Where did January go?

Holy COW. It seems just yesterday, I bought my new calendar. I cannot believe I am already having to turn a page on it.

I like January. I know many folks do not, but I appreciate that perception of a fresh start, a new beginning. 2007 was such a struggle and having something to "kick off" was good for me. Thus far, January has been good and I am looking forward to the rest of the year.

I am really looking forward to Valentine's day this year. I splurged and got Secret Agent Josephine's Valentags. Oh my, these things are so adorable. I am giving them as party favors for Arun's school party, but I did get an extra set for us and a few friends. I have decided to do some sort of hanging/heart/sash thingie where I will attach the tags to it. This way, we can enjoy it every year.

I would like to give a shout-out to DK books. These books are just a crazy amount of goodness. I am very appreciative that my sister (a former pre-school teacher) turned me onto these and I try to do my part to spread the good word. Anjali already likes pawing at them and now, Arun likes "reading" them to me. For extra fun, I have him "read" them to Anju as well - kills 2 birds with one stone because they both have fun that way. Anyway, I cannot express how amazing these books have been in terms of learning. For example, I did not set out to teach Arun colors - he did not show much interest, so we just read books and not much else. Then, by accident last summer, I discovered that he already knew his colors and I had no idea when/how he learned them. I can only assume it was from the countless times we read the DK book. I am excited for the day when the kids are older because DK has a beautiful one on India that I will use to teach them about India. Sadly, they do not have one on Kansas. *pout*

Damned straight, when I make it to the NE Mobile Bookfair, I will be heading straight to the DK section and going completely ape shit.

Would this be too much? You think?

I suspect X would think so.

I read a post about mommybloggers the other day and how they have nothing else to talk about but their kids. That is sticking in my craw a bit. Truthfully, there is not much more to me these days than my kids and my husband. The kids are small (one is breastfeeding, no less) and my husband is building a new business - everyone else needs me more these days than I need myself. So, they do get more of me. I am mostly fine with that because I know it is temporary - reading mommybloggers with older children certainly keeps that in perspective. Therefore, I will resist the irritation that rises like bile when I read things like that post. I do try to write about more than my kids, but you can only write so much about books and yarn before you are bored with your own damned self. And I cannot really write about the new business because that is work and you know The Rules About Blogging About Work.

Anyway.......I read this just today on ParentHacks:

In order to keep my 2 1/2 yr old and 4 yr old occupied at the grocery store or at Target/Walmart, I will bring along their toy shopping carts, so that they can "shop" with me. I let them carry a few items and then have them put the items on the checkout counter. They love it!

If I could reach through the wired tin cans running this here Internet Thing, I would love to throttle that parent. Read carefully - the parent took BOTH of her kids' shopping carts. I cannot imagine all the venomous ire directed her way as she and her kids log-jammed aisle after aisle.

What is the lesson here?

I recently found a link to a now-defunct blog that had some awesome recipes on it (credit goes to Modern Day Hermit for the link that lead to this link - thanks!!) The Kerala Kitchen is pretty much dead, but holy crap! Two of the recipes on here have quickly been put into frequent rotation in our own little Kansas Kitchen. Her shrimp fry is mouth-watering and so hot, that it is also eye-watering (I have to wash the shrimp off before giving to Arun). However, it is SO easy to make and as a bonus, requires marination. It is a cinch to let it marinate, then fry just before dinner. I love dishes that require marination because I can get some of the steps out of the way during naptime. We also hoovered up her tuna fry like no-one's business (oink! oink!), except that we used salmon, instead of tuna. I am not a huge fan of tuna, but cannot wait to try this with marlin, which happens to be in season and is somewhat available right now.

Also, I informed X that the Innernets have spoken and that shears will not be Doing the Nasty on our sweet girl's curly locks. Thank you for your votes!

Anatomy of a Hairstyle

A quick comb through makes all the rats flee for their lives.

A little calming conditioner ain't so calming.

Pray for low humidity and no rain.

Ugly Doll, Beautiful Girl

In my quest for achieving gender equality, I bought this Ugly Doll for Arun when he was a baby. The doll's name is Minimum Wage and was my crude attempt at imparting some sort of educational lesson. Arun cared not a whit for the doll, but Anjali loves it.

The Cat's Meow

Loads of questions. No answers.

