Hey, if I'd known there would be chocolates... Are these Xopher's chocolate truffles, by any chance? Because I've heard such good things...
Diatryma: Walgreen's isn't west anymore, unless you live in the Alpha Gamma Delta House. They built a new "standard" Walgreens and shut the other one.
To me, west means home, from too many years of living west of New Orleans. After years of living in Portland, it still confused me that work was west and home was east. Now I'm back in New Orleans and things are as they should be. Although, that still leaves the confusion of the west bank being east of most of the city.
A tie-down lid? Good lord! I shall dream about that the next time he's crawled out of bed again and is wandering free. Honestly, I don't think there's anything within reach that is dangerous for him, and the books are very nearly the only thing I really need him to stay out of.
I keep hoping that the fact he's going for the Terry Pratchett and the cookbooks is a good sign. Did I mention he came into my room at 8 this morning with two board books and hit me in the head with them? I mean, it woke me up, sure, but I'd have read them to him anyway.
Yes, they're all attached to the walls. Definitely made sure to do that. Facebook says this should work for people who don't have Facebook. (I really ought to just sign up for Flickr.) And then the shelf in his room is this one. We tried to put the biggest books on the biggest shelves. I really like the idea of the rubber bands, as I think that will be the easiest/cheapest option. We can at least try that first. And who knows, he may outgrow it. He's gotten better about not going into the bathroom cupboards, and hasn't tipped all the food out of the cat bowl in at least a week.
The letter I just sent to my senators. Admittedly, the part about being an Ursuline alumna was only in the letter to Mary Landrieu. Presumably David Vitter didn't actually attend an all-girls Catholic school. His had something about being intimidated by the melee that is Louisiana politics.
Having recently moved back to Louisiana, I'm excited to be represented by a fellow Ursuline Alumna. That said, I have to urge you, most fervently, to support a public option in the health care debate now before Congress. Mandating that everyone buy coverage from insurance companies will do little to stop the excesses of that industry. It is important that we maintain a public option to push down management costs, provide a force in negotiating lower prices from drug companies, and provide an example of ethical coverage. Although I am young, healthy and well-insured, I know that one serious health crisis would leave us mired in debt and unable to recover. In the past year, we've paid over $4,500 in co-pays due to the birth of my son and his subsequent ear problems. This, although there was nothing life-threatening, was our percentage of the bill. I will admit, there were months I depended on my father to buy us food because we had nothing spare after paying the hospital. I spent my tax refund on the deductible for mental health care after struggling for 8 months with post-partum depression and paid my OB/GYN with a credit card that I've yet to pay off. And I'm LUCKY.
I've also lived in the UK, and despite all the horror stories, I've seen my grandfather-in-law cared for in his own home through strokes, Alzheimer's, and various other ailments. He was comfortable and close to family throughout his illnesses. While I was visiting family last fall, my son developed a fever, and I was panicked. We called the local health center, and they saw him that afternoon, at no cost, just to reassure me. While I don't doubt that not all of those served by the UK health system are able to receive the cutting edge treatment available in the US, I also have no doubt that were I to get sick there, I would be cared for. That's not something that I can say with any confidence here.
People are drowning in debt related to medical bills, and finding themselves un-insurable if they have the temerity to recover from a serious illness. People are dying because they are not able to pay for life-sustaining medicine and by the time their illnesses force them to the ER, it's too late. We lose countless productive members of society, because they can't work if they have Medicare (the only health care available to them), and they can't live without that health care.
We cannot call ourselves the greatest country in the world as long as we continue to disregard all our citizens the way New Orleans was disregarded after Katrina. This is your chance to make a change, and do something that could be truly great for the United States of America. On the other hand, you could always vote to further enrich people who earn bonuses based on how much they are able to lower payouts by denying treatment and cutting people from the rolls of the insured. Listen to your conscience, because it's clear to me that the free market stands in opposition to basic humanity on this issue.
It's this shelf from Target. They're actually really sturdy, and sadly, probably the nicest shelves we've ever had. The cookbooks are on the smaller version, with boxes in front of it at the moment. I like the idea of doors, though.
Hmmm. I have a question that someone here has probably thought of a clever answer to. 13 month old is increasingly curious, and one of his favorite things to do is pull books off the shelves and flip through them. The bookshelf in his room is all toys at the bottom - problem solved (until he gets taller). The bookshelf in our room has been cleverly modified with metal dowels across the front of the shelves which have to be removed before the books can be gotten. That leaves the two bookshelves in the living room (cookbooks and Terry Pratchett - these are important!). The only suggestions I've gotten so far is to turn the bookshelves around or pack up any books we don't need until he's old enough not to do that. I tried to explain that if I knew what books I wouldn't need for two years, that would be fine, but I need all my books, just in case.
