JTOK Chatter > Page 369

What’s with the weather?

Posted on by

I am really tired of the hot and humid weather. Last I lived here, Michigan summers WERE NOT like this. There might have been a week or two of hot and humid weather in August, but it has been like this ALL summer, minus a day or six. And apparently, the first winter we were here it was the worst winter they’d seen in A LONG time. What gives? Yeah, I know NC summers are still worse, but summers were one of the good things about coming home…and we didn’t even get that.

Owen and New Foods

Posted on by

Talk about frustrating.

In addition to the like-something-one-day/week-but-not-the next, he sometimes (okay, most times) just FLAT OUT refuses to even try something. I put it on his tray, he takes it in his fingers, and holds it out to me—which is his obvious way of saying he doesn’t want it. It makes me nuts because it didn’t even get near his nose or touch his lips! How can he tell from just looking at it that he doesn’t want it? (Yeah, sometimes us adults can tell. But we’re adults.) So at this stage he apparently enjoys licking the ground or chewing on my shoes—but refuses to try fried zucchini, rice, or tilapia? :##

That said, while it’s frustrating as hell when he does it, it’s also kinda cute. I mean, he’s at least being good and handing it to me instead of dropping it on the floor (although he WILL drop it on the floor if I don’t take it).

First soccer ball!

Posted on by

Owen loves balls—we all know that. And he always seems to want balls that aren’t his, even though he has a ton of his own. Just this afternoon, he saw a soccer ball in our neighbor’s yard and made a beeline for it. She let us borrow it for awhile. Last week, he was immediately attracted to some lady’s volleyball at the park (and when we went back the next day, went right to where she HAD been sitting to look for it again).

So when I was in Target, I got him his own soccer ball. And we decided to give it to him as he was waking up from his nap. Watch, and enjoy!

Updated Weight!

Posted on by

So Owen and I were at the vet’s office today and he was playing on the scale, so I asked if we could weigh him! She said he was…are you ready? 32.5 pounds! 😮 So it looks like my upper guesstimate of 31# was still way off. What a little brute!

I made the news [paper]!

Posted on by

Five Asian buffets offer change of pace
Melody Baetens / The Detroit News

Metro Detroit has a wide variety of Asian buffets. Here’s a look at five standout options.

Fuji Japanese Buffet
32153 John R., Madison Heights
Call: (248) 616-8868
Web: www.fujibuffet.com

Price: $11.99 lunch Mon.-Fri.; $13.99 lunch Sat.-Sun.; $17.99 dinner Mon.-Thurs.; $19.99 dinner Fri.-Sat.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Mon.-Thurs. and Sun.; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

Highlights: For a strip mall buffet, Fuji is surprisingly cool and hip. When I went, there was a considerable number of college-age diners, many of Asian decent. Sometimes, if you go late enough, you can get a glimpse (or an earful) of a private dance party or karaoke session in one of the restaurant’s many banquet rooms.

Food-wise, Fuji’s strengths are snow crab legs with melted butter, gyoza (dumplings), vegetable and shrimp tempura, and sushi. Don’t be afraid to try the green tea ice cream for dessert. “What keeps me coming back are the platters of all-you-can-eat sushi being made fresh as you watch,” says diner Jennifer Hudson of Troy. “Is it the best food you’ll ever eat? No, but it’s certainly worth the price of admission.”

Tasting!

Posted on by

Owen is in a tasting phase. Not chewing like before, but licking and tasting. EVERYTHING. From the chair and wall in the doctor’s office to my leg and shoes and the cement patio at home. It’s cute because he does it so gently—gets really close, then just sticks his tongue out and licks it.

I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.

Posted on by

http://www.mcsweeneys.net…5comicsans.html

Of course, I can’t figure out how to write this blog post in Comic Sans, so it takes a little bit away from it, but you can read it in its correct format on the linked page!

I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.
BY MIKE LACHER

– – – –

Listen up. I know the shit you’ve been saying behind my back. You think I’m stupid. You think I’m immature. You think I’m a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I’m Comic Sans, and I’m the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

You don’t like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? You don’t like that I’m all over your sister-in-law’s blog? You don’t like that I’m on the sign for that new Thai place? You think I’m pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don’t all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can’t all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type. Sorry some people like to have fun. Sorry I’m standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest. Maybe sometime you should take off your black turtleneck, stop compulsively adjusting your Tumblr theme, and lighten the fuck up for once.