I was stunned at the Heath Ledger news. His daughter was born less than 2 weeks after Arun, so he and Michelle Williams were usually on my radar. I was really saddened by the news when they broke up last September because again, with the "kids close in age thing". Obviously, anyone who has a kid near the same age as Ledger's are thinking similar things as I am and I suspect there are loads of 2 year olds getting extra squeezes today.

Besides being stunned by the Heath Ledger news, I am still shocked by this week's episode of the Wire. I wish I could talk about it, but we watch it ahead of time via On Demand, so the episode will not air until this Sunday for everyone else. If you are also an On Demander, Alan Sepinwall has some excellent coverage and stellar commenters each week for us folks watching it ahead of time. Reading his commenters really gives great insights into character motivations. Hands down, Marlo is one of coldest characters to date. He makes Stringer look like a puppy dog.

So.....in other news, I am between books. Well, fiction that is - currently, I am reading the World is Flat - A Brief History of the 21st Century for my nonfiction fix. Oddly, it is falling flat with me, but it is somewhat interesting and has spurred some good conversation with X and I, so I will probably finish it. But fiction? I have had Love in the Time of Cholera lingering on my shelf long before America's National Girlfriend, Oprah, commanded that Ye Shall Go Forth and Read. I am tempted to pick that up. I am also tempted to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It is one of my all-time favorite books EVER - I have read it over and over the years through many stages of my life, but I have not read it since becoming a mother. I would like to read it and report back how it stands up over all this time.

Not much else to report - Anju and I have the colds that X and Arun just recovered from last week. This pisses me off primarily because I am supposed to meet Bethiclaus's new baby on Saturday. If I am not better by tomorrow, I will have to cancel since newborns need extra leeway when it comes to colds. I will be sorely disappointed if I do not get to meet Mimiclaus. Dang it.

Whaddya wanna know?

Whew. Thanks for the comments yesterday - I am glad to know that folks do not really care if I respond or not. I will, however, begin to respond to specific questions within comments. I will also continue to add frequent commenters to my Bloglines as I have been doing the past month. I think making a greater effort to comment on your blogs is a better and more thoughtful strategy.

Something I have been meaning to do is put out a "Questions Nobody Actually Asks" section - I have wanted to clean up my sidebar for awhile now and this will help with that. I will explain things like how I came up with X as a codename (Black Beauty was the inspiration, oddly), how I came up with the moniker Cagey (not nearly as cagey nor clever as one would think), why my kidz namez are weerd and uneek, what rancid raves means and what the hell is the dealio with sheep? Are there are any other questions that I should answer?

Okay, before I sign off here is a quick Cute Kid Story:
Arun was playing with his Diego action figure and one of his Little People. I asked what Diego's friend's name was and he answered "Kelli!". Then, he threw both of them down the stairs and yelled "Bye, Diego! Bye, Kelli!". I have no idea what to make of that but if I catch Diego and Kelli macking on each other, X is going to be v. v. disturbed.

Has anyone seen my mojo?

I seem to have misplaced it. I am still out of sorts blogging wise.

..................My husband is driving me insane. As a SAHM, my office is our home. As a Work At Home Dad, (yes, my husband is a total WAHD), X's office is also our home. All the SAHMs reading this just let out an understanding, collective sigh of dismay. To give the WOHMs out there some perspective, let me offer an analogy. Say, you are working in your high-rise office and then, your husband shows up, sets his laptop on your desk across from you and starts working all the while making comments about how you go about your business. You escape to the bathroom and scoot out the door for awhile. In the meantime, the spreadsheet you were working on emails itself to your husband's laptop and insists on being updated. You come back from your bathroom trip and your husband is griping about the spreadsheet because it is pulling on his pant leg, whining for attention. In the meantime, the database you were working on starts beeping wildly because it is hungry, er..... corrupted. Your husband is very irritated by the spreadsheet and does not quite understand why you cannot update the spreadsheet and fix the database at the same time.

I do not remember committing to this scenario in our wedding vows. I remember some bullshit about "better" and "worse", but I most certainly did not agree to this "working at home" business.

.............I finished Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass and it was a very satisfying read. The story was pretty dark and featured one of the coldest, most sociopathic characters Grafton has ever depicted. If you have not read Grafton before, I highly recommend the series. Grafton weaves a good mystery and leaves enough clues that you can sometimes even figure out the solution - her endings are rarely contrived. To start the series is quite simple - pick up A is for Alibi and begin from there.

