917.69 -- Mini Trip to Kentucky, day 2

After a restful evening on Saturday night, we got up semi-early to go to Mass on Sunday. (Because it was Ft. Knox, and because it was a Mass for soldiers in basic training, it was slightly amusing :)

We had a hearty breakfast back at Joe and Jenny's house before we headed to Heaven Hill, a bourbon distillery on Kentucky's "bourbon trail." Although they don't distill the bourbon at the Bardstown facilities anymore, the museum, tour, and bourbon tasting (none for me!) were fun and enlightening!

Bourbon has to age for several years. In that time, it's stored in oak barrels. The barrels are stored in "ricks" and the ricks are located in ... rickhouses! Original, huh? This is an inside view of one of Heaven Hill's rickhouses.

We only had time for one stop on the bourbon trail this time, but Matt and I will be back. We've visited three so far, and it's a pleasant drive from our house. It's only a matter of time until we get to them all!

After bidding farewell to Joe and Jenny, we had a pleasant drive back to Ohio. What a fun weekend!

917.69 -- Mini Trip to Kentucky, day 1

Matt and I spent part of Memorial Day weekend with his parents visiting his sister and brother-in-law in Kentucky. To make the most of our two-day trip, we headed from their house straight to Louisville for a much-anticipated trip to the Louisville Slugger Museum. It was more educational than I expected. Not only did we learn about bat-making, but we got information overload in the newly-renovated museum area. And we scored mini-Louisville Sluggers!

After the museum we made our way to the Louisville Slugger Baseball Field to catch some great minor league baseball action. The Louisville Bats (as in flying mammals, not wooden clubs) are one of the "farm teams" for the Cincinnati Reds. The game was not as intense as a major league game, but the experience was really fun. The stadium was amazing, and all the seats were SO close to the field! Plus, it was much cheaper than the cheapest seats at Great American Ballpark.

I don't know if you can see the golden retrieve (circled) next to home plate. He was the "bat boy" for the Louisville Bats. He came out after most at-bats and retrieved the bat! He and his handler also played catch on the field with a frisbee between innings and before the game. At the seventh inning stretch, the dog actually took a basket with towels and water bottles out to 3rd base for the umpires! How fun!

The ball park was really fun. You could walk the entire way around it, and there were fun things for kids to do when they get antsy during games. My favorite -- although I didn't ride it -- was this carousel!

At the end of the day, it was back to base camp for a relaxing night of summer picnic food and watching the Reds lose to the Cleveland Indians :)

618.2 -- First Big Purchase!

Thursday, Matt and I drove out to a gorgeous Hamilton subdivision to take a look at a brand new Pack N Play I saw advertised on CraigsList. Long story short, we loved it. It doesn't match the stroller we registered for, but the Pack N Play (and matching Swing N Bounce, both by Graco) will mostly be in our living room (or other people's living rooms). I'm guessing they won't come into much contact with the stroller :)

The future nursery is still a guest room until at least the end of August. Until then, we can't set up much baby stuff. Here are stock images of both our big scores. I love that they were so cheap, and that the black pattern will go nicely in our living room. I super love that these both come with the vibrate feature, and that the Pack N Play comes with all that extra storage!

636.7 -- Mirror Image

Several weeks ago, our neighbors bought a new puppy for their live-in grandchild. The first time I saw the little guy through the office window, I did a double take. I thought it was Charlie!

011.73 -- Hooray!

I have officially exorcised my book-slump demon. Yesterday I brought home two books from work. Today, I started and finished one of those, as well as finished (finally!) a book that I started months ago. (The library will finally be getting it back!)

Today, I also realized that this slump wasn't really a slump at all. I have been reading after all. Pictured here, the pile of books that have been occupying my time.


My theory is that the 12-week point marked a period of less worry and anxiety. It's not that I'm not interested in which piece of fruit the baby most resembles at this stage of development. I'm just glad to finally be interested in everything else again. Plus, let's face it -- I read the pregnancy books start-to-finish weeks ago!

