quick update

Hey, hi, how are ya? We are here and everything is fine. I've been trying to update all week but I've been exhausted and Gavin doesn't give me much chance to gather my thoughts for an update while I'm sitting in front of the computer.

We've had a lovely weekend. It was a long holiday weekend, and in the manner of long holiday weekends, it was over too soon. Saturday actually wasn't so nice - I ended up in bed most of the day pretty sick. But yesterday and today were fine. We had a graduation party for my uncle yesterday, who just graduated with his MBA, and today we went to Shannon's and had grilled steaks and homemade ice cream (yum!).

Gavin is quite the expert climber now, zipping up onto just about any chair or other surface around. He has discovered he can push a chair to what he wants and get at it by climbing onto the chair. He hasn't learned that chairs slide on the tile floor when he's leaning forward pushing on the wall (playing with light switches), and has taken a few tumbles.

Just this weekend he started using "mamama" and variations (like mememe and ma-me-my-mymymy) to mean me. It's so sweet, makes my heart go all squishy... even if he does only do it when he's upset. Which he has been a lot lately. His fourth molar finally poked its first point through. The end of teething is in site, albeit temporarily.

musical baton

Hey I've been passed the musical baton by Mark! Here goes...

1. Total volume of music files on my computer
5.68 GB, an unkown number of tracks. If I had to guess based on the number of CDs (it dates me that my first impulse is to call them "albums" doesn't it?) I'd say somewhere around 2000 tracks. Unlike Mark, I can't say I own all of the CDs, though very few of the songs I have were downloaded.

2. The last CD I bought was:
I can't even remember the last CD I bought. I think it might have been (the? an?) Evanescence CD, which I bought on a recommendation from a friend (Hollie I think?) and loved.

3. Song playing right now
Nothing. Gavin's napping so no music upstairs in the office.

4. Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me

- Solisbury Hill by Peter Gabriel
- The Summons (also called Will You Come and Follow Me), don't know who wrote it
- Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce
- Us by Peter Gabriel (the whole CD)
- Rhythm of the Saints by Paul Simon (another whole CD)

The last two are cheating a bit, but I see both CDs as whole pieces rather than individual songs brought together in one place. Both CDs are extraordinarily special to me and I can't pick just one song from either!

5. Five people to whom I’m passing the baton

Debbie
Emma
April
Stefani
Lisa

music, anyone?

I've been really on the hunt for new music in the past few weeks. I haven't bought a CD in years -- haven't really listened to much music, for that matter. I tend to be lazy about CDs when I'm at home. I love music, but I also love silence. Laziness plus a lack of hatred for silence tends to equal me not listening to music while at home. But for one reason or another I've been wanting to listen to music recently. Problem is, I am rather bored with my CDs.

Here's what I propose: if anyone wants to send me a burned copy of their favorite CD from the last year or so, or, for the truly ambitious, a mix CD of your favorite songs, I will send you a mix of mine. Anyone interested? Leave me a comment or email me (remove nospam of course).

Although I don't care what kind of music you send - if you like it that makes it special - I am drawn to folksy, acoustic artists and music with a Celtic flair - for example, Sarah McLaughlin, Indigo Girls, Solas, Loreena McKennit, Enya, U2, REM, David Gray, Counting Crows.

I hope some of you are interested in trading - I really need new music!

what a week

Gavin was sick (or was it teething?) in the early part of the week and is just now getting back to normal. He had a fever and a runny nose and was a total crabzilla, which made for a totally stressful week. It's amazing how a small imbalance like that can completely upset things. He's fussy and won't tolerate being put down so I don't get to keep on top of the clutter, which means it accumulates and by the end of the day that also drives me batty in addition to the clingyness and whinyness of the boy. I mean, I'm no Monica, but when things aren't in some semblance of order, I go nuts.

One factor in the mess this week is our new monkey-dishwasher block. We have a small little island in our kitchen which we finally moved in front of the dishwasher because Gavin wouldn't leave the dishwasher alone. He learned how to turn it on and off and unlock and lock it, as well as open it and climb inside, where he inevitably pulled out a knife and started waving it around. So we blocked it. Which of course means that dishes now pile up on the counter, since we're far too lazy to move the island out of the way just to put in a bowl and spoon or a cup.

I would garden but for the snow

Okay, you remember how I said a few entries ago that it was spring? Ha! Ha, I say! I drove out to Shannon's yesterday afternoon and it started snowing on the way. Snow! On the second of May! Harrumph. It was only in the 50s today, and is only supposed to be in the low 70s by the weekend. 70s is fine, particularly compared with snow. For that matter, 50s is fine if the alternative is snow. But, c'mon.... it's May!

I drove to Shannon's yesterday to drop off some hostas that I dug up. I'm clearing out some of the landscaping in the backyard so I can plant some veggies there. Assuming it ever warms up enough to plant things, that is.

Oh, I have grand plans for our backyard. Herbs and vegetables everywhere! I want to put in a lovely little sweet-smelling garden in the back with a swing and a pond with wee fishies in it. (Not that I will actually do the pond part, with a little monkey running around.) I want to put in a brick or stone path next to our deck and dig up a bunch of the grass around it and plant herbs there. I want to do so much that I think I could uproot the entire backyard and plant things in it.

Reality is I know I won't see most of those dreams happen. Not this year anyway. Baby steps. My goals for this year include the veggies in the back of the yard and some sort of herb garden around the deck. And maybe that stone path, too. And... well, that's probably more than enough to tackle for one summer. Maybe.

but then again

Sorry about the confusion and muddlement around here this week. The bandwidth errors and the notifications (to those who are subscribed anyway) about posts you can't read. I just decided that the previous post wasn't one that needed to be up anymore so I deleted it.

My apologies to those who attempted to visit the site this past week and found the bandwidth exceeded message. I know what causes it and will avoid that thing in the future. Just to be safe, I've increased the bandwidth allotted to this site. Hopefully it won't happen again.