I think I mentioned that Ursula started swimming lessons at a new place (she’d done a handful of lessons somewhere else in September/October). Today was her 5th lesson. She is doing *so* well. Four weeks ago she wouldn’t put her face in the water. Now she’s putting her head under (all the way), blowing bubbles for 10 seconds, doing some sort of forward motion semi-swim for a few feet AND floating on her back independently. She has been working SO hard, and I am really proud.

I hope everyone loves this as much as I do (which is a LOT).

Christmas dress angst…

Sweater dress was my preference from catalog. Cute, soft, organic cotton, nice fit (hidden elastic at waist to keep it from sagging, etc):

Then there’s the red dress. I am worried it is too boxy and babyish. But it is really cute:

I’m torn. I want to like the sweater dress, but think I like the red one. Despite the pic expressions,U says she likes the sweater, but I think that’s cause I gave a sweater hardsell before the dresses arrived. She will not be wearing pink leggings with either dress on Christmas. I may even brush her hair.

About two weeks ago, Dan and Ursula cooked me dinner. It was this Mom’s Night Off thing. To earn a Y Guides patch thingie - not some sort of altruistic night off. They made steak and potatoes. Now, I am not fully convinced that answering a million questions from the other room is truly a night off, but whatever.

Tonight, we were having steak and potatoes. Ursula was helping me. Everything I did was incorrect. Not the way Daddy does it. I do not butter and salt potatoes correctly. She’s unsure of how I season my meat. Etc, etc, etc, every step of the way. So, basically, Dan wasn’t sure what to do, didn’t do things exactly how I explained (which is FINE) and now his interpretation of my directions is “the right way”.

And of course, we had a meat discussion. It was short and sweet. “Why do lions eat meat when it is red?” “Because they do not cook it. This is what the inside of an animal looks like. This is what is inside a cow” “What part of llama do we eat?” “We do not eat llamas”.

Also, she is upset to know that some people do eat dogs and cats. Maybe that was a time I should have employed a little white lie…

I guess I forgot to post these…

Sorry for the craziness today. When I moved my blog, I accidentally put 2 index files in the folder. It had been going to the .php (which usually takes precedence), but for some reason the .htm was opening today. Or maybe for longer. But since 5 people mentioned it to me within 30 minutes tonight, I’m guessing it just happened!

This morning, I got up around 7:30 or so, and like most mornings, immediately stumbled outside, bleary-eyed, to get my newspaper. It was on the ground, not in my box. Which was a little odd. But sometimes the neighbors have people crash and they tend to block our box. Except, there are no cars there (chances are, if a car isn’t there at 7:30, it wasn’t there when my paper arrived 45 minutes earlier.)

Oh - wait! My paper isn’t in the box because my paper box is gone!!! The metal post is still there, but the box itself is gone. I was annoyed, but didn’t think much of it. Some losers stole my box. Whatever. I am sure the newspaper will bring me a new one. I go about my morning, read the paper, get ready for church, etc.

As we are walking out the door, I say “oh, our newspaper box was stolen - I am annoyed”. Dan says “um, did you take your signs down?” I looks and both of my Obama signs were gone. The wire frames were still there, but no signs. As we were pulling out, I thought I saw them down the street. I found 2 ripped up signs - a primary one and a general election one. Which is what I had. But they were in the yard of my neighbor who also had an Obama sign, and his was gone too (so, one of our three was missing). The neighbor had signs for another race and those were untouched. An Obama sign around the corner was also absent this morning.

I am really annoyed and upset. Those were *my* signs in *my* yard. Don’t go ripping up my property, people!!! Maybe it doesn’t seem a big deal, but it’s just upsetting that people were in my yard, messing with my stuff not very far from where I was sleeping. It’s equally upsetting to be told (as I was) that it’s “not right to do that, but it’s understandable”. Really? It is???? Because I have never once considered pulling up a sign (especially one in a yard!) and destroying the sign owner’s property because I didn’t like who they endorsed.

I did file a police report. Nothing major - just the online form. I know nothing will come of it, but I think it’s important for them to have documentation of things like this.

Ugh. Seriously - how crappy is that?