So, it has been a while since I last blogged, and that might be the understatement of the century. I apologize. I even started a blog a couple of weeks ago and just never published it, and now it wouldn’t make since.

So, let’s do a REAL quick catch up. School’s out. I finished with a 4.0 and am now on to my internship, my final step before the big graduation in August. Daniel passed his preliminary dissertation—which is huge! This keeps him on track to becoming Dr. Daniel by Christmas 2012.

Also, now that I am working 40 hours a week, Caleb is at home with a nanny. He continues to go to our church Monday through Thursday in the morning, then goes home with Chelsea, his new bud. Chelsea is a graduating senior that is a member of my old sorority. So, obviously we could trust her, right? Just kidding, but seriously, she was recommended by her roommate who was in my class, and she happens to be an HDFS major which is perfect for this kind of job. Unfortunately, Daniel gets home a good hour before me, so I don’t get to see her much and will not get to know her as well as I would like, but judging by Caleb, I’d say she is doing a marvelous job.

However, on that note, leaving Caleb has by far been the worst part of this job. I thought it would take a while to hit me, but I was in my third day of work and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I sat in his room that night just rocking him and rocking him long past when he was asleep, just so I could hold my sweet baby. It was like my dad said, we had been together for the past 10 months, and 9 months before that if you want to get technical.

I miss that little guy, plain and simple. But, I will say it makes my time with him that much sweeter.

Nonetheless, it makes me question being a working mom. I just don't know that it's the right move for my family and me. It works for some moms and it works great, but I am starting to feel I need to be home with my babies :). We'll see, I am praying for a part time job come the fall. I think that would be ideal, but God always seems to have a plan that is not necessarily what I expected, so until I find out I guess I will just be a waiting and willing subject to do as He sees fit.

Bonkers for Beanie Babies

Oh yes, how could I write on toys of the 90s and not include the ever popular Beanie Babies. You would have thought it was the second coming the way people went nuts over these things. I can't think of a Beanie Baby I didn't have. Oh, and the bears, the bears were the ones you really wanted. They always said they would be the ones that would be worth something. Man, I have so many of those dang bears, where is my money?

I do remember my first BB ever- Blackie. I slept with this bear and loved him until his little plastic pellets were coming out and he had to be sewn up. Blackie even went to Paris with Mom when she was away for 10 days, the first time she had ever left with me with Dad and Bub.

But let's get back to how crazy people were for these things. There was this kid, Josh Driver, whose Mom would sell beanie babies out of the back of her car. Look, I can't make this up. It was like the Beanie Baby Black Market in the back of Dogwood Elementary.

 There were even waiting lists.  I can remember being on waiting lists at the Village Toymaker that were miles long. It was like winning the lottery if you got up there to get on the list and were on the first page.

There is no telling how much money wasted on these things. They sold for about $6 a pop and I literally had dozens if not hundreds. Where are they now? Who knows, so sorry Mom and Dad, sorry I spent your money on these things, I am sure I will get my payback some day with Caleb.

Pondering Pogs

Ok, so let's get back to these crazy toys of the 90s. Do pogs mean anything to you? If not, I am not sure if I can decide if you even missed out on anything.

Pointless toy number two: Pogs!

 I will never forget my neighbors, Jessica and Zach, coming back from California with these things called pogs and sitting on their living room floor playing with them. It was the most pointless game ever, yet the whole neighborhood gang was entranced. You would stack up your pogs and take the slammer and hit the stack as hard as you could. I don't remember exactly the specifics, but somehow depending on how they fell you got to keep certain ones, even your friends' pogs! The build up to seeing who was going to win and get the pogs was a little too intense for my juvenile anxious self. This game alone probably took a good 4 years off my life.

You had better believe I was a selfish pog player. Fully aware that my favorite pogs could be stolen with one hit of the slammer, I would stash my favorite pogs, including my favorite stolen pogs from won games and make sure they weren't played. Hey, I was like 7, so sue me why don't you?

As to why I was so territorial over colorful pieces of cardboard, we may never know. It may be one of those things I need to seek out therapy for to find some deep hidden cardboard attachment disorder. Come to think of it I have absolutely no idea why these things ever caught on, but nonetheless they did and they are pointless toy number two on my journey through childhood toy memories.

Just a little happy

Just a little happy to start your morning. I thought it was just too cute. It's like they're talking to each other. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeK2y4MBpYE

Tales of the Tamaguchi

So, I am definitely going to have to make my second working on me on procrastination because I am yet again breaking from that series to talk about the past. Consider this my series within a series. I guess since the original one is all about things I need to work on, this can go hand in hand. It's all stuff from my past that shaped me and thus led me to where I am and what I need to work on. No? Stretching it too much? Oh well, I tried.

Anyway, after yesterday's post I was talking to Kate and I told her I was thinking about writing on the crazy toys of my generation. Then I went to class and talked with some of my classmates and laughed so hard we cried. It was at that point I decided many of these toys merited their own blogs.

Pointless toy numero uno: The ever beloved Tamaguchi or Nano Pets.

Let's just take a stroll down memory lane.

The year was 1997 and Bub had just graduated from CBHS. We were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, at the Gros Ventre River Ranch for an relaxing week with the family. I, of course, brought along my Nano dog, Riley. I mean come on, I couldn't leave him at home, who would give my sweet pup water and belly rubs when he needed them?

