We filed our taxes, and figured out exactly where our refund is going to go. Basically, we looked at the list from my last post and figured out that we should do energy-use-reducing stuff first. Our refund will pay our oil company for the last fill and the oil tank replacement, in full, and get a timing belt for Dave’s car, and then three windows for the living room. We also each get $150 to spend frivolously, so I plan on getting an iPod nano for the gym. (More on that later.)

Then, if the stimulus plan passes, we will match that and replace the woodstove in our living room with a pellet stove. Something pretty — I don’t like the black boxes on pedestals, even though those are cheaper — and then we have a secondary heat source, that uses waste wood products, and that supports our local economy — pellet mills are a newish industry in Maine.  Since we already have the hearth and a place to put it, it will be nice to have a ‘fire’ to sit by in the winter. We’ll keep working on replacing the windows, room by room (in this order: living room, master bedroom, guest room, dining room, kitchen, bath — maybe reverse dining and guest, we’ll see) and next year we will replace the roof and refrigerator. All of those things add value, as well as (hope to god) improving our heating bills and dependency on fossil fuels.  With oil just skyrocketing — FUCK, I just don’t want to prebuy this year at 3.49, then next year at 4.49, etc — rather, putting in a second source means we can choose based on price and efficiency. And, no matter what, it will be nice to have a fire going on cold nights. Pellets make a lot of sense for us, because we do live in town, we don’t live on acreage we can use to self-harvest our fuel source, we don’t have a woodroom, or a pickup, or a chainsaw, etc. Plus, it’s clean to store and burn. In a power outage, we’d need a generator, but realistically — we live in town. In the ice storm, people took generators around and let people get an hour or two of heat to prevent pipe freeze, and hell, maybe we’ll buy a generator in the future anyway, or a battery backup.  I’m excited about the plan, anyway.

The gym — I’ve added cardio, which I think is a good thing. I’ve been doing Group Power since September, and definitely feel stronger and more confident in my body, to the point that now I stay after GP (an hour long weightlifting to music class) and do 30+ minutes on a cross trainer machine thing. (I’m working up the courage to use an elliptical, and the cross-trainer is like an elliptical without the arm action.) But, while I have generally had no use for in iPod, preferring instead to eavesdrop, no one is talking at the gym, and the two tvs are set to ESPN and the Fox News Network, and closed-captioned, and as far away from my machine as you can get, so, yeah, boring. And the magazines generally suck. So, I want an iPod.

But, can I just be really proud of myself for a minute? I am going to the Gym. Regularly. And, yes I’m not a teeny-tiny sorority girl or whatever, but I started with 1kg weights on my bar and am now doing 10kg (on each side — so 20kg, or 44. something pounds, and the bar is 5, I think, so, like 50 lbs) and I can feel the strength in my body now. I had tried a step + weights class at the beginning of this term, but, ohno, step is not for me. It is "balance on one foot, trying fruitlessly to catch up and not trip" so I bailed after 3 classes. But, the premise was that it was a beginner fitness class — 30 minutes of step, and 30 of weights, and I was blown away by how…. easy… the weights part was. It would NOT have been without group power. And now, instead of that class, I am going on Wednesdays for just cardio in the gym. As the weather improves, I plan on walking the circle at least a few times a week, too, and as the days get longer, an after-dinner walk to the park will be a nice way to get some movement in. (We are ALL ready for longer days and warmer weather — after-dinner time now is reading books and watching Jeopardy, but we sure need some more outside stuff to do, and light to do it in.)

My next step is to get some vitamins going. Yes, I suck. I never even finished my first bottle of prenatal vitamins from my FIRST pregnancy, let alone kept up through the second pregnancy and 15 months of breastfeeding.  When I taught I had a good system going, taking them in each week and taking with lunch, and I’ve just realized that there’s no reason I can’t do that at work, now. Plus, I have an FSA with it’s own debit card, so it wouldn’t even be spending money to use it. I did Omegas (Flax oil, I think) and a big women’s vitamin, and something else, I’m pretty sure, but I can’t remember what it was. Must do some investigating.

