Articles by Carleen Huxley

Liam will be two in August. It’s getting to the point now where it just sounds funny to count his age in months. I say twenty-one months and it just sounds like I’m trying to hold on to his babyhood when really he’s turning into a little boy.

Which means he’s starting to do little boy/little kid stuff. He climbs things constantly. In fact, it’s rare his two feet remain on the ground because if they’re not climbing, they’re running somewhere and if he’s not doing that he’s on the floor trying to body slam the dogs, etc.

As Mike noted, we have started to potty train Liam. We’re doing it pretty informally for now, simply trying to introduce him to the contraption called “the toilet”, what it does, how to use it. He’s gone a total of four times now. He’s a very good student. But making him more aware of the potty process has also made him more observant about other methods, such as the way Turbo pee’s. It took awhile to figure out what Liam was doing when we went on walks in the afternoon and he’d stop short in the street to lift his leg against a nearby pole.

Somewhere I have counted all the words that he is saying now. “Ewww” is one of his favorites. We use it often to keep him from touching things that he isn’t supposed to, like trash can, trash on the ground while we’re on walks. He also uses the Norwegian word for bee (bie) to describe all insects including aunts and as we found out yesterday, spiders. He can also say most of his different body parts and many different sounds for different animals. He can also say mess. Not surprising since it tends to follow him around where ever he goes. I say that but have to mention that he’s also learning to “tidy”. For instance, one morning, early, just after we had all rolled out of bed, Liam walked into the t.v. room and noticed a plastic grocery bag on the floor. I had been organizing his old baby clothes the night before and used plastic bags to store them. I guess I left an empty one. After seeing the plastic bag, he promptly picked it up, walked into the kitchen, pushed open the door to the laundry room, and put the plastic bag in the bag where we keep grocery bags to be recycled, turned around, walked out of the laundry room, closed the door the best he could without jamming his little fingers, looked at us with a “why don’t you people pick-up after yourselves” look, and walked briskly back to his toys.

Cute things.

Hi. Thought I drop in and try to help Mike with the updates. It’s been a crazy few months.

If you care to venture out of your rss readers you’ll note the change in template. Wordpress has been upgraded. I subsequently spent most of Tuesday night trying to master the widget feature…my twitter and shared items are available for view, as are the headings for Mike’s most recent post to his campaign blog, and the headings for my most recent posts on my library blog and brand spankin’ new yoga blog which is pretty much nothing but inspiring quotes, since I don’t really have time for anything else.

I will also soon be starting another blog that will chronicle my effort to teach my son Norwegian. This is going to be quite the task given that I am not actually fluent in the language myself. Who knows, he may end up speaking Dutch by the time I’m done with him at which point I’ll just send him down to live with Ellen and her family at their “compound” in steamy hot Texas land.

Work has been fun but busy these past months. We’re into the second month of our My Favorite Book Display. I also hosted a poetry night which was a total blast. I was also recently asked to help build a bookshelf out of books, a project meant to be a kind of collaborative out-reach thingy with the Price Tower Arts Center (they’re doing an exhibit on upcycling in August). So, I have about two months to figure out how to do this. Any ideas? (Please?) Step-by-step instructions will be very much appreciated.

Other than that, I am dazzled every day by my son who continues to suprise me with his curious and always adorable personality. Mike and I have been keeping note of his milestones on our wall calendar. Will post them at some point. Sigh. I have a few vacation days coming up at the end of May. Can’t freakin’ wait!

A few mornings ago, while I was staying overnight at my parents house, Liam woke me up by giving me a sloppy messy kiss on the lips. Putting Liam to bed at my parents is always tricky and more often than not, he ends up in bed with me, usually caddy-corner with both feet tucked tightly between my ribs. In any case, there was something special about this good morning kiss, something different. It occurred to me later what it was. My son was learning to show affection without encouragement, all on his own, without being goaded by some annoying adult.

Oddly enough, however, that same weekend there was another change in my son. Being displaced at my parents for a weekend is both enjoyable and stressful. Enjoyable because I get pampered and fed but stressful because Liam and I have to live out of duffle bags. Food has to be meticulously chosen and packed. A little of this in case he doesn’t like that, a little of that in case he isn’t in the mood for this…you get the picture. On this particular weekend I had to pack stuff twice. By Sunday I was in one of my “when will my life stop sucking so much” moods so I decided to lighten my spirits by taking my little one to the pond in his Rider wagon to feed the ducks. He loves his Rider wagon, calls it his “vroom vroom”. His grandpa decided to come with so off the three of us go to the pond. On the way Liam is pointing at the cars driving by, at the trees and the mailboxes, making his little ewok sounds, smiling, happy.

Unfortunately, during the trip back, Liam decided he didn’t want to ride in his wagon but wanted to walk. So we walked. Understandable. I mean, he’s just acquired the motor skills to be able to walk and run after spending the first year of his life sitting in contraptions with wheels so who can blame him for wanting to walk through a park. On the way, while getting a little over excited about something he saw, he accidently threw his sippy cup on the concrete pathway, popping it open so all the water spilled out. He had hardly drunk a drop of water from the sippy cup since leaving the house that day so I didn’t think this was a big deal but apparently, once he saw that the water from the cup was indeed gone, he decided he was thirsty. So thirsty in fact, that he started to cry and stomp away from the path in the opposite direction we needed to go. My father and I stared at him as he went, a little perplexed by his reaction, since Liam has usually been a pretty calm child, only throwing mild tantrums that were easily dealt with by simple diversion (look Liam, look at the birdies!). However, in this instance it seemed clear that it was going to take more than a makeshift noise maker to convince my child to walk the two mile hike back towards his grandparents house so my dad tried the ever reliable trusty pick child up, console child, place child on shoulders and say “Look! Liam is taller than everyone”.

Liam’s reaction to this was to vigorously shake his head and scream louder so we tried the wagon again. All of a sudden, out of nowhere my child started to grow additional limbs, possibly two heads, I’m not sure, all of them kicking, swinging and punching the air. It was around this time that a runner passed us by. I looked up and smiled trying my best “Happens all the time, just a spirited child, got it totally under control, completely know what I’m doing here. Really” look.

Then a thought crossed my mind, all this tantrum throwing must be making him hot so I took off his jacket and stood him up to see if he would walk again. Instead, he fell back on his butt and continued to cry so my dad picked him up and tried to hold on to him the best he could as we walked back to the house.

