"The Drowse"

Why is it that I had trouble keeping my eyes open earlier tonight and it is now 10:27PM and I am still awake??  Still awake and blogging at that!  Yes, I was that student in class tonight who embarassed herself by nodding off a time or two.  I normally drink an enormous thermos of coffee on the way to class, but I didn't have time to brew my usual pot this afternoon.  Tired and void of caffeine, I felt "The Drowse" strike after being in class for only about five minutes!  "The Drowse" is a sneaky little devil.  I'm sure most of you know it well.  When it hits you know its more than likely going to win no matter how hard you try to fight it off.  And of course it loves to strike in public settings like class, work meetings, church, etc.  "The Drowse" struck me tonight with full force and unfortunately I succumbed to it's evil doings.  But, my heavy eyes were definitely not a result of boredom in class.  We had a fantastic class tonight with a wonderful speaker.  Like I said, I only nodded of for a few seconds a time or two, so yes, I do remember what happened in class!  My lids felt like lead weights because of this:

Today was gorgeous and the girls didn't have school, so I decided a trip to the National Zoo would be just the ticket.  Their grandmother graciously came over to take care of baby Erin while the three of us took our field trip.  Now, I've been to the National Zoo once before, but I must not have paid much attention to the terrain at the time.  Well, you start at the bottom and work your way UP.  So, that meant pushing a double stroller containing two little girls UPHILL for TWO HOURS.  If you know me, you know that I have arms that resemble small tree limbs.  In other words, I have ZERO arm strength.  Or upper body strength for that matter.  Yes, I am a total wimp and not afraid to admit it!  The stops for the indoor exhibits didn't provide much relief considering the fact that they are kept at a temperature of about 85 degrees. Heat + strange animal smells + double stroller + uphill terrain = half dead nanny.  One man laughed at me and said "Honey, you need a motor for that thing don't you?"  I laughed in agreement and Gretchen quickly scolded me for talking to a stranger. ;-) 

Alas, the half dead nanny forged on like a soldier in the heat of battle and managed to get through most of the zoo (the girls think they saw the whole thing..shhhh).  The half dead nanny also thoroughly enjoyed the downhill walk back to the car ;-)  The girls had a wonderful time and it was a treat watching their eyes grow wider in amazement with each new animal they saw.  Gretchen decided the hermit crabs were her favorite and Lucy and I both chose the elephants.  I voted the cockroach exhibit as my least favorite!

OK..."The Drowse" is creeping up again.  I think that is my cue to sign off for the night.  More to come with news of things non-nanny related!  Good night!

Smitten

Happy Saturday to you!  I woke up this morning to yet another rainy and cold day!  But, like I said in my previous post, I'm a sucker for a good rainy day.  And it makes it easier to stay inside and study when gorgeous weather isn't calling me outside! ;-)

I wanted to give you all an update on my sweet little gals.  Gretchen and Lucy are absolutely taken with their little sister and are always eager to help feed her a bottle, change her diaper, or wrap her up in a warm blanket.  Gretchen will happily take diapers to the garbage can for me...how funny is that?  Of course I don't shy away from taking full advantage of this service!  They love to pat her on the back and give her kisses on the head.  It is such a precious sigh watching them! 

Yesterday was my first day of alone time with baby Erin.  Gretchen and Lucy were at school, so Erin and I had the morning to snuggle up on the couch and listen to the rain.  Like her sweet older sisters, I am smitten with this little peanut!  She is just as beautiful as she can be and is abnormally good!  I never heard her make a single peep yesterday.  She loves to sleep and eat and as long as she's doing either of those, she's a happy baby.  Erin, I hope you continue this pattern of good behavior because you are spoiling your nanny big time! I'm going to have to work on not spoiling her though.  I had a very hard time making myself put her down yesterday!  It's hard resist having a warm little bundle of sweetness in your arms though, isn't it? :-)

Hope you are having a snuggly Saturday wherever you are!

The country mouse meets the city mouse

Hello blog friends!  I hope you are all doing well!  It is rainy and COLD here in the nation's capitol.  I have to admit that I enjoy a few rainy, chilly days.  I'm a sucker for snuggling up on the couch with a cup of hot tea, a good book or a good movie.  This is a drastic climate change from the hot, humid conditions I experienced during my visit home.  The minute I stepped outside the Birmingham airport I could barely breathe it was so humid!

