Bethany - Three Months

Last Saturday, this little cutie turned three months old. Or, as my father put it, one quarter of a year. Thanks, Daddy, for that clarification. ;) (As you can see, Croshetta Mouse continues to be a favorite! Thanks, Granny Brown!) If you haven't seen these yet, you REALLY should take a look. Thanks to Melissa & Julie for more gorgeous portraits.

My parents visited on her three month birthday (March 6th). Here she is telling my father what's what. He brought along his shark puppet for what he called "genetic testing." She is not yet into the puppet, but is not afraid of it either, so the testing will have to be repeated. [The short version of this story is that sharks tend to be the subject of a LOT of inside family jokes, and my dad is kind of obsessed with them. If Bethany doesn't dig the shark thing... Well, let's just not go there.]

And here we have Bethany with both of her Blascovich grandparents in an outfit given to her by our family friend Mrs. Escovedo, who used to take care of my brother and me when we lived in Texas. Bet you didn't even KNOW I used to live in Texas, did you? Anyway, we love Mrs. Escovedo, who taught me many important things. I hear she reads the blog, so hopefully she'll see this picture...

Finally, the family portrait. Don't you love my hair?

At three months, Bethany is doing amazing things. She holds her head up all the time now, and desperately wants to sit up on her own. She can reach and grasp things independently, and likes to play with her baby gym by pushing it around. She sees her feet, but doesn't grab for them. Yet. She is still talking up a storm, and has a very adorable laugh - see the post below for evidence. She has definitively refused the bottle, which is only a slight inconvenience, fortunately.

When the weather is nice (stop laughing! sometimes the sun almost shines!), she really enjoys long walks around the park. Sleep-wise, she's doing pretty well. Usually, she's up just long enough to nurse, and then falls directly back to sleep. Our next big adventure might be moving her from her co-sleeper in our room to her own crib. At times, she will help us turn pages in books, and she's a very good listener when we read aloud. Her musical favorites haven't changed too much since last month, and John Denver is probably still at the top of her list. We are trying to remember to let her spend more time on her tummy. Right now, she props herself up really well for a few minutes, then gets bored, and lets us know it.

One final note: my children's literature blog now has its own website. Visit www.readitmakeit.com - soon to be updated much more frequently, now that Mommy has finished a huge contract project. (*cue angels singing*)

Happy Friday & Happy Weekend!

Snow Report!

Let me just apologize now for the formatting nightmare that is this post. It is so much easier to link to the videos on flickr, but flickr insists on this wackadoodle right-hand alignment thing. GRRRR. Here. Look at the pretty baby. It will make you feel better.

Phew. Now you can watch her on video:

Bethany Makes a Snow Angel - February 13, 2010

Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

Bethany loved being outside this morning, in our whopping three inches of snow. It has, of course, sent all of Atlanta to a standstill - again. Two actual snows in one winter? And it's not even March? Unheard of! We are fortunate we don't have to go anywhere today, because apparently the roads are icy disasters - again. One day, the city of Atlanta will have an appropriate number of sand trucks. Until then, we're snowed in every time there is any accumulation. There are worse things, I know.

Hello, Internet.

(For the two of you who were worried, the mail lady battle continued, but I persevered. The mail box has now been relocated to the other side of the porch, and the "tree" is no longer Public Enemy #1. I just roll my eyes at the mail lady.)

Questions on Sunday afternoon:
1) Why do I get six or seven bug bites every time I am outside for longer than 10 minutes? Note that this is not pregnancy-related; it has happened for years.

2) Why did a bunch of yellow jackets decide to build their nest inside our bedroom window frame? Operation Yellow Jacket Removal is in progress, which means I have to sleep in the other bedroom. I do not like change.

3) Is the destruction of Yellow Jackets any indication of the result of the UGA/Tech game come Thanksgiving weekend? At that point I will be 9.5 months pregnant, so I doubt I will care.

4) Why is growling suddenly the preferred method of communication for my Sunday School class? I do not like having to say things like, "Speak, don't growl," repeatedly.

5) Why are vanilla malts not considered part of a balanced diet? There has to be a way to put vitamins in them, so that they are like broccoli, only yummy.

That is all for now.

All is right with the world...

The windows are open.
Our neighbor is babysitting his granddaughter - she's making mudpies.
The daffodils are blooming.
The snow in our front yard has finally melted.

Hard to believe that cute picture below was just less than a week ago!