...............X wants to cut Anjali's hair. This appears to some Indian thing, this cutting of the hair. In these here parts, we White Folk tend to leave Baby Girl Hair alone, but the Indians, they do not. And you know how those wily immigrants are, what with their coming to our land and expecting that we change to meet their expectations. The nerve! While I admit that Anjali's hair is beginning to resemble something of a bird's nest (and built by one who appears to have a drinking problem), I am not quite ready to cut her hair yet.

..............I suck at responding to comments. Does anyone care? When I get 2 seconds on the computer, I would rather be out reading your blogs, instead of responding to comments. I see commenting on your blog as more useful than commenting back here on my own blog. Seriously - is anyone pissed off that I do not respond to comments here? Be honest.

What do I do when I run out of questions?

Sigh.
As predicted, I completely jinxed myself. Mere hours after I posted yesterday, Right Bottom Molar reared its ugly, ugly head. What a mess of Motrin, teething tablets and tears. Many, many tears. It is so frustrating to hold a child as they writhe in pain and not be able to do much to ease their suffering. Arun is doing better today, but no school for him since he was sick last night. One advantage to a talking toddler is that Arun was able to tell us that yes, his tooth hurt and yes, it is this tooth that hurts and why yes, he would like some Motrin, pass the syringe already, DUDE.

In other news, a friend of mine started blogging last week. However, I want to give her a month of writing before I link to her. Can you help a blogga out by giving her some newbie advice?? Seriously - think back. WAY back. What advice would you give a new blogger? Here is mine:

1. Play with it for awhile. Have FUN.
2. I recommend not using real names until you figure out what you want to talk about and how anonymous you want to be. I was VERY anonymous on Rancid Raves for the first year because I was working at the Fed back then. Little by little I started coming out.
3. Be your own Audience of One. If it does not interest you, then do not write about it. However, if it interests you, but you think it might be boring to others, still write about it. Sunday's post is a good example. That was a rather boring post, but I wanted to remember what a sweet weekend it was. That post was totally for me.
4. Don't use your blog as a stomping ground for loved ones. X and I are a normal couple with normal problems. However, he is the most important person in my life. I want my blog to reflect that.
5. Respect your children's privacy. I used the Middle School Rule. I imagine one of Arun's Middle School friends reading this blog. Would what I write bring Arun unending shame? If so, it doesn't make the blog.
6. Carry a small notebook with you to jot things down that you think you might want to write about.
7. Did I say have FUN with it?

So......Little Miss Thang turned 6 months last week - I finally downloaded the snaps. What a sweetie! Although, with a coiffure like that, we should have named her Blanche. With that hair, Anju looks as if she is much closer to collecting Social Security than I am. At least those curly locks are not blue.

It is insanity to me that she is now 6 months. I cannot believe that she is log-rolling across our living room. That she can roll in both directions. That she can sit in a shopping cart. That she is trying to pull her legs underneath her. That she is belly-laughing at Arun's antics. That she cries when I leave the room. That she can reach for toys and pull them into her mouth. That she can sit in a playground swing. That she squeals for her daddy. That she babbles all the time. That she is ready for solid food. That she was ever not in my life.

I had no clue as to what I was missing.

6 Months

Floor Potatoes

Why does someone automatically believe there are four billion stars, then still check to see if the paint is really wet?

I have talked about Life's Perfect Moments before, but this weekend, I had a perfect weekend. Seriously - it was just perfect.

