My hitchhikers

In total I have picked up 9 hitchhikers. Some were interesting; others were not. I have never picked up anyone that I felt unsafe around and I have never had a problem.

I picked up my first hitchhiker when I was 17 or 18. I was driving late at night down by Stadium and this 40-something dolled-up lady just started flagging me down all manic-like, so I stopped and let her in. Remember in the Stones song "Honky Tonk Women" when he calls the woman a gin-soaked barroom queen? Well that's what this lady smelled like, but she must have known it because she took a bath in Obsession or something right before she left her pub and, oy, her scent was overwhelming. She explained that her car broke down, she needed a ride to Knapp's, she would have walked except two guys had been on the street right behind her (when she got into her frenzy as I drove by), and upon finding out that I went to the same high school as a few kids she knew she proceeded to tell me that she was a church administrator and God bless me. I guess even Christians get drunk sometimes, huh?
My next one was soon after and he wasn't really hitching. I was driving over the spider web bridge very unusally because I had some kind of appointment and was a couple hours late for school. I saw a car broken down on the side, and then about a quarter mile up I saw a very fat man waddle-running as fast as he could. When I picked him up he was so glad and gracious - it turned out he was a lawyer on his way to court and was almost late. He gave me his card and asked me to call him if I was ever in a bind, but I'm pretty sure I'd pay the extra money for someone a bit more reliable.
My third wasn't asking for a ride either, but she was boring. She was some punk kid walking so unsafely along Highway 16 over the Nalley Valley at like midnight on her way to her boyfriend's to probably do drugs and fight. She made no small talk and never said thanks, so I punished her by playing Oldies the whole way there.
Then in college I was driving my mom's Mustang convertible on a perfect day because my car was in the shop. I had just finished a boat ride on Lake Washington with a rich friend (this was the same day I discovered that Citizens jeans are the greatest ever - apparently rich friends have more rich friends) and this guy and girl were hitching a ride to Portland. They kept saying this was by far the best car to be picked up in and we all talked the whole way there (it was I-5 on a Friday afternoon, so traffic was slow enough that we could hear each other in a convertible on the freeway). I even exchanged e-mails with the guy for awhile, but after hearing about his Burning Man adventures a couple times, I figured we probably didn't have enough in common to become best friends.
The sixth person I gave a ride to was some crazy hippie guy whose car ran out of gas when he went up a hill even though he knew he had enough to make it to the station. Justin and Mish were in the car too, and the guy told us how he had a few albums out from the '70s and he used to tour with different bands and how if the f-ing hill wasn't there then he wouldn't have had to f-ing bother us. He was a blast to transport.
Then after I got pregnant and was driving from a prenatal visit I picked up a guy and his girlfriend and took them to a bar. She explained that she had just wanted to take the bus, but he explained they'd get there much faster by hitchhiking. I never knew it was such a convenience for some people! Then after some chit-chatting he let me know that while her other kid was at home (with God knows who), she was also pregnant. I made sure to remind her not to drink. Sigh. Some people are still so ignorant about drinking while pregnant. Let me take this moment to tell you all: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is proven. You do not have to get drunk for your child to get it. You do not have to drink every day for your child to get it. You could have one drink one time during pregnancy and your child could be learning-delayed or brain-damaged for the rest of his life. Be responsible. And don't give me crud about it being your body so you can do what you want. It's not your body I care about - it's your baby's. Thank you.
Finally a couple months ago Justin and I picked up some Mexican guy who must have been tripping hard because he had no idea what was going on. All he told Justin was that he needed to get to Bellingham. We dropped him off in a safer place just a few miles up since he was actually walking along the non-shoulder 2-foot section of the freeway, but he wandered off like aliens had erased his memories or something. And you know what? Justin saw him the next morning still standing in the same area. Weird.

I've never hitchhiked and I probably never will, but I really don't think it's so bad. I've also never seen any of those scary hitchhiking movies, though.

