Join me in a good read

I used to be such a reader.  I'm gonna say that changed when Willa was born.  There just isn't as much time for sitting and reading.  Its getting a little bit better as she gets a little older, there are more times that she is content playing while I sit and read.  I had thought that working nights would provide me with ample reading time, which I guess technically it does, but if I start reading too early, I get even drowsier than I do if I find other ways to pass the time.  I am very excited about a book club that a friend recently formed and wanted to share it with any of my blog readers who love books!  We are "discussing" the books through a blog that Tiffany set up, so anyone anywhere can participate.  And, we are discussing one chapter per week so if you are slow like me, you can keep up.  And if you aren't slow, you can still be reading other things as well.  The first book we are reading is called The Hole in our Gospel and we are just now on chapter 1 so feel free to join in!

Aaaaand...there went nearly my entire night shift.

A million thank you's to the lovely and talented Nicole at Making It Lovely for sharing this link.  I only made it about a third of the way through the essays tonight, but I will read the rest.  And soon.  I adore election time.  And I have no problem with telling anyone who will listen that I am a left, left, leftie, liberal, hippie, vegetarian, gun-hating, social-contract loving, my-uterus-my-choice, wind energy worshiping, help-the-least-of-those-among-us, health-care/marriage/civil rights/equal pay-for-all, CRAZY PERSON.  Its just how my brain works.  I've tried to make my brain be at least a little bit more moderate, so as not to seem so crazy, but it just can't.  I try not to be too in your face about it out in the real world.  But this is my blog, darn it, so I can be as De-de-de-democratic as I want.  If you have even the slightest inclination, you should check out some of these essays.  Of the ones I read, a few were vulgar, mostly the ones written by comedians.  But most were very intelligent, well written, some very personal explanations as to why the individuals are voting for Barack Obama for a second term.  One of my favorites was #25, written by Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, on the changes that have been made under this presidency that have assisted his family in receiving the therapies needed for their autistic son.  He makes a great point here " regardless of your tax bracket, if you’re parenting a kid with special needs, you need help."  So very, very true.  
Another of my favorites was #34 by author Elizabeth Gilbert on the nature of Barack Obama's character.  Every word of her essay rang true with me.  Sure, there have been other political figures that I have felt confident in voting for.  For pete sake, I may start a Bill Clinton fan club some day.  But, President Obama is the first politician I have felt admiration for, as far as character goes.  His calm, poised demeanor is a breath of fresh air.  His commitment to all classes of people is admirable.  And for me, bottom line, there is a very strong gut feeling about our two candidates.  I have a Facebook friend who worded her feelings about Mitt Romney in a way that made me laugh, but also kind of sums up my feelings toward him..."You know how dogs seem to have a 6th sense about people, well I would bet money that if you put a dog on the presidential debate stage that Romney would be eaten alive..."  Now of course, I don't wish for Mitt to be eaten by anything, but I personally agree with the sentiment:)  May the best candidate win, and in the words of Andrew Sean Greer (essay #5) "Supreme court, supreme court, supreme court!" 

Dirty Girl (Mud Run)

I did a mud run with these 2 lovely ladies a few weeks ago.  A mud run is definitely something you can't do without a smile on your face.  Very much looking forward to doing others in the future!  And many thanks to Tiff for mixing me a few drinks afterward:)

School update

Now that we are more than a month into preschool, we can officially say that we love it!  If you or anyone you know is looking for a place to send their little ones, I would HIGHLY recommend Dimensions.  Worth every penny.  Everyone there is so nice and they have done a great job with Willa and she is learning more than I would have thought possible!  We had parent/teacher conferences the other day and I just couldn't stop smiling the whole time Mrs. Katt was talking about Willa!  Such a nice lady...(Mrs. Katt.  And Willa)  We are so proud of our little stink-bomb.  The 2 teachers, Mrs. Katt and Ms. Miller, often email/text us pictures of what Willa is up to during the day, so here are a few...

One thing that we have heard from Willa's teachers is how focused she is on her tasks.  For example, this dot picture which utilized a gajillion dot stickers.  And that she worked on for most of the day.

This is from a mini-field trip the kids took to the Sunken Gardens, just down the street from school.  The kids were matching paint strips with holes punched in them to the plants.  What a cool idea for learning all kinds of colors!

Then they drew pictures of the plants in their journals.

Watering one of the school gardens.

Tosha and I can be twins again

Just a few cute pictures from Tosha's 32nd birthday party, out in the big town of Panama.  We had 32 tons of fun.  And maybe each took about 32 jello shots.  And Brad and Jared stayed up about 32 hours too late playing Rock Band.  But what the heck, you only turn 32 once!!!

6 years. 6 years?!?

During my blog hiatus, Brad and I had our 6 year wedding anniversary!  Crazy...isn't it weird how things can seem so long ago, because the details have gotten a little fuzzy and also because it just seems like the way things have always been, but at the same time it can seem like time has just flown by?  That is how I feel about having been married for 6 years.  Sometimes Brad and I talk about what the heck we did with our days and evenings before we had Willa.  I'm sure all parents probably have that conversation.  How did we fill our time?  Did we have hobbies?  Did we talk to each other?  Did we sometimes just stare at the walls and drool?  That would have been us, imitating Luther of course:)
We celebrated our 6th anniversary similarly to how we celebrated our first, with a day-long trip to Omaha.  This time, we had our little friend with us.  We started off the day with some shopping.

New shoes!  And we got to ride the ferris wheel at scheel's!

Ommmmaha has a Lululemon now.  Go there.  Take lots of money.

After shopping, we headed to the Old Market.  And got thirsty at the same time.  What a coincidence:)  We decided to check out Blatt Beer and Table for a little happy hour drink.  Great spot to have a drink outdoors, if you are in the area.  The name of my drink just slipped my mind but it contained both whiskey and honey.  Top notch.

After drinks, we took Willa to the big slides at the Gene Leahy Mall area.  I think Brad and I had just as much fun on the slides as she did!  It was getting pretty dark at that point, so no good pictures of the big slides.  And of course, we had to round out our day at Blue.  Surprise!  Its our most favorite.  

It was a nice day away and a great anniversary.  I must again thank Brad for putting up with me.  Every day for many, many years.