So, pellet stoves, using iPods at the gym, vitamin regimens — any valuable input on any of those things is always appreciated.

Our most recent oil bill ($600! And we have a super-efficient furnace and use less than 450 gals a year!!!! ANd will probably have one more tank fill this winter… god) made me freak about money, so we’ve set a challenge to Not Buy Anything We Don’t Need* until March 1. Which is interesting, because I find myself windowshopping like mad all of a sudden. IE, I now want an Apple TV. The new update that makes it work standalone is pretty cool, and having AppleTV, I could subscribe to the daily show and colbert report and other shows, so it would be like having the exact cable shows I wish I had. In theory. And if AppleTV & iTunes ever do a netflix like thing, w00t, I’d be all over that.

Also windowshopping: cars. I really want to drive my car into the ground, and I’m doing well with that, but it doesn’t mean I can’t browse the websites for local dealerships. Honestly, it was less panic-inducing than I might have thought — I found a great used Outback, with 41k miles and all of the luxe features I’d want, for just 12k! And saw a car almost exactly like mine, with higher mileage, selling for 7k. Mine is prob in worse condition — it’s 10 years old and counting, and showing it’s age — but this one was just 2 years younger. I have kind of an arbitrary goal of making it to 200k in mine, and we’re at 135 now. And, since I drive about 5 miles a day, total, just 5 days a week, it could be years before I get to 200k, so I’ll just keep saving and hope to one day pay cash. On the off-chance I would need one quickly (horrific car crash, etc) it’s at least nice to know what’s out there.

And of course, new windows  — the show Tom did of the two we’ve put in Ing’s room aired this weekend, and it made me want more! more! MORE! But, alas, we will wait. I mostly want to see what our accounts look like after a month or so of necessity-only spending.

I don’t know how people who can’t afford oil, are affording it. It’s almost double what it was when we first moved in, four years ago, and like I said — we use very little! We  also keep our thermostat lower than anyone we know — 54 during the day (when we are not home) and 62 overnight, and 64 during the evening hours that we are awake.  And we have this woodstove, that the chimney sweep advised against using, but we really need a second opinion — especially if oil is like this next year. It’s also a goal to pre-buy this summer; my boss did, and paid a full DOLLAR less per gallon (2.49 vs 3.49) so that we don’t get these puke-inducing bills.

A month of window-shopping isn’t so bad.

*Exceptions are a photo-thank you card for my Grandma, for our Christmas checks, and we can use any giftcard balances we have, as that is not coming out of our MONEY.

It’s snowing! Everything is cancelled but my work, which is being clsoed at noon, so there’s at least that. It’s not a big deal, as I live SO close to work & daycare, and I’m sure Ing is having a great day.  My coworkers are not in, but no one else is, either (hello, snow!) so here I am, drinking coffee and listening to podcasts, uh, working, I mean.

Christmas shopping!

Dave: I think we’re going to invest in two more windows, but he also just asked me to update my wishlist, so maybe not? Which then sort of screws me, since I don’t know what I’d get him other than windows.  He’s been mentioning being interested in an iPod, too, lately, but probably more like a classic. And with that, I don’t know if my iBook could handle every one of his swedish death metal bands being stored on it, so I sort of have this long range vision of eventually setting him up with his own iMac and getting him an iPod then. Long range, though.

Ingrid: Is easy. Cardboard blocks from Lillian Vernon, which I think she’ll actually like quite a bit, since yesterday she spent a crazy amount of time stacking the canned goods from my grocery shopping — and big cans, too, like the 28oz canned tomatoes and stuff! I was really kind of impressed, I didn’t realize she was into stacking like that, so the cardboard blocks will be fun. She’s also getting a table and chairs (IKEA!) and I picked an easel up for her at IKEA too, but I’m not sure if I should hang on to that a while longer, yet.

My sister and I are getting my mom an iPod touch — she has been wanting a real ipod for a while (she has a shuffle, but I kind of hate the shuffle concept in general, and always have — you need to be able to SEE what you HAVE, imo) and she’s always, always asking to check her email. At my house, in the airport, at other people’s homes, etc. So, now she can. The other pro is that that gives us a good thing to buy for going forward, that isn’t STUFF. iTunes giftcards or an Audible subscription or something — she’ll like it, and it’s shit I don’t have to sort through when they die. Woot.  She’s done.

