Marc and Morgan’s spot on the web

I think I know what it feels like to be a zombie.  Or at least feel like zombies look in the movies.  Sid seems to be having a pretty severe bout of insomnia the last couple nights, keeping us up off and on for hours.  Or more accurately, up, then back to sleep for an hour, then up again, then back to sleep for 20 minutes, and on and on.  Last night is a blur of getting up, picking him up, rocking with him, putting him back in his crib, bringing him to our bed, being kicked by him in our bed, Morgan getting up multiple times.  Getting up this morning was harder than the worst hangover morning.  This has to stop.   He’s apparently constipated too – I wonder which condition causes the other?  Or maybe molars are coming in?  I should also mention that our dear babysitter Michelle is now our former babysitter Michelle, off to nursing school she went, so Sid is now with Alicia 3 days a week.  So maybe the change of scenery has disrupted him…but he seems happy with the switch.  Otherwise, Sid’s shaping up to be quite the little man – using lots of words now, and charming the pants off of anyone he meets.

Lola still attending Noah’s Ark happily, doing well there, and being her usual beautiful Lola self.

In other news, yeah, I know, the rate of updates around here would make you think we’ve left the country.  Still here, crazy busy, living our lives.

EcoReno moved a few weeks ago, to our new location.  Much more visible on the main drag, double the floor space, great vibrant neighborhood, and it seems like we’re getting busier.  To help make the move happen, with all the financial fallout that entails, we sold our Eurovan to a nice family from Mt. Shasta, went without a 2nd vehicle for about 10 days, and as of last night, are now the proud owners of a 2002, very low mileage, Toyota Sienna.  Sigh, a minivan.  It’s come to that.  I wanted a Forester or an Outback, but the practicalities of two kids in car seats, frequent cargo-hauling needs, seating for more than just the four of us, and the minivan became the obvious choice.  Should last us a nice long time.

My goal for this fall, since goals like homebrewing and writing a will (yeah, OK, I know my goals are weird and disparate) never seem to materialize, is to get some more photos posted on this site.  I’m sure there are a ton on the camera, several of which I could have posted and linked to from this writing to illustrate various things.  Time is such a fleeting resource.  But since Project Runway and Biggest Loser will kidnap my wife two nights a week, I think I might be able to get these online photo albums updated soon.

Speaking of time, I’ve got to wrap this up and go get ready for work.  Where I also don’t have enough time to get everything done.  When do I get to slow down?  Oh yeah, every night after kids go to bed, enjoying a good beer, and watching TV for a few minutes before bed.

Sid is starting to pull himself up into standing position!  He is very proud of himself.  He is crawling at such a fast rate too.  If he knows you are coming after him, he hits high gear.  He is also getting some top teeth which really interrupted his schedule last week.  He seems so much better now.  He is waving hello and good-bye.  I like this age.  He keeps us on our toes.

Lola is continuing to go to school and loving it. She is dressed and ready on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  We can’t get out the door fast enough for her.  It is a great school and we really like the staff.  We are going to register her for summer and fall.

I rode Marc’s Vespa to work yesterday.  It was so fun.  A little scary on the busier streets, but I held my own. I think I need a pink one of my very own.  Wonder if the kids would ride in a side car?  Kidding.  Not the safest thing for them.  We did pick up a bike trailer at a garage sale this week.  Needed a little mending that Marc easily eventually completed.  I had been wanting one that Costco is selling, and this one was a steal!  It can be used as a stroller as well.  We picked up a helmet for Sid and can’t wait to get out and use it!!  I did take them out for a walk and used it as a stroller.  I put the handle on thinking that it ‘clicked’ into place and as I pushed them out onto the steep driveway, I was left standing there with the handle in my hand and the stroller speeding into the street!!  I caught it half way into the street.  THANK GOODNESS there was no traffic!  There are pins that hold the handle in. It must have been a sight. I think Lola really liked going that fast as she did not know they were unattended by me.  I am still embarrassed to walk outside thinking that my neighbors are still laughing at me or cursing me for being such an irresponsible parent.

I have an escapee…… I better run.

