… into the FUTURE!

Here I am, with a very chatty toddler and a teen son who is eligible for a Learner’s Permit (driving) in less than a month!

So here’s the scoop. Twilli’s vocabulary is ever increasing. And lemme tell you, she’s PROUD of it! She’s way too good at climbing and has gotten hooked on standing at the dining table on a step stool… for the WHOLE MEAL! I don’t even know if she’d sit in the high chair if we had it here. :-/

Au-teen has gotten MUCH MORE helpful with her. So, of course, she is even more crazy about him now! (She was patting him on the back yesterday. It was so cute!)

It’s so shocking that Au-teen is actually DISAPPOINTED that the enrollment process for his new high school is taking WAY longer than we expected. LOL – Who’d a’ thought?! (He wont be able to start until next Wednesday, at the earliest.) When we went to register last week, he was thrilled to see a nice cross-section of students. Looks like he’ll FINALLY fit right in. These kids are much cooler than I had expected! (While he was trying to inconspicuosly scope the scene, I was drooling over the architecture! LOL They just built a new building, and it’s STUNNING! – I’ll try to post pics soon.) And the office staff is AMAZING! It’s ABOUT TIME we found a public school worth something!

I’m still trying to dig things out of boxes and find reasonable homes for everything. The storage in the new apartment is far from optimal. But it’ll do.

We are REALLY thankful for babywearing! Especially now that it’s “single mom” mode again! I don know WHAT I’d do if I couldn’t perch Twilli on my back while we are out and about! We LOVE the special, pimped-out pod that I FINALLY made for my birthday/moving gift to myself! It has taken a lot of abuse and still looks BEAUTIFUL!

Speaking of pods: The TWILLI PIE PODEGI baby carriers are really starting to take off. I’m working with my first local client to create a (maybe 2) semi-custom pod. She fell in LOVE with the corduroy straps and ease of throwing a back-carry with a pod!

And I just created a KNOXVILLE BABYWEARING MEETUP. So hopefully we will get to meet even more cool, like-minded parents who wear their babies and/or toddlers!

We are still having a tough time adjusting to the winter climate. :-/ I used to ask my mom to read THE PENGUIN WHO HATED THE COLD all the time, when I was little! It’s such a cruel thing that I had to leave SUNNY FORT LAUDERDALE in the dead I winter!

But I have to say that I KNEW getting the iPhone was the right decision. It has kept me from falling into total social hibernation! It has also been EXTREMELY handy as a GPS! (I forgot how EASILY I get lost when I’m out of the city.) I plan to do a whole write-up on my experience with the iPhone 3G –good, bad, & ugly– soon.

I’m saddened that most of my old friends here in the VOLUNTEER STATE have been too caught up in their own routines to VOLUNTEER ANYTHING! (There are a couple I exceptions. But I’m no longer candy-coating things. So if you can’t take the heat, don’t play with a firefly!)

But anyway, we’re adjusting… slowly, but surely.

And if anyone here in Knoxville/Oak Ridge has any extra furniture they’d be kind enough to donate, LET ME KNOW! I will gladly VOLUNTEER to take it off your hands – think CLEAN SWEEP for the NEW YEAR! :good vibes:

**NOTE: Pictures & links are forthcoming. I need to find a better blogging iPhone app!**

Well, it’s been forever since I’ve blogged. Its been sheer chaos with the planning, packing, grieving the loss of our dear kitty, traveling, & setting up the new apartment.

But things are settling down, so I wanted to write a quick little note of greetings and good cheer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope everyone is enjoying a great time with friends and family!

It was fun to watch Twilli and her cousins, J & D, open presents and all try to play with the same gift at once! In the end, they liked my vegetable steamer the best! LOL We even saved a few of the gifts, for the kids to open later.

Au-teen was thrilled to get GUITAR HERO – World Tour: Whole Band Kit! (Thank you, Grandma & Papa!!)

Other than that, we went VERY minimal on the gifts this year, due to tight budget & moving, etc. But it was still very good.

We are so blessed to have wonderful friends & family around to share the season with.

I’ll try to post photos soon.

Photo: 1′Up

Hello everyone. Long time… I JUST NOW got DSL hooked up at my parents’ house in TN. Yea! So I should be posting with a bit more frequency now.

I returned from the Babywearing Conference in Chicago on Sunday. The conference was amazing! I learned so much and met SO MANY wonderful people! It is amazing to see so many like-minded people in one place. And it was very refreshing to be in an environment where I can wear and nurse my baby at any time, and still be part of the goings-on! Twilli responded REALLY well to everyone there too! She got to play with a lot of little babies and toddlers.

The TWILLI PIE PODEGIs were well received! I will be requesting testers soon, so please contact me if you are interested.

I met SOOOOO many influential people in the babywearing and attachment parenting realm! I probably don’t know the HALF of it! I plan to continue seeking wisdom from these people who have “walked the walk” and continue to share with us relative newbies!