My dad, we are going to get him a PS2 game or two, and the promise of loaning Dave’s PS2 for his recovery period*. He had fun playing on the XBOX in Texas, so it might make the bedrest go by quicker. That, and the Planet Earth DVDs. Smartwool socks, which will be his favorite.

SIL (from the IL draw): GC to Joann, and I think a sub to Quilter’s Newsletter magazine — she’s recently gotten way into quilting, and back when I liked doing things with sharp pointy objects, that was a great mag, and generally comes highly recommended.

Niece’s BF (from the IL draw, Dave’s designee): Auto tool set thing? This is all Dave, but I’m just writing it down to keep track. (Some tool kit thingie that they guys at work all got and loved.)

MIL — some paper and ink for her camera printer (which was her bday gift from us) and… no idea.

Scroll down for some vid of Ingrid test driving her snow gear.

*I don’t think I’ve mentioned this, but my dad is having his leg broken and reset and his ankle fused in February — he had a horrible break, skiing, when he was 19 or so, and it healed horribly, and is now incredibly painful. It’s the lower part of his leg, and the tibia and fibula bones now basically look like the letter K. Not cool. Anyway, the surgery/ies will have him on complete bedrest for 2 weeks and modified for 6 more, and he’s needed it for years, but hasn’t been able to figure out the best two months to Not Walk — as it is, he’s missing the best skiing month to have this done and hopefully be healed before commencement season.

I voted today! In the pouring rain, after dark, and with a toddler in tow. Ingrid voted with us last year, too, and I plan on taking her every year. Last year, one of the wardens was the guy that married us, and he held her while we voted. This year, he’s actually in an election, so he was only there on the ballot. (And I voted for him, of course.) This year, Ingrid sat on the little counter thing while I drew in the black lines, and she watched.

I remember going with my parents to vote, but in that little town, there’s on booth, like an outhouse in the corner of the town office, and the ballot box is made of plywood and has a little lock on it. I plan on taking Ingrid to vote every year, to see democracy in action, to see that your voice counts. I took Amy’s son, back in the Bush v Gore election (at the time, she wasn’t able to vote, and my polling place was conveniently at his school and she wanted him to see the process) and he actually drew the lines in for me. I look forward to doing that with Ingrid.

I didn’t sign all the petitions at the end, which I normally do, but for me the important part was to vote, and to do it in the rain with a toddler — when a lot of able-bodied people don’t bother — was as good as it was going to get tonight.

Today was also the first time for Ingrid to take a header off of our bed, which, considering we’ve been cosleeping for 17.5 months, is pretty remarkable. It wasn’t even at night! But this morning, as Dave was getting ready for bed, instead of toddling over to him, she inexplicably threw herself over the far side of our (unusually high) bed. I was at work. She cried for ten minutes, but recovered quickly — more quickly than Dave, even. I joked that the drop loosened up some stuck brain cells, because since then she’s perfected the art of kissing US (MELT) and learned how to say "grampy," which pleased my dad (on speakerphone) to no end.

We’ve been doing swim class with Ingrid on Saturdays. Sometimes we both get in, sometimes it’s just Dave, and once, it was just me, but it’s a fun little gig and gets our asses in gear on Saturday morning. Basically, when I was a kid, growing up near water just evolved into knowing how to swim and liking lakes and whatever. Ingrid isn’t growing up like that, but I want her to be able to get her ass back on the dock should she happen to fall in. And, at least enjoy water some. Thus: baby swim class.

