You made my day.

As a side note, I found out my cousin is pregnant and due in June, 6 days after my other cousin, and 3 weeks after me! Three cousins and three babies in three weeks. Awesome.

What I learned: How to fix my phone.

Monarchs and Other Things

Today I started my new job as the administrative assistant at Fresh Frame Photography (I actually don't have a title or know what it would be, but based on what I will be doing, it's closest to that, so I'm going with it). I learned a LOT, not just at the job, but throughout the rest of the day. Here are a few snippets.

1. I learned how to scroll on a MAC.
2. I learned how to "right click" on a MAC
**Disclaimer: I am completely computer literate. I just am a PC, not a MAC, so I didn't know how to do a lot of basic things because I've used a MAC all of two times in my entire life.**
3. I learned how to take screen shots of damaged files in Light Box.
4. I learned how to do basic exposure editing in Light Box.
5. I learned that you can order monarch butterflies online and that you keep them refrigerated to keep them alive before releasing them. Ok, this one needs a little more explanation.

In looking through some wedding pictures to find damaged files, I saw that a couple had given everyone an envelope of sorts. Inside each envelope was a monarch butterfly. I was astonished-how did they get these butterflies to stay in the envelopes? How long were they in there? Sarah (my employer) informed me that you can order them online for mass release at special events. They come to you a day or so before your wedding (or whatever event you are using them for) and you keep them in the fridge or in the insulated box they come in. Because of the colder temperatures, they "sit" with their wings together and "hibernate" so they don't need food or water for a few days. Then the day you need them, you take them out of the fridge an hour or so before you plan to release them to give them ample time to warm up and unfold their wings, and presto! Everyone opens their envelope and the butterflies are released! How cool is that? Here's a website to prove it: http://www.mrbutterflies.com/instructions.htm

6. Jared and I went to see Immortals after learning that they changed the movie times since the last time we looked. We were supposed to see J. Edgar. We both realized that neither of us were in the mood to see blood and gore and violence...too late. The movie wasn't bad, but it was not the movie we wanted to see. Boo.

7. I learned how to play a new game at game night called Reverse Charades. It is exactly what it sounds like and it was very fun and I don't really like normal charades. Basically, everyone on your team but one person stands up and tries to get the one person to guess. There is a timer and your team just has to get through as many cards as you can. I think it's more fun because you don't feel like you're on the spot and having to act goofy in front of all these people as you are doing it with your whole team.

What I learned: See above (since they're all spelled out pretty clearly this time).

Choir

Tonight at choir rehearsal, we were asked to sing at all three services on Sunday when the schedule clearly states that we are only singing at two of them. This might seem like an odd thing to complain about but seriously, it's hard to get out the door at 7:15 to make it to church for warm up at 7:30 when your child doesn't usually get up for the day until 7:30 or 8:00. Luckily for us, my mom can get him ready and take him to church once he wakes up so that we don't have to wake him up to feed him and get him dressed when he is still tired and trying to sleep. But then I feel bad not getting my own kid ready for church or even bringing him to church. With that being said, I am excited for the services as it is Christ the King Sunday and we are singing some great music and best of all, there will be brass!

What I learned: I have to sing for all three services on Sunday; it'll be a long morning.

Childish Gambino

Today Jared showed me a clip from Jimmy Fallon's late night show (I always get mixed up what all the late night shows are officially called). The clip was of his musical guest, Childish Gambino. I have never heard of this person/group and was wondering why Jared wanted me to see it. Turns out, it's a rapper who's real name is Donald Glover, the guy from Community! While I am seriously behind on watching Community, I still love the show and love the actors in it, so it was really cool to see "Troy" rapping hardcore on Jimmy Fallon's show. As for his rapper name, there is a website that's a Wu Tang Clan name generator and he said that once he put his name, Donald Glover, in the generator and it said his rapper name was Childish Gambino. So he went with it. Awesome.

My name would be: Mighty Ambassador. Funny how true that is to real life...

