... When No One Else is Watching

What is she going to be for Halloween, you ask?

I didn't know if I was going to dress Avery up this Halloween since she's not even one yet, but I figured this is a great opportunity to put her in a ridiculous costume and take pictures and use them to bribe her later in life. I found this costume at the Children's Place and I thought it was absolutely darling! I always call her "my little bug" so the outfit actually suits her. I made her try it on today and obviously this look isn't complete yet, but you get the idea! So, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you,,,, My Little Ladybug! (Should I feel guilty that everytime I look at her in this costume, I laugh?)

Observation

I love when I give Avery a new toy or object to play with and it seems the only thing that goes through her mind is, "What does it taste like?"

A couple of examples:

Yummmmmm... Daddy's sunglasses!

Hmmm... A medicine bottle (it was locked!!!)

Autumn means baking!

I love baking in the fall, it is the perfect time to bring out all the pumpkin and spice recipes that don't really seem to fit at the other times of year. Honestly, do you really ever say to yourself in the middle of summer, "wow, I would really like a piece of pumpkin pie!" Not usually. But in the fall there are no good excuses to NOT bake all of the yummy concoctions you can make with pumpkin, spices and ripe apples and pears.

Last night, since we had no plans, I decided to take full advantage of all the baking ingredients in my cupboards and fridge and whip up some yummy baked goods! I made an Upside Down Pear Spice cake to take to a friends birthday this evening and I CAN'T WAIT to try it! I got the recipe from this month's issue of Cooking Light and I hope it tastes as good as it looks. I have never really went wrong with any of the recipes out of Cooking Light so I'm sure it will be wonderful. I also made some Zucchini Bread and it's absolutely amazing. It's my mom's recipe and it is so good with a cup of tea, a perfect breakfast if you pair it with some fruit (which I did this morning!) And finally, I made some Pumpkin Bread. I made one loaf with chocolate chips and one without. I love the pairing of chocolate and pumpkin and this didn't disappoint! One of my favorite things to make in the fall are Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies but I don't usually make them until I have an occasion to give many of them away because keeping them in our house is dangerous for the thighs.

So, that's what I did last evening. I think I have now completely filled my need to bake for the season because of how long it took to bake everything but I'm sure I will be itching to make cookies in a couple of weeks. Here's a picture of all my concoctions.

Update

I got the $26.99 per month. I win.

The Saddest Day

Like most people, I can remember exactly where I was on this day five years ago. I had flown home on September 10th from Melbourne, Australia and was still catching up on my sleep and dealing with my jetlag. Our phone rang at 6:50am and my mother's voice was heard on our answering machine telling us to turn on the television, we were being attacked by terrorists and the World Trade Center had just been hit by planes. I kept that message for three years. I guess I saw it as the moment, for me, our innocence ended.

For me, I had lived in a safe world where I hadn't heard of much danger or terrorism. We had always been so safe and we were truly blessed in that fact. Now I know that is not the way it always was but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. The fact that this terrorism took place using aircraft made it hit home so much more. For six years I practically lived on a plane. I can honestly say I never felt much fear before 9/11 when I got on board an aircraft, in fact it was always an exhilarating experience, no matter how often I did it. I wish I could say that now. Yes, I continued with my employment that required I get on a plane every week for another three years, but I always had a little tug at the back of my ear that told me to play closer attention, act smarter, be safer - and I still do. There was also that other point telling me not to let things scare me so much that I alter the way I live, that I stop doing the things I love, and I'm happy to say I really feel I didn't let terrorism stop me from living my life.

Now, my only hope is that our world will become more safe every day. I pray for this for my daughter, that she will live in a safer world than I have. I pray she will never see terrorism and it's horrible after effects the way I have. I pray she will see peace in our world.

False Advertising

If there is one thing in the world I dislike the most, it's dishonesty. And it's not only if my family or friends are dishonest, it's in everything. At the top of my list is false advertising by companies. I firmly believe if a company is going to make an offer on service or product then it should be made fairly, without six paragraphs of fine print that you need a microscope to read. One such practice of dishonesty happened today when I went to re-up my contract with my DSL/high-speed internet provider. This fine company sent me a notice saying they would like to keep our business and because of that they would like to extend us the offer of keeping our high-speed internet for a rate of $26.99 per month. We're paying $24.99 per month as of right now so we thought the deal sounded good since we haven't really looked for anything better and the $26.99 per month was worth it because we wouldn't have to hassle with doing anything new for our internet. Well, I call and speak to a young woman who talks so fast that only peppy cheerleaders would be able to understand what she's saying. I have to tell her to slow down three times during the call but I think all is going well when she says she would like to verify the details of the bill and she will put in the order for the service to continue. When she is going through everything she says that our service will continue at the rate of $31.99 per month and I literally have to stop her in mid sentence which actually ends up stopping her at the end of her sentence because she's been trained so well not to stop when the customer complains. I tell her that the letter clearly states a rate that is five dollars cheaper and she says, "oh, well that is only if you have a bundle product of ours that is qualifying, which you don't. Didn't you read the back of the page?" Huh? There's something on the back? Oh yes, there's something on the back but I didn't see it. You see, there are no asterisks or anything on the front of the page - where you find the offer - that points you to fine print. Actually, on the back of the page is the exact same offer, but this time has asterisks all over it which points you to the large amount of very fine print. That's where it tells you that you only get this rate if you buy about $80 a month worth of telephone service. I don't want all that stuff, I just want my high-speed. In the end I told her to cancel the order because I didn't like how their advertising completely mislead me into believing I would be getting a service that I presently pay less for than the letter states, but enough that I'm willing to pay so that I don't have to hassle with changing things over. Right now I don't even want to call the customer service department to complain about their false advertising or see if they will give me the special offer, I just want to take my business elsewhere. And that's what I think I will do.

*Rant over*

Unfamiliar Territory

I have always been known as the kind of person who is never at a loss for words. That is why it is so surprising I haven't updated my blog for so long. I would love to say that I have been busy doing terribly interesting things but it's just not the truth. I've been living my life, day to day, and there just hasn't been anything that has happened that has been interesting enough for me to blog about. Now, I am sure if you called me on the telephone I would have a bevy of things to tell you, because as I said earlier, I'm never at a loss for words. I can talk until the cows come home and I'm sure if there were a competition for someone being able to talk non-stop for the longest period of time, I would win! Oh yes,,, I would win! I wouldn't call that a talent as much as it is an annoying personal trait. I have a hard time with silence. I always wonder what the other people in the room are thinking, and are they thinking I'm the most annoying person in the world, and just to make sure if they are thinking that I will prove it by talking CONSTANTLY.

My sister and mother went on vacation to England and Italy for the past couple of weeks so maybe that is why I haven't had too much to say. When people you talk to on a daily basis are not able to be reached it's hard to find much inspiration for a blog. This break has actually been a nice little reprieve from this mind of mine that is constantly going. I'll be back to my usual self though within a couple of days and I will try to blog more religiously. I actually love the process of blogging because it allows you to look back on life and what thoughts you had at a certain moment and maybe get to know yourself a little better. I'm ready for a little more of that.

Just to show you that life has been moving forward, here are a few current pictures of Avery. She's so close to crawling it's scary, although her favorite mode of transportation is still rolling, she can roll faster to an object she is interested in than I can walk to it. Maybe she'll be a professional roller when she grows up!

Stop taking pictures, I'm concentrating!

What do I do now?

Diane's HOW OLD?

I'm ready to go swimming mama!

The water is a little bit cold, but it will do. So much fun!