Alora Danae

The Good:

1. Both munchkins are healthy and well.
2. Kit has mastered crawling and advanced almost immediately to standing. His primary goal of standing is to get to stuff he has no business getting into.
3. The house is still standing.
   
4. Boo was accepted into the summer camp program he wanted, so he leaves this Sunday for two weeks of not being in the house playing video games. I call this good.

The Bad:

1. Still very very very unemployed.
2. Having serious issues with keeping a sense of self beyond taking care of the people I take care of.
3. And the really really really bad that I am having a hard time thinking about - Cassie cat, out eldest fur child, is dying. The vet wanted to put her down when we took her in yesterday, but we asked for a few more days so Boo could say goodbye. Most likely we're taking her back in Monday to be put down. Her kidneys have failed entirely and she's just in a lot of pain.

That is all.

Please remember to wish balthazar99 a Happy Birthday!

To the man who made this last year bearable - I love you, handsome.

Cut to protect those with kid allergies. A few long-distance relatives use this for their baby fix, so I'll keep posting them.
( More baby videos )

And then there were Baby Pictures.

Wanted:
Free/cheap server space recommendations. Looked at Joyent, but wondering what might be cheaper.

(Because I want to build a facebook app, and because I need a platform to show freelance projects.)

Alan Tudyk ( aka "leaf on the wind" Washburne) is making a guest appearance on Dollhouse in one or two upcoming episodes. I have heard complaints that casting actors with a big fan base from a previous show is a gag to try and cross-contaminate viewers, and can believe it for some shows. (Inara on Medium, and Summer Glau on The 4400 was definitely an attempt to breathe life into the fan base of a dying show.) And it just doesn't work if the show is really horrendous, as proven by Starbuck's foray into Bionic Womanhood.

Still, from what I've seen with Joss, he strikes me more as a guy who has the awesome pool of actors he's worked with in the past who jump at the chance to work with him again. YMMV. Regardless, if you haven't caught Dollhouse, I highly recommend it and find it to be fun psychological exercise/entertainment at least every other show.

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Speaking of Summer Glau - the season finale of Terminator was really fun and mind-bendy, which I'm bemoaning since I suspect the show will not be back. I hate, *hate*, when a show takes a really interesting twist and then dies.

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Speaking of show recommends, Castle is freakishly well and cleverly written, so much so that a few of the actors can just barely carry the pace and intelligence of the dialogue. I *love* Castle.

See:

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At my high school there was a sort of unwritten "pay your dues" mentality. Freshman never got solos, Seniors always got the leads. I was on the super fast track because I wanted to help so much that I got roped into band as a favor for a teacher, and was the official lights and curtain person for the choir, where I was also the alto section leader. Which meant dashing on and off stage a hundred times while still singing loudly enough that my section could follow me.

The same kind of desire to be helpful had me stage managing by my 3-4th show in college while still a freshman. Except when I actually wanted to audition for a show, they'd ask me to stage manage before I even had a chance. Finally Junior year I was cast by a fellow student in a one-woman one act. And. Blew. Them. Away. Several of the folks who always get the leads praised me effusively, stunned that I could act - I had always been a techie.

I'm realizing that I was trained horribly wrong by high school (where, by the way, I left after sophomore year for college, so I never got to be a senior with solos, ha ha ha.) Being willing to do the heavy lifting doesn't eventually earn you the chance to shine because you've paid your dues. It just gets you asked to do more heavy lifting. Whereas those folks who show up and stomp their feet and demand the lead or they'll have nothing to do with your show...keep getting the leads.

So. Life is nothing like high school. This should not be a surprise. But it does make me really really disinclined to do any more heavy lifting. (Yes yes, thinking that doing heavy lifting leads to getting to be the pretty princess is ridiculous. So I'm naive.)

First - a request. Please recommend to me any and all reputable sites you know for freelance work, most likely of the web/graphic/UI variety. Yes, Mama is failing to get a job and needs to do something keep her skills from atrophying entirely.

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Second - some cuteness.
I have re-dubbed our youngest Captain Kitling, as he has an endless quest to catch the great black beast that is an Allie-dog. Today he was in the Exersaucer and she was sitting next to him. He just kept jumping and flinging himself, trying to get closer to ze wondrous great handfuls of fur!! (FYI - all pet-baby interaction is supervised, and Allie has already proven to be both gentle and tolerant of baby antics. Rikki, on the other hand, keeps curling up right next to Kit and literally waving her tail in his face. This will end poorly, particularly when mobility happens.)