Try it yourself! http://www.mess.be/inickgenwuname.php

What I learned: Donald Glover is not only a funny actor in Community but he is a rapper and started out as a screenwriter for The Daily Show and 30 Rock. After looking him up on Wikipedia, I found out that he is from Stone Mountain, GA and went to Rockbridge Elementary School which was the school I would have gone to if I lived 5 miles in a different direction! And he is my age so we could have been in the same class! Crazy!  Haha, okay, so not that probable, but still, super cool. Also, my new name is Mighty Ambassador.

Heartbeat and Job

Ok, so maybe the things I learned today are more things that I did, but if they have never been done before, then you learned something, right? I think so.

Today we heard the heartbeat of our second child. Somehow I think it was more unreal than the first one. I think with your first you are so excited that of course you tell everyone before you hear the heartbeat and don't think of anything bad that might happen. This time around, for whatever reason, I was more hesitant to announce that I was pregnant and decided to wait until hearing the heartbeat to announce it to the world (which I will do on facebook this week). Of course everything was normal and fine and I am indeed pregnant, but maybe because I'm chasing my toddler around all day, I don't spend all day thinking about the prospect of having another child like I did when we were having our first. I'm sure this is a phenomenon felt by most mothers with more than one child. Needless to say, we are still just as excited and were very happy to hear the heartbeat for the first time today.

Secondly, I got a job! Ok, again, I didn't "learn" this in the academic sense, but I learned from a friend that she was hiring and she called to ask me if I wanted the job, and bam, job accepted. I start on Friday and work 10 hours a week. I am so relieved to have found something so flexible and perfect.

What I learned: I am indeed pregnant with child #2 as evidenced by a strong and steady heartbeat this morning. I also am worthy hiring material.

Oh Brother

SIDENOTE: Some of you may have noticed that my posts weren't actually posted on the day that they are for. I think I failed to explicitly mention that I was on vacation in NC for 10 days and stayed at a place without internet access. Every night I typed up my blogs but only posted them every few days once I went somewhere with internet access. I meant to explain this earlier (in case any of you were racking your brains over how I posted something the night before but you didn't see it until the next night, because I know that all of your lives hinge on getting a new post from me) but failed to. So there it is. This post was also written on the correct day and not posted until the next day. Hopefully, this will be the last post that will have to be backdated!

Onto new frontiers! Today I taught my brother Blake how to play San Juan and he promptly beat me. This wouldn't seem like that big of a deal except that when I was in NC I taught Alex how to play and he beat me...three times. Apparently as much as I love games, I can't even beat people who have never played the games before and who I taught how to play! Now I usually don't win games because I most often play them at game night with the Sonnenbergs (who live and breathe games) and my husband, who is also awesome at games. I am completely okay with this as they are better than me and it is expected and I still have fun. But my brothers don't play games that often and now they're beating me, too! Maybe I should chalk it up to the fact that I'm such a good teacher, I teach them good strategies that work against me. Or maybe I just have super smart brothers. It's probably a little of both.

What I learned: My brothers are smarter than me :)

20 and counting?

While looking on cnn.com to get caught up on the news since I haven't been home to hear what's been happening for the past week, I saw there was an article about the Duggar's, the stars of the reality show 19 and Counting, the family with 19 children. I have never actually seen an episode but I can gather that most people have still heard of these people. They just announced that they are expecting baby #20. Of course most of the article was about how they have all these critics, especially after her last child was born at only 25 weeks and Michelle had preclampsia and was in serious condition herself after the birth (the child is now 2 and perfectly healthy). I understand. It's easy to tell people who have 19 children already that they are crazy and that they are helping overpopulate the earth, etc etc.

However, if you look more into their story, you will find a family who lives debt free, built their own home, home-schools their children, raises loving and respectful members of society and is completely self sufficient. Michelle is a stay at home mom and the dad, unfortunately named Jim-Bob, is in real estate and gets to spend a lot of time at home with the kids because of his flexible schedule. While I don't think I ever want to have anywhere near 20 children, I think they are a great example of how to do things right. Imagine if more people in our country lived how they live and the effect that would have on our economy. People are so burdened with credit card debt and find it so necessary to own a home that too many people own houses who shouldn't. The Duggars also spend a ridiculous amount of time with their children. Think of the effect that has on society, when children get attention, love and care constantly from both parents.