My attempt at a short story

It's no O. Henry or Roald Dahl, but may I present to you my first short story since sophomore year of high school? Pretty please? Well here it is:

The Man Whom Nothing Ever Happened To
a completely un-exhilarating story in second person

(I know the title isn't grammatically correct but I think it sounds pompous to say "The Man To Whom Nothing Ever Happened")

You knew this guy named Dale and nothing ever happened to him. Remember how he wore tapered blue jeans and flannel shirts like he still thought it was 1993? You couldn’t stand that. You kept wanting to say to him, “Hey, Dale, why don’t you try bootcuts or carpenters with a t-shirt once in a while?” but he was a quiet guy so you didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Besides, it wasn’t like he could afford a whole new wardrobe or anything – he wasn’t winning the lotto any time soon, since nothing ever happened to him. You knew he had a job because whenever you saw him Thursday nights at the Denny’s on 64th he was driving his work van, plus he never ditched out on the bill. But he also never splurged on pie for dessert, so although the money was there, there just wasn’t much of it. You, on the other hand, sometimes even ordered a milkshake. Once you got daring enough to order a Coke during dinner and a milkshake for dessert, but you had to pay for that later with 100 crunches and a 10 minute jog around your neighborhood. You saw Dale didn’t wear a wedding ring, so when you were seated next to him one day you asked him why he never brought his wife out to dinner. He looked up at you as though he’d never wanted to get up the courage to talk with you before and said, “Don’t have one,” then went back to eating his dinner waffle. Of course he wasn’t married – nothing ever happened to him. Then that next Thursday you purposely sat next to him and struck up a conversation about how you were going to go out dancing that weekend and would he like to go along, but he politely refused you. Remember that? You were so sure that you could break his habits, but he told you that he just liked to watch MacGyver reruns with his dog on Friday nights. So you suggested Saturday, but he had to wash his hair. After he left abruptly you mused that perhaps nothing ever happened to him because he never did anything. To be fair, though, it wasn’t actually true that you were going dancing – how could you without a partner? You weren’t going to get stuck with some giant greaseball who last applied deodorant in November. But if Dale would have come along then you could have found somewhere to dance. Determined to change him, you ran out to your car (you had already paid the bill) and set out to follow him. What were you going to do if you caught up with him? He was leaning up against his van, smoking a cigarette and he saw you running out right away. You couldn’t play it off like you were late for something because earlier in the conversation you admitted that you weren’t doing anything that night, so you had to say something. “Hey – I didn’t catch your name,” you declared. That’s when you found out his name was Dale, but he didn’t ask for yours. He never came back to Denny’s after that. So what? Nothing ever happened to him so why should you care? Maybe nothing ever happened to you, but at least you updated your wardrobe and ordered a milkshake every once in a while, right? And you’ll go dancing tomorrow night, with or without a partner.

The Funniest Part About Being a Mom

The title of this blog was the challenge for my Writer's Group that I decided to take on. It was either this or Something I Had to Overcome, and about the only thing that I've ever had to overcome is being gawky so I figured I write more about what I know. So the funniest part about being a mom is what I'll write about. Indeed, I will write about the funniest part about being a mom. Okay enough dilly-dallying. Here are my favorite parts about being a mom, and maybe something funny will pop up there.
Justin called me this morning and told me how Kirby had reached up onto the table to steal a cookie while Justin was loading the car, so when he came back Kirby was sitting on the step to the dining room, kicking his legs and smacking on the cookie. That made me laugh a lot, but I had nothing to do with that except for that I was the one who made the cookies.
Now lately Kirby has been cracking me up because he has intonation and syllables down pat, but he still doesn't know words, so he has little conversations with himself or talks to us in this hilarious Gibberish language. That's funny, but again as a mom I've done nothing.
I've gone to work with baby kisses (mashed-on, day-old food) smeared on my jackets and pant legs quite a few times recently. Everyone else thinks that's funny.
Sheesh. I am terrible about this. I promised that given a prompt, I would be able to write easily. I've always adored the author Roald Dahl, but lately O. Henry is moving in as my favorite. His short stories are just brilliant, and I think I'd love to be that clever. Listen to this line "That boy put up a fight like a welter-weight cinnamon bear" - is that genius, or what? What imagery! What superb weaving of words! Remember in stupid Donnie Darko when Drew Barrymore blabbed about how "cellar door" was the most beautiful phrase in the English language? Well apparently she'd never heard the phrase "welter-weight cinnamon bear," although the climax of the movie may not have been as exciting if she had. Anway, it's not too funny being a mom, but babies are funny at least. Maybe I'll try for How I Overcame My Gawkiness after all.