I had a wonderful time visiting my family and friends, despite the fact that I spent the majority of my time working on a midterm paper for school. :-(  It was actually nice to shut myself up in the cozy study at my parent's house and not have any distractions (i.e. DC nightlife!).  Plus, I had two fabulous proofreaders on hand...my parents!  The paper was turned in yesterday and I am keeping my fingers crossed for a good grade!

So...let's talk about the title of my blog post.  This afternoon the girls were downstairs playing in basement and I decided to walk down to make sure they were behaving themselves.  I had the little peanut with me (baby Erin) and when I got down to the bottom of the stairs I noticed something out of the corner of my eye on the floor...something dark...something dark that moved...fast.  I did a double take and didn't see anything...right away.  I waited a few more seconds and all of a sudden out came....

Now, that is a picture of a cute brown mouse, but this thing didn't look anything like the cute little field mice I've seen around our house in Monroeville (not that we have mice everywhere, but I've seen a few in my lifetime).  It was dark and fat and could easily have been a small rat.  I'm still surprised I didn't drop the baby and run for dear life.  I just stood there and watched the little invader dart across the room behind another piece of furniture.  The girls were on the opposite side of the basement, so they had no clue that one of Mickey Mouse's cousins had decided to pay them a visit.  Thankfully, their dad had just come home and I calmly walked upstairs and informed him of the situation.  Of course super nanny forgot to tell the girls to haul fanny upstairs before she went up to grab dad to come to rescue.  So, we ran downstairs (peanut still in my arms and fast asleep) and I told the girls to run upstairs as fast as they could.  I scared the poor things to death and all they could say was "Why?!  Why?!  What did we do?!"  Gretchen jumped up and started running and she hadn't made it three steps when our furry friend darted right out in front of her!  Thankfully, she was too focused on me to look down and she scaled right over it! 

Everybody managed to get upstairs and of course Gretchen and Lucy were begging me to tell them what was wrong.  I tried to avoid telling them the whole truth (them being terrified to ever go in their playroom again would NOT be a good thing!), but they kept on asking and I just told them a little mouse had come in the house by accident and that we were going to find it and put him back outside where he belonged.  Put him back outside??  Yeah, right!  Mr. Mouse (or Rat) will hopefully succumb to one of the four traps that are now waiting for him in the basement!  I hate to wish death on an animal, but either the city mouse/rat bites the dust or we are banished from the playroom until he does.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will be dust before I get to work on Monday!

OK, now that I keep looking out of the corners of my eyes for unexpected furry visitors, I think I'll head to sleepytown! 

And baby makes three....precious little girls!

Happy Friday Eve!  Are you as excited as I am that the weekend is almost here?  I can't believe that I'll really be in Monroeville this time tomorrow!  I know, I know, it's only been six weeks, but I'm a homebody and six weeks is more like six years to me!  I'm just praying that the there will zero turbulence on the flight tomorrow morning.  The thought of the plane crashing doesn't phase me...it's the thought of getting airsick in front of 300 other people that terrifies me.  I get horrible motion sickness...HORRIBLE.  The kind that makes you wish someone would just pull the trigger already.  I've been on one cruise in my life and I will NEVER go on another one.  You have no idea how happy I was to see land after 7 days of motion sickness.  Thankfully Dramamine helps on plane flights, so I will be popping several of those first thing tomorrow morning!

These past two days have been a little hectic with the new baby sister arriving home yesterday!  Gretchen, Lucy, Grandma, Aunt Mary Beth and I were all so excited we almost couldn't stand the wait!  Heidi, Michael and baby Erin finally arrived at around 3PM.  And guess who was the only one who remembered to have a camera ready??  ME!  It was so much fun taking pictures of Gretchen and Lucy meeting their new baby sister for the first time.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have been a part of such a special day! 

Gretchen and Lucy waiting for baby Erin to get home!

Gretchen and Lucy with their bad hair day nanny ;-)

She's here!!!!!

BIG SISTERS!!!

Just taking a closer look....

Erin Shea O'Brien!

I have more stories to tell you about the last few days, but they'll have to wait because I've got to get back to the books!

Later gators! :-)

In need of more arms!

I know I've already posted once today, but it's 12:39AM, I'm still awake and I think blogging will make me sleepy!  I've actually been up working on a mid-term paper for class.  I contemplated making a large pot of coffee and pulling an all-nighter, but decided I probably need to be in good shape in case the little punkin' comes home from the hospital tomorrow!  I know what you're thinking...I'm probably not going to be in good shape anyway since I'm not getting in bed until probably 1AM! 