It was awesome to traverse the city via public transit. (Gas was $4.47 – $4.89 per gallon there. Eeek!) And I did a LOT of walking! Babywearing makes a HUGE difference in that regard. And I was very pleasantly surprised at how much people helped me with my luggage on the train or in the train station/transfers! I guess I was quite a spectacle with a baby strapped to me, a backpack, a diaper bag/purse, and my suitcase pulled behind it all! lol

I will write more about the conference in the next few days. But I wanted to touch base and let everyone know that we are still alive and kickin’!

I realize I have not been posting a lot lately. I have been processing a LOT of stuff. Well a lot of it came to a head yesterday. A very dear family friend just lost his home and has left the state. I helped him pack whatever fit in the car, plus his 2 cats. And now they are gone!

This foreclosure epidemic is outrageous! :shakes head: I am at my wits end with how NORMAL PEOPLE are having to live!

Anyway, we are scrambling to make ends APPROACH a meeting point as well. And now our air conditioner unit is fried and it’s already summer heat here in South Florida. So please forgive me for not being a good little blogger and writing as often as I would like. I have to believe things will get better.

I would like to thank you all for your patience lately. I have not been writing nearly as much as I should be. Ideally, I would post 3-4 times per week. But these are crazy times. Our economy is severely bent! Everyone is feeling the crunch. But some are more effected than others.

I’ve been providing moral, social, and logistical support to a dear friend who is living in a condo that is deep in foreclosure. My friend “Joe” has been dealing with this stress for some time. His parents, who live out of state, actually own the property but let him live there while he was in college. But they have not discussed ANY of the financial matters with him. Personally, I think they are doing a disservice to him AND themselves by not sharing these vital matters with such a willing and fast learner. Instead, they tried to handle things on their own and told him “it is being taken care of”.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am like family to him and none of our relatives live in Florida. So we’ve been trying to scramble and find resources, advocacy, etc. Unfortunately, Joe’s parents are not very internet savvy and he doesn’t have internet access. So I have been doing a lot of legwork.

While the information is very sobering and disconcerting, I am learning a lot. It seems like there are soooooo many people facing foreclosure or other financial crisis. But there are legitimate agencies that can help. The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to NOT WAIT to seek help!!! A real estate attorney told me, “These things are like cancer. If they are caught early, often they can be stopped.”

I am grateful that I have been able to be there for my friend. I pray that everything works out. And I would like to “pay it forward” by sharing some of these resources.

• HUD Approved Housing Counseling Agencies – There are so many scams happening now. Find a reputable agency through HUD: U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department website.
• NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES – This is the local Miami, Florida agency we are dealing with. (It is HUD approved.)
• Broken Credit Blog – This blog has some interesting information about consumer rights and foreclosure.
• Aging and Disability Resource Center of Broward County, FL – Here is an agency for senior citizens and disabled people in Broward County (Greater Fort Lauderdale).
• Legal Aid of Broward County, FL – Provides service provides legal advice and representation to low income residents. They have a department specializing in housing.
• National Consumer Law Center – This agency claims to defend the rights of low-income consumers. I haven’t fully browsed the site, but wanted to include it just in case.

Please share by LEAVING A COMMENT and let us know if you have found any other good resources or have experience with these matters.

An internet junkie, that is. I had suspected this to be true. But when our DSL went down last week, it was confirmed. Although I wonder what regular blogger ISN’T addicted to the internet! I was writing a post last week, and all of the sudden I lost my connection. (It made me realize I should compose my posts offline, and then port them into WordPress.)

So please accept my apologies for going AWOL for a week. I hope to be back on track this week, although we will be traveling next weekend. So thank you for your patience! I have a lot of great things to share.

I hope everyone is having a very HAPPY EASTER!

I have been finding lots of great sites on Entrecard. I have also spent a huge amount of time exploring the blogosphere. At first I was feeling guilty about it. But I am no longer beating myself up for my natural tendency for A.D.D. behavior, especially when it comes to the internet and new media. (Don’t get me started on our A.D.D. society…)

I will bring some of the gems I find to the surface, for the benefit of the community, or for general amusement.

It had been about 15 7 years since I last tested my typing speed. I’m a bit disappointed with the score. It was 56 wpm before. But then I messed up the code and retook it. So now I am at 46. Oh well.

46 words

Speedtest

What is YOUR touch typing score?
What is your teeneger’s score? lol (I’ll bet they are a heck of a lot faster at TXT messaging!)

Please share by leaving a comment.

RANDOM THOUGHTS is the first of a weekend regular series.

1.) The map got UNSTUCK. I removed the “sticky” from the changing tables map. All this means is that it is not “stuck” to the top of the page anymore. Do not fear. It is still around. It is just lower on the page. You can get to it from the top links or the “changing tables map” category link, in the sidebar.

2.) You will start to see some posts about blogging and social media. While one could argue that it is “off topic” from parenting, I will argue that in order to be a WAHM, I have to keep up with the latest and greatest in money making options. I am thrilled that the blogosphere offers people a chance to show their humanity. Thus I’m HOOKED. I’m really enjoying entrecard, stumbleupon and facebook lately.

3.) Soda + junk food + video games + teen boys having a sleepover = BRAIN ATROPHY. But hey, it was O-Teen’s birthday get together. So I guess that makes it alright.