Shopping at the Outlet Malls

Justin and I took the baby and went shopping at the outlet malls in Tulalip yesterday for their Giant Presidents Day Sale!! This meant that there were a couple better deals than usual, but for the most part there were just a lot more Canadians (a Canadian lady informed me in my office that it was also Family Day in Canada yesterday - a.k.a. "Shop in the USA Day Since our Dollar Stinks Right Now and Tax is Still a Lot Less"). These are my observations from the trip.
* If a stroller made for one child has a squeaky wheel that will drive me half crazy because I can hear it throughout half of a giant crowded store, then a stroller made for two children that has a squeaky wheel will drive me fully crazy because I can hear it throughout the entire store.
* When rich young women see photos of Trends in Trendy Magazines they will proceed to purchase every item on that page so that we will all know just how Trendy are, despite the fact that they may end up wearing the skin-tightest sprayed-on leggings shoved into riding boots that actually call for a decent Christian wife to request that her husband looks at the Trendy Woman's Bottom to agree that it looks ridiculous.
* I can see a nice lotion/body wash/candle set and dismiss it as a normal price (and therefore not a good deal) when it costs $9.99 regularly, but when it's been discounted down from $99.99 (I kid you not, in case you too didn't believe that a bathroom goodies set could possibly cost that much) suddenly I find the $10 price an incredible amazing deal even if I have never heard of the brand before that day.
* I'm a sucker for anything with cute little whales blowing out perfect spouts of water and smiling on it.
* God doesn't answer selfish prayers for the $50 purse to be marked down to $30 when He knows that you have a perfectly good purse at home even if it isn't The Greatest Purse Ever and you are certain that you need it.
* Canadian drivers don't believe in signaling, not cutting you off, going the speed limit, or stopping for stop signs when they are in the US.
* My son really is the cutest baby ever. Even if another baby has a sweet cherub face or dimpled cheeks or bright blue eyes, no other baby has the expression or personality that he has. Thank God for my ham of a baby.

Gee Whillikers! I love kids.

So this happened a year and a half ago, but I had just relayed my little anecdote to a coworker and thought I'd share it here. When I was pregnant my tummy got huge. My little niece had just turned 5 and was staring at my giant belly. Her dog was pregnant at the time also, so she was very curious about my situation. Here's how our conversation went:

Zanae: "Cole, your tummy is fat."
me: "Well, that's because I'm pregnant and there's a baby in there."
Zanae: "Okay...how much babies you got in there?"
me: "Just one."
Zanae: "Oh."
(long, thoughtful pause on Zanae's part while she stares at my fat tummy, contemplating whether or not she honestly believes that there is just one thing in there)
Zanae: "You got any puppies in there too?"
me: "No, just the one human baby."

Don't you so wish you could just ask any question you wanted to every time one came to mind? Or stare when you think something looks strange on someone? I so envy children.

