Seriously???

The gift that keeps on giving

I received a gift last week. It was a kind gesture, and I am grateful. But it has nagged me considerably, because I am positive it was a re-gift. Positive. No question about it.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I re-gift. Here are my criteria:

1) It has to be something "generic" that I don't need, but would otherwise be nice enough to keep. By generic, I mean gifts like candles, bath stuff, etc. Not a handstitched handkerchief with my name on it. Cause who wants to pull out all that embroidery?

2) It has to be something I would have picked out as a gift also. Not something that would embarrass me to give, like this pillow we got for our wedding.

3) It has to go to someone who does not know me well enough to know that I re-gift. By this, I mean I would give the gift as a token - like to Dillon's nursery worker at church, or my elderly neighbor at Christmas. Not my grandmother. Or Daniel.

Does this make me a cheap person? (Yes, I am extremely cheap.)

Does this mean that I do not care? (No, I care deeply. But not deeply enough to shop for you when I have something perfectly good in my storage closet.)

Does this mean that all of my gifts are re-gifted? (No, I love gifts for me! But I do have way to much Bath & Body Works stuff. And way too many candles. Unless it is the new swirly Yankee one, like Michelle's. I'll take that.)

Does this mean that everything I give is re-gifted? (No. Unfortunately, re-gifting rarely works out for me. But I love the thought of it!)

So, tell me your thoughts! Is re-gifting acceptable? And do you do it? I have my own thoughts about which of you does this, so let me know so we can see if I was right!

Back to school

I started back to school last week and that is why I have no time. None. (That, and American Idol takes up almost three hours a week. No time for blogging!)

Seriously, though, my classes are good. Except for the one that lasts till 9:45 at night. That is gonna eat my lunch - uh, dinner? midnight snack? I am not a night person. I feel like I need to wear pajamas to class.

Also, I am tutoring one little boy with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD - a form of autism), and I am doing some team therapy stuff with a girl who has autism. That keeps me busy!

So if my posts are sparse, forgive me. I still read yours, but only about every other day. Remember when I would comment MORE THAN ONCE on a post? Those days are long gone.

I am sure this newfound school devotion will only last a couple of weeks, then I will be shuttling Dillon off to bed, pushing my textbooks to the side, and spending hours a night reading what you wrote. So make sure it is good!

Till then...

Update

Jami is doing fine. The baby hasn't had surgery yet, but there are several signs that point to a more positive outcome than originally thought. Please continue to pray for them!

Please remember my friend Jami in your prayers today. She is having a c-section this morning for her second child. Her sweet little girl is going to have some special needs, and is going to have surgery as soon as she is born. Please just pray for the family, and for a quick recovery for mom and baby! Thank you, friends!

*****Update: Her c-section isn't actually until tomorrow, and the baby will probably have surgery on Wednesday, so you have an extra day to pray!

The Top Ten Things that I know now, thanks to McXie’s Weekend Par-tay:

1) You can get free ponytail holders at Sam Moon. You just have to let a tiny woman put your hair in a "ponytail" to try on fake hair, and then she will let you keep the accessory. Bam! Free rubber band!

2) "Flight of the Conchorde" is some seriously funny stuff, and there is a small (but growing) cult following, particularly among members of McXie's wedding party.

3) In Frisco, it is common to eat Peanut Butter and Deli Sandwiches. Apparently.

4) Rolling your pants up to your knees and wearing tall boots is high fashion. And tight rolling is coming back in! I can't wait for zipper ankles!

5) Hotel comforters have the warming effect of Saran Wrap.

6) When you are cold, it is okay to wear pajama pants under regular pants. Even if it takes a group effort to get them in place. Oh, and sequins are okay for bedtime.

7) Speaking of sequins - if you don't have enough freckles, stick a sequin on and no one will know the difference. Unless it moves.