618.2 -- Surprise!

I'll save you the time counting back from the due date ... As of today, I am 12 weeks and 2 days pregnant! :) While we've known for awhile, I've been waiting to hear the little one's 12-week-old heartbeat before making an official announcement. This is it! We're pregnant!

917.5 -- Vacation

I need a vacation. Everyday life is starting to get to me, and I no longer look forward to going to work, working out, or even just vegging around the house. Watching movies or tv, reading, home improvement projects ... I can't get into anything. Definitely time for a vacation.

Our plans are finally set. If you're curious where we're going, look no further than the Dewey Decimal number that tops this entry :-)

394.262 -- Better Late Than Never

Yes we did celebrate Memorial Day. Mostly just by celebrating the ability to do nothing :) We did of course set the flag to half staff at the appropriate times. Researching the exact whens of flying the flag on Memorial Day, we came across the following trivia.

Did you know that on Memorial Day, flags are meant to be flown at half staff only until noon? We did, but we saw a lot of business and individuals that didn't. I don't think this is something widely known. I'm sure our flag got some funny looks when it was at full staff for most of Memorial Day.

Did you also know that there is much support for celebrating Memorial Day on May 30 every year instead of celebrating the observed Memorial Day on the last Monday in May? While three-day weekend plans will suffer, proponents argue that the day will mean much more if a mini-vacation is not attached to it. What do you think?

011.625 -- Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Books

Lately I haven't been able to finish any of the books I've started. I'm definitely in a slump. This isn't because I'm reading bad books. I don't blame the books. Well, not this time.

I do have a short list of most hated titles. These are the books that have wasted my time, sucked out my enthusiasm for reading, or put me to sleep. Among them:

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Lolita Effect by Gigi M. Durham
Dirty Martini by J. A. Konrath
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie McDonald

I've recently discovered that most people are more likely to remember their favorite books than the ones they despised. What about you? Any books that you'd never recommend in a million years?

616 -- Sick and Tired

It started Thursday with a general feeling of not-wellness. Friday I had a terrible and terribly persistent cough. I made the best of Saturday, trying to enjoy our birthday and be a good hostess. Sunday and today have been hands-down awful.

Church is always awkward when you're sick. Spend all of Mass hacking and coughing and blowing your nose and guess how many people want to shake hands with you at the sign of peace -- no matter how carefully you cough into your hankie. My chest, throat, abs, and nose were so sore by Sunday evening that I knew there was no way I'd make it through work on Monday.

While honey, cough drops, and a vaporizer have made some improvements on my well-being, the crud persists. I struggle with taking sick leave now when I am desperately trying to hoard it for later. *sigh* What I wouldn't give for a good strong OTC medication!

016.394 -- Birthday Festivities

Saturday, to celebrate both our birthdays, Matt and I spent the afternoon at a Cincinnati Reds game. It was a scorcher of a day, so we avoided our seats in full sun and settled in some shady upper deck seats. The game was pretty awful, but the food was good, and the tickets were cheap. To make it even more fun, it was free fleece blanket day!

When the day was over, we crashed back at our house to enjoy good food, great company, a warm campfire, and a breezy starry night. What a great day!

747 -- Trial and Error

Decorating is a whole lot easier when you can visualize what your finished product will look like. I lack the ability to visualize things like this. So instead of putting 46 nail holes in the wall trying to decide where I want pictures and shelving hung, I put it all on the computer. It's a lot easier to change your mind 17 times when all that is involved is clicking and dragging. Here is the computer mock-up of our living room. Notice the shelves on the floor... waiting to be hung.


And when we decided to put a flag pole and Japanese maple in our front yard, I wanted to know exactly what it might look like when the tree grows in. I moved it three times before I really liked it. Can you imagine having to dig up a fully grown tree because you changed your mind?


My house is no showroom, but it would look a whole lot worse without my Paint Shop Pro image editing software to back me up :)

747 -- The To-Do List

It is growing.