Today I sat on the bench while Dave did the pool part, and sat next to a mom, and we started talking, and OMG, it was so nice to Talk to a Mom. I mean, I work with mothers, but their kids are older than mine by a few years, and/or they are just different about stuff. This mom, we started talking about stupid things people say that come true (like, "it goes so fast!") and that led into her admitting that her kid still ends up in bed with them and how people giver her flak about it, which led ME into "Oh man, Ingrid wakes up with us every morning, and the way I see it, that’s the stuff I’m going to miss, so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts." I think this woman was actually relieved to talk about it, and we did, and then that led to discussing childcare, and how she is looking at centers because her mom isn’t really able to continue caring for her, and lo and behold,  her first choice is our childcare, so I gave her the scoop on that. She’s a middle school guidance counselor, so we talked middle school for a bit, and honestly, I think both our husbands were annoyed that we weren’t clapping for every splash our daughters were making, but OMG SO WHAT. She was also preparing for her first night away, and I shared my story of my own conference and how it was actually pretty refreshing, etc, and meanwhile our kids were being dunked by their dads, and it was great. Just to talk to a mom, IRL, was so nice. THAT’s the stuff I miss when it comes to being a working parent, and why I’ve set up an entire category at my Local Parents’ Site just for "working parents." So much of what happens that’s fun for kids, happens during business hours, to give the SAHMs something to do, and dammit, working parents need those connections too! AT LEAST as much as the SAHMs; too often the WOHMs are cloistered away in their office and when they do run into these group activities, the SAHMs don’t really get the challenge of the WOHM life, and the WOHMs don’t get the camaraderie of the SAHM life. 

Anyway. It was good. Now I’m finally going to get off my ass and order some MOO cards so that in the future, I can hand one to a mom like that.

My Night Away was great. Freaking GREAT.

My rental car was a brand new Camry, all big and quiet and not littered with daycare report cards or empty water bottles. I drove to Freeport, zoomed through LLB and the outlet quickly, and then headed on to a little town south of Portland, where I met up with one of my internet friends at her house. She let me charge my phone (the outlets in the car weren’t working, argh) and play puzzles with her son and make googly eyes at her daughter, and then when I left, she sent me off with cookies and milk! Very cool. Go, Internet!

I then moseyed on down to Kittery, where I picked up a dozen things, and only bought one — the Hanna outlet was cool but their outlet prices were still too steep for my blood, and I got some overalls at OshKosh — some tan ones, and some red and white striped ones. Left there and went on to my hotel in Norwood, experiencing Traffic! Which always makes me kind of happy, in the way that billboards do — "We don’t have this in Maine, so I’m definitely not At Home!"  Checked in, got online and scribbled down some directions and headed to IKEA.

Oh, IKEA, how I adore you. I had a budget of $100, and most of that went to Ingrid, but still! I got her the LATT table and chairs set (really wanted Kritter, even though it was more expensive, so it’s probably good it was out of stock) and the MALA easel, a bead path and a hand puppet (hand puppet for the trip to Texas next month), a SPOKA nightlight, some kitchen stuff — graters and cheap knives — and then I headed back to my hotel.

By this time, it was after nine, I’d eaten a bagel when I first left home, and thank god for the cookies and milk, which kept me going til I rustled up a turkey club from the hotel bar. I’d packed all these one-time use packets of hair treatments and body scrubs and I’d found a pore strip in the medicine cabinet and packed that, so I spent the evening doing all those things that I never do at home (and then, of course, worrying that they were *so* old that they would make my hair fall out or something.) I slept well — giant bed, all to myself — even if I was right next to the elevator, and I was paranoid about my alarm not going off. (Which was a good thing to worry about, as it turned out — the clock time was set backwards, so when I went to bed at 10pm, it just said "10" and the alarm was clearly set for 7am, but when I woke up at 7 to no alarm, the LCD for the clock time now had a PM indicator. So, basically, I couldn’t have known the difference unless I’d been there before noon.)

My conference was good, the drive home great — so much loud singing-along to Ani DiFranco! — and when I got to my house, Dave had kept Ingrid up past bedtime, made a fort in the living room with our dining room chairs and a blanket, and were hiding out, waiting for me. So great. Highly recommended.

