My Upside Down Girl and the Tooth Fairy

I have said before so I know a lot of you are aware that I call Cadence my upside down girl. Since she was a baby, she could be found standing on her head in the corner of the crib. She watches T.V. hanging upside down from the couch or in a chair. She loves the monkey bars on any playground and has even turned the canopy of her and her sister's beds into a jungle gym. She cannot really tell me why she likes doing these things, but as her modest mother, I think she finds value in looking at life from a different perspective. I took a few pictures/videos of her swinging on her bed since I am not sure how conducive her next bedroom and ceiling will be for such activities.







Cadence is creative in many ways. Life with her is never boring. Its fun to look at things from her point of view.




Cadence was also very excited this week to lose her first tooth and of course her first visit from the tooth fairy. The little blue bag in her hand has her little tooth in it to put under her pillow. That tricky tooth fairy put her dollar in the bag and took the tooth without her even feeling it. How does time get away from us so much. We measured the girls within the last few weeks and Miss Cadence is already 4' 1". My baby isn't a baby anymore *sniff, sniff*.

In Loving Memory of Our Cat Boo.

Well, this morning we had to say goodbye to our sweet old man cat, Boo. He was a good cat and very old, we think he was about 19 years old. So he lived a long good life and gave us a lot of love, but it was his time. We are unsure of his exact age because we got him when he was already adult size in October of 1991. We rescued him after he was cared for by my mom's friend for a bit, but the weather was getting cold and her kids had very severe allergies so he couldn't go into her home. She knew what animal lovers we are at our house and called my mom. Of course she was willing and we all fell in love very quickly. We named him Boo since we got him in October and he looks like a ghost with his white fur and one yellow eye and one blue eye. He has moved from Utah to Arizona and back to Utah, although with his thick fur, we thought he was a goner our first summer in Mesa. But he was a stronger cat than that. A fighter when he had to be, even though whoever owned him first had had him de-clawed. It didn't seem to slow him down. He was just a more creative fighter. He was also a cuddler with a very loud purr when you got his motor going. In his old age his affection became even more adamant than earlier years and he even got demanding about us sharing our food with him. Such a funny old man, he was. He always slept in the strangest positions. He had a fun Garfield & Odie act that he put on with Merlin. He would egg Merlin on to attack and then he would box Merlin's ears. They were quite entertaining. We will miss him immensely. We were worried about him staying here when we move to Palmyra, New York next month. We knew it would be hard on him to have us gone, but way too hard on him to take him with. So, at least now he is at peace and taken care of before we go. Thank goodness for pictures and long memories. We love you Boo.

Computer Dependency

Oh, how on earth did we ever get along in the world before personal computers? As is the same for quite a few of you, I am completely dependent on the ever changing, inexact science that is the PC. My computer has been acting up lately. Which really shouldn't be shocking since it was a Christmas gift in 2001. I took my tower in to have it looked at before we head off to New York. It turned out pretty much as I expected it to. The tech took it to the back to blow out all the dust and then he came back and told me immediately that my system is toast. Some of what he said after that I kinda already had guessed. But not ALL of what he said. Sheesh. The power supply is dying. The hard drive is dying and that might be connected to the fact that the CPU fan, isn't always spinning. Another fan next to it on the motherboard doesn't spin anymore. And finally, the fan on the video card is no longer spinning either. Also, there are at least four capacitors on the motherboard that are quite visibly blown. In short, it is amazing that I can EVER get this thing to boot up(that is why I usually just leave it on). Plus, I didn't bother taking in the monitor, but that is dying too. Anytime I turn is back on after being off for a bit, it makes a quiet but high pitched pulsing blank screen for at least twenty minutes before the screen finally comes back to life.

I really don't know it it will survive the move to New York. But hopefully I can get it to hop along for a bit longer, as finances aren't great for needing to replace it yet. I don't know how I would survive with out it though. I email, network,and blog all the time. I pay bills and such more on the computer than checks or mail, I hardly ever have to buy stamps. I relax online or playing freecell and listen to music. Losing it might not be tragic as losing other things in life, but I admit, I am somewhat obsessed and might flip out if I can't get a regular fix. AHHH! It hurts to even think about. So, if I disappear from cyberspace in the near future, you'll know why. Sad.

Feeling blessed this Christmas

The economy being how it is right now, we knew that this Christmas was going to be simple and on the small side. The girls have been sweet and understanding and helped fill our home with the Christmas spirit. Serenity completely ended our Christmas day quite nicely. As she climbed into bed that night, she said that this Christmas had been pretty nearly perfect. That made mommy tear up a bit.

There are also many people who have contributed to that Christmas spirit as well. We are very blessed to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends. Thank you for being a part of our lives. We are very rich in all the truly important ways thanks to all of you. We wish you all a blessed new year and hope your Christmas was as perfect as ours. We didn't send out Christmas news letters and cards this year so I will update you a little here instead.

If all goes smoothly, we will be moving to Palmyra, New York in a few months. I will be helping my dad with some restoration work on my older sister Heidi's house. It is going to be a great adventure, to be sure. I think I will miss the mountains a bit, and we will definitely miss those we are leaving behind in Utah. Wish us luck. Woohoo!

November 2008

Pictures from my date. I went on a group date for Margaret Monson's birthday. We had dinner at The Roof restaurant and then went to the symphony. It was fun.

Thanksgiving. My girls were in Washington with their dad. I have continued walking at least 5 days a week for around 3 miles a day consistently for 5 weeks now, and that helped me improve my race time by more than 3 minutes. 2007 I did 2 miles in 30:13.1. 2008 I improved to 27:56.2. This year was quite warm and pleasant too. Last year was painfully cold. I think next year I will be ready for the 4 mile run, no problem.