I’ve been meaning to post here but lack of anything particularly interesting or time to post has hindered me. So without further delay, I present today’s Marc mind- and link-dump, gathered from my usual ponderings and roamings about the web:

• Morgan splurged and bought me this shirt. Love it.
• Probably due in part to my new subscription to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, I’m looking into 529 plans for both Lola and Sid.
• The site is unresponsive at the moment, but I thought this recent post from Cory Farley especially good. Episodes like this continue to make me embarrassed to be an American.
• Having significantly upgraded our coffee with the burr grinder and french press, now this item has me pondering whether or not to take the next step….
• It’s looking like a good time to be a barfly in downtown Reno. As I told Rayna, I like the *idea* of a nice selection of drinking establishments more than I actually patronize them.
• How awesome would this be for Burning Man?
• Maggie sent this. Can’t decide how funny I think it is.

Well, I think that’s all I’ve got on my mind for now. Time to shave my head, wait for Morgan and Lola to come home from yard sales (it must be spring), and get pumped up for sushi lunch.

The mail person brought us a bundle of gifts today. Maggie is visiting. Her sister, Christie, is a very talented seamstress! I just ordered a new wristlet and some napkins. Lola received some very cool felt veggies. Maggie received a new prototype. Great stuff!

Lola with her veggies.

Lola with our new napkins!

Me with my new wristlet!

See – No hands needed.

Maggie with the new prototype. (I LOVE this, Christie!)

I also have a diaper bag that I bought before Sid was born. She does fantastic work. Take a minute to check out her website wwww.trixerdesigns.com and fill your cart!

We’re in that weird week between Christmas and New Years when it sort of feels like you shouldn’t have to work. I finally cleared off the camera and posted some stuff around here. New pictures of Sidney, Lola, and an entire album of holiday photos, from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Also new videos of Sidney on his page.

We had a great Christmas, and in the tradition we enjoyed as kids, calling each other after opening presents to compare notes on what we received…I’m really enjoying my new Nintendo DS Lite with BrainAge2, drinking good beer, new shirts are ready to be worn, and my coffee is being drunk from a nice mug from Portland. Among other things. We ate, we drank, we were merry.

Welcome, 2008. Let’s hope for the best.

OK, here I am, back again so soon. Still not loading pictures, but my mind was racing last night after posting the last little blurb, full of other little items of note. When I converted the old cheztiar into this blog format, it was in an effort to preserve our little familial goings-on, rather than losing them each time I revised the front page. So at this time, as we approach the end of the year, when everyone is looking back on the past and ahead to the future, I want to toss out a bunch of stuff in that spirit. It may not make for the best reading for you, dear readers; the minutiae of the Tiars’ recent lives, spouted forth like a broken sewer main does not “Ulysses” make. But if you’re into stream of consciousness, random tidbits, and odds and ends recorded here for posterity, read on…

In the kids department, we had another one this year. Young Sid is going on five months old now. Doesn’t sleep through the night. Taking formula isn’t going very well. He cries more than Lola did and takes really short naps. But he’s growing like a weed, cute as a button, and going to turn out OK. Lola turned three recently, and she’s still our little princess. Adorable barely describes her on her worst day. That’s still little comfort when she calls us back into her room 3-4 times for a sip of water or other ridiculous reason after going to bed, or when she wakes up at 4am still, or insists on pooping in her diaper (she still sleeps in one) when she knows darn well how to use the toilet like a big girl. Perhaps some regression due to baby brother and new house is going on… Both kids have had their share of colds lately, lots of runny noses, coughing, etc. but we bought a nice vaporizer that keeps a room nice and humid through the night. Speaking of devices we bought, as of a couple weeks ago, we’re the proud owners of a remanufactured Roomba robot vacuum. It’s still more of a novelty than a real labor saver since you still have to pick up a bunch of toys and shoes and stuff, but it works OK and it’s kind of fun. Returning to the topic of Lola for a moment, Morgan toured a couple preschools this week, so we’re starting to think about it. Expensive! Need to figure out the best schedule and what’s affordable, but we think we’ve found the place when it’s time. No daycare for Sid yet though, we’re not ready for that yet.

(This is silly, I started writing this as a text document that I would paste into cheztiar later, but I’m having to do it in such small bits as time permits, I should just be writing online in the first place…but I digress.)

One other thing I envisioned doing a lot of on this here website was sharing books, music, and movies that I’ve enjoyed (or not) with you all. Not much reading going on these days – by the time I get to bed, too tired to read much, and what I’ve been reading is pretty dull. I picked up a book on coffee, a sort of reference book on personal finance, and one on making beer. I need to get back into some page-turner fiction. Most of my reading these days is Wired magazine, trying to get through one issue before next one comes, or the various blogs and websites I try to hit every day. I guess reading is reading, but a book would be nice sometime soon.