694.6 -- Necessity and invention

Our back yard is a good spot for entertaining small groups. And this spring/summer, our birthday/bbq/misc celebration/mini-reunion parties will be made more festive by the really unique tiki torch holders my handy husband devised last year! I was so impressed and overjoyed at what he came up with that I wanted to post a picture here. (Last summer got away from me, so they've been waiting a whole year!)


These got rave reviews at last year's parties, and are perfect (I would think) for raised decking like a balcony where tiki torches would otherwise be impossible (or really dangerous). Cool huh?!

097 -- Ex Libris

Having cataloged our library, I have been considering how to mark our books. Write our names inside? Use one of the million return address labels we get for donating to charities? A rubber stamp? Then mine eye fell upon the bookplates inside donated library books. I did a little research and found some truly dazzling bookplate designs. I itch to design one of my own... something that incorporates things that are important to my family. Thing is, I'm a little hesitant to glue these into our books. What do you think? Would a bookplate defile the purity of the book? Seriously! This has been eating at me for months!

Here are some bookplates found in a quick Google image search:

394.2667 -- Have a groovy Easter!

621.815 -- Fantastic Contraption

I have always liked puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles, word puzzles, logic puzzles... I like the satisfaction of having figured out the solution to a problem.

For the last month, I have been obsessed with a unique new puzzle game called Fantastic Contraption. I don't even remember who or what turned me on to this addicting game (if it was you, THANK YOU!), but there is no doubt that I am hooked.

There are 20 free levels in Fantastic Contraptions, and the premise is always the same. Get the pink item (ball, square, or rectangle) into the pink Goal area. Sounds easy enough, but I guarantee you'll be stumped at least once.

The contraption I'm proudest of? The puzzle level was called Back and Forth, and let me tell you, it's a toughie! Here is a still of my solution, but click here to see the thing in action.

Spoiler Alert! To see more of my contraptions, click any of the links below. Some are more fantastical than others!
Unpossible | Uturn | Mission to Mars | Mind the Gap | The Wall | Full Up | Around the Bend | Big Ball | Four Balls | Tube | Awash

395.22 -- Wedding Memories

The tiara that I wore for my wedding in 2005 has been missing since approximately 10 days after our wedding. When we returned from our honeymoon and made it back to NY, we packed up a lot of stuff and just put it wherever we had room. Our house was pretty tiny up in NY, so there was stuff scattered everywhere.

I thought all was lost when I twice rummaged through everything looking for the tiara -- with no luck. Recently, while digging through the same stuff, it turned up! YAY!

Then and now: The picture on the wall
behind me is from our wedding.

780.78 -- Piano Men

We got our tickets in the mail awhile ago, but it has just hit me... We are going to see Billy Joel and Elton John in concert!

I have been a huge fan of Billy Joel since I was a kid, and I've wanted to see him in concert for at least the past 5 years. Problem was, I never remembered to check for tickets until it was too late. They sell out fast! Luckily for me, there were three concerts within easy driving distance from me this year. Unluckily for me, Cincinnati was sold out, and Indianapolis only had seats available behind the stage. No good. Although it's on a Tuesday night, the concert we booked in Columbus will be a memorable night I'm sure.

Now to brush up on my Elton standards :)

629.277 -- (mini) Road Trip!

Thanks to a certain handy someone, I now have the perfect accessory for a beautiful spring day -- a new car radio of course! A few weekends ago, while I was busy catching up with the girls, Matt installed a new radio in Little Blue, complete with CD player (goodbye cassettes!) and iPod connection!

I've loved driving to and from work listening to my playlists and 18 presets, but 20 minutes just does not allow for maximum music enjoyment. Luckily, I am heading to Columbus for an FRG Conference this weekend. While I'm a little nervous about sitting through all those seminars, I cannot wait to be out on the road with my new toy. And since Matt's meeting me in Columbus (he's coming from his two-week-long Annual Training on the eastern part of Ohio), I get to listen to whatever I want! And sing as loud as I want!

Just be glad you're not going with me :)