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally made it back into the neighborhood and Liam was again walking, a crooked path, but walking and not crying anymore thankfully. We passed by a couple working in their yard and had a neighborly chat, got the usual coos and awes when Liam flashed his smile at them. We got to the corner of that street and things started to go down hill again. I don’ t recall exactly what got him started but it had something to do with not being able to go in the direction he wanted to, so, again with the extra limbs and heads flipping back and forth. My dad suggested I run back to the nice couple in the yard and ask them to fill up his sippy cup with water. So I sprint back and ask, trying not to sound like a desperate panicked mother, however, any attempt at this point seemed fruitless since I noticed my shirt was on inside out (navy shirt, white tag in the back…nice) and I think, not entirely sure, but I think my eye was starting to twitch. The nice couple quickly filled the sippy cup to the top and even include ice to make it nice and cool. I walked back towards Liam and Dad feeling proud. I felt like a hero. I had water. Things would be fine now. He drank a couple of sips but then something else upset him. Dad and I just kind of looked at each other, took a deep breath, picked him up and carried him the rest of the way home. A walk that normally would take about forty minutes tops ended up taking us nearly two hours.

And that’s kind of how it’s been for the past few weeks. Liam has entered a new phase. Mike and I have struggled a little with the adjustment, lost our tempers a little more than we would wish, however we’re taking it with stride. We’re delighted that he’s enjoying ball games and has gained the necessary motor skills to throw and kick balls, however, we’re not so delighted that he throws everything else he gets his hands on like, food, toys, phones and shoes. It’s complicated to explain to a eighteen month old that you can throw this but not that. He obviously finds throwing to be some kind of stress reliever because he also does it whenever he’s mad and is told he can’t do something. When my cousin, Jill, came to visit this morning with her two sons I took the opportunity to ask her advice on the throwing situation but the best she could give me was “duck”. She recalled that her son had gone through a similar stage but that, luckily, it was short-lived, so we’ll cross our fingers to that.

Unless somebody dear to me decides to die in the near future, this month is going down as the worst month of 2008 (and we’re only two months in). In addition to the local corruption and headbanging going on, our city is also currently experiencing a full blown flu epidemic. I would find you the article that supports these claims but our newspapers’ online archive sucks (I distinctly remember flu or maybe health epidemic in the article title…I’ve tried both and neither pick of squat).

Although I’m fully recovered from my flu (for now), everyone around me is sick. I mean real sick. Co-workers, friends and family. Mike has been down with the full blown stuff, chest, cough, fever since Wednesday night. I’m here at my parents again trying to keep Liam and myself quarantined since I currently have no sick days left and don’t want to catch anything that will force me to have to go to work sick or stay at home with unpaid leave. I was supposed to go to Tulsa today for a workshop but my poor mom, who has already had the tummy flu twice, has now caught the other kind of flu or something of its kind we don’t really know yet, all we know is that she’s not well. We spent a frantic fifteen minutes this morning right before I was supposed to leave trying to figure out whether I should use my last family sick leave to stay at home since I really hated the thought of her taking care of Liam all day feeling the way she did. I felt guilty no matter what decision I came close to choosing. Staying home might make me look bad at work. Going would leave my mom under strain. Me staying would then make my mom feel guilty for being in a condition that would warrant me missing work. So then she would back out insisting she’d be fine. One look at her expression would tell me the exact opposite. Round and round we go. My dad, bless him, insisted that he could handle it, which I’m sure he could, but I know my mom and I know that if I wasn’t around and dad was left alone with Liam she wouldn’t rest like a good patient, she would be up and about helping.

So, I stayed at home, which turned out to be the right choice in the end since I just put Liam to bed with a 101 degree fever. He’s been out of sorts ever since he woke up this morning and went through several crying fits throughout the day. I’m hoping his symptoms are of the simple teething pain/bubbles in the tummy sort of stuff because Mike and I have worked very hard to try and keep him away from all the flu people so he doesn’t have to go through that kind of discomfort. I don’t know. We should probably just give up and hope that as one family member begins to feel bad, another will begin to feel better and somewhere out there they’ll be somebody to take care of our son in the meantime.

It never occurred to me until today how lost I’d be without my parents. It really got me thinking. For one thing, I’m not aware of my dad ever staying home from work to take care of Mitch and I when my mom got sick. She didn’t get “sick leave” from being a stay-at-home mom. So, as the working person in the house, imagining myself in a situation where I didn’t have my parents close by like this, do I get to say “Eeek, Mike, fever of 102. Man. That must suck. And that cough sounds horrible, hope you don’t end up with bronchitis again. Well. I’m off to work.”

Yeah, right. I mean, this is precisely the reason I did stay at home today. Parenting is changing for the better in someways at least. I’d be willing to bet if the tables were turned, Mike would stay home for me. I was faced with a situation where I could either leave my son at home with sick people, making things hard on them and risking the health of my child or stay at home and take responsibility for my child (no stranger or non-family member will be babysitting Liam until he’s able to talk…so alternative childcare is not an option…you should hear some of the horror stories I’ve heard). Yes, it was my last family sick. Oh well. We’ll just have to hope that March will bring with it a fresh breeze that will wipe away all the sickness in this town. As for all the headbanging at city hall? Who knows how long that will go on.

Apparently, Bartlesville is the sickest community in Oklahoma right now. We have all sorts of flu strains floating around; Type A, Type B, flu’s so bad that they turn into pneumonia or bronchitis if left untreated. Last week my parents contracted a nasty stomach flu, otherwise known as the Norovirus. My mom actually got it twice, was sick one day, thought she’d recovered until she spent the next two days even sicker than she was before.

Since having Liam, I’ve been more worried when flu season comes around. It’s easy to catch stuff working a service desk at a public library. People come in sneezing, coughing, blowing their noses. Then they touch our books, use our computers, type on our keyboards. I have a bottle of Germ-X on my desk and have been particularly OCD about using it lately.

However, by last week I started to get the feeling I wasn’t going to be able to avoid the flu much longer. I had already been getting these random symptoms, that head fever headache feel but it would just never quite develop into anything. In the end, it happened so often that I put it down to allergies even though I’m not usually prone to allergies. But last week several staff members were out with the flu, and Wednesday night a teenager puked next to one of the public computers while I was at work. Then on Saturday, I played a volleyball tournament in Ochelata where someone’s kid puked in the gym. Here we were, in a contained building, with everyone sweating and passing around the same ball. At that point, I knew it was only a matter of time. Sure enough, early Monday morning, the Norovirus made it’s first appearance in my toilet bowl. I ran into the bedroom, woke Mike up to tell him that I was heading over to Mom and Dads for “quarantine”…and here is where I’ve been. I haven’t seen my baby in two days. I don’t think I’ve ever been away from him this long. I’m going nuts.