Friday - went to an open kid's gym thingie to meet my sister and Only Niece. While there we met up with a cousin's wife and I met someone new - my doctor's daughter-in-law. She was really nice and perhaps, I will run into her again. It is fun meeting new people and something I miss from my professional days of public accounting and at the Federal Reserve when I traveled to clients/bank branches all the time. Anyway, after the gym, my sister and I met our grandma for lunch. Then, I went up north to the Briarcliff area to my favorite yarn store, Urban Arts and Crafts, to pick up some yarn. The kids had fallen asleep on the way there, so I parked to read a book and people-watch for awhile. The kids woke up and I threw caution to the wind - I carried Anjali on my hip and had Arun walk. Folks, this was a HUGE risk. But it went great! Arun did not run away a single time and stayed nearby (or somewhat). We went to a baby boutique where he charmed the owner's pants off, then we went to the yarn store where he played with the store cat, then went to a specialty grocery store. This is where I realized the potential fatal flaw in my plan. I needed to the use the cart, but where would I put Anjali? I put her in the front seat and she was thrilled to be riding up there - she kept looking back at Arun as if to say "See ME, see ME - I am in front now, suckah!" I think it tired her out by the time we were done, but she did fine. After the store, we went into a pastry store to get my husband some treats. Did our day end there? Hell, no. We then went to Mojavi's to meet her and Chocolate Covered Susan for our Wine and Chocolate Playdate. After that, we went home to a house filled with wonderful smells of chicken saag since X was cooking that night. The rest of the evening was spent playing with the kids and then we watched Real Time with Bill Maher before packing it in for the night.

Saturday - I loaded the kids up in the car and took them to my mom's house in Lawrence where we were meeting my sister and her brood. My sister and I dumped the kids with my mom and then hightailed our asses outta there to go have lunch to celebrate her birthday - we went to the Mad Greek - an old favorite of mine from when they were just a hole in the wall on 23rd street. It was just the two of us - no hands to wipe, mouths to stuff, except for our own. We have not done anything with just the two of us since before Anjali was born. Um, you know that thing were you and another person talk without interruption? Yeah, that - we had one of those. I believe it is known as a conversation, something like that. After lunch, we went shopping a bit and each bought a wicked cool necklace made with Japanese origami paper at the Phoenix Gallery with gift certificates that we both gotten recently. After the Lawrence outing, I brought the kids home for a peaceful afternoon and evening. X cooked again - he pan-fried some marlin, Kerala style, and made a cucumber and tomato pachadi. X watched the NFL playoffs while Anjali slept. Arun and I hung out playing, reading, wrestling and then watched TV. I even got a little bit of knitting done and made quite a it of progress on Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass (which is awesome thus far, per usual for Grafton.)

Sunday - No plans today, which is a treat. I did take the kids to the gym ("Mama's gym" as Arun calls it, as opposed to the kid's gym that we went to on Friday.) I did not do a crazy workout, my goal for the next few months is to just make it a habit of going. Period. I walked a bit, did some weights and some toning. Nothing major, but it was really, really peaceful to get lost in my own thoughts for a change. The rest of the day should work out to be uneventful, just watching some more NFL playoffs, which is fine by me.
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I think the best part was walking around Briarcliff with the kids. No stroller, no stupid baby bucket. Just walking. Instead of my usual status as Beast of Burden hauling a good 50+ lbs of stuff, I felt like a person. A mom, just wandering around with her kids. I do not say it often (what? me brag? Never), but I was so proud of Arun. He was patient and polite to everyone he met. He did not run crazy or get into things that he should not have. He said "Hi" and "Bye" to everyone he met as well. Hot diggity damn, y'all. I think I see the light at the end of this tunnel I have been barreling down for the past 6 months.

I just cursed myself, did I not?

Doesn't Kansas City need a Stitch n' Bitch?

Why, yes...... Yes, it does.

1st Quarter, 2008 Schedule
We are still meeting the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month and hope you can join us!

Jan 6th Cafe Roasterie (62nd Terr and Brookside Blvd, KCMO)
Jan 20th PTs Coffeehouse (12520 Quivira Overland Park, Kansas, at the Jayhawk Central near KU's Edwards Campus)

Feb 3rd Cafe Roasterie (Skein Swap. Bring one skein of yarn to swap)
Feb 17th PTs Coffeehouse

Mar 2nd Cafe Roasterie (Pattern Swap. Bring a few copies of one of your favorite patterns to swap)
Mar 16th PTs Coffeehouse

The Rules of Stitch n' Bitch
Who?
Namely, YOU.
Anyone is welcome - be it someone who knits, crochets, embroiders, needlepoints, quilts, WHATEVER. If you like to Bitch while you Stitch, come join us. Not sure how to Stitch but you're well versed in the Bitchin' end of things? Come anyway and one of us will gladly teach you the Stitchin' part.

Why?
Why not? It will be a nice, relaxing way to spend a few hours two Sundays a month. To boot, did I mention how incredibly bitchin' we are??