In the midst of my mid-term studying, I've been thinking about the fact that I only have ONE set of arms.  Not really something you think about every day is it?  Well, now that Baby Erin is here I've really started to think about it.  So...that's one set of arms and THREE children.  Mmmmm....I'm thinking I need a few more arms!  Obviously that one is going to happen, so I took a break from my work and checked out baby slings on Amazon.  The "Sleepy Wrap" came up with the best reviews. 

Now, I've kept lots of newborns, but have never used one of these contraptions before.  Here it is:

Can you see me with a baby wrapped around me like that every day?!  I can't even imagine how the thing works, but according to the reviews it is fairly simple.  And it looks like there are thousands of ways to wrap up the baby, which seems strange but I guess it works or otherwise people wouldn't buy it!  You think I should go for it??

Poor Baby Erin doesn't even know that she might be spending the first few months of her life all wrapped up with no where to go! ;-)

OK, I think I need to turn off this computer and head to sleepytown.  Sweet dreams to you!

I am now the proud nanny of....

THREE little girls!!  The O'Brien's are the proud parents of a brand new baby girl...Erin Shea O'Brien.  I am so happy for them and cannot wait to meet her!  I arrived at work this morning and Gretchen and Lucy both couldn't wait to share the exciting news with me.  It was one of those "I want to tell her first!" situations!  In an attempt to keep things fair (and avoid any meltdowns!), I asked for one of them to tell me what the baby was and for the other to tell me the name. ;-)  They are both so proud that they are now BOTH big sisters! 

Aside from the excitement going on at the O'Brien house, I have a little something I am pretty excited about myself.  Here is a hint:

If you haven't already guessed, I am making a trip down South!  I am flying home this Friday morning and will be there for 5 days.  I know making a trip home after only six weeks seems soon, but Georgetown has next Monday off (Columbus Day) and I decided to take advantage and have a fall break.  I cannot wait to see my family and friends!  They have no idea how much I miss them!

There is one other "person" that I am especially excited about seeing.  Here she is in all her fluffy glory:

This is my precious cat and best friend, Bunch.  She was a stray that appeared at my parents house in 2005.  She lived outside at their house until I decided to adopt her in around January 2006.  I paid the ridiculously expensive pet deposit, loaded her up, and brought her to my apartment in Birmingham and have been attached to her ever since.  She has been with me through the ups, downs and all arounds of the past three years! 

When I decided to move to DC, I of course would not even consider leaving Bunch behind.  I knew that I would just die without her.  Well, after looking at a dozen apartments (the only ones I could find that allowed pets) and not finding anything worth renting, I had to accept the fact that I might have to leave Bunch behind after all.  When I finally found my wonderful apartment, the landlords wanted so badly to let me have Bunch.  Unfortunately, they have a cat allergy in their house and it just wasn't possible for me to bring her.  So, I had myself a good, hard cry and accepted the fact that it was better for me to live in a safe place without Bunch rather than an unsafe place with her.  All I could think was what a terrible mother I was and how depressed she would be without me (and I too without her)!  And I also didn't know what in the world I was going to do with her.  Thankfully, my sweet parents offered to re-adopt her and allow her to live on the second floor of their house.  They have six dogs that go in and out, so obviously the first floor was not going to work!  My parents assure me that she is doing just fine and that she is getting plenty of attention. :-)  I miss her terribly and often have to fight back tears when I come home because she isn't at the door waiting for me.  I can't wait for the day when we are a pair again!

OK, it's time for me to get down to work and hit the books.  Mid-terms are just around the corner!  Let's hope this mouse can put her brain to work and make an A or two!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far! 

Scratch that October 29th due date!

Good morning!  I hope everyone is having a great Monday so far!  I arrived at work this morning to find two little monkeys who had some very exciting news to tell me....Baby O'Brien is on his/her way today!!!  Apparently this bambino is ready to see the world and couldn't wait any longer!  I guess I'm going to have to prepare for being a nanny to three kiddo's really quickly now that my extra three or so weeks of preparation are shot. ;-)

I will update you when the little one arrives!

Happy Monday!

Well, maybe just one more post...