People love me. Why? Because I’m fun. I’m the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business’ website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I’m banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I’m shredding “Reign In Blood” on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I’m racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who’ll kill me if I don’t cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.

It doesn’t even matter what you think. You know why, jagoff? Cause I’m famous. I am on every major operating system since Microsoft fucking Bob. I’m in your signs. I’m in your browsers. I’m in your instant messengers. I’m not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.

Enough of this bullshit. I’m gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.

18-month check-up

Posted on by

He was a bit of a stinker when we needed to weigh him, but really—can you expect a toddler to stand still on a scale? They wrote down 30# but I saw everything up to 33# so I’m saying 31. 🙂 I should have asked to weigh him on the baby scale or weigh him with Tom—but part of me thinks THEY should have suggested it, since THEY are the professionals. Oh well. The doc says “He’s still a big boy!” 😀

His current stats:
Height: 35″ (97th percentile) — was 34″;
Weight: 31# (94th percentile) 32.5# (96th percentile) — was 28# 12oz

And oh, the stuff we do to keep busy at the doc’s office in the waiting room…and the stuff we laugh at Owen doing! (Sorry about the volume—I apparently had my hand over the speaker while I was recording some of it. And I may redo the compilation when I get more time—I know the titles are really hard to read, but I did it on the phone. The first video is of Owen clapping at Tom while he throws a ball around, then it’s Owen watching himself in the shiny part of the chair, then it’s a chair ride around the room, then a video of Owen just being silly, and then lastly some lip music.)

We told her we were a bit concerned about his speech (or lack thereof) and she asked us some questions and from everything we told her (him knowing some letters, numbers, etc.) she said she wasn’t REALLY worried (yet) but that she agreed it wouldn’t hurt to get him evaluated. She said he seemed very intelligent (from what she observed) and that we shouldn’t be overly concerned yet. So that’s good—although we’ll still get him evaluated.

Using a spoon…

Posted on by

So just yesterday I decided I had to give up control and let Owen start trying to feed himself with a spoon—except that he really didn’t show ANY interest at dinner. It really surprised me because the last time we had a spoon out, he did pretty well with it. So I was a bit frustrated.

Fast forward to tonight, when we tried a different yogurt and a different spoon…and apparently he had a new attitude! He also had (as you will hear) two completely enthusiastic parents!

What the…?!?

Posted on by

So I put Owen down for his afternoon nap and went down to the basement for about 20 minutes. When I came back up, I turned on the monitor—and it was all static. Oh great, I thought—the not-very-old monitor died. I fiddled with it a bit, but nothing. So I thought I’d go upstairs and check the handheld monitor—and that one was on the fritz, too…which meant that something had happened to the camera.

So I went to peek in Owen’s room and look for the camera—and it’s not on the dresser. And I had to do a second-take because his penguin humidifier wasn’t on the dresser, either. I had a split-second thought of “Was it there when I put him down?” before I looked down and…saw the camera in the middle of the floor and the humidifier IN TWO PIECES IN HIS CRIB!

Yep, the little shit pulled both of them off the dresser! He was sleeping peacefully so I didn’t worry about it too much—but I am sure the bedding is soaked (because the humidifier was probably half full).

What a kid!

Hair. GRRRRRRR.

Posted on by

I hate my hair. Really. I mean, it CAN look nice, and I guess it could be worse. But today is complete UGH.

Up until I got it cut/colored about four months ago, it was all one length—which made it somewhat easy for blow-drying it straight…but a big lopsided poofy mess when left wavy. So when she cut it, she layered it in such a way that it wouldn’t be a big poofy triangular-shaped mess when I left it curly (YAY!)…but that meant that straightening it was a bigger pain because I was dealing with layers (BOO!). And moreso since the bottom layers are supposed to be curled up and the top layers are supposed to be curled down.

So honestly, since it’s summer, I mostly wear it au naturale because the humidity has been so high and my head sweats and we go swimming now and again…so I want to wash it more often. But when I do try and straighten it, it’s just a mess and I get soooooooooo frustrated.