So one afternoon, I am just minding my business when my cousin Matt is spotted with Riley in hand. Riley who was going on a good 70 days of life was being fed and fed and fed. Overfeeding of the Nanos was a no-no. It was merely minutes later that I watched my Riley sprout wings and digitally fly away to Nano pet heaven. Matt had done it, he had killed my beloved. How was a girl to go on with this vacation? How was I to enjoy my last few days when I was mourning the death of my loved one?

Riley and I had become one. He even came equipped with a hook so he could attach to my backpack or belt loops, whichever I preferred for the day. And now with about five minutes of overfeeding all of our good times and memories were stolen out from under us.

Ok, so maybe this wasn't as stupid of a toy as I thought when I originally was looking back. Obviously the creators of the Tamaguchi/Nano Pets were marketing geniuses. They had even found a way to give parents a break from the constant begging for a pet. I am sure something like this will come about again for our children's generation. It will probably make ours look like the computers of the earlier generations with the black screens that only displayed green text, images, etc.

Yup, the Nano pet, that is a toy that will forever be a part of my cherished childhood memories. Love it or hate it, I don't care, just let me have my memories and I'm good.

Days gone by

So, I'm already taking a break from my "series" and breaking trend to write about this. I guess maybe my second working on me series should be procrastination, no seriously-- I'll get on that later.

Anyway, today I was waiting on a professor for a meeting he never showed for and while waiting I was on my phone looking at pictures on facebook and came across a photo.

Here is said photo:

Okay so let me explain. Kate and I were being lame, per usual, and preparing for my wedding. So we were walking done the aisle, hence the fake flowers and tear wiping She was my dad, obviously.  While the memories brought back some laughs, I couldn't help but notice that we both had the large belts that were so the style during our sophomore year. (2005-2006). What was the point of these belts, there was none-- they didn't hold clothes up, and in fact they didn't even go in belt loops there were just obnoxiously large and sat on your hips. When I saw this I couldn't help but think back to other fads and trends gone by and it got me thinking.

Not to dredge up painful memories but let's just think of some of the trends my generation has fallen captive to.

Fad number 1: Those dang necklaces that were intended to look like a Celtic knot tattoo. First of all, who would have ever wanted a tattoo that encircled your entire neck and secondly, what possessed us to think these were so good looking?  They were typically black or brown, or some other ink like color and they stretched so  you could get them over your head and onto your neck, but then they reshaped to fit tightly around your neck, thus completing the tattoo facade. This picture is the closest thing I could find to what they were like. Attractive, right? 

Fad number 2: Wearing our hair in knots. Okay, of this I am not completely guilty. I can remember doing it but only to sleep in with amounts of hairspray that would rival Snookie's poof spray because the next morning it would leave beautiful curls. But let's just take a look at this, shall we?  What about this look is even remotely attractive? Granted some girls wouldn't wear them all over their head like this picture, so I must give credit where credit is due. No, they would just wear a "knot crown", if you will, and wear a row of about five or so at the top of their head and then wear their hair down or in a pony tail, or whatever they chose, because clearly that made the look so much more glamorous.

Ok, sorry, I lied, nothing could rescue this look... Children of the 90's what were we thinking?

Fad number 3:

Sambas..... oh, Sambas. Don't tell me you don't remember this fad. It struck for me in about 4th or 5th grade.  Now, for those of you who don't know, Sambas are indoor soccer shoes. Did I play indoor soccer? Psh, yeah right. Did half of the kids who wore them play? Nope. I would even go so far as to say upwards of 95% of kids didn't even play any sort of soccer, but they still wore these stylish shoes. And we didn't just wear them with play clothes, nope, I threw these puppies on with everything, even dresses if Mom could get me in one. (This was definitely in the prime of my tomboy, anti-anything and everything girly stage.)

Well, this was a good laugh and a good break from studying, but unfortunately, if I keep thinking of past trends, I'll end up writing for hours. But honestly, take a second and think back. What trend are you most worried about explaining to your children? Come to think of it maybe I should just go ahead and get rid of some of those incriminating photos and spare myself the embarrassment and Caleb the satisfaction.

Working on Me #1

I have been thinking about starting to write blogs in a series. I think the first one I am going to do is going to be about things about myself I want to change. I feel getting this stuff out on the Internet will serve as a permanent reminder for me and keep me pushing toward these changes.

I know that this could take us into years worth of blogs, so don't worry I'll limit myself to 3-5 per topic. So, let's give this a go and see where we end, shall we?

Today Brother George, our pastor, was out of town because his daughter got married last night so our music director led our service. He spoke about God's will and how figuring it out isn't about what we should do, rather it is about who we should be.

He joked about praying that prayer we all have prayed, "God what is your will? What do you want me to do?", and having a loud trumpet processional followed by the answer. But like he said, the truth is it just doesn't happen that way.

I have been struggling with this a lot lately. Graduation is around the corner and that means there are a lot of decisions to be made. For instance, I currently have three internship offers on the table and I am having to make that decision. Today's sermon put me at peace (sort of).

I still can't help but think of the big picture and what God's plans are. Regardless of what I do, I know I will be moving in about a year and a half when Daniel finishes his doctorate. I have my dreams of where I'd love to end up, but what are God's plans?

I also know that I shouldn't worry, because God is bigger than any stepping stone that may come, but I am, by nature a worrier. It is just something I have always dealt with and am trying to curb-- I really don't want Caleb and future little ones to catch on to this and make it a part of who they are as well.

So, with all of that being said, now I worry where to even start figuring out how to calm the worrying. JK, it's not that bad. But how do you help relieve worry and stress?