Speaking of personal finance, that’s the other thing on my mind these days. I must be a real grown-up now, I think a lot about ways to retire early, save a lot for retirement, writing a will, and look forward to doing taxes so I can see just how much having a 2nd child and a home equity loan will improve our tax situation. This year, I opened a Flexible Spending Account, another tax break for medical expenses, and enrolled in the Hartford’s 457 plan, yet another way to save on taxes and save for retirement pretty easily. Fat nest egg, here I come.

Musicwise, I just recently started listening to Sublime again. After getting the box set earlier this year, it’s kind of sat on the shelf for a while, so I brought it out to listen to again, and have been really enjoying it, getting back into their music again. I have to say, I really think they claim the title of “my favorite band ever”. Which brings me to a trivial little anecdote. With my renewed interest, I thought I’d look to see what Wikipedia had on Sublime. As expected, a good thorough entry, and good entries on each band member. So, reading through the entry on drummer Bud Gaugh, it mentions he now lives in Nevada. Huh, interesting coincidence. So I visit his MySpace page, read about his new surf band (which sounds great, looking forward to hearing what they put out), and it turns out he lives in Reno at least part of the time. More coincidence. Among all my reading and websurfing, I am referred to a recent SPIN magazine which has a good article on Sublime’s legacy and a tribute band back east called Badfish. So I go to find that issue at the library, and Foo Fighters are on the cover. Foo Fighters just announced a concert date here in February, which I think I’ll be attending. And the final coincidence…Dave Grohl is wearing a Bucket of Blood Saloon t-shirt on the cover…it all comes back to Reno. (I’ve always maintained, besides being a great place to live with lots of interesting history, Reno is forever destined to be the footnote to history…famous people get arrested here, relatives of famous people die here, we’re mentioned in songs randomly.)

Movies…never get to those much anymore. Netflix (and the library) keeps us in recent release, but all our time is getting sucked up by Six Feet Under these days. I can’t give up any more time to TV series!

Changing gears again here, let’s talk food and drink. Morgan and I celebrated our fourth anniverary with dinner at Harrah’s Steakhouse, probably the oldest fine-dining establishment in town. A bit disappointing, mostly the crowd, but the food was nothing that special. We’ll probably return to LuLou’s or 4th Street Bistro in the future. And there’s always our usual splurge that doesn’t really qualify as fine-dining, SUSHI. For now, our attention is on Amish Friendship Bread since receiving a starter for a coworker. I continue to dwell on my love for two beverages – beer and coffee. Someday you’ll all be regular customers of Marc’s House of Barley and Beans (I still need to work on the name…)

In the technology realm, we’re still happily wireless and using the laptop around the house most of the time, but I had an epiphany recently and added 1GB of memory to the desktop PC in the office and it runs SO much better now! Still need to tidy up the hard drive some, and I think I’ve committed myself to migrating to Picasa to organize and tag photos. With two kids being reared in the age of digital photos, we’re rapidly accumulating hundreds of digital photos with little organization. At least I’ve got some piecemeal backup systems in place, but I need something more systematic I think. Picasa and some kind of offsite storage may be the answer. Not sure when I’ll have the time, but at least I’ve started thinking about it… I dabbled in trying to burn a movie onto DVD, wrestling with the matter from every angle before deciding the DVD burner on the laptop is kaput. Sigh.

I’ll toss out a plug here for a game we’ve been enjoying quite a bit lately, courtesy of Grandpa Dave, Apples to Apples is our latest party-game fascination.

And lastly, I just want to give a shout-out to our little dog Daisy. She’s seen some rough times lately, with her diagnosis of Cushing’s Disease, recent stomach issues, difficulty with stairs, and general aging. We still love her, and hope she’ll stick with us comfortably for a little while longer.

And with that, dear readers, I’ll come to a close. If you’ve read all of this, I owe you a coffee or a beer. Keep coming back to cheztiar in 2008.

I am a huge fan of garage sales and thrift stores. Something that I picked up from my mom, although I acquire a lot less stuff. Anywho….I hit my first auction this weekend with Rayna and Kelly. Paddy, Marc’s mom, came along too.

I browsed the preview online the day before. I eyed a few things and Marc was curious about a vintage pinball machine. He said it could be his birthday gift if it was the right price. I set myself a little budget and off I went.