On another topic entirely:

So, my ILs do a name draw for christmas gifts. Kids get tagged on to their same-sex parent, so Ingrid and I come as a set, and my niece (good niece) drew our names. She’s wonderful, but she’s a 21 year old college student, and I really, really don’t want her to have to spend money she likely doesn’t have on us. (To add to that, her boyfriend drew a father/son pair.) Is it poor etiquette to contact her, either directly or through her mom, to suggest babysitting would be a great gift? She sits for her cousins’ kids frequently, and she adores Ingrid, and honestly, I don’t NEED anything — but babysitting would be huge. I’m just not sure how much this smacks of "Get me THIS PRESENT" or if she’d appreciate the consideration to her finances. Hrm.

Also, has anyone used Avon facial products? I had this almay kit of cleanser, toner, moisturizer, that made my face break out, so I bagged it. And I was reading reviews on makeupalley.com, and one that surfaced was Avon, the Pore-Fection line, which seemed about right (tho, no SPF, which as we enter the Sunless Season — as in, it’s dark when you leave the house and dark when you return) and there are several eBay sellers that sell the kits for about 20 bucks.  But, because I am a huge dork who loves reviews, I thought I’d ask. I feel like I’m in some middle land for my face, I still get huge blackheads, but I should probably start to consider Products for Aging. As it is now, I use nothing, except for an Aveeno facewash that I unearthed in my search for trial size spa products to take to Mass.  Thoughts?

What a good day, yesterday. We got up and went to the Y for baby swim class, and we all got in the pool, and Ingrid LOOOOVED it. Dave was the sole dad, and the plan is for him to do swim class while I workout in the gym, but for the next few weeks, we’ll all go as a family, because he’s a little uncomfortable being the only guy. Which is fine, it was a good time, and good family time, so I’m cool with it. Ingrid LOVED it, only part she didn’t really dig was trying to float on her back, she got rigid and stuck her legs in the air, but even then, she sort of relaxed more by the end of the song. When the instructor set a ton of little plastic balls afloat, she got excited and started saying "Bubbles! Bubbles!" She loves her some bubbles.

Swim tapped her right out, and she took a nap while Dave went and shot with Tom, and then we got ready for the second part of our day — Ingrid visits Aunt Julie and Uncle Woody and Mama and Daddy LEAVE TOWN, OMG.

I mean, we didn’t go too far, but it was the first time we’ve left her in 6 months or so, at someone else’s house, and the first time we’ve left her with a pack n play and jammies, for someone else to put her to bed. We don’t have an elaborate bedtime routine, or blackout shades, or white noise requirements, and I think that that probably helps for sleeping flexibility, but still. First time. AND, we were going to be way out in the country, like an hour away, AND not with our own car — Matt and Sara were picking us up. And the last time she was there, she was a potted plant, and now she’s walking, they aren’t childproofed (and I wouldn’t expect them to be) so it was going to be different… Dave was especially nervous, even turned down the wrong street on the way to his sister’s house, but she was happy when we left, so we just assumed everything was fine, unless otherwise stated.

Matt and Sara picked us up, we drove out to their coworker/friend’s house for a barbecue and horseshoes, and when a sudden downpour chased us inside, we packed up and went bowling. Bowling! I was so excited. I haven’t bowled in YEARS, but it used to be part of our gym class in elementary school, we walked across the ballfield to the bottle club/bowling alley and bowled candlepin, and then when I was in junior high/high school, the reservation opened up a tenpin lane, and we’d go oh, maybe once or twice a month in winter, and my mom was even on a league there, but then they paved over the lanes and the pool to make more room for bingo, and that sucked. Other than, I think I might have gone bowling in Phoenix once, but that’s pretty much it. I’ve been telling Dave for all 7 years of our relationship "Let’s go booowwwwlling sometime!" and we never have (I think of it everytime I go to his workplace, as it’s literally right next door to an alley) because Dave’s never bowled before. So, I was REALLY STOKED to go bowling last night, and I think Dave even had a good time, too! I mean, I know he did, since he said he’d go again.  Even if his method is a little rough, ie: totally just side-chucking the ball down the lane. Anyway.