Thankfully, the worst of it is over although I do feel incredibly weak and woozy when standing. I’m also glad to report that Mike and Liam are still symptom free but just to be sure, I’m spending another night at my parents. By tomorrow, it will have been more than 48 hours since I’ve had contact with Liam. I miss him like crazy. I know I’ve already said that but I’m saying it again for emphasis.

Here’s a video of Liam rolling dice during Mike’s gaming session yesterday.

In case you didn’t know already, I love chocolate. If a nutritionist examined my chocolate intake they would probably conclude that I consume far more than I should. I love the stuff. However, I do tend to rely too much on store bought items and would really like to get into creating my own chocolate treats. This is a daring prospect for me considering cooking/baking really aren’t my forte. But, I figured with February being the chocolate treat month of the year, maybe I could start a new tradition and venture into new (potentially dangerous but lets think positive) territory. Once a month I’m going to bake a chocolate treat. Last week I found a great recipe for a Chocolate Earl Grey cake on Real Simple.com. It’s basically your traditional chocolate cake recipe with Early Grey tea mixed in. The sweet moist taste makes traditional icing unneccessary…just a little but of powdered sugar sprinkled on top makes it perfect. I fed it to our gaming group on Saturday night and I think it was a hit. Quite a few went back for seconds. Always a good sign.

Ok, so I know I said I was going to refrain from commenting on the situation concerning the recent arrest of our County Treasurer for drug possession but somebody wrote into Off the Cuff (which is sort of an anonymous opinion column dedicated to the thoughts and concerns of our citizens) the other day with a real humdinger that I just have to share. Don’t bother looking for it on their website, they’re always behind a few days. As it turns out, two more county employees have been arrested in connection with the drug case. See full story here.

An additional piece of background story is needed to fully appreciate this particular comment. For the past year, the community has been divided on issues concerning the raising of taxes (something about a bond issue…I don’t know…I don’t keep up) in order to build a new county jail. Apparently the one we have now is in pretty bad shape. I don’t think the issue was so much the money as it was what the money was going to be used for. We have a “vibrant” young professional movement growing in town who would like to see more money used for community development, ie. soccer fields, water parks and such. A lot of opinions were expressed in Off the Cuff during the time, most of which was of the “you’re too old and don’t like change vs. your too young and want to change too much” type of discussion.

So, back to the wisecrack who wrote in the other day concerning the new arrests in Stevens drug case, which at this point, after all this explanation doesn’t even seem that funny anymore but I’ve bothered to write this much so just read and at least giggle a little for me:

“All I want to say is they better hurry up and get that new jail built because of our officials all being busted.”

Yeah, so. I don’t know. I guess you kind of have to live here and know this place to really get it.

Despite all, Bartlesville is a nice place. There’s a great little pond we take Liam to all the time to feed the ducks, and hey, there was a yoga class advert in the paper the same day this article ran so it’s not so bad. Just don’t read the paper on a regular basis, or get involved in city politics, or express too much of your slightly more to the left opinion out loud and you’ll do fine. Just kidding. Really. It’s not so bad. Do I sound convinced yet?

I guess you could say Bartlesville simply represents a smaller version of any place in America. Although, I’m not sure how many cities have a drug ring operating in their county commissioners office. That might be considered kind of a unique thing.

Remember vacation when you were in college? I mean, the days of undergrad when your responsibilities were really minimal. Maybe my experience was different from others but I used to get sick of vacation by the end of vacation. I couldn’t wait to get back to the grinding routine of work, school, study. Those days are sadly over for me. I’ve been on vacation since Friday. Today’s my last day. As a working adult I’ve never taken more than five days off and five days just isn’t enough to get sick of vacation. It’s still only 6am in the morning, I have a full free day ahead of me yet I still feel devastated about going back to work tomorrow.

Oh well. It has been a nice few days. I had all kinds of projects planned but decided to put them off for some other weekend when I’m feeling particularly energetic (sporadic bursts…hopefully I’ll have one soon because the craft room is looking pretty ugly). On Saturday Mike and I left Liam at home with his grandparents so we could go to Tulsa and have delicious lunch with some friends, Diama and Matt. Diama is someone I met while attending library school and with each visit we find we have more and more in common. I’m just sad that we have to live an hour away from each other, which makes setting dates to get together more complicated. We were going to spend the rest of the day in Tulsa but the mere thought of driving in Tulsa traffic on a Saturday for the next four hours brought on a terrible heavy headache so we just went home and fell into bed and took a three hour long afternoon nap. Haven’t had one of those in a long time.

Sunday I spent at my moms watching Upstairs Downstairs and doing crafts. This is pretty much a set Sunday thing for us now, were turning it into a tradition. I’m currently working on knitting a pair of socks and trying my darndest to finish off my sister-in-law’s granny square baby blanket. Last night we had a relatively quiet day at home which ended with me going to the movies with my dad. We went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets which was decently entertaining and would probably make a really fun ride at Walt Disney World, especially if it includes all that water (shhhh…don’t tell anyone but the Aztec Temple of Gold is actually located in South Dakota).

As for today? No idea what I’m going to do. I have to make it last somehow. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

While Mitch was here for xmas he teased me endlessly about having far too many blogs and social networking sites for him to keep up with. He asked specifically if there was way I could collect them altogether so he could access them easier. Well, there is. I just signed up for claimID, a “free, easy way to manage your online identity”. I’ll add to it as my “online identity” grows, which it likely will, given how addictive the internet can be.

Although it would be fun to blog about how our county treasurer was recently arrested for drug charges last weekend, especially after I just sent him a check for thirteen hundred dollars to pay off my land/property tax, I’m going to refrain and simply say that the whole thing is a very sad situation.

Instead, I’m going to tell you about Alison Jay, who illustrates children’s books. I just discovered her. Her illustrations are simply a delight. We have two of her books checked out for Liam right now. It took me forever to realize that each page has an image subtly placed that is then exhibited in a larger form on the next page. It’s kind of like a Where’s Waldo book, but far more intriguing and finer artwork. You can buy her illustration in poster format on an online “boutique” called Oopsy Daisy. Her books are definitely going on my wishlist.