Days like today always make me wish I was with my college roommates "studying" in Audubon Park in New Orleans - we'd take our books & a blanket & fall asleep within the hour - it was great.

Happy weekend...

Happy March!

It never snows in Georgia when it "should," and usually it doesn't even count, but this is fantastic. It started during church, and by the time I drove home, the houses, cars, and the park were covered.

It's like movie snow - you can actually see the great big flakes!!!

(I know I'm entertaining all of you who see this stuff as a nuisance - some of us still think it's pretty cool.)

Unfortunately - x 5.

Type the words "Unfortunately (your name)" in Google and see what you get.

In my case:
1) Unfortunately, Sarah took these and many other fascinating facts with her to her grave.
2) Unfortunately Sarah and Aldous have chosen the same place to take their vacation.
3) Unfortunately, Sarah's not telling the truth.
4) Unfortunately, Sarah is unprepared for her attraction to John Churchill, a handsome soldier of much merit and little fortune. (What is that - a latter-day Jane Austen novel?)
5) Unfortunately Sarah cannot understand the thick drawls of many Senators from Alabama, resulting in many unintentional misquotes.

Hysterical? I thought so, too.

{Many thanks to Jenny at Allsorts for the idea.}

Shameless bragging.

Why does Lindsey look so excited? Because it's snowing, of course! We had some nice big flakes on Saturday evening - not enough to stick, or even to count, really, but it was (very briefly) exciting. It almost justified the arctic temperatures we've been having.


These were my anniversary gift last week. I know, he's great. And I shouldn't show off like this, but I'm going to, anyway. We celebrated with an oh-so-fancy dinner at Mi Barrio, which is (da-da-da-dum!) reopened after the Lopez family's holiday break to Mexico. Not a moment too soon, might I add.

We've been really working at cleaning up and cleaning out around here, which has made me pretty scarce on the blog. I've also been working on my two swaps for Valentine's Day. Once we get the cleaning done, I think I'll be more than ready for some heartish decorating.

Happy week!

January Mantel

January Mantel
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

For the mantel-loving folks out there, here is what it looks like today. Mid-month, it will probably go ahead & transition to Valentine's Day, just because I love red that much. It also means that I can put out last year's swap goodies, and add this year's to it as they arrive.

Fun things include: our photo by MonkeyBean; an altered bottle made by Dawn, coveted by me, and Christmas presented to me by the Motherina; bottle brush trees Monkey & I dyed last year; and the l-o-v-e-l-y soldered piece from Lennye.

The other side of the mantel is kind of dull, so I didn't even bother to take its picture. For excitement, I signed up for the Decorated Fireplace Mantels group at flickr. Since I'm the only one in the group who's posted a picture so far, we'll see how this goes. I just want to make sure I'm up on the hottest mantel trends (*snicker*). Speaking of flickr - I'm thinking of upgrading to the Pro account. Any thoughts on this? I mostly just want the ability to EASILY organize & label all of my pictures, somewhere other than our skittish hard drive.

Happy Sunday!

Resolution.

Resolution.
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

I will use more of this yarn this year. I mean it!! I decided to use the felted sweater bowl the Motherina bought me for Easter in the way in which it was intended, too.

In the bowl, you can see an unfinished dishtowel (navy), an unfinished scarf (speckled), unfinished knitting practice (green), & really pretty yarn that I know will be something fun - just nothing very large, since I only have that skein.

To help me make this resolution a reality, I've been trolling YouTube for knitting & crochet videos. The best I've found (so far) are from www.knitwitch.com; she's even a Georgia girl, so it's like supporting the local economy or something. It's interesting how many people attempt to hold the camera between their chin & shoulder while attempting to explain what they're doing - let me just tell you, this doesn't work. At all.

Happy weekend!

Family Togetherness.

*Courtesy of Monkeybean Photos.*

Girls' Weekend: Recap

Mom & Aunt Mary Beth - practicing for their matching rocking chairs.

Very Laura.
Very Amy.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, my Auntie MB and cousins Laura & Amy converged on the ATL for a girls' weekend with my mother and me. It was a blast. Of course, I only got the camera out once, so these photos will have to do. Picture it: new Beaujolais, shopping, giggling, art museums, and more! All in less than 72 hours. We even bought matching purses. We even let Lindsey join us for one meal.

Sometimes you just can't think of a good title.