OK, I couldn't resist taking a picture of one of my MANY parallel parking victories that I've had over the past few weeks.  Parallel parking was one of my biggest fears when I moved to DC because there is no other kind of parking here.  If you can't parallel park, you ain't parking!  Can you believe I didn't have to parallel park for my driver's license test in Monroeville?  My parents and I practiced in the driveway before I moved, but it wasn't enough to make me feel like I really "had it down pat."  When I drove into DC for the first time, all I could I think was "What do I do if I can't park my car?!"  After many failed attempts and even a few frustrated tears, I've finally managed to whip my car into a parallel parking space in no time!  Aren't you proud of me?  Now, if only I could get someone to take a picture of me working a roundabout!  :-)

I also forgot to tell you about these in my last post:

I don't think I've mentioned yet how much I LOVE getting mail (bills and junk mail excluded!).  I turn into a happy little kid when I find a special envelope or package in the mailbox.  On Saturday I came home from a walk and found the above package and note in the mailbox.  That's two special pieces of mail in one day!  I was a doubly happy little kid!  The letter was the sweetest thank you note from my friend Ashley in Birmingham.  Ashley writes the best thank you notes. They are always so personal and heartfelt.  Plus, she has georgeous handwriting!  I think she should start a thank you note writing school for dummies like me that have horrible handwriting and can't write anything that isn't generic and boring!  Thank you for my thank you note, Ashley! :-) 

Ashley's husband was my boss for four years and their precious daughter was the first baby I babysat for in Birmingham.  She is now three years old!  I nicknamed her "Squishy" when she was born because she had the softest, squishiest little cheeks I'd ever seen.  I have so many wonderful memories of babysitting for her and playing with her when she would come up to our office to visit.  I would actually get offended when her parent's would ask someone else besides me to babysit!  Of course this usually only happened when I wasn't available to sit. ;-)   Reading Ashley's note really made me miss that sweet girl and her family so much! 

After reading Ashley's note, I tore into the package:

   

A present from A'Mano!  One of my favorite stores in Birmingham!  I kept on tearing and found:

Three of the cutest housewarming gifts from my friend Hampton!  I babysat for Hampton's two adorable boys every Thursday night for three years.  Her oldest was only three months old the first time I babysat for them.  If you saw her boys I promise you'd want to steal them!  They are cute as buttons and sweet as can be.  I sure miss my Thursday night dates with them.  I'd take those little fellas over a grown up date any day! ;-)

Don't you love the "Pick Your Nose" cups?  Hilarious!  Table Topics has already been given a home on the coffee table and City Walks with Kids in Washington, DC will be awesome to have when it's outing time with Gretchen and Lucy!  Thank you, Hampton (and family!), for such thoughtful and fun gifts!

I decided to wrap up my weekend tonight with a trip down the street to:

That's right, one of the BEST ice cream and homemade candy shops is ONE BLOCK from my apartment!  It is really, really hard to avoid making a nightly trip down the street to Thomas Sweet.  Ice cream is without a doubt my absolute favorite edible thing in the world!  I think it should have it's own spot on the food guide pyramid. ;-)

After my trip to Thomas Sweet, I walked across the street to:

Don't you love the name?  I have actually never been inside Propper Topper, mainly because I am a poor grad student who has to stay out of boutiques like these!  I do love the idea of a store devoted to hats.  I have always loved hats and I wish women still wore them like they did in the days of Jackie Kennedy.  If I didn't think I would get alot of strange looks, I'd wear a suit, kid gloves and a pillbox hat to church every Sunday.  Yes, I'm one of those that is hoping that soon it will only be fashionable to dress like the characters in the AMC show Mad Men!

While I was peering through the window, I happened to notice this:

The quote says: "Where we love is truly home; home that our feet may leave but not our hearts."  Isn't that wonderful?  I have never heard it before, but it is definitely now one of my favorites.  I'm thinking I might even have to either scrape together the money to buy the picture or ask Santa if I can have it as an "early" Christmas present!  This country mouse's little feet are certainly a long way from home, but her heart will always be there. :-)

Sweet dreams from my home to yours!

The long, long post - may cause drowsiness!

Hello from the big city!  I hope that all of you have had a wonderful weekend.  I have been a very busy bee over the past week or so and have unfortunately neglected this poor little blog.  I promise that I am going to be a much better blogger and post more frequently from now on.  Not that you are losing sleep over the fact that you aren't getting your daily dose of what's happening with the country mouse. ;-)  Quite a bit has been happening and to make things simpler, I am going to break this post down into segments:  school, work, fun and driving.  That's right folks - driving.  Just wait until you read how that's been going!  OK...so here we go...

School

If you read my last post, you'll remember that I had a teensy breakdown over school a week or so ago.  Maybe that's normal for everyone in grad school for the first time?  Surely everyone calls home at least once and cries to their mother about how dumb they feel in comparison to everyone else in class?  Don't they?  No, I'm sure I'm probably the only 27 year old that still calls home crying when the going gets tough.  Oh well..at least I can admit it! 