And eldest twin...well, I blame velvet_c. She helped me discover the Jumparoo she gave us in the garage, which is now Cub's very very very favoritest toy. Cool, right? Except now, the *second* you hold him standing on anything - a table, the couch, your lap - he starts gleefully and enthusiastically jumping up and down as if he were in the jumparoo. Which sucks if you're not expecting the bebee to try and leap from your hands. But...but...he's just so darn happy about it.

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Third and most importantly - Happy early Birthday to da man, asa101 who is having one of those numerically significant birthdays tomorrow. Everyone please remember to send him your love. Or snark or merciless teasing. Ya know, whatever works for you.

(Happy birthday love. I hope it is an awesome one.)

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In other news...
"Usul, we have tooth-sign the likes of which even God has not seen."

Geek baby humor. Yay.

D'oh. Too big. Sorry.

Because I am an ignorant schmoo.

One of the balls on my cartilage ring came off in the shower, so it won't stay in anymore.
It's been 3 days.
I have grabby infants.

Will a standard stud earring be sufficient to keep the hole open indefinitely?
Better recommendations for safety with infants?
On-line places to order such recommended jewelry, because I get out of the house once a week or so, tops?
Any clue on gauge recommendation off the top of your head?

(Yes, I am a dweeb. I did go to a real piercing store to get ze thing done, but that was 3 years and several hundred miles ago.)

I have been hit by the Woot shirt bandit. I think. Or someone sent me a shirt and just forgot to tell me. Most of my previous suspicions of the culprit have gone out the window. Regardless, thanks, 'tis a very very kewl shirt.

My left arm muscles have become strained from the constant up and down of two infants. I'm wearing a wrist brace, an elbow brace, and icing it and heating it in intervals, but it's not like I can *not* pick up my children. (Ok, I can not pick up the 13 year old, but he likes playing the airplane game *so* much.) Honestly, not sure how this is going to resolve, except hoping for my arm to get stronger.

Job hunting is depressing. And, in the current economy, feels kinda futile.

My in-laws had been planning for a while to get up a really nice twin stroller as their gift to us, because they're freakishly expensive. The one we picked? Has *front-wheel suspension*. I kid you not. And yes, we got the black on black one, because we're freaking hard core, man.

I found and got the GloMate night light which we use in the nursery every night. At first it was cute how both kids were fascinated and loved to stare at 'Blue Man', as we have dubbed him, and we could calm a crying baby by having Blue Man visit them and fly around their head for a while. A week ago, Cub - who doesn't babble, he pretty much just talks to people - started 'talking' to the Blue Man. It is so freaking cute.

This is my life now. Also, typing, as it turns out, hurts. *Also*, I've also actually gotten a wee bit of writing done in the last month, of which I am obscenely proud.

Still here.

B: "Kit, with the great power of being able to hold onto your bottle comes the great responsability of helping me get it *to* your mouth, not away from your mouth."
W: "Aren't they a little young for Spiderman morality?"
B: "Well, since we don't really have a religion to raise them in, superhero morality might be the way to go."
W: *dies laughing*

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Balth has since decided we can simplify things and just stick with Thor morality, which seems to consist of: "Smite!"

Hey folks -

Looking for data/projections/info on how sucktastic traffic will be around DC this coming weekend. I know it's called to be frightening next Mon/Tues, but am not sure how early and how far out this will start.

(The maternal unit wants to visit Friday and Sat, but is scared of big traffic.)

Thanks in advance.

Farewell 2008. You were poignant, painful, beautiful and sad. You left us richer and poorer and I'm not sorry to see you go. Best of luck to you in the history books.

Hey, 2009? What say we have a talk about being known as the "kinder, gentler 2008"? C'mon...I can make you see it my way.

We made it!!!

Corn starch and corn meal are notably different and in no way interchangeable.

;-)

And I have the plague. And from their sniffling and coughing, the boys have it too.

ARGH!

Cub: Asleep at 7:30 pm, 2:30 am feeding, still asleep.
Kit: Asleep at 8:00 pm, 4:00 am feeding, still asleep.
Wit: 8 hours of sleep
Balth: 7(ish) hours of sleep, back in bed now.

::head bangs and throws horns::
::dances up and down wildly::

( Today )

Also, reading back through entries has reminded me of a very important thing. I am incredibly blessed because I have you guys. I have fantastic, amazing people in my life and electronic life who keep me connected, who make me laugh, and who make me feel incredibly special when I look back over the last year of life. Thank you, all of you, for letting me be a part of your lives. You are appreciated.

Happy New Year!

"I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not. You have to move on."
- Stephen Sondheim

Twin teething.

::beats head against desk repeatedly::

So how are all you guys out there in magic land?

1. Recommend a good portable laptop/notebook for less than $600.

2. What do you do for your birthday?

WHY won't they sleep unless they are laying on me!!!

For the love of God, Montressor!!

Grrrr.