When?
We will be meeting the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month from 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

Where?
1st Sunday of the Month: Cafe Roasterie at 62nd Terr and Brookside Blvd.
3rd Sunday of the Month: PTs Coffeehouse at 12520 Quivira Overland Park, Kansas ( at the Jayhawk Central near KU's Edwards Campus)

Both are well-lit, comfortable coffee houses that happens to serve some of the best coffee in Kansas City. It's a great way to support a locally-owned businesses, too.

I don't technically live in Kansas City, can I still join?
Thus far, we have a very eclectic group from ALL over the Metro - Kansas side, Missouri side, South and North. We've got knitters and crocheters - English style, Continental style, throwing, picking.......... So yes, if you can make it to Kansas City, feel free to join us.

Questions?
Contact me at: cagey333(at)gmail(dot)com

What is the worst parenting advice you've ever gotten?

I go to Starbucks nearly every Wednesday when our babysitter comes. It is near the house, smoke-free and a decent place to sit n' knit. It is like having my own weekly Stitch n' Bitch where I am the only audience for my litany of complaints. I sit with my iPod, sticks and yarn while I escape for an hour in thoughts. It is pretty nice.

Yesterday, I ordered my usual 3 shots of espresso and as the "barista" handed it over she commented, "You're crazy!!". It was all I could to not retort back, "Actually, you are the one who is crazy. You call yourself a barista, yet you are not even pulling your own shots because that automated machine back there does it for you and furthermore, you just served this to me in a cappuccino cup instead of a demitasse". Somehow, I did not think she would appreciate, much less comprehend the sarcasm. Whatever. For the record, 3 shots of espresso has less caffeine than most of the fancy drinks dispensed there AND no sugar.
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The other day, I went up to get Arun when he had woken up from his nap. He was crying and I checked to see if his pants were wet from a leaky diaper. I exclaimed "Oh good, your pants are not wet!" and he sniffled back "No, eyes are wet. EYES are wet." Cannot argue with Toddler Logic.
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Another question from Goofy Girl: "What's the worst parenting advice you've ever gotten?" I generally do not talk about what I am about to talk about. It is a loaded subject and one I do not care to argue about - everyone has to do what they feel is best for their child, so why fight about it? Right? However, since Goofy asked, I will answer.......

Without a doubt, I think the worst advice has been variations on the theme of "Just let your kid cry it out. Otherwise, you will spoil him". Yeah - that makes a lot of sense. And folks, I am not talking about fussing for 15-30 minutes or so. I am talking about crying. Sobbing. Wailing. Against my Mommy Gut, I did try it a few times and ended up with a shaking, snotty, puking kid. Who then took even longer to calm down than the original amount of attempted CIO. Again, the Mommy Gut? Needs to lose a few inches, but she still holds true.

My favorite Wise Parenting Tome, The Science of Parenting by Margot Sunderlandd is based on extensive brain research by Jaak Panksepp. I LOVE this book as it looks at the science of what is going on in our wee ones' heads. Often, our kids do not make sense to us and this book helps us to understand why (I love the section on tantrums - GOLD.) {EDITED: I had a bit of a diatribe here about my anti-CIO opinions. Then, I went to take a shower and thought about it. Yeah, this is my space to rant, but I felt my diatribe was not respectful to my friends. We are all just parents, trying to do our best. So I deleted some of what I said. I left the part about the book in because it truly is one of my favorite parenting books and does a great job of explaining why CIO can be harmful to your baby. Still, I would love to hear what your own worst piece of advice has been. Peace.}

Is admitting your hypocrisy considered hypocritical?

Remember my rants about thank-you cards? I just discovered a scribbled list with a few folks on it who have NOT received a thank you card from me - apparently, they were rudely forgotten in my post-partum haze. CRAP. That is just a few items on the Still Hanging Over My Head list that I am feverishly working on. Unfortunately, none of those items are particularly interesting enough to write about.

Anjali is 6 months old today. I will put out a post later this week with her Chair Snaps. To say that these past 6 months have flown by would be trite, albeit true. I am still sad that I feel like I did not get to savor her newborn stage as much as I was able to with Arun. A few months back, I realized that her newborn stage had come and gone which made my heart sink a bit. At that point, I decided to not waste any more of her precious baby time and as such, have really made the effort to soak up as much of her chubby little thighs, dimpled shoulders and pudgy cheeks as I can. My favorite mornings are the ones where I can just lay in bed for awhile and watch her gurgle and coo. Seeing her gummy, slobbery smiles are such a delicious way to start my day.