So does anyone have any tricks for discouraging playing with Mama's books without putting him off books altogether? So far I've been trying to go get one of his books every time he starts playing with ours and have reading time. This doesn't work when I'm still asleep.
The depressing part is, I actually don't have all of our books unpacked. All of my dad's science fiction book club copies we appropriated are still in boxes because we need another bookshelf first. I just have out the important ones, so it's hard to pare down further.
Thanks for the mention that Jhegaala is out in paperback. Added to my wish list, but I don't think it'll be long before I pick that up. Both husband and I are completely addicted.
Holy crap! I have perfect color vision, without even turning up my monitor or trying particularly hard. So either my monitor is really good, or the 4 days of sorting my mom's thread stash paid off! Heh. Maybe I should sideline my dreams of being an animal husbandry specialist or a medieval historian and become a paint saleswoman.
I like the Crayola idea, despite having boxes and boxes of DMC thread. By the time my mother passed away, she didn't even need the thread nearby to compare, she could look at something and say "DMC 666" (bright red, appropriately) or "DMC 501" (my favorite blue-green). Still, not everyone gets a set of every color DMC made for their high school graduation, and for those people, a box of crayons is probably a much more elegant solution, and will take up a lot less space.
If nothing else you can register for books. The thought makes me want to get married again, actually.
This is such wonderful news. I can't wait to see what state goes for it next.
I can't help but think that a lot of the accusations of political motivation could be silenced (for reasonable people, at least) by having Bush, et. al. prosecuted by the International War Crimes Tribunal. This isn't something that just offends the sensibilities of Democrats.
So if I use my entire tax refund to pay down my credit card debt to Citibank - is that a good thing for them or a bad thing? Increased liquidity, I guess, but they no longer have that asset of my debt. (Immaterial, really, since it's already done. I'm just curious.) My number one goal for this year is to get rid of the huge amount of credit card debt I'm still carrying, for the sheer amount of money that will open up in my budget.
Yeah, I read this as I was nursing my 8 month old to sleep. Probably not a wise choice, because the sobbing kept him awake.
It could happen to me. I know that. The first time we went out with Stefan, we forgot to close the car door after we got him out. Completely forgot, went grocery shopping and came out to a car door wide open. So I have no illusions that it couldn't happen to me.
That's why it's so terrifying.
Oh, vaccines. So much to say.
Vaccines are necessary, yes. I'm currently on a mission to find a varicella vaccine for myself, because I've never had the chicken pox, despite being exposed three times. My doctor said to go to the health department, the health department won't give the vaccine if I have insurance, and no one seems to know where I can find the vaccine for adults. I did just get my tetanus booster updated. The health department will do that one, although they were confused as to why I would want it. I just tell them I'd rather take it now than have to worry about it if I'm hurt (bitten by a lab rat, scraped by a rusty nail are the two that surfaced during the duration of my last shot). I'd like to get the HPV vaccine, just in case, but it's apparently only approved for women up to 25.
Then there's pertussis. I was just looking at the vaccine information sheet on this yesterday (when the baby was in getting his 3rd DPT, amongst other things) and apparently the pertussis component is only approved for use up to 7 years old. Doing some googling, I see that a Tetanus/Diptheria/Pertussis vaccine was licensed for use in adults in 2005, but you can't get pertussis separately. Silly.
The problem I have is with the vaccine schedule, more than the vaccines. They pile everything into as few visits as possible, because parents can't be trusted to bring their kids back as necessary for boosters. Personally, I'd rather Stefan not have to deal with fighting off 5 things at once, because although he wasn't feverish, and didn't seem to be in pain, he has been incredibly cranky the last two days, leading to two very sleepless nights, which makes me very cranky as well. I'd happily go back to the doctor every 3 weeks if it meant I could avoid that.
This thread also reminds me that I need to take the kitties to the vet, if I can find someone that does the rabies purevax, rather than the 3 year rabies vaccine. That can be my research project for tomorrow.
Spoonfork @ #830
It's only been 4 days in a row, so I'm not counting any chickens yet. He still won't sleep without someone next to him or holding him, but most of the time I need the nap as much as he does so I don't mind. Mostly I miss the ability to form a coherent sentence.
Congratulations for the new parents. May you be blessed with babies that sleep well. (Seriously, 7 months in and I'm just now getting more than 4 hours in a row. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.)
Also, the waitstaff is being taxed on presumed income, so all the people who decide to be cheap and not tip at all are actually costing the waitstaff money. Even if they were bad, were they really bad enough that they ought to pay for the privilege of bringing your food? Although, I imagine that's far less likely to happen in a more upscale restaurant than the Denny's where I discovered this from one of the night managers.
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