When people say they have to work on two incomes and that kids are so expensive and that they can't possibly afford x, y or z, it's usually about choices. I think that the Duggars have made really good choices when it comes to what they find important (family, not things), how to raise responsible children (financially and socially) and how to do it all without making millions of dollars. They are an example more people should follow (except maybe having the 20 kids part).

What I learned: The Duggars are having baby #20 and are a great example to follow when it comes to fiscal responsibility and raising a family.

9-9-9

Without getting too political, because I know how much people love discussing politics, lets just say that I kinda thought that Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax proposal was a little ridiculous. I have also seen multiple graphs from economists that show that almost 90% will end up paying more taxes than they do now, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that the top 1% of Americans will actually end up paying hundreds of thousands less in taxes, meaning that the rich will pay even less taxes than they pay now, which is less (percentage-wise) than most Americans already. This is a good graph to show it:

http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/9-9-9-in-one-really-long-graph/

Anyway, I haven't really heard or understood anything about this plan that I thought would be good except the basic idea of a flatter tax rate and a much simpler tax code, which of course would be great. Just to explain as simply as possible what it is for those who aren't following the race, the 9's stand for a 9% income tax (to completely replace the current tax code), a 9% corporate tax rate (which is really a business-transaction tax), and a 9% national sales tax (this would be paid on top of whatever state sales tax you already pay).

I just read an article in Time that explains that the U.S. is the only rich country in the world without a national sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). In other countries, this works really well because it's pretty tough to pull off tax fraud if there is a consumption tax because simply, if you buy anything, you pay a tax, the end. Also, Americans more than any other country, buy too much and use credit way too often. Other countries moderate this behavior by having the consumption tax. The article states: "The government will always get less of behaviors it taxes and more of what it subsidizes." What a simple way to put it.

While I still don't like his plan, the idea of a national sales tax is great, assuming that the income tax code is simplified and changed so that the poor don't carry too much of the tax burden. I am all for paying taxes because as much as people say they hate paying them, we would all be way worse off without roads, public schools, social security, medicare and all the other public services we are used to.

Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1952 said, "Many people consider the things which government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things the government does for others as socialism." When it comes to taxes, I think that's something everyone should keep in mind. Herman Cain's plan would be terrible no matter which economist does the numbers, but it's worthwhile that he is putting forth the idea of a national sales tax, and more important, a simpler tax code. I hope Obama jumps on that idea at least!

What I learned: Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan, while economically terrible, isn't as crazy as it sounds when you boil it down to the principals.

Munchkin

Yesterday Alex taught me a new game called Munchkin. While you aren't technically supposed to play this with only two players, we did just so I could learn it and because Alex really wanted to play. The game was not only really fun but it was really funny. The cards are hilarious and have outrageously funny pictures on them. I failed to use my learning of this new game as the thing I learned the day I learned it. However, today I went to Alex's local comic and gaming store upon his recommendation and found that it had the largest collection of Euro games I have ever seen in person. Half of the store had games and comics and the other half is just filled with tables and chairs where they hold many different gaming events weekly. I'm wondering why a small town like Davidson, NC has a store like this and Milwaukee doesn't. I looked for Munchkin to see how much the game was ($24.99) and saw that there was an entire shelf dedicated to the game with at least 16 different expansions. I am not exaggerating. I went to their website and there are actually 16 expansions as well as additional dice game additions, accessories and a board game (it's essentially a game with just cards). The original game comes with 168 cards and some of the expansions have 112 cards and are NOT stand alone games. Man, I can't imagine how many cards you can play with if you had a few expansions! Anyway, this is definitely a game I want to own. Any game that is fun already and has expansions means that you can play it endless times without it getting old. Now if only I had some disposable income to buy games.

What I learned: Munchkin has 16 expansions which could lead to endless hours of gaming fun.