I recently watched The Namesake, a movie based on the book by Jhumpa Lahiri. It was really good, highly recommend it. But at the end I started wondering whether I should have read the book first, which is what I had always intended to do but I just don’t have as much time to read nowadays. I tried to do this with the Golden Compass but was too excited about the movie release that I watched it after only completing half the book. As it turns out, the movie didn’t ruin a great deal when it came to reading the book. They left a lot of things out of the movie and it was easy enough to enjoy both for what they were. I’m not so sure about The Namesake, though. I’m afraid now that I know the plot and story, I won’t enjoy the book so much, despite the fact that one of the main reasons I’ve always enjoyed Lahiri’s work is for her writing style.

Another movie I really want to see is Atonement. My brother just watched this and said it was an excellent movie. When I told him that I was waiting to read the book first he suggested that I not because it might ruin the movie experience. Jeeze. It’s so hard to choose.

Other book/movies I want to see:

Persepolis (already read that one so)
Love in the time of Cholera
Kite Runner
Silk
Lust, Caution

I’m sure there are more, I just can’t think of right now. But seriously. What’s the better bet? Book first or movie?

I sort of feel like the holidays just sort of grazed by me. All of a sudden it’s 2008 and I’m due to turn thirty this summer.

This past year has seen a lot of changes for me. I’ve encountered some difficulties, some disappointments. I’ve gotten to know myself a little better, I’ve discovered some weaknesses, some strengths. But I have this strange feeling that 2008 is going to be good year.

There’s a bunch of xmas photos we still haven’t uploaded to our flickr yet but we’ll get them done…plenty of cute ones of Liam. I should probably mention something about resolutions for the year. Besides the joint one Mike and I agreed on I’ll simply want to find more time for crafting, spend more time with friends, less time stressing, more time napping, less time searching for misplaced car keys, more time reading and writing letters to people instead of email (really like that one Chrissy :-). Oh, and yoga, which I’ve been doing pretty good with during the past months so I just want to keep it up. Every day, forty minutes. And speaking more Norwegian with Liam. And getting out of Oklahoma by my birthday. I guess I should have put all that in list form for ya but oh well.

Anyway, happy belated New Year everyone!

Mitch was over tonight and Carleen, him and myself took turns Googling our names. Both of them had very professional hits come up - Carleen’s work for her various Library Blogs, even a quote in the local newspaper, Mitch and his various projects. We saved the best for last, as it seems; check out the first two hits in the photo.

Yeah, apparently I’m a Gay Literature Author. But hey at least I get this great quote on Amazon.com:

Huxley continues to redefine erotica for the 21st century, breathing new life into a genre that was becoming very stale

Golden, baby!

I would really like to be home right now but I can’t because our house doesn’t have any electricity. It started on Sunday, around the time Mike, Liam and I decided to decorate our holiday tree. I like being at my parents house but I hate this feeling of displacement. I don’t have the things I want or need right at hand around me. I had to tell Mike over the phone at work yesterday exactly what kind of panties my work attire required. It was rather farcicle since I’m sure my co-worker thought I was talking dirty to my husband on the phone.

I want to go home and decorate my tree. I was just starting to get back into yoga again, getting up early in the morning to get an hour or two of my own time before all the hullabaloo started. Sometimes, I just wish mother nature would stay out of my business, or at least tweak things more in my favor. Some nice fluffy snow, power back at my place but a complete power outage on the side of town where the library is? Now that would be nice.

Mike and I watched Golden Compass on Friday night. We were both trying our best to finish the book before we watched the movie but alas, we ran out of time. We read enough, however, to know that the movie does speed up the plot and as a result, kind of misses out on some of the emotion/relationship between the characters but given the depth of the book and the time alloted to the movie, they still did very well and it was a fantastic movie. There’s a great deal of controversy over this book/movie right now given it’s apparent “anti-religious”, “anti-Christian” themes and the proclaimed atheism of the author, Phillip Pullman, however, that warrants a long discussion that we can save for another time (when I actually have more time). It’s actually a trilogy and the real controversy doesn’t apparently appear until the third book when there’s something about the characters killing God. Obviously, I’d like to finish the books before commenting but all I can tell you is that so far the book is fantastic and the movie was a really wonderful watch. The little girl who played Lyra was great.

For now, here’s my daemon. If you haven’t read the book and need an explanation of what a daemon is go here and click on daemon. Really neat concept.

I guess a lion fits. I’m also a Leo, born in July. But the whole modest but proud seems a little contradictory but maybe that’s the point.

Dear family living on Macklyn Ave. in the house with all the pretty xmas yard ornaments in front,

I am so glad you decided to take a trip to Homeland last night. I know the last thing you probably wanted to do at midnight was bump into our misguided lost shivering beagle but I’m so glad you did. Turbo and I are connected in a special way. We both have this weird anxiety thing, we both step on people’s toes a lot but only because we want to make sure everyone’s ok and have some reassurance that we’re still loved even though we can be down right annoying sometimes. Most of all, we’re both far too curious for our own good which is probably why Turbo ended up at Homeland and why I end up reading seven books at the same time never finishing any one of them because I’m too curious to know what’s in the next book.

I’m also very glad that one of you had previously worked at a vets office because when we came to pick Turbo up this morning, his nails were clipped, his ears cleaned and his tummy full of pedigree chum. I had pretty much lost hope that Turbo would be found at all, but not only was he found, he was found by people who actually know a thing or two about taking care of dogs.

I really don’t know what else to say about you guys, except that you rock more then Chuck Berry.

___________

Dear Turbo,

If you were my child I would ground you for a year. But you’re not. You’re my dog so I guess all I can do right now is make up for the hugs you missed last night and hope you didn’t eat anything poisonous or moldy on your late night pilgrimage that will make you puke up green gooey stuff on my brand new rug.

___________

Dear Mike,

Had a great talk with you today at lunch. I can’t wait for our dinner/movie date tomorrow. You rock more then Chuck Berry and Led Zeplin put together.

We’ve lost Turbo again. Sometime last night while Mike was trying to get Liam asleep and I was still at work, he walked through our partially opened gate. Mike believes the meter man forgot to close it properly. That’s a possibility, however, I’m also inclined to believe, given the wind yesterday that the gate blew itself open. Mike and I had an argument over this last night which resulted in me voluntarily opting to sleep on the couch for the night. I’ve always believed that the fence/gate was insecure but because Mike is no fence expert and because our yard is a little awkward in shape, I never wanted to say straight out, Mike it’s a shitty fence can we please get something else a little stronger that doesn’t involve chicken wire. Half our yard is made out of chicken wire. As you can see, I’m still a little mad at my husband, despite the fact that I know I’m probably being way to hard on him.