Tantrums and Resilient Baby Heads

Now that Kirby is able to know what he wants and appreciate when he gets what he wants, he is also able to know when he doesn’t get what he wants and show his disapproval. Unfortunately he still can’t talk and say, “Listen, Mom: I know you have to bake muffins for the Women’s Group, and I know I’m cutting your time short here by forcing you to hold me up, but I really want to continue playing with this Mickey Mouse toaster, so you’re just going to have to keep me entertained with this until I get bored in an hour or two,” so he does the most natural thing and throws a tantrum. Now in case you don’t have kids and it’s been awhile since you’ve had a fit, let me remind you what a tantrum involves. There are two kinds, first of all: The Make-as-Much-Noise-as-I-Possibly-Can-so-You-Can-Hurt-Like-I-Do-Now Tantrum and The Why-Are-You-the-Worst-Parents-in-the-World-and-Delight-in-my-Suffering? Tantrum. The noisy one involves more of a screaming cry and is performed standing up so that my son can stamp his feet and still reach breakable things to throw on the ground. The suffering one involves a wailing cry and is accomplished by my darling baby throwing his body backwards quickly, resulting in actual pain which causes an even better reason to be crying. Now that he’s older both tantrums may involve some sort of purposeful self-assault that Justin likes to refer to as the “Stupid, Stupid” Chris Farley impression. This usually takes the form of the Why are you hitting yourself in the Head? classic grade school bully game of yesteryear, only with Kirby controlling his own hand. But sometimes he likes to bang his head against either the ground, the back of the high chair, or your face, depending on his current situation. I will concede that it must be very frustrating to not be able to communicate when you know precisely what you want, but I think the baby has yet to grasp the concept that we get to decide what he gets to do/eat/throw and not him. Sigh. The greatest part is that when he’s in such desperate anguish, I am the one he comes to for comfort, even if I was the perpetrator. I love it. But I sure do thank God for resilient baby heads.

Why I Love Lent

This cartoon is from my favorite blog online. Check him out if you get a chance at www.tommcmahon.net

Since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday I got inspired to share how much I love Lent. Last year I wasn’t too good about honoring it, so a month or so after Easter I finally took it upon myself to give something up. Justin and I rid our house and works of sweets (and minimized our other unhealthy snacks) and tried to reach for fruit instead of candy, and vegetables instead of chips, and water or juice instead of soda. We both did pretty well for probably about 40 days, although I always try to go for longer. Interesting to note: Aramaic (which the Bible was originally written in) probably didn’t have a phrase for “many” and instead used a word which was translated into “40” – so all the times you hear the number 40, it probably just meant “lots of” rather than an exact amount. Kind-of like when I say “How come you didn’t call me for 8 years?” Let’s get back on track, though, with why I love Lent.

Lent is one of the greatest traditions of the modern Christian religion and yet I know only a few people who honor it each year. In case you don’t know about the Lenten season, here’s a little background. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, the day after Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras is its more well-known French name although it’s in a different language). Fat Tuesday is so called because it is the day before this somber period which is used as a day to indulge in the pleasures you are about to give up, specifically the fat of animals for the traditionally-practiced Lent.

So Ash Wednesday is a day to mark your penitence to Christ and begin the season anew. Some churches burn the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday (which I’ll get to) to make the ashes, but my home church in Tacoma gives you a piece of paper and has you write down your sins or anything else weighing heavy on your heart. Then you literally nail that paper to a wooden cross on the altar, giving your sins for Jesus to burden. The papers are collected, burned to ash, and you are marked with an ashen cross on your forehead to show that this season of Lent is to remember that Jesus Christ died carrying our sins and through His rising we are free to live.

From Ash Wednesday until Easter, Lent acknowledges the 40 days that Jesus was tempted in the wild by the Devil. Lent is a time to fast as the Christ did; to dismiss the temptations of the world and focus on honoring God. It is not a time to rejoice or revel, but to recognize that Jesus gave up so much more than we ever could. If you count up the days between the start and end of Lent you will see that there are more than 40. This is a really nice part about Lent – we get Sundays off. Just as God creating the world, we are allowed one day a week to rest. We can splurge a bit on a treat, eat a little feast, and praise our Savior. When the week of fasting begins again we once more remember how Jesus was able to stave off all temptations and continue to devote His entire existence to the Father. It is human to fall prey to tendencies of the flesh, but as holy people we are set apart from this Earth and Lent is a wonderful opportunity to prove that to ourselves.