8) Surprisingly, waiters at Mexican restaurants can offer quite a lengthy explanation of the origin of "corned beef." Then they can come back a few minutes later and say "Never mind. I was totally wrong." And they can STILL get a decent tip, cause honesty is the best policy!

9) Mimosa - orange juice = champagne

10) When you find yourself wrapped in a luxurious robe, relaxing at a day spa with low lighting and tiny sandwiches, keep your wits about you! You will be offered a choice of lemon water or cucumber water. Choose the lemon. It tastes a little less like soil.

11) It is so nice to have a friend, who has a friend, who works for a man named Steve, and who will extend the company discount to the farthest removed acquaintance. Thank you, Jessica!

I had a FABULOUS time this weekend! I am completely pampered, except for the severe sleep deficit. I am going to fix that... right now!

American Idol: The story of a little Wyoming cowboy

Okay, this little guy is just too sweet! He came to the auditions with three other generations of his cattle raising family. He has a wide smile and a big cowboy hat, and your heart immediately goes out to him, cause there is no way he is going to reach his dream at this audition.

He swaggared onto the audition stage, and couldn't remember the name of the song. Immediately, Randy and Paula started with the "We say we support you but we are really shaming you on national television" routine. I think the two of them are worse than Simon at times. At least Simon is honest, and doesn't treat the contestants as if they are oblivious.

Randy said, "You don't have to know the name, just sing for us, dawg."

And this little cowboy opened his mouth and out came a raw, probably unpracticed, soulful rendition of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."

I get chills thinking back on it. Simon just stared. It was really cool. Paula, for once, offered her vote immediately, and it was a big, fat "no" but luckily Randy and Simon got it together and gave this little cowboy some hope.

"Welcome to Hollywood, Garet Johnson!" :)

No pressure

Someone dropped a hint that I haven't posted in a while, so I feel like I need to put something new up. But nothing new has happened! That Daniel will let me blog about! So this is just going to be an "update on Amanda Sue's life."

1) I started my Spring semester yesterday. I am glad to be back in school cause I really like the people in my classes and it gives me social interaction. This makes me in a good mood.

2) Dillon is learning how to take naps. That means that he lays down in his crib at certain times whether he wants to sleep or not. Supposedly, he will learn to regluate his sleeping patterns to a schedule. So far, it is just making me really tired and stressed, thus cancelling out my good mood from number 1.

3) I am in a good mood because American Idol started back up. And Grey's Anatomy finally has some new episodes!

4) I am dieting. It is actually not called dieting. It is called the Curves Six Week Solution. But it is a diet, fair and square. It makes me grumpy and cancels out the good mood from number 3.

5) I am going out of town Saturday and Sunday. It will be a relaxing bridesmaid spa weekend for my friend-who-does-not-blog, McXie. She is getting married soon. This weekend makes me in a good mood, because of all the relaxing I will do, and the promise of a mimosa and tiny sandwiches. It makes me sad though, cause I haven't ever left Dillon overnight. I am sure HE will be fine. I am worried about ME. So, bring me another mimosa, ladies. I am trying to relax!

That is my update. I will do better tomorrow, barring writer's block brought on by too few calories.

Extreme disappointment

I have recently begun watching America's Funniest Videos on Sunday evenings for a couple of different reasons.

1) There is always something to laugh at.

2) The new announcer is so much better than Bob Saget.

3) I can leave the room and not miss much of the plot.

Imagine my disappointment when I settled in tonight to play with Dillon on the floor. I turned on the television to have AFV in the background, only to discover that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is on instead.

What is this? Why is this show always two hours long? Can we rename the show, please? I have a couple of suggestions.

Extremely Long Makeover: Home Edition

Extreme Makeover: Long Edition

Extreme Makeover: Editions 1 and 2

Excruciating Makeover: Will they finish in time?