So, my parents came over yesterday to help us look for Turbo but it was far to dark and given his past escapes it was almost certain that he could be half way cross town at that point.

For those of you who don’t know already, I was recently diagnosed with panic disorder (it isn’t extreme, thankfully I can still leave the house and go to work). My Thanksgiving week was not really a great Thanksgiving week. While everyone else was thanking their turkey and their family, I was simply thankful for the few pieces of sanity I had left in my head. I was dizzy, dazed and under the irrational impression that I was going to die of some horrible disease. I can’t even begin to explain how frightening, how real, and how paralyzing these feelings were. Mike and my parents got me through that weekend until I managed to see my most awesome doctor the following Monday. I’ve since seen a therapist who has set me to work on some exercises from a book which she refers to as the “bible” when it comes to treating panic disorders. Anyway, what I mean to say is, I really did not need to be dealing with a lost dog right now. It’s below freezing outside, I can only imagine how cold and alone he must feel. He has tags and the last time he got out someone found him and called us. I can only hope that a kind soul will find him again and we’ll get him back soon, but for some reason I’m hesitant to assume that we will be that lucky.

I’m angry, sad and confused. If you see me around today, please don’t attempt to cheer me up because I will probably only scowl at you. At this point, I don’t even think John Cleese could crack a smile out of me.

Turbo, if you’re out there please use that damn scent dog nose and find your way home.

UPDATE: Turbo was found last night around midnight, a few blocks away from our house. They found our number via our vet this morning and we picked him up - he’s nice and safe and sound now.

Liam was having a hard time this past weekend with the shots and I think he maybe getting new teeth in. Mike and I were pretty much at a loss as to what to do with him. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you get to that point….ice cube trays+water+food coloring+paper= happy Loki mess!

I came across this the other day when I felt very homesick and Googled “Stavanger pictures”. Someone living in Stavanger called Tanty keeps a daily blog where she posts random pictures from around the city. My brother came across this too the other day and seemed just as delighted as I. For someone who hasn’t been back to their hometown in over five years, this blog brings a lot of warm fuzzy feelings to my tummy. I really like the fact that her pictures are very random everyday shots, neighborhoods, random houses, not just the touristy stuff. Of course, it makes me even more homesick but still, it’s on my list as a must read blog daily.

I wonder if she takes requests. I would love a good shot of the three swords of Hafsfjord.

This is sweet, I might just have to do it for Liam. Instead of buying one, you could probably just make one of your own.

It’s been kind of a rough week. Poor Liam got his MMR shots last Monday and he seems to be showing some side affects. He’s had a low grade fever for the past few days. The fever is gone now but he’s broken out in a measle-like rash all over his face and chest. Apparently this is to be expected. We’re keeping him close to home now, trying our best to keep him cozy and comforted.

Liam is turning into the most curious little kid. Now that he’s walking, Mike and I take him for walks a lot to the park just up the street. What should be a five minute walk usually ends up being more like fifteen since he wants to stop and investigate pretty much everything. Acorns, leaves, dirt, dog poop, street lights. He’s also fascinating with curbs, walking on them, then walking back down. Anything new has to be experienced to its fullest potential.

My new nickname for Liam is Loki. Lord knows I’ve gone through many since he was born but I think this is the one that’s going to stick. Loki is the name of a Norse God (fire, trickster, he has many descriptions). Liam is cheeky in a very cunning way sometimes. I think the cheekyness is just a result of the fact that he’s getting smarter everyday. He’s learned to tease you and trick you. Like yesterday, Mike was crawling around the island in the kitchen playing a kind of peekaboo game with him. After two or three go’s of this, Liam figured out what he was doing and turned around, crawled back in the other direction and crept up behind Mike.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I just can’t believe it’s December already. I’m hoping to actually get xmas cards out this year. I’m kind of excited about this since I’ve been able to get back in touch with some old friends through Facebook.

Here’s a turkey shot. I’ve uploaded the rest to flickr. Mike made the turkey again this year, and again it was amazingly scrumptious.

Mike will email me every so often at work with little updates. It’s nice because it helps me feel like I’m able to participate in some of his and Liam’s daily activities and I don’t miss Liam so much as a result. They’re usually short “Everything’s good, went down for his nap just fine” type stuff. Last night however, I got this:

Email Subject: Dogs….Grrr

Next time Turbo gets himself stuck in the compost bin I’m leaving him there overnight, and MAYBE it’ll teach him a lesson. How he got in, I don’t know, I’ll have to check it out when it’s light tomorrow.

Liam’s fine, he’s head-banging on the couch.

I’m happy to say I finally have the chaotic family I always hoped for.

Puke. That’s pretty much all I’ve done for the last six hours. I’ve often wondered why some people are more susceptible to stomach viruses than others. I can think of several cases where I’ve had to endure violent vomiting. I was put in the hospital when I was fifteen for violent vomiting and when I was college, I was in the emergency room twice for violent vomiting and severe abdominal pain. Apparently Mike can’t even remember the last time he had a stomach virus. Before he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease he hadn’t ralphed since he was in elementary school. I think it must be a genetic thing because his mom has only puked once in her life. Apparently she was so horrified by the experience that she simply decided never to puke again. I envy these people. If there’s a stomach virus floating around, you’d be darn sure I’ll get. If there is food poisoned with salmonella somewhere in a restaurant, it will probably land on my plate first.

So, I’m home sick from work today. The worst of it seems to be over, although I still can’t seem to drink water without feeling quezzy so I’m holding back on all food and liquid intake for now. My stomach muscles hurt to much from last night, I really don’t want to puke again. To make things worse, Liam has had the sniffles since returning from New York. Damn those airplane cabins. Maybe that’s where I caught this, wouldn’t surprise me. Last night he hardly slept at all and Mike had to stay up with him while I was in the bathroom hugging the toilet bowl. But what is a slight sniffle for Liam is now a full blown head cold for Mike. I don’t want to go near Liam right now so I’m feeling pretty helpless. Mike just tried to get him down for a nap but it was a no go. We thought for sure, after the lack of sleep last night, he would surely go down for his morning nap. Surprisingly it’s just the opposite, he’s quite perky. Mike just took him for a walk in hopes that he might settle a little.