Even if we are as children and give up something simple such as gum, we can remind ourselves of Jesus’s suffering through each craving or offering of gum. Every time we desire that gum we can know that we do not need it or any other material thing as long as we have faith in God. When we are obedient and willing God will provide us all we need for survival. I find that more than giving up something unhealthy or unnecessary, Lent provides me an opportunity to take upon something healthy that I may had deemed unnecessary. In the past, for example, I’ve given up root beer and taken on 200 crunches a day. Better was the season that I gave up gossip and took on 20 minutes of silent prayer each day and 1 hour of silent prayer once a week. I think that is what I will strive for again this Lent.

One week before Lent ends on Easter Sunday is Palm Sunday – the day commemorating when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and all His followers welcomed him by laying their cloaks and palm leaves on the ground before Him, sort-of like a red carpet welcoming. This is a wonderful day to celebrate when Jesus was still considered the Messiah before He was condemned to death just days later. In church we sing and shout Hosannah to the Lord and wave our own palm leaves joyfully. Hosannah is just an excited word of praise to a savior – the people of Jerusalem knew then that Jesus was the Christ and they were overjoyed to have Him in their town. It is really nice to get this glad day before Maundy Thursday marks His last supper and Good Friday (which must be one of those ironic names like when a fat guy is called Tiny) marks His quick trial by His previous admirers and death on the cross.

But don’t worry! Jesus was only really dead part of Friday and Saturday and part of Sunday, because on that third day He rose again. He came back to life, but not like a zombie or a ghost – He was made new. He suffered terribly on the cross to save us from both the everyday sins we dismiss and the terrible ones we regret instantly. He was mocked, prodded, tortured, and murdered, but just two days later He arose. The stone of His grave was pushed back and an angel sat where His broken body had laid, and proclaimed that He had risen from the dead. So Lent may be a great time to bring yourself back to God, but the end of Lent, Easter, is the greatest! Without that final day, we would all be destined for Hell, but through Jesus Christ we too have received eternal life and that is the best reason to celebrate ever.

I love Lent, and I urge you all to recognize the Lenten season this year. I want you to remember how much Jesus gave up, and become closer to God in the process. But most of all I want you to rejoice when it’s over because He has risen!

Baby Naming Trends

I am very interested in the baby-naming trends right now. There are a lot of parents out there who don't seem to care about learning how to spell names, getting teased by bullies, being mispronounced at roll-call, etc. when it comes to their kids. I don't mind names that I just don't like - that's just preference. What I can't stand, though, is the drive to be K'hreajtiv in spelling and originality. My son Kirby Oren has two very unusual names, but they are both real names, spelled in the normal way, that everyone has heard before. (Justin wanted to name him Curb-ee Orynne, but I protested.) Honestly though, we are seriously considering naming our next kid Frank Ajax so maybe I should drop the bully comment, but at least everyone can spell Frank, right? Here is my compilation (with some commentary) of the comment board for some baby website's Top Baby Name Trends of 2006. I was shocked at some of them!

I've always loved the name Q'wen ( Q and win ) but hubby hates it. What do you guys think? (I think it looks & sounds like a 1980s video game.)

My favorite is the name Promise with an i or Promyse with a y. (Thys is the saddest trend - replacyng an I with a Y. It doesn't look fancyer, just wrong.)

ZAYLEN ME AND MY SISTER THOUGHT OF IT (I THINK!) I JUST NAMED MY SON THAT. ITS CATCHY ZAYLEN ELIJAH AGUIAR. :)NICE. (This one isn't so hard to pronounce or spell, it just seems like this woman really wanted a Z name and couldn't accept one of the 100 or so that already exist.)

Reagan and Kennedy are very cute names for girls. (Not so cute: Van Buren, Fillmore, Eisenhower)

my favorite name for a boy is Casssius. i think i have my boyfriend talked into it as a middle name atleast. what do people think of Oliver Casssius for a boy? His nickname would be Cash. (In case you missed it and thought Cassius was a nice name, look again and notice the third S in the middle: Casssius.)