The other day, Goofy Girl asked me to answer the question "Look ahead two years. What's your life like?" I suspect she would be disappointed in my answer "Exactly where I am." I have no Grand Life Goals for the next few years, no Great Visions. I hope I am here in my suburban-cookie cutter house still living my suburban cookie-cutter life soaking up as much as possible with my suburban cookie-cutter children. Maybe while reading some books, fiddling with some sticks and yarn - all while blathering on about it here.

It is a good life and I am grateful for it.

Serenity when?

I noticed that I have really enjoyed responding to comments. I am going to try and keep it up - for the "most-current" posts at least. I have also enjoyed discovering some new blogs! Speaking of comments - now that I have opened them up to everyone, I am getting spam. I may have to start closing comments on old posts - just an FYI if you noticed some odd things coming through on your feed readers.

Not much lately - I am in a writing slump which sucks because I have some writing to do for X. How do folks write for a living? I simply cannot make the words magically appear - I need to be in a special mood for the words to spring forth from these fingers. Bah.

The kids are doing really well. Anjali is so very roly-poly these days......tummy, back, tummy, back........she is not quite log-rolling across the living room floor, but she is damned close. Officially, she is mobile because you cannot be guaranteed she will stay where you put her which means I need to start thinking about re-babyproofing the damned house all over again. One advantage of having 2 Under 2 is that Kid #1's toys are not Too Teeny Tiny yet - at least that is one battle already won. It is pretty funny to watch Anjali and Arun together these days. He declares that it is "Anju's turn!" for rolling, then he declares that it is "Arun's turn!" for rolling. When he log-rolls across the floor, her eyes light up as if to say "Whoa. DUDE." She is absolutely fascinated with him. I think what is most surprising is that when I envisioned them playing together, I thought it would be down the road, when they are older. I had no clue it would happen this early! The rolling around....the games of Peek-a-boo..... the making each other laugh by being silly..... It is truly a joy to watch them together. They are the sparkle in these dreary, bitterly cold days as of late.

Because Segues Are So 2007........Why are folks so against the warehouse clubs? We have a Costco executive membership and it literally pays for itself with the 2% rebate we get at the end of the year. In short, it is FREE for us to have this membership and we have saved so! much! money! on our necessities over the past year - things like fresh produce, chicken/fish, cheese, detergent, paper products, milk, coffee beans, diapers - all things that we have to buy anyway. Furthermore, gas is always cheaper there - I remember a few weeks back it was 7 cents cheaper - add in the rebate and that was a 13 cent/gallon savings. Crazy!

In A Slump

Today, I was hanging out at a kids' gym, keeping an eye on Arun while he ran like a crazy man. Anjali was all eyes, having the time of her life. Next thing I know, I look down and Miss Thang is slumped over asleep. She has done this before and it always reminds me of when my grandpa used to fall asleep at the dining room table while reading the paper. Believe you me, Arun NEVER EVER did this, so it still shocks me when Anju does it. (Thanks goes out to Mojavi for snapping this on her camera phone!)

What's the goal?

Do you make resolutions? I generally do not, although I do like to reflect on the past year. What did I do wrong? What did I do right? How can I improve myself and do better? Things like that....

The new year has started off pretty well - we had a nice day yesterday, just hanging out. Arun had gotten a parking garage for Christmas, but I had put it back so that he would not get overwhelmed with all the new toys - I put it together New Year's Eve and we he had so much fun playing with it. He also got the companion car wash, but I am saving that for the next snow day. Anjali spent the day smiling and rolling around on the floor.

I have missed blogging, but am glad I took the break to get other things done. I would like to get back into the swing of things, back to my usual 3-4 posts weekly here. My schedule on the FoodieBytes blog will be Tues/Thurs and I am thinking I will do the BoobLog on Mon/Wed. I hope that having a schedule of sorts will keep me on track.

Speaking of resolutions, Lifehacker.com has a great piece on goal making and some tools to help you manage your resolutions, if you did make some resolutions this year.

Also, Scribbit has a cool piece on "swing-ball bowling" which looks to be a great activity for bitter days ahead of us. I am totally sacrificing a tennis ball for this cause.