Sick days really aren’t real sick days when you have a kid. If it wasn’t for the fear of spreading germs, I would be at work right now because adults can at least understand that you’re not feeling well, whereas Liam has no clue why I won’t kiss his booboo better or play vroom vroom with the truck. Not only that, but it’s Friday. Who the hell wants to be home sick on a Friday.

This sucks. Seriously.

We’re back, I kind of feel like I need to do a rendition of Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire” to explain everything we did and all the people we met in the short time that we were there but basically it was a great trip, Mike and I got a couples massage from his parents as our belated birthday gifts (that was the suprise), it was good to see family, good to see friends, bonfires, board games and bad tasting beer, Liam had a blast meeting his various cousins, aunts, uncles, great uncles and aunts, great grandma’s and such, the wedding reception was Aloha cool with tasty garlic mash potatoes and Mai Tai’s, we’re exhausted, here’s some pictures for now.

So, we made it to New York. We’re here for Jamie and Krissy’s wedding reception. I can not believe how freakin’ beautiful this place is in October. I mean, the trees are on fire with autumn colors. I simply can’t stop talking about it, every time I look at the window I gasp.

I’ve been nervous about this trip for awhile. Liam did amazingly well for having had nothing to eat, no milk (wouldn’t take it) and no naps (just wasn’t going to happen). He had some trouble with his ears on the last flight into Albany but otherwise he was an angel and dazzled everyone on the plane with his charming smile. Everyone was really patient during his most trying moments, thank goodness.

Mike’s parents have a suprise event going on for us today. We’re just about to leave. Apparently they’re going to drop us off somewhere and take Liam for the day. I am most intrigued and will report back with details later.

Here’s a cute video we took of Liam walking. He’s been taking steps for awhile but it wasn’t until about Wednesday of last week that he started really walking.

The cutest thing about this video is Mike getting annoyed with the camcorder. You have to start with this video first.

It appeared that the video in the camcorder was full so we switched it out. But then the damn thing wouldn’t stop beeping so Mike got annoyed and I took over. I don’t usually have the “magic touch” when it comes to technical devices but for some reason on this day the Camcorder Gods took pity on us and I managed to press record and somehow it started working. Suffice it to say, I think Mike and I might be investing in a digital camcorder some time soon.

Also, don’t miss Liam in his adorable bat costume. Mike did one hell of a job putting it together. We had our little Halloween get together last night and had an absolute blast.

SPLAT!

We had a wonderful full day. Started out at my dads. He walked Liam to the park while I ran the route and met them there so we could feed the ducks. Then we headed to the pumpkin patch to pick up some pumpkins and mums. Liam had a blast crawling through the fields and hugging pumpkins. Then my dad and I drove down to my uncles in Tulsa where Liam got to meet some of his cousins for the first time. Good times.

Your Halloween Costume Should Be

A Girl Scout

Mmmm…no.

Assuming we actually get to do something for Halloween this year (Mike and I will be in NY for Jamie’s wedding reception that weekend), I’ll be dressing up as a French maid. Liam’s gonna be a baby bat. Mike started on his wings today, they look good so far. As for Mike? Not sure yet, but I’m trying to talk him into being Dracula. Baby bat and Dracula, kind of cute, don’t ya think?

It’s been a long week and I’m all behind like a cows tail. Fall has always been my season for re-order and organization. (I never was able to get into spring cleaning). I was hoping to have a garage sale this weekend but I wasn’t able to get all my closets sorted out in time so I think it’ll have to wait until we get back from New York. November isn’t really the best time for garage sales but oh well, hopefully I can make enough money to cover some of our xmas gifts this year.

Things just got too busy this week. On a friends request, I spent all day Wednesday playing volleyball for a United Way fundraiser. I used to play volleyball in high school. I’ve always loved playing volleyball. It’s a great sport, nothing like pounding on a leather ball to relieve stress. But after six hours of playing my body is so bruised and battered. It’s been three days and I’m still sore and exhausted.

I know that we haven’t even gotten to Halloween yet but Mike is already asking me what I want for xmas. I really don’t know. I mean, there are plenty of things I want but they’re just not really appropriate for gift giving or far to expensive. I was thinking about asking for a camera. I bought Mike an eight hundred dollar camera just before Liam was born but its kind of too complicated for an unprofessional photography person like me. It would be neat to have a simple point and shoot camera but something with snazzy features (like Cindy’s…sweet, I need to get those eye pictures from you, they are so awesome!). I asked him for an iPhone but he just laughed hysterically in my face so, don’t think that’ll happen. Then I told him I wanted a loofah. I took a shower at my parents house the other day and they have loofah’s. I used to have loofah’s too before marriage/parenthood yanked me out of my oil brat dreamworld and required me to be a more frugal spender. Now I just can’t justify spending ninety cents on an item that doesn’t really do anything different from a regular wash cloth. So, seriously. A loofah would be a great gift. Would make a nice stocking stuffer.

Despite all its glory, pregnancy and child bearing can really do a number on a womans body. Since having Liam, I often feel as though my body just isn’t as tough as it used to be. Like it can’t endure as much as it used to. I often have unexplained random pains in places. The skin on my face just looks so tired and patchy all the time. I go through these strange dizzy spells a lot. My eyesight is worse, I sit wearing my glasses on the couch and the subtitles of a movie still look blurry. Last week, many of these symptoms were really starting to annoy me so I decided to look some stuff up on the internet. Now, one of the most important rules you learn in library school is that you should always discourage a patron from trying to self-diagnose themselves according to what they read online. Unfortunately, I self-diagnose all the time and for a short period last week I was convinced I was dying from either a) Addison’s disease or b) a very rare form of cancer known as Adrenal cancer. In fact, the latter is so rare it only makes up 2% of cancer diagnoses each year. Rare or not, I was dying of it.

I was actually in hysterics for about a day over this. Dying before Liam was born wasn’t such a major big deal. We all die sometime. But the thought of dieing before I had seen my son grow into a adulthood was really getting to me. I managed to get into the doctor the next morning. I’ve switched doctors to a lady my dad often goes scuba diving with. She’s a character, sorta of looks like the sort that should be on a ranch in Wyoming ropin’ horses. As I started riddling off all my symptoms she stopped me half way and told me to slow down because she couldn’t write that fast. At that point, I realized what a hypochondriac I sounded like. She was very thorough, something which my dad had already indicated, and I appreciated that. She asked a bunch of questions back and eventually we got around to exercise. “Yes, I run.” “Outside?” “Yes.” “Hello, there it is. With the heat and all, you’re sweatin’ out potassium. Just eat a banana every morning.” So, I’m eating bananas and feeling much better.