I had a beautiful girl in September, and we named her "Grae" (Either they left out the C, or they blew the Grey vs. Gray fight out of the water.)

hey, my daughter's name is mariangely shaianne--nobody has that yet!! (And let's pray they never will again.)

I can totally relate to the change in spelling for names- our little girl's name in Calah- "kayla" My husband was the one who came up with this spelling and we love it (It's okay to come up with a spelling, but it has to be for the same word. He came up with an alternate spelling for the name Cullough, not Kayla.)

My choices for my baby's name are boy: Preston Chandler or Girl: Carrera Elaine let me know what you think?? (I think the country club called and it wants its '80s action figures back.)

My husband hates that he has to share the name Chris with most of the population. That’s why we have Bianca and Rebel. (This is such a nice post until the last word: Rebel. Even if she grows up to be the sweetest girl in the whole world, her name is still Rebel. Let's hope she hates the name so much that she names her kid Chris.)

Has anybody ever heard the name "Brekkin" for a girl? (No, but her sequel Electric Boogaloo is fantastic.)

My nephew is Horace (Ace for short) When i tell people, they make a face, as did I when my sister picked it, but now I like it. (I have a feeling he's going to go by Ace for all the rest of his life.)

If I could still have children, I would name my little girl, "Cambrie"...I think that is the prettiest name...I also like the name, "Timber" for a girl...What do you all think? (I just hope she doesn't adopt.)

delvina .saranda. valon .alkisa eralda.rudina. blendy . this are realy very new modern and out going name (I'm going to guess this person put a whole bunch of letters into a food processor, set it to Blendy, and poured it out slowly to come up with these names.)

I have a niece named velocity and her little sister is Serenity. I think they are beautiful names even though velocity is very unusual and it took me a while to get used to it (The name Speed wasn't good enough since it can only go one direction. No, no, little Velocity required something much more befitting of her capabilities.)

My daughter is almost 5 months old i like unusually spelled names... her name is Arieanna T'Nasiah Jade (Ah, the glorious apostrophe - if you couldn't stand to have one more letter in your baby's name, then syncope is for you, my friend.)

My husband and I spent a long time deciding our daughter's name. We finally decided on Tegan Ebony. Tegan is of Welsh origin and means beautiful and fair. We like it. (I just like the contrast between the two name meanings - I hope that if one parent was white and the other black, the irony wasn't lost on them.)

Queyundre is a nice name for a boy (It's actually not even a nice name for a tapeworm.)

Also now that im thinking of it im trying to get pregnant again how does the name Alazaye Unique sound, for a girl, i think that it is very original. My sons name is Aaydyn and if we have a boy im thinking about Landyn im having trouble with a boys name but I love putting y's in my names but i dont want them to all sound alike. (Well, I have to agree on the originality point.)

Phylliope Darlottah Dehserraey The first name rhymes with "Calliope". I just LOVE IT! It's so unique, I've never heard anyone with this name before. My grandmother's name was Phyllis, so I gave it a modern twist. I want two middle names - Darlotta because my boyfriend calls me "Darling" and it goes with my MN Carlotta, and Dehserraey because it is Desire that made this precious baby girl!!! (Maybe desire made the baby, but a My Little Pony-sounding name will make her cry.)

A girl at my church has a boy named Cky Christopher (pronounced Sky) (Yeah, it's actually not pronounced Sky - C and S aren't always interchangeable. I think it'd be something closer to Icky.)

I have a new spelling for Colin - we named our little boy Charles Caulyn - beautiful isn't it? (Maybe if you're a pretty schoolgirl in an enchanted rainbow forest of lollipop unicorns. Thank God this kid can go by Chaz someday.)

My sister stole the perfect little girls name thought. Amri....it is my mom's name backwards (Irma)... (I actually knew two kids who had this happen to them - Semaj and Imoan. It doesn't always come out sounding as nice as Amri.)