The Symphony

Anyone who has met Avery most likely knows that he loves music. He dances, claps, sometimes even tries to sing along. In church he even dances to the psalms when they're in a minor key. Avery has been to a few choral concerts and has enjoyed them and been quiet except for when he occasionally tries to sing along. But, Avery has never been to a symphony concert. Tonight we went to the Davidson College Symphony Concert and he loved it! For the first two pieces he just stared in awe and listened intently. But then there were two songs with a bass soloist (singer, not the instrument) and while he liked it, he sometimes tried to sing along so I had to take him out until it was over. He wasn't loud and obnoxious by any means, but loud enough that we left so as to not be rude to everyone else.

It is intermission now actually and I plan on taking him back in towards the end since I just don't know how long his attention span will last (plus he gets antsy and wants to crawl around, specifically towards the stage). The last piece is Finlandia by Sibelius, one of my favorite pieces so I don't want to miss it. Plus, I think Avery will love the drums in that piece. So it's anybody's guess as to what Avery will prefer-singing, drums, piano, band or orchestra. Start making your bets now!

What I learned: Avery likes the symphony.

Gas Station Coffee

So this morning my mom, Alex, Avery and I planned to head into Charlotte to go to an aviation museum and to check out a used book store that supposedly had over 20,000 books (we went and not only was it super small but it wasn’t a used book store…we think the website we found it on was misinformed or mixed up the name of the bookstore with another one and we went to the wrong one). Anyway, we had to leave by 9:00 and long story short, I didn’t have time to eat breakfast and was super tired besides. So we stopped at a gas station so I could get some coffee and donuts. My first mistake was deciding to get one of those cappuccino drinks instead of just plain coffee (honestly, I don’t really like coffee, I’m more of a tea drinker, but gas stations don’t have that and I didn’t want pop at 9am so coffee was my only option. Oh, plus I’m poor/cheap and didn’t want to spend $5 on one at Starbucks, so gas station coffee it is!). Many times I have gotten these drinks at my local Speedway in Milwaukee and they have always been decent and drinkable. I decided to get the English Toffee and a bag of Krispy Kreme donuts since it was only $.50 more to buy a bag than to buy two donuts.

I get to the car, wait the obligatory 10 minutes to try the coffee (I always burn my tongue) and man, it’s gross. I mean, not only does it not taste anything like the English toffee I get from Speedway, but it takes like liquid sugar with syrup in it. I try to drink more but just can’t do it. It’s undrinkable. I can’t decide if I’m more mad at wasting a dollar on a gross drink or that now I won’t have any caffeine. Lesson learned: don’t be brave when it comes to gas station coffee.

My second mistake was getting donuts for breakfast. After trying to consume that gross sugar-filled drink I tried a donut, which of course is sugary and sweet. After the coffee though, the sweetness is making me nauseous and I can’t bring myself to eat the donut either. I know I don’t usually like sweet things for breakfast, so what was I thinking? Clearly I wasn’t, which is why I needed the caffeine to wake me up. Gah!

What I learned: Don't trust gas station cappuccino machines and don't eat sweet and sugary things for breakfast.

Proletariat

I started to read the Communist Manifesto while here in North Carolina since I finished the other book I brought. Now this might make me sound stupid but I had never really known what proletariat meant. Let me clarify-I might have known at one time but have forgotten and always assumed it had a complicated meaning and never bothered to look it up because I thought I would just forget the meaning anyway if it was long and involved. So I never have. But because I was going to read the Communist Manifesto, I figured now would be the time to look it up so that I would understand what I was reading. So I looked it up and it means: The working class. That’s pretty much it. Really? Man, I feel stupid now that I never bothered before. I mean, there can be more specifics, like usually it refers to workers who do manual labor or who work in industry as opposed to other areas of work. And it can also be even more specific than that and can refer to the absolute poorest class and/or people that don’t own any property and have to sell their labor to survive. But more or less, it just means working class. From now on, I guess I’ll always look up words that I’m not quite sure of the meaning.

What I learned: Proletariat refers simply to the working class.