So Tom’s 20th HS reunion is this weekend, so I thought it would be a good time for a trim and a blow-dry. Of course, they could only get me in last night, but I took it since my hair should still look good three days later (good enough anyway). But then I freaked out at how much it was going to cost—not my normal salon prices ($35 including tip) but ranging from $50-$75! 8| I had a 20% coupon, but still. Then I panicked when I saw the blow-dry/style prices started at $30 and thought there was no way in hell I was paying upwards of $70 for a trim and a style. So I cancelled. Of course today I’m thinking a normal dry/style would be included in the cut price (like it has been at every other place I’ve ever been to) and that the $30 price is just for a style ONLY. So I probably should have gone…but now I can’t make any of the appointments they have left.

So I tried to do my hair this morning. I told myself ahead of time that I would take more time than usual to style it so maybe I would do a really good job and be happy.

NOT.

I took 100% longer—I usually finish in about 30 minutes but today I took almost an hour…and I don’t love it. I think it looks horrible. The undersides are curling up but not in any logical or consistent way. The topsides are curling down but it’s way poofy. And I even took the time to blow dry small sections, using the right brush, and using the flat iron between sections. GRRR.

WHY DOES HAIR HAVE TO BE SUCH A PAIN IN THE ASS? >:XX

Needless to say I’m tempted to go back to no-layers for the winter, because at least then I have a decent shot at having a decent straight hairdo.

Owen’s Words

Posted on by

Since Owen still isn’t talking, we have been talking about getting him tested at his 18 month checkup—just so we know if it’s something we should be concerned about or if he’s still in a safe range. The testing is free, and if it calms our worries, there’s nothing wrong with it. Anyway, I think Owen heard us talking about getting him tested, because he’s started with the words. :>>

He has been saying “ball” all the time (although it comes out more like baaaah) but over the past few weeks, he’s started attempting to say some numbers and letters (like when following along to Sesame Street or when we count). It started when I was out shopping and Tom was home with Owen and they were watching Sesame Street. Tom SWORE that he was counting along kinda under his breath: wah, too, fee, for, fii, sih, seh, ay, etc. 8| Of course once I got home he didn’t do it.

But that weekend I was headed to Grayling (just me and Owen since Tom had to work) and damned if he didn’t count with us that weekend. Still nothing major or DISTINCT, but when you’re counting one-two-three and he says fawr or fooooor it’s obviously four…and when you get to eight and he says ayyyyyy…we’re pretty sure it’s eight. Close enough, anyway. And sometimes when they are concentrating on the Letter of the Day, he will say it with them.

EDITED 8/5 TO ADD THIS VIDEO:

But just as we get excited about it, he doesn’t seem to be saying anything new or getting better (and everything he sees is baaaaa)…so we will still make an appointment to get him tested. Just in case.

Back Yard Wanderings

Posted on by

Owen knows what “outside” means—I said “Let’s go outside!” and he ran
to the sliding door! What you will see here is just a tiny slice of what I get to watch on a daily basis…balls, his pool, tomatoes as balls, trying to put a tomato back on the plant, his rake, and a measuring cup.

And taking a break with mom…

Things they are a’ changin.

Posted on by

So Owen’s tastes have been changing again. He used to love fried eggs—we’d have at least one a day. Now he won’t touch them. He used to love granola bars—we’d sometimes have maybe two a day and he could easily eat one per meal. Lately he won’t eat more than one bite. But one day this week, for his pre-breakfast snack, I gave him one as a test and he ate the whole thing! Apparently for his less favorite foods I have to make sure he’s hungry. Sometimes he’ll eat strawberries but not too often. But this morning? He ate two! TWO! Wheeee! It’s an ever-changing game that is very frustrating. At least he still loves yogurt.

I also am really NOT liking this changing-of-the-nap-times thing. Just when I had it all figured out and things were running super smoothly…it changes. I really don’t like the trial and error of figuring out just what his new nap time should be. One day I tried at 10am (his old time) and that didn’t fly so he didn’t end up napping until 11. The next day he was practically falling asleep at 8:30 but it was way too early for a nap—so we waited, and he seemed a little tired again at 10:45 but he certainly wasn’t laying down to nap…and he let me hear his displeasure. The next day I had an errand to run at 9 which I thought would surely work with his schedule…except he fell asleep in the car at 9:15! |-| So now every day is a new game.