I had my son on September 19,2006. My husband wanted to name him Killian Payne. But with all our kids he wanted to spell out J. Cash. We needed the H to finish it. So now we have H. Xander Rage. Our kids are Joy Eilean, Chase Michael, Ashton Douglas Pride, And H. Xander Rage. (So many problems. 1. Where's your child with the S name? 2. Does H stand for anything or is his name really just a letter? 3. I love that there's a middle name Pride and another Rage - if they had 5 more kids they could complete the Deadly Sins instead of continuing a more ridiculous pattern of spelling a random phrase.)

My aunt named her son Dadrienne and daughter Darien (Applying the same adding-random-letters-from-the-same-name technique, my next child would be named Kikrbyyb.)

I would like to name my baby girl ELPIS, pronounced as 'el-fis'... How does that sounds? (I knew a girl who would joke around that she was going to name her son David but pronounce it Michael. This reminds me of that.)

My daughter’s name is Nevaeh, I love the names that you don’t hear that often. Me and my hubby are trying to have another baby and when it does happen if it is a girl her name will be Thrystylynn Marie (Trista for short) and Chayden Eugene if its a boy. I love those names what do you think of the names we have chosen? (I love that this woman still thinks the name Nevaeh is unique.)

I have a sister whose name is spelled M'Kenzi (She thought it over, but the other 70 ways to spell Mackenzie just weren't quite right.)

My daughter's name is keiairah Haily, i like the idea of the middle names starting with a H. (I dare you all to try to figure out how she would pronounce the first name.)

What about this spelling for a girl? Paightyn (Remember in Joe Dirt when Joe says his names is Deer-tay, and the parking lot attendant says, "Don't try to church it up, son"? That's what this seems like to me.)

Knoah (I'm knot so sure that's a good idea.)

I have a little girl that I work with whose name is Harold'aisha (pronounced Harold and Asia). She was named after her father, Harold. (For short, they call her Harold also.)

Our last name is Foley. My husband thought the title characters name was so cool from the movie, "Beverly Hills Cop". So, our son will be named Axl Foley. (I hope they don't have an Eddie Murphy obsession or their next kid might be Norbit Donkey Foley.)

In response to the article about the creative spelling of baby names my daughter Trinity's middle name is spelled Jaleyah(ja-lee-yah) by my then 12 yr old cousin. Both me and my husband wanted different middle names, my pick was Jade and his was Leah! So we asked the family to get creative and that's what we ended up with, the combination of both names! (Names that didn't make the cut included Jale, Dellee, and HaelEdaj.)

We have 2 boys Gavin (6 y/o) Seth (3y/o) Not pregnant yet,but hoping!! Names we like.. Boys Liam Eugene or Liam Kaiser Mason Lear Avery Kaiser Girls Ava Lynne (pr.. Lyn-a) Ella Rose Layla Ann Mevaeh Any suggestions? (Mevaeh: Heavem backwards, since Heaven backwards is just too popular now.)

Does anyone else have any foolish names they can share?

My Most Embarassing Moment

When I had just turned 17 I was volunteering to sell raffle ticket-like keys to a prize lock box for my high school’s fundraiser auction and I was on a roll. I was reeling in the old alumni and parents and teachers, and I decided to try my hand at my classmate’s father with a little chit-chatting. It was working just fine until I decided to be touchy and interrupt his conversation by picking off a white thread from his tuxedo. Unfortunately the thread wouldn’t budge, but I was certain that it was loose, so rather than give up I proceeded to tug at it, explaining, “I’m just trying to get this thread off of you.” After a few seconds of forever, the man finally realized what was happening and had to inform me of the real situation by replying, “Oh, that’s not a thread – that’s a chest hair.” I stared at him like a deer in headlights for, again, what felt like forever and began to stammer an apology, but he said it was no big deal and that everyone always gives him a hard time. Amazingly, he still bought a key from me! How about that, huh?

Blogging

So practically everyone I know (and I am extremely exaggerating here) has a blogspot blog, so I thought I'd join in too. I suppose I'll just post some random thoughts, old things I've written and never posted to my MySpace blog, some lists of things that interested me, and maybe some cute baby photos of the Greatest Baby Ever. I hope you enjoy it - let's have some fun here!