When we picked up Ingrid, she was sound asleep in the PnP, and all reports were that she was totally fine, totally charming, so "goood!" and that they played chase and blocks and read lots of stories and ate dinner and had a grand time. And, as compared to the other grandnephews and niece, she was TONS better, and my SIL was saying "maybe because she’s a girl, and they are boys? But then there’s E…" and really, I don’t know why my kid is so chill, but I really feel like that whole strong attachment fosters strong independence thing is part of it, and also that she comes from two very laid back parents, as well. Who knows. I’m just glad she had no problems with any of it.

The other thing that was nice about yesterday, was seeing again what a great husband I have. I mean, yeah, he might make questionable purchases from magazine salesmen, but he is such a great person. At swim class, he didn’t hold back, despite being a little uncomfortable at his only-dudedom, because, when it comes to Ingrid, he gives 100%, nerves be damned.  He’s such a quiet, reserved person* that it’s cool to see how Ingrid totally opens him up. When we went to his coworkers house, he walked right in and said hi to his friend and wife, and then got right down on the floor with the 6 month old and started playing peekaboo. Ingrid has made him really love babies, not just his own, but now he ‘gets’ what babies and children mean to everyone else.  For growing up without a dad, he really has found his own way, and it’s a great one.

*He’s reserved, but he’s also got a wicked funny, but dry and black, sense of humor. He was in a little town an hour north or so, for work, and driving the station van, and some local yokel stopped him and started going off about the "cute new weathergirl," which makes no sense, because there is no weathergirl at his station. So the guy, who was not the sharpest tool in the shed, asked if she was in the car, and Dave said "Yep, in several different trash bags in the trunk." The guy wasn’t bright enough to, you know, either get the joke or call the cops, but still. DAVE! You can’t say that shit to people on the street. Heh.

Really, really good weekend. We went to MDI and basically recreated our daytrip of August last year, only with a bigger Ingrid. I also managed to pick up a pair of luxury baby shoes for half off, which was very exciting, and Ingrid LOVED the ocean, sat right down in it and let the wavies wash over her. Pics at flickr, of course. I tested out my new point and shoot (Canon SD1000) which was deliciously tiny, but my memory card hasn’t arrived yet, so I was stuck with the 32mb card that came with it, and lots of editing and taking small res pics, and whatever, but oh well. It was fun! Great way to beat the humidity that was swamping us, too.

Today we went to the American Folk Festival, an annual event on the waterfront, and that was okay. Ingrid took the longest nap EVER, over two hours, and only woke up because we really wanted to get to the festival so we sort of increased the volume of walking around usptairs and such, but when she woke up, she was ALLL about walking. We parked at my MILs, and visitied for a minute, and she didn’t crawl but once, instead, walking all around. Wild. The fair itself was okay, we had lunch (always good) but the music isn’t really our scene, and we couldn’t find a good spot for Ingrid to see unless she was being worn, so it was mostly a nice walk on a nice day.

Both days, though, babywearing ruled the day, with Dave carrying her in the patapum. We were talking about the evolution of Ingrid, how last year she was on mama’s front, and pretty unaware of stuff going on, and this year she was on Daddy’s back and more aware, and next year she’ll be on her own two feet and dancing! Hopefully. Last year, too, I was poking Dave everytime I saw a parent pushing an empty stroller with one hand while balancing a baby on their hip with the other hand, and this year, it was Dave. He was totally blown away that Ingrid was the *only* baby we saw being worn. I’m pretty sure he got some longing looks from other dads (mostly the pushers of empty strollers) and he loved it, so it was cool to be out there showing that there is an alternative.

And on a totally different note, Andy sent me this youtube video, but this link includes the transcription, and oh. my. god. So fabulously awful.

http://scarletwords.com/2007/08/26/miss-teen-south-carolina-was-robbed/

Man, the end of summer sneaks up on everyone, doesn’t it? Anyway.

So, Dave washed his cell phone a week or so ago, basically on the heels of the overpriced Disney subscription, so it’s been an expensive summer, you know? Today, I finally called unicel to see what the cheapest replacement phone would be, knowingwe’d have to pay full price since we didn’t have insurance and the contract was only a few WEEKS old. Basically to replace his phone (a barebones Motorola) would have been 180 bucks. The cheapest one would have been 130, but the CNET reviews were basically like "the worst phone ever, wouldn’t even crap on this phone if you paid me." GRRREEAAT. Just fucking fabulous.