However, I am still having some foot problems. There’s something going on with my heel. I called to make an appointment with the podiatrist yesterday but the secretary said that the earliest opening was October 23rd. That’s like a month away. I’m having problems walking here. I can’t wait a month. Can you believe in a town with an estimated forty thousand people, most of them over the age of fifty, we only have one podiatrist?

I’ve been rather giddy the last few days, not sure why. They came to install our new windows on Monday. They look amazing! Mike took pictures, he just hasn’t uploaded them yet. We’ve both been kind of lazy lately. It’s really hard to get things done around the house when you’re in temporary possession of The Office season three DVD set and Willy Wonka’s secret stash is stocked in your kitchen pantry. Priorities folks. Some things are just more important. I’ve had chocolate everyday since last Wednesday and I’m not aiming to stop soon. It’s amazing what an insane amount of high quality chocolate can do to a womans personality.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately anticipating Fall. I don’t know why I’m so excited about the holiday seasons coming up but I think it has something to do with having a kid. I can’t wait to dress Liam up in Halloween costumes and take him to the pumpkin patch to choose a pumpkin, or put up a xmas tree and see what his reaction is when we have it all decorated and the lights are turned on. As adults, we’re so bad about letting these activities loose their appeal and excitement. Decorating trees and such actually become more of a house chore than anything else. Having Liam around is making me feel like a kid again, I really can’t wait. The weather outside yesterday was much cooler than usual. It rained most of the day and it really felt like Fall weather. I had a very twisted urge to play hookie from work so I could stay at home and watch Anne of Green Gables. There’s just something about that story and that red headed chick that just screams Autumn time.

Mike and I have always talked about how we would like to settle in the country. Most of the places I’ve lived growing up were in the suburbs. Still my brother and I always managed to find some hidden path somewhere that would take us to some place more remote, open and wooded. I had a rotten habit of following my brother and his friends around. I know they didn’t want me there but I guess they figured out early that it was easier to just let me come with them then it was to tell me to leave since I would surely storm off whining “I’m tellin’ Mom” and that would just ruin everything. Sometimes we didn’t have to go far to find these places. They were usually easy to find in Norway. In fact, my grandmother’s house had a great yard with this really neat area of pine bushes where we would build little huts out of branches and stuff and run around pretending we were elves or warriors or something. In Scotland there was an area behind one of the schools in our neighborhood that we used to go to. I remember we picked blueberries there once.

I often think about my childhood and compare it to what I imagine Liam’s will be like. Like all parents, I want Liam to have a childhood filled with happy memories similar to the ones that I have of my own. But having said that, I can not imagine every letting him roam as far away as we were allowed to roam when we were kids. All I can think about is all the sex offenders and nut jobs out there. I get so upset when I see all the young kids who come to the library after school, just waiting around for their parents to get off work. If you’re fourteen or fifteen, ok, maybe. But we had a kid who was ten at the library the other night. He was there until closing time. He had ridden his bike there. We close at nine. It’s dark outside. This kid was going to bike home. At the age of ten. Downtown. In the dark. Am I wrong to think that’s insane? I’ll get Liam a bike. Bikes are good, exercise, fresh air. Good. But until he’s about fifteen, I’m biking everywhere with him. What about all the crazy drivers out there, what if he gets hit by a car? I’m going with him, that’s all there is too it. That’s not crazy, is it?

Ok, it is crazy. In fact, there are plenty of studies out there indicating that “hyperprotective parenting” could leave children at risk for more anxiety. I mean, Liam will never want to go outside or go anywhere on his own if I’m constantly scaring him about the potential “boogy man” lingering on the street corner or all the crazed drivers behind the wheel. I really have no idea how I’m going to balance this because there are so many legitimate reasons to be scared to let my son out of my sight yet, I’m going to have to eventually. Then there’s the whole nature thing. Part of the reason I don’t like living in suburban neighborhoods is the whole “pretty garden” stuff. I mean, I like pretty gardens. I want some prettyness to my garden but I also want a yard where my child can play without having to worry about accidently trampling the petunias. I want a garden of potted plants. The rest just needs to be open space with green grass and trees. With a rocking chair on the front porch and a picket fence in front. Wait a minute, nevermind. I’m thinking of that country song.

And Mike’s an uncle. Sydney Teresa was born last Friday, 6lbs 10oz (I think that’s right). Mom, Dad and baby are doing well.

Here’s Grandma Pat holding her. I love this picture. She looks so peaceful…and you can see her cute little nose.

When my brother and I were little living in Norway we used to eat a cookie that was the shape of a man..kind of like a gingerbread man but not with ginger, more like a sugar cookie. My mom sent some from Norway for us and here’s Liam eating it. He giggled when I first gave him the whole thing, after which he proceeded to tear off the heads and arms. Didn’t eat much of it but certainly enjoyed playing with it.

This is a scant half (!) of the candy that was brought back by Carl, from Norway. Siri is still there, so I’m suspecting that more will be on the way.

So, I totally missed the fun because I was at work but last week Liam got to chat on iSight with my parents (in Norway) and Mitch (in Korea). Technology is freakin sweet!

I’m catching up on blog reading and I just got to Chrissy’s post about “perfection” and dealing with the “lulls” in life. She just recently finished her MLIS too (in addition to several other accomplishments). I like how she questions “well, what’s next? Is this it?” because I’ve done a lot of this myself lately. We spend a lot of time trying to accomplish things and despite how rewarding the achievement may feel there’s this initial coming down period afterwards. It kind of reminds you that the best part is often the process, not the result. I think sometimes we grow up thinking that happiness is a state of being. Something that just happens but only after a certain mixture of ingredients or specific variables have been combined. The media certainly makes us feels this way. Buy this, be this, look like this. Maybe it’s better not to think about happiness as a state, but as a learned skill that has to be practiced. Continuously. Not that I’m an expert on this but it would seem to make more sense if we thought of it that way more often so we’re not constantly looking for something external to create that specific state of being. On the other hand, it’s also very likely that it’s almost midnight and I should probably go to bed. Either that or waaaaay to many of those Buddhist focused self-help books.