(I never made my second graders title their pieces of writing unless they wanted to. Sometimes, we talked about how a title could help your audience know what was coming, but sometimes, it was okay to leave it off. I'm hoping that I haven't inspired a rash of {untitled} poetry when they hit adolescence.) I managed to take this picture from the car at a stoplight - I was amazed at the way the sun was going through the tree, practically in a perfect circle. I felt like Monkey.


Last weekend, my husband Lindsey's sister Ashley married Kevin. It was a very pretty wedding. This is Lindsey, Ashley, and Lindsey at the reception. (Why Lindsey has a sister named Lindsey could be an entirely separate post. Or novel.) We had a great time, mostly since Ashley & sister Lindsey's stepfather is a stitch and a half.

This lovely gal (Caroline, for the uninitiated) is on a two-week trip through Vietnam. I am more than slightly jealous (though only of the trip, not of the shots she had to get before she went), and know that she is learning, seeing, & doing amazing things.

Things here are mundane, which is lovely. I'm going to become very well reacquainted with my cube over the next few months, so I promise I'll be a better blogger. :) Heck, maybe I'll even make something.

Happy Saturday.

Finally.

It's fall. It feels wonderful outside, though if the temperature were to lose another 10 degrees, I'd probably love it even more. We invested in a few more window screens this year, so my adoration of open windows can continue. I used up a fair number of soup coupons at the grocery store yesterday, so now my customary grilled-cheese-and-soup-for-dinner-three-nights-a-week tradition can continue. We also managed to just about finish putting up the Halloween decorations. I haven't made much (yet) this year, but I did add a few things to the mantle. I'm sure you'll be able to spot them (haha), but if not, I added a detail picture so that you can admire the kitty cat with a candy corn nose.She came from a fabulous little primitives store north of the city - Mother Dearest's favorite. (As did the Owl sign at the top of the page - man, we love that place.)
The pumpkin outside the door actually came from Waycross! I was driving back to the hotel and spotted it, so I had to go back the next day for it. I'm pretty sure it's from some sort of heirloom seed, because it's a much paler orange than anything you'd find in the stores. Mr. Pumpkin is decorative for now, but he will be cooked and eaten later. There is pumpkin soup in my future! In addition, somewhere we found a pumpkin-pepper-cheese souffle recipe that needs to be tested.
Although I missed out on/didn't sign up for any Halloween swaps this year, I did succumb to the pull of ApronThriftGirl's Red & Aqua swap. My newest swappy partner is Shawna, who writes at Farm Girl Living. In related swap news, my partner from last year's Halloween swap, the fabulous Heidi, has a new blog address, so be sure to stop by her new home! Lovely Heather at the Speckled Egg has added some images of the tag book we put together for her store's birthday - oh my goodness, it's amazing.

One last thing - my sweet cousin Bethie has new pictures up of Baby Brooklyn. She is darling, and though I maintain that she still looks like my uncle (Beth's dad), she is definitely starting to resemble her older brother Aiden. If you just need more cute baby in your life, you should stop by.

Happy Monday!

Ye Olde Weekende - thus far

Spent last night with these lovely people at the Chamblee High School homecoming game (obviously, it's a picture from a different event, as even Chamblee does not have statues). Chamblee skunked the opposition, so much so that it almost wasn't worth watching. The company was great, though, which made it worthwhile.

Today we volunteered for the middle school's Quiz Bowl tournament. (We could also call this event Geekfest 2008.) Since this is how I spent many weekends from, oh, 1992-1998, you could perhaps call me one of them. I will contend, though, that I was much better behaved. It is sort of funny to sit in a room full of kids who get mad at themselves for not remembering that the Sudan is the largest country in Africa.

We also achieved one wedding gift and one baby shower gift. I am clearly getting old and cranky, because my new rule is that even IF something appears on your registry, if I think it's junky or overpriced, I'm not buying it! There was an incident earlier this summer where I really had a hard time buying a gift because I thought the person's china patterns were too hideous for words. I think this means two things:

1. I am a snob, and I should get over myself.
2. I am a snob, and I should get over myself.

Noah's Ark tomorrow - there should be some quality Roy G Bivishness for Monkey!

Happy weekend!

Maybe I'm just bummed because Solzhenitsyn died.

I'm not normally one of those people that has huge Monday issues. In fact, when I was teaching, Monday was usually a decent day. The kids were still sort of calm from having a two-day break (although this particular Monday would have been a different story), and I was more relaxed from the weekend.

I finished my cards for Heather's swap last night, and got them in the mail.

Our linen closet is really and truly organized for the first time, oh, you know, EVER.

