Meme Courtesy of Lone Star Ma

Four Things Meme

I have been "tagged", apparently, and although this is not the sort of thing I normally do here, I thought, well, what the heck.

Four Jobs I've Had

1. Cashier: I was the cashier at Long John Silver's for a year in high school. My tag said "Seaman Apprentice". Guess what got old faster than that job?

2. Herb/Vitamin salesperson: I started as a cashier at Nature's Harvest in Tampa, Florida and then moved up to this job. I learned a lot about vitamins and supplements and herbs and enjoyed this job except for some strange customers and dismal hours.

3. Lab Assistant: I worked in a molecular biology (botany) lab during and after working there as the dishwasher (Hey, I was a dishwasher in a restaurant, too, but that was totally different. They didn't have autoclaves.) It was really interesting, but I don't think I was very good at it. I loved the people I worked with though, and I met my husband that way.

4. Cook/Assistant Innkeeper: I was the "chef" at a bed and breakfast inn (there were 11 rooms, so it was big for a B&B, but small for an inn ...). I was the only cook there (except on my days off) but I got to design the menus, keep inventory, make some lunches and a couple of dinners (those were my favorite). I enjoyed cooking there a lot, and I also enjoyed working behind the innkeeper desk. 99% of our guests were really pleasant and interesting. I had fabulous bosses, as well. I only left to bear and care for an infant! That is a good job, too.

Four Movies I Can Watch Over & Over
1.Serenity
2.Totoro
3.Any of the LoTR movies
4.Yellow Submarine. That is mostly out of my control at this point, though.

Four Places I've Lived
1. Denton, TX
2. Tampa, FL
3. Charlotte, NC
4. Austin, TX

Four Places I've Vacationed
1. Montreal, Canada
2. Rochester, MN
3. Bar Harbor, Maine
4. Seville, Spain

Four of My Favorite Dishes
1. Single Pebble's "Mock Eel" (it's shittake mushroom)
2. Doug's fried chicken with biscuits
3. Doug's hamburgers
4. Thanksgiving dinner

Four (Non-Blogger) Sites I Visit Daily
1. www.lalecheleague.org
2. www.cursor.org
3. www.lush.com
4. www.nytimes.com
(none of these are daily, but non-blogger ones I visit frequently)

Four Places I'd Like To Visit
1. Denton, TX
2. Austin, TX
3. Petaluma, CA
4. Tampa, FL

Turning 33, 4 and Going to Montreal

Last week, I turned 33. Yay. Fiona likes to remind me that next year I'll be *34* and then *35* and counts up to "thirty TEN"! I tell her that number is 40 (40?) and she proceeds to count up to some ungodly number and I try to forget we are talking about my age.

Fiona turns four this Thursday and she tells everyone that we are going to Montreal for her birthday (which is true). We're going to visit the Biodome , stay at a Holiday Inn in Chinatown (which we've been to before and it was a great experience), shop in Chinatown, and hopefully go to a LUSH store for the first time. Hopefully dim sum will be had! We are all really looking forward to it. Montreal has fabulous food.

A Shrew!

Alas, Fiona is sick. She has this wicked cough and she has missed three days of school. She isn't happy about this at all -- she was working on a project Tuesday and wants to go back and finish it. It is her 5th little booklet. Her first three were about shapes (one is a quatrafoil ... ooo ) and the 4th about continents. They are punched out shapes, one per page, with the word underneath. She loves making these. I hear this one is about letters.

So this is the second winter we've relied on a case of blueberries in the freezer to supply us until spring. Last year they took us well into summer. This year they were gone two weeks ago. Sophia and Fiona really, really like them. I am not sure Doug and I had any.

Sophia is definitely walking now, but she will say "up" if she want you to take her. Fiona loves helping her walk as well.

The most exciting thing that has happened this week is that Doug had an interesting early morning encounter with a small animal. He was working on the computer at some ungodly hour and heard something dropping gradually down the stairs. The computer is right in front of the stairs. The stairs are dark. He goes to investigate and nearly trods on this small animal who obviously cannot see well. He gets a box and puts this animal loose in the basement.

Now. After some asking around and some searching, he's decided it was a shrew. I can tell you if it were me who nearly trod on a small animal in the dark, not only would I have screamed like a teen in a horror movie, I would have somehow thrown it out into the bitter cold. Unless I passed out. He knew it wasn't a mouse or rat, but wasn't sure what else it could be. It was sort of mole-like.

I want to know how it got on the second floor. Where did it come from? It was obviously going down the stairs, not up.

I am hoping this was a very strange occurance and won't be happening again. I will also be very cautious coming downstairs at night as well.

So it's Been Ten Years

I also have neglected to mention that last Christmas was our 10th wedding anniversary. It is sort of amazing it has been that long and yet sometimes it seems longer -- in the sense that so far we have been "married without kids" for a longer period than "married with kids" ... and it seems SO long ago that we did not have our children with us yet.

I feel extremely fortunate to have found someone who is such an excellent mate and father and person in general. He loves me and he wants to be with me. It's an amazing combination. He is my true penguin.

I love you, Doug. Thanks for the many wonderful years and the many more to come.

Mommy has Watery Eyes

I do remember something that happened in the past weeks, now.

Doug took the girls out for a night at the mall and they came home with a little something for me. Fiona was very excited about it. It was a necklace from Claire's -- those necklaces that have a charm on them with a half a heart and the other necklace has the other half. These said "mother" and "daughter".

Now if we get angry at each other or grumpy, we're supposed to hold up our necklace and show the other. Sometimes we fit them together (goofy sci-fi type noises help here). I was very touched. Ok, it was Doug's idea, but it was still great.

She hasn't actually worn it in a couple of weeks, but I haven't taken mine off.

Happy 2006

So we indeed have 3 1/2 molars now in Sophia's mouth.

I believe we have mentioned Fiona's beloved backpack--obviously a common word around here and a coveted object because Sophia can now say, quite clearly, "backpack".

We've moved the computer downstairs into the foyer. This has the benefit of being more accessible (and in the fall one can actually use the computer without being assaulted by wasps and flies) ... and maybe I will actually be able to get my thoughts down more quickly. I come up with all sorts of musings while doing dishes, driving, nursing ... but then I sit down to the computer, ah, finally, ... and ... I am completely at a loss as to what to write.

Fiona got an extended Christmas from her Grandpa Brown and her Auntie Alex ... Alex got her a Magic School Bus DVD (the body one) and it is very cool. I won't say how many times it has been watched already (bad mommy!). I have very mixed feelings about exposing kids to video so young (can you tell?) but GOSH the quiet is sure nice and now that she's nearly four, she does obviously learn things from it. Even Sophia learns sign language from her DVDs (That is more interactive, obviously. Mom and Dad have to watch or there is no point to it).