Anyway...I went to class this week with a much more positive attitude (I think I can!  I think I can!) and I walked away feeling so much better than I did last week.  My professors and classmates are all fantastic.  I feel very privileged to be learning from some of the best leaders in the human resources profession.  I am definitely being challenged like I've never been challenged before, but it is such a great feeling.  Don't you think it feels so good when you really put your noggin to the test and achieve something you thought was impossible?  Well, this ol' noggin is being put to work and hopefully it will crank out some good grades this semester! 

After my little meltdown last week, I decided it might be helpful to buy an extra book or two on the basics of HR (you don't get HR 101 at GU!).  So, Lucy (the 3 year old) and I made a special trip to Barnes and Noble last week and we each picked out two books.  Lucy chose "A Bad Case of Stripes" and "Harry the Dirty Dog."  Actually, I sort of coaxed her into choosing "Harry the Dirty Dog" because I loved it when I was little. ;-)  I chose:

Not exactly as entertaining and colorful as Lucy's choices, but very helpful nonetheless!  Lucy asked me what books I picked out and I told her they were just "school books" because I didn't want to say the word "dummy" in front of her.  The last thing I wanted was for her to run home and call someone a dummy!

Even though it's been a little rough starting out, I am so grateful for this opportunity and I am looking forward to learning more and more every week at school.  Thank you Georgetown U. for letting this little mouse be a part of your community!

Work

I honestly feel like I don't deserve to get paid for what I do all day.  Gretchen and Lucy are just so easy it's abnormal!  They are also hilarious...I mean really hilarious.  Some days I am laughing so hard that I think I won't be able to stop!  One of my favorite parts of the day is when we sit down and have lunch together after they get home from pre-school.  They are so excited to tell me about their morning that they can barely stand it.  Those two monkeys LOVE school.  I think they wouldn't care one bit if I dropped them off in the morning and never came back!

Friday is normally our day to have lunch somehwere fun.  Of course we've already done McDonald's...that was first on the their list!  So, on Friday I took them to a cute little area of Bethesda where there is a sandwhich shop that makes their own bread.  The girls were mesmerized watching the man behind the counter knead and stretch the dough over and over again.  He was even sweet enough to bring them a tiny sampling of some freshly baked bread.  We sat outside and enjoyed our PB&J's on artisan flatbread.  They now refer to artisan flatbread as "that good chewy bread."  Afterwards we hit up the park and soaked up some of the good afternoon sunshine.  The girls want so badly to do all of the "big kid" things at the park, but I always have to pull them aside and remind them that the monkey bars are just a little too high for them right now.  Mainly I'm just terrified of one of them getting hurt while I'm on the clock!  Bless their hearts, they are too sweet to even complain.  If it were me at age five and someone told me I couldn't go on the monkey bars, I'd scream and them and tell them I was going on those monkey bars anyway!  Thankfully these precious girls are so understanding of their "nervous nellie" nanny!

Baby O'Brien #3 is due October 29th, so I am enjoying these last few weeks of it being just me and the girls.  Things are definitely going to be changing when the little one arrives!  And I have a feeling I'll be coming home with some pretty funny stories too! 

Fun

Have I been having fun in DC?  YES!  I love DC and have met so many new people!  Everyone has been so welcoming and have included me in all the cookouts, football game get togethers and nights out on the town.  We got together last night to watch the Auburn game and I brought over a big pot of homemade chili for everyone.  My whole apartment still smells like...chili!  Thankfully the Tigers pulled through...WAR EAGLE!

I love the fact that so many people here are from the South.  It definitely makes it feel like a small town inside a big city.  I love the "energy" of the city too.  That may sound a little cheesy, but that's the best way I know to describe it!  There is so much to see and do and I love that the sidewalks are always filled with people.  I think my favorite thing about DC is how walkable it is.  I walk everywhere except to work!  Georgetown is so pretty with it's tree lined streets and row houses.  I can't imagine why anyone would want to drive around here if they could walk instead!  One thing that I have noticed is that just about every other person you see on the street is listening to their ipod.  I never saw this in Birmingham, but probably because you don't walk anywhere very much.  This is definitely a city full of earbuds!  I admit that I've adopted the habit myself, but mainly because I'd rather listen to music than be deafened on the street by the constant beeping of horns and roaring metro buses! 