We’re trying to teach Liam sign language. Although he hasn’t done them on a repeated basis, he has signed “dog” and “bird”, also “milk”, however I don’t think he really understands that he can use these signs to communicate with us. He just copies. I think he just sees it as playing. He has, however, created his own sign. We have a DVD of nursery rhyme songs that he loves to watch. His favorite is Wheels on the Bus. Whenever we pass by the DVD player or he’s playing around it he’ll do the “swish swish” motion for the wind shield wipers. I got him another DVD for his birthday of animal cartoons…all based on famous children’s books. But he won’t sit still for those, I think, because there’s no music.

Liam’s new thing nowadays is getting into the pantry and pouring cheerios on the floor. He then proceeds to eat the cheerios off the floor until the dogs come running…the dogs love Liam. They follow him virtually everywhere, especially during and after feeding times. He’s great at sharing, constantly dropping pieces of his own food onto the floor for the dogs to enjoy. We’ve had a lot of trouble getting Turbo to eat his meals here lately…for obvious reasons, who wants dried kibbles when you can have pumpkin and applesauce, or chicken and rice.

In other happy news, this time next week I’m going to be an aunt for the first time. Mikes sister, Kim, is due on Friday. She’s having a girl. They’ve chosen a really snazzy name…I love it. Syndey Theresa…I have no idea if I spelled that correctly but hopefully Kim will correct me. Mike is getting real excited about this too. It’ll be so neat for Liam to have a cousin around his age.

I had to go to OSU Stillwater for a workshop on Friday. I prepared meticulously for this trip, printed out three different maps, two to get me to Stillwater and another of the campus. I got lost. Twice. Once on my way to Stillwater and again on campus. Didn’t help that there was construction everywhere and nowhere to park that didn’t require a permit. I felt pretty traumatized by the time I made it home. I am hopeless when it comes to reading maps and following directions. On the first day of our honeymoon, it was Mike who got us from our hotel in Oslo to the port to catch the boat to the island where the Viking Ship Museum was supposed to be. This would be a city I have visited a total of three times in my life. Mike had never even been in the country before. And it’s not like finding the port in Oslo is all that difficult. You can see it in the distance, you can smell it. Just follow your nose…I just don’t understand how I get so disoriented. I think it’s just the map thing. I do a lot better when people just give me landmarks and tell me “right” or “left”.

It’s so fascinating to see what people in the past thought the future was going to be like. Here’s a view from the 1960’s on what shopping was going to be like in 1999. Think internet shopping…not too far off. I love how the bill automatically gets sent to the husband.

There’s also a really neat blog called Paleo-Future where you can see futuristic illustrations and prints made in the past. His most recent post has a neat picture of what some french guy in the early 1900’s thought firefighting would be like in the year 2000. Really dig those wings.

I think I’m going to designate Mondays as my official blogging day. I never blog anymore, I just can’t seem to find the time. It doesn’t help that I spend eight hours a day staring at a computer screen. The last thing I want to do when I get home is stare at one some more. On a similar note, I think to help with the whole techno stress thing, I’m gonna designate Sunday’s No Technology Day. That is, no computer, no t.v. and no car. If I need something at the store, I’ll walk to Wal-Mart. Chances are I’ll be too lazy to do that so whatever I need will have to wait. I may, however, make an exception with the t.v. thing in case Mike wants to watch a movie. I’ll claim that as me and Mike time.

Now that I’ve gotten myself all organized I guess I should blog about something interesting for once, and what could possibly be more interesting then my son. I’ve had some time to reflect on this past year, which has been full of changes both personal and professional. So far, I think Mike and I have it pretty good when it comes to finding the balance between work and home life. We’ve been doing the mom work full time, dad stay at home thing for about two months now. We’ve worked out a flexible schedule (note the emphasis on flexible). Liam still wakes up at night. I have a feeling this probably won’t change until he’s finally got all of his teeth. There are dozens of different schools of thought on this. Most people say he’s supposed to be sleeping through the night by now and that we shouldn’t respond to his crying/whines because this will help teach him to self-soothe and put himself back to sleep. Although there are times when Liam will wake-up and fuss himself back to sleep without any assistance, there are other nights when he simply won’t and needs help. Sometimes he just needs some rocking and a sip of water. Other times he needs a full bottle, especially here lately since he hasn’t been eating to well (probably a combination of teething and growth spurt). When nothing else works, we bring him into bed and co-sleep with him. Those nights are cozy, sometimes too cozy…for some reason he likes to sleep sideways so I usually end up with a foot in my ribs by morning. To help each other out, we rotate the night time responsibilities every two nights. That way we can ensure a few nights a week where one of us can sleep through the night without interruption.

I always come home for my lunches. Depending on how Liam’s nap schedule is, I’ll get at least forty minutes to see him before heading back to work. Mike will often email me throughout the day with short little updates. This helps since it makes me feel like I’m still participating in his daily routine even if I am at work. Most nights I get off at 5:30, drop my stuff at the door, change clothes and eat dinner. I have about three hours with Liam before his bed time routine starts. Most people might consider this a tiring task after eight hours on the job but it is honest to God the best way to unwind from work for me. I love it. I miss him so much throughout the day, I can hardly wait to get home and see him.

I think, maybe, the only time I have difficulty is on the weekends. Because I work all week, I feel a little guilty about taking time to do things for myself. I feel like I should be spending every waking moment I have with Liam. Not only that, but Mike has Liam all week. He needs his breaks too. Then of course, Mike and I need time together. There’s only two days in a weekend, it’s hard to fit all of that in. But all in all, I think we’re doing pretty darn good. If we could just keep our house from falling apart, we’d be in really good shape. I’m still trying to work on Mike with the whole yurt idea. I have a feeling I can swing him when he finds out that plumbing is completely optional.

Mike and I have an ongoing argument about butter. I love butter. I’ll butter almost anything. Bread, potatoes, rice, steamed veggies. I also love to put butter on my sandwiches. I’m just not into the whole mustard and mayo thing, I never was. For instances, I’ll have a turkey sandwich with butter. I also love butter under my peanut butter when I have a peanut butter sandwich. This really gets Mike, he thinks it’s disgusting to put more butter where butter simply isn’t needed. I beg to differ. Peanut butter and butter are two separate things and one compliments the other perfectly in my opinion. Jam and butter on toast is another one that makes Mike scratch his head. It’s especially good if the bread is toasted and the butter is melted.

Do I have weird butter habits? Does anyone else out there put butter on their peanut butter sandwhich?