Extreme Makeover: How to Beat a Dead Horse

Bookworm

Tracey recommended Life of Pi, and I finished it last night. Late last night. Gotta read that whole last section at once - there is NO PUTTING IT DOWN. I really enjoyed this book! It had an intriguing ending that made you want to flip to page one and read it again from a different point of view. That is so rare in a novel. I can really see this becoming a timeless classic, read over and over and analyzed in high school English classes. (Vanessa! You gotta read this if you haven't yet!)

I really like to hear what other people have to say about books. Not enough that I would join a book club, cause who has time for that? However, a good recommendation helps me not to waste my time on things I wouldn't enjoy. Like A Million Little Pieces. But I am not bitter about that. Promise.

So, these are next on my reading list. What do you think?

1) John Irving's A Son of the Circus
2) Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha
3) Elizabeth Berg's The Art of Mending

Answers

Aw, shucks. Thanks for missing me!

We went to Houston for a funeral. For those of you not familiar with Texas, it is big. Fort Worth (where we were Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week) is four hours northwest of where I live. Houston (where we were Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week) is two hours southwest of where I live. That makes for a lot of driving, a lot of crying-baby-in-the-car, and a LOT of fast food. PLEASE don't mention Sonic to me for awhile.

*********

I don't have much to blog about, but I want to give you a little update:

We are VERY CAUTIOUSLY clapping our hands because Dillon's eczema seems to have cleared up. I tried not to dwell on it here, besides asking for your prayers, but it was seriously tearing me apart. It is so hard to see your little one hurting, and to not be able to do anything.

We have charts of things that we tried and hundreds of dollars invested in prescriptions, steroids, creams and lotions. I called our doctor last weekend because Dillon looked so bad. His eyes were swollen and his scalp was cracked and bleeding.

The man who called back was the doctor-on-call, not our doctor. He called in a prescription for some cream that we had not tried. It worked on his son's eczema, he said.

Well, it worked on Dillon's, too. His skin feels so smooth and soft! Not crusty or bumpy anymore. He feels like a baby again. Daniel and I can't keep our hands off of him!

It may not seem like a huge tragedy, but it was definitely a time of growing in our family. I know that God wanted us to rely on Him, and that is all we could do. We were helpless to fix the problem on our own! He is so faithful, and I am so thankful.

Thanks for the help

I was out of town for a few days. We went to Fort Worth to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and my sweet niece. We had a good (though short) visit, but it is so nice to come back to the comforts of home!

While we were there, Isabella and I were hanging out in the guest bedroom. She was looking at the clothes in my suitcase and holding them up to her head like she was going to put them on.

"Sut?" she asked as she held up various items, trying to find a shirt.

By the time we were done with that game, the majority of my clothes were strewn on the bed, and she hadn't even found anything she wanted to wear.

Later, Daniel came in. I had my hands full, so I asked him to put my stuff back in my suitcase and move it out of the way. He began to cram various items into my bag. Cram. Cram. Cram.

Now, I never turn my nose up at wrinkled clothes, but COME ON! I should have just let Bella do it.

Calling Chandler Bing

Could this song BE any stupider?

If you haven't heard it, go here and click Play on number 11. I am sorry for exposing you.

Waking up is hard to do

I am a napper. I have always loved to nap. Morning naps, evening naps, long naps, pregnant naps... I love 'em all. What I don't love is waking up.

When Dillon wakes up from a nap in his swing, he looks around for a second. He blinks and opens his eyes wide. His chin puckers and his mouth stretches out into an exaggerated "sad face." If he had tears, they would well up, but he doesn't, so they don't. He opens his mouth and lets out a little lamb bleat.

I have decided that he hates waking up. You know that yucky wake-up feeling, when your head feels like a bowling ball and the light is too bright and the room is too warm (or too cold) and your mouth tastes gross? Well, that is my least favorite part, and I think it is his, too. He probably hates it for the same reasons that I do, but he has to do it four or five times a day, since he naps so much.

Hmmmm... Sounds like a fair trade to me.