Speaking of beeping horns....let's move on to the topic of my driving in DC.....you're going to love this.

Driving

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not the world's greatest driver.  I tend to have a lead foot and I need to learn the art of gently applying the brakes when stopping.  I guess it's safe to say I just have lead feet when it comes to all aspects of driving! 

All things considered, the driving in DC really isn't that bad.  You just have to understand that the majority of the folks on the road are in a big hurry and don't care if they shove you out of your lane to get in front of you.  And they will use their horns like it's nobody's business!  People up here love to beep the horn at you, even if you haven't done anything wrong.  I got my feelings hurt the first few days I was here from getting beeped at so much, but I finally decided I would just beep right back at them!  I think the bright pink Alabama breast cancer research tag on my car doesn't help much.  Thank goodness I don't still have the Farming Feeds Alabama tag I had last year!  Folks up here would have a field day with that one. ;-)

Anyway, I'll get to the point (I know this post is ridiculously long and you've got a life to get back to!).  Are you ready?  I've been here a total of five weeks and have already hit TWO cars AND taken out my right side view mirror!  I haven't even had a chance to go to the DMV yet for my car inspection and now I can't pass because my right side view mirror is gone!  The first "hit" was just a minor bump that didn't result in any damage.  I was backing out of a parallel parking spot and "bumped" the car behind me.  The owner was about to get in the car and I was of course completely mortified.  Thankfully, she was very nice and told me not to worry about it.  After all, this is DC and everyone's bumper is pretty much destroyed!

The second "hit" was not quite so minor.  Again, no damage was done, but it was all my fault and it happened on one of the busiest streets in DC...M Street.  M Street is in Georgetown and it is where alot of the the high end retail shops and bars are located.  It is definitely not where you want to have a car accident.  You will make ALOT of people angry if you back up traffic on M Street!  They also get mad if you get stuck in the middle of an intersection.  You know when you just happen to be that last car that's rear end is sticking out enough to prevent the oncoming traffic from going through the intersection?  Well, I got stuck a few weekends ago and the oncoming traffic started beeping at me like crazy.  I panicked and started to back up (without looking first!) and...WHAM!  I backed right into a car crossing over the intersection (think t-bone situation).  I scared me to death!  The other driver and I managed to pull over and amazingly neither of our cars had a scratch on them.  He was driving an older Toyota Forerunner and I have a Honda Accord.  Thank you Toyota and Honda for making such strong vehicles!  The man was so incredibly nice and told me not to worry, that his car was "practically indestructible."  Ha!  I can promise you that I will NEVER back up on M Street (or any street for that matter) again!

Now, for the side view mirror.  I guess it was just a matter of time before I actually did some real damage to my car.  Friday afternoon I was coming home from work and when I turned onto my street, a car came FLYING towards me and I jerked my car over to avoid having a complete head on collision.  Of course there was an entire row of parallel parked cars on my side.  So, I jerked my car over and...WHAP!!  My right side view mirror collided with another car's left side view mirror.  There's was fine, Stewart's was completely destroyed.  Go figure.  So, I parked and walked up and down the street like an idiot looking for the remnants of my poor mirror.  After about ten minutes of searching I finally found it underneath another car....

How many years of bad luck does that equal??  The actual plastic part that holds the mirror in place is still hanging by a thread on my car, but without a mirror in it it's not too helpful.  A trip to the local Honda dealership has been put on the schedule for this week!  And I am pushing my mirrors in every day when I park from now on!

OK...are you tired yet?  Or maybe no one has actually even made it to the end of this post because it was a small novel?  If there is anyone out there who has stuck with me, I promise that my future posts will not be nearly as lengthy as this one! 

Have a wonderful night!

Come on in!

Hello there from the big city!  I hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall day as much as I am.  The weather in DC today is perfect - crisp, cool and sunny.  I just want to light a pumpkin scented candle and snuggle up on the couch with a cup of apple cider and a good book! 

I have been a busy bee this past week and have a very long post in the works that will fill you in on all my latest news.  And...I have also decided to make the blog public!  In the beginning, the idea of sharing my life on the internet for anyone to see scared me, so I made it an "invitation only" blog.  But, several people had trouble with the whole Google password deal and I felt like this was keeping people from reading my precious blog!  And I know all of you out there are just dying to read about the life and times of little ol' me, aren't you?? ;-)  Well, if you are, then come on in and visit awhile and feel free to invite your friends too!

I hear the little monkey's stirring from their naps, so I'd better run.  More later! :-)