My work computer came back today, with a new hard drive, and absolutely zero of anything else, but that's okay. We're going to make it.

I am a little sad because I finally got Marie Antoinette (the Kirsten Dunst version - Amber Atkins, anyone? Anyone? Anyone at all?) on Netflix, but it didn't work, so I had to order the allegedly-immediate replacement.

But in general, nothing is wrong, I'm just feeling puny.

Blame it on Solzhenitsyn - my buddy, my pal, the one I could always rely on to make me put my personal tragedy in perspective. He's off to Russian Orthodox Heaven, where the vodka flows freely, and you never, ever lose your basic human rights and civil liberties. Heck, I bet he even gets to hang out with my other Russian buddy, Yevgenia Ginzburg. Lucky duck.

Have a happier Monday than I am having.

NOLA Reunion 2008

Beignets and chocolate milk at Cafe du Monde

Dinner at Cochon, minus Petey, who was playing photographer

Our sophomore year crowd - Bear, Pete, Torrence, Invisible Wascom, Feather, me, Raegen, and Lauren in front of what remains of our dorm. No, we didn't live in trailers. They tore down the dorm (hallelujah!), and this is the temporary solution. It now houses Army ROTC. Go figure.

Ice cream at Brocato's - peach ice for Bear and Zuppa Inglese for me

Newcomb Girls Under the Oaks = deep sigh of regret

Rather than even attempt to describe everything that happened, I'll just give you a bulleted list of the highlights, okay? This is in something closely (but not entirely) resembling chronological order:

• Raegen, Petey, Torrence, and I were in the Quarter with frosty cool beverages within two hours of our arrival in the fair city.
• Bear fed us gigantic plates of wonderful food within two hours after that.
• Raegen and I had a great time catching up - haven't seen her since before my wedding (our last trip to New Orleans, in fact) - she spent two weeks volunteering in Peru before joining us!
• Raegen, Lauren, and I got to stay up late and chat - just like sophomore year, minus the Feather.
• The three of us got up early for Cafe du Monde and beignets. I, hating coffee, had chocolate milk, because it was already about 15983474 degrees - way too hot to consider my traditional hot chocolate.
  
• Raegen introduced us to some lovely Cajun music and a cool indie band called The Figs!
• Lauren put me totally on the spot with a French shoplady in the Quarter, and I had to conduct the rest of my business in her store in French. (No pressure!)
• We met Caro when she arrived, and she totally thought we were waiting on her in this dive bar called Ms. Mae's - absolute college flashback.
• The girls had lunch at a fun Mexican place called Nacho Mama's, where some dude told me he liked my eyebrows. Only in New Orleans...
• We went shopping, and Feather bought something! (This never happens.) Then, she bought matching shoes!
• Met the boys, left the boys, met the boys again for dinner at Jacques-Imo's, where I had the best biscuit I have every put in my mouth. Ever.
• Went back to the Quarter and heard one of Torrence's friends play piano & sing.
• Got up early, took the streetcar to the Trolley Stop Cafe (late-night/late-morning college hangout) where we met the owner (we think)!! His name is Lucien Casio, and he is a doll.
• Spent the afternoon on campus, taking pictures, dodging freakish rainstorms, listening to Petey explain one of his dissertation papers, and reminiscing.
• Went to two of my very favorite bookstores anywhere.
• Bear took me for the best ice cream on the planet. {See above}
  
• Got home in time to change for dinner at Cochon (yes, that's right, French for Pig), where everything was insanely wonderful.
• Drinks at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, alleged haunt of the pirate himself
• Final brunch at the Camellia Grill, which was closed for SO LONG after Katrina that we all got scared, but it's back, with a vengeance. Feather and I wen there every Mardi Gras Day, just before our Ash Wednesday fasts began, and then back Easter Monday or shortly thereafter. The burgers and chocolate freezes were better than ever, and Marvin was still behind the counter. This is the only thing that almost made me cry - but it was fantastic. {And Heavens to Betsy, it's on Wikipedia!!!}
  
• Torrence made the long drive home with me nodding off every fifty miles.
  

Phew. That's a lot. It was wonderful, and I wish I could do it over and over again. As stated last year, after the Tennessee Mountain Adventure, these people rock, and I love them dearly. Maybe next year we'll actually be together - missed Andrew this year because of his pesky honeymoon (sheesh).

Back to your regularly scheduled programming... More pictures are on Flickr.

Last week, subtitled, Is Sarah really a dork, or does she just play one on her nonexistent TV?