Again, I was annoyed. I went to the Unicel store tonight, still pissed, and walked in 10 minutes before closing to say "My husband hosed his phone, I need the cheapest full price option you have." And the guy pauses and says "well, wait… hold on." And starts digging around in his cupboard. He pulls out a box and looks at a post-it note, and says "Yeah, this guy asked me to hold it for him, but it’s been two weeks, so I can sell you this one for $80." Oh, hallelujah, an $80 solution. He flipped open the box, and it’s a freaking RAZR. Which, of course, is not like cutting edge cellular telephony these days, but it’s more of a phone than the one that got washed, more of a phone than either the 130 or 180 dollar options, and HELLO, 80 bucks. SOLD. He dropped in the SIM card, and I was on my way. WhenI got home, though, I told Dave that he can’t make fun of my sister for at least 6 months, since he just had his own moment of KateKarma.

… kind of sucked. For one, Dave was sick (still is today) so we had to bag our plans to attend his work function, which was a harbor cruise on the steam ferry. (Sounds more luxe than it is; but it was free booze, on a boat, on an absolutely gorgeous night, on the river, which sounded like the coolest thing.) But, since you can’t really take your chances on "if I feel bad, we’ll duck out early" when it’s a BOAT, we cancelled the sitter and stayed home. Suck.  Sunday he felt well enough to go to the fair, so we strapped Ingrid into the Patapum for the first time and took advantage of dollar day, where it was a buck each for Dave and I (Ing was free) to get in, and we checked out the animals and stuff, and then paid a buck each to take Ingrid on the carousel. She’d gone on the one in the St Louis Zoo, and Dave had missed that first, but she liked her second trip, too. (Although the STL Zoo carousel is so freaking beautiful, I am glad that that was her first one… I know, lame.)

Ingrid and I went to say good bye to our friends Natalie and Julia; in true gretchen form, I met Natalie on the internet when she relocated here for her med school rotations (internship? I always forget the vocab on that…) and she had Julia 10 weeks before I had Ingrid, so Julia was Ing’s "first friend." She is off to Texas for residency, so we swung by for a last goodbye, and one last shot of the girls in Bangor.

Then, I spent an inordinate amount of time researching Disney World. See, the major conference in my field is EDUCAUSE’s annual one, and I’m dying to go. This year’s is in Seattle, which I’d love to attend, because I’ve always been enamored of Seattle, and yet never been, but to get there and back would make the trip almost a full week, and that is just too long for me right now. (It’s in October.) But NEXT year, it’s in Orlando, AND it’s over our anniversary. So, I’d like to take advantage of that and stretch it to a vacation (my boss is actually doing the same thing with her husband and son in March, for her Big Annual Event) but Dave thinks that’s ridiculous. Of course, I have to remind him that he married a traveler, and that he apparently loves Disney enough to pay for a completely inane subscription. (He doesn’t care about Disney.) And while right NOW, Ingrid might be oblivious to the Happiest Place on Earth, at 2.5, she would probably get SOME enjoyment out of it. Hell, even if we just went and stayed at a fun hotel, and visited friends and family (family on the east coast, friends on the west) why not? You know? Especially since my flight, and our room for so many nights, and my meals, would be covered by work?   Anyway, it was fun to research hotels and such, and to daydream about a Real Vacation for a bit.

Dave was still sick today, so I did the daycare dropoff, and at work, man, I just felt like crap. Not like Dave, but I’m getting a summer cold (the worst!) and that sucks. Tomorrow I’m leaving early, though, to pick up Ingrid and go to a La Leche League celebration at the park, for World Breastfeeding Week. I was hired so quickly back in February, that I evaporated from all of my mama-baby events, so I’m looking forward to a late afternoon get together with Ingrid and other babies.

That’s where I’m at. Yawn. (And any Orlando with a 2.5 year old tips are much appreciated, too. :))