We painted two rooms. The Sprite-themed room is now really blue. The diaper-themed bathroom is now yellow. If you haven't seen those, let me try to explain.

Our spare bedroom was attacked by two poor-quality painters who decided that they wanted to paint stripes. Stripes of unequal size. Stripes of yellow - yellow EXTERIOR HOUSE PAINT. You can imagine how many coats of primer that took. The bathroom was two different shades of pumpkiny-brown. I won't elaborate, but I will horrify you by saying that our bedroom used to be the same two colors. We took care of the bedroom before we moved in, but kept putting off the bathroom. We also used the appropriate paint on the ceiling, so HOPEFULLY we won't continue to have mildew issues. Oh, wait, we KNOW we won't, because they used craft paint last time. Sheesh. Lindsey also replaced the ceiling fans in both bedrooms. We are very impressed. We also learned that our breaker box works. Don't ask.

I spent the week downtown at a hotel working with teachers on testing stuff. Fortunately, Lennye was there, and no, I didn't pay her to write the nice things she said on her blog. :) It's always great to see Lennye, and we got to talk about writing a bunch, which makes me happy. Of course, we were sitting a table full of elementary school teachers, so when we started the blog-related conversation, I think they thought we were from another planet. {How could they have found that out???}

My cousin Laura came for two days with her friend Kristy. They had fun being tourists, and they tested our new Ikea sleeper-sofa, like the sweet generous souls they are. My brother is in town with some of his friends from UGA, and we all met up last night in the Virginia Highlands for what is probably the latest night I've had in a year. I feel old, especially since I was annoyed by the fact that there were broken stalls in the women's room. I mean, if it's a BAR, obviously, it's not going to be in good shape. I know this, but it still annoyed me.

More work this week, then Thursday Torrence & I drive to New Orleans. I may be slightly excited about that. I may be working on an entire NOLA itunes list for the trip. I may be burning said list onto CDs for all of my friends. That may make me a dork. What do you think?

Today, I will...

. . . do a bunch of laundry,

so that I can actually pack a suitcase,

and be ready to leave at the CRACK of dawn tomorrow to go to Indiana.

. . . update my Ipod,

including burning the Brendan James cd,

so that I do not nut up on the plane,

because my last several flights have been awful,

and I have four ahead of me in the next five days (thanks, Priceline!).

. . . finish my swap for Susan,

so that it will be ready for mailing in the morning,

and she will not think I am a flake.

. . . send some work emails,

which I have been avoiding,

simply because I don't want to look at the stupid documents ANY MORE.

. . . talk to Bear,

because we are the food committee for the upcoming NOLA trip,

and we cannot let anyone (much less ourselves) down. :)

Happy Friday!

New friends.

This is my new penguin friend. She has a man in her life, and he lives with me, too. Well, actually, they've been living here for about a month, but they just decided that they liked me enough to visit me tonight. They made a pretty cool appearance in some items for the Parasols, Pink Lemonade, & Polka Dots swap.

My partner for this swap is the lovely Susan, who blogs at Days Too Short. {I think we can all relate to her title, even thought the days are mighty long right now!} You should stop by and say hi. Be sure to observe her fabulous garage sale finds! She's a very dedicated swapper, and must be excellent at time management, because I think she's got at least three swaps going at any one time. I'm late half the time when I only do ONE at a time! :)

In other news, our demographic at church has decided to organize! (Go ahead - sing the Internationale, I can take it.) The first meeting of the Backyard Bible Club (long VBS-related joke, not a statement on our geekiness, though that is also evident) will be Thursday night. I am allowing a single boy to make pancakes in my kitchen. Obviously, our first activity will be a time of prayer that nothing burns. Just kidding. Sort of. :)

Happy Monday, tomorrow. And remember, the revolution will not be televised. At least, not in this house, since we don't have TV.

Hibiscus.

I know you were beginning to think that it didn't exist, but it does! It does! And here's photographic evidence of that. I'd like to point out that even though it's taken me far too long to acknowledge it, the thing is STILL blooming! WOWIE!

It's hard to say why I haven't been writing anything - it's not like I've been nearly as busy as I was last week, but it just hasn't been happening. Weird, huh?

I promise to do better this upcoming week. I have a new swap partner for you to meet, and some peeks at things I'm making for her - woohoo! There is also some patriotic fun on the mantel (I know you won't sleep until you see that), and probably some other stuff I can't even think of right at the moment.

Happy weekend.