We signed in and obtained our numbers. I was 386. The auction had already begun as we started to make our way around the warehouse. There was so much more there than was on the website and I was immediately overwhelmed. I spotted a small bathroom stand with a drawer and made my first mark on my list. Paddy and I wandered off to look at all the stuff. When I turned around, they were holding up this small bathroom stand. I threw my hand up in the air. Did I hear 10? Then he started saying 20. I think. I started shaking. I had been outbid but was too afraid to bid again since I was not sure how much we were exactly at. I kept my hand down and the stand sold for $7.50!?!?

I made my way back to my pack. I felt safer there and was sure that I could get the hang of it with Kelly and Rayna next to me. We made our way to our seats. The green velvet chaise lounger was coming up soon. I set a price in my head. The bidding started and my hand just went up. We started low at 10. It went up. With no hesitation, my hand flew up. After a few more flings of my hand, I now owned the chaise lounger for $30. Oh, success. It was an amazing feeling. I was so excited. I had just won my first bidding war. This rules. So much better than ebay with it’s shipping charges and week long bidding.

Rayna and I checked out the jewelry and I found the ring that I had seen the day before. I liked it in person as much as I did online. It was to be mine. Oh, and I passed some cute star-shaped plates on the way back to our seats. I thought they would be perfect for Lola. I saw the pinball machine and found a beautiful retro art deco armoire right next to it. We went and sat back down and waited for these items to come up for bidding. Rayna won a necklace and earring set, a very intricate, beautiful beaded purse and a mink hat. My ring came up and after a little war, it was mine. By now I am hot. The star plates came up and since no one bid, they became mine with a wave of 386!

Before the pinball machine, I bid on a piece of art that I won. Then the armoire came up. The bidding started so low, I couldn’t keep my hand down. This piece was meant to be mine. I won it at an amazing price of $45. It was commented by many as to how great of a deal that I got. I was almost too excited to bid on the pinball machine which was next. I did bid on it and warred with someone behind me. I went as high as $175. I knew it was worth much more after Marc had done some research, but at that price, I wasn’t sure. He got a great deal at $200. I also picked up a mirror, a curio cabinet and a great 6 gallon crock and then had to pay and leave. It was too much fun and I was out of control. We even had great fun with the auctioneers.

Here are some pictures of my successful bidding:

Lola on the new chaise

My new piece of art – I really like it more now than I did then!

My new crock (Marc think I shouldn’t even bother to post a picture, but you wanted to see it, huh?)

My new ring. Just needs to be resized.

Lola’s new plates.

And the new armoire. It was VERY heavy. Marc was not very happy with all of my purchases. Even more so when he saw how heavy this was and that we had nowhere to put it….yet.  I think more of my lack of control. I am not allowed to buy anything bigger than a microwave without discussing it.

Future auctions are not out of the picture. It will just have to be more controlled. As Rayna said, I have to be less of an enabler. I can’t wait!!! Just writing this blog is making me excited. I wonder what my next bidding number will be?

I just read a headline as I was signing on to blog:
Chewed up Vick cards sell for $7,400
Wow! Go dogs, I say. What kind of person could treat any living thing that way? Plus, having to give back all his NFL earnings? I say, “hell, yes!” Ah, 34 mill would be a nice big contribution to the SPCA or any other animal charity – this is, if they need suggestions of what to do with the money.

In other news, as Marc has already spilled, we bought a new car. I cannot tell you how excited I am about it. With the new 2002 Eurovan, I will be part of the VW family again. I had a new VW Beetle when I got pregnant with Lola. I loved it, but could not figure out how I was going to put a car seat in the back and the trunk had little room for a stroller plus anything else. This monster will be able to seat seven and sleep 4. I am stoked!!

What I really wanted to write about was the funny parenting story from 6am this morning. Those with queasy stomachs or no tolerance for poop, I suggest you stop reading, leave me a comment, and log in for the next blog. Anyway, Sid was having his super early morning breakfast when he pooped. Now, Sid is for sure a male. His bowels could set off a car alarm if he was close enough. So, Marc, who was awoken by the by the explosion, offered to change his diaper. I told him to let him eat for a few more minutes and then he could. I am half asleep during all of this and was startled awake by Marc’s surprising yelp. I caught the end of it, but apparently, Sid has to pee, Marc quickly covered him with a wipe and then Sid decided to empty his bowels again. So, this explosive, surging pooh shot all over the bed…that’s right, diaper number two was not under his bum. Did I mention that it is still a little after 6am? Ugh! So, we got Sid cleaned up, dirty diapers thrown away, hands washed and sheets changed. I guess the positive is that I now have clean sheets, I changed one less dirty diaper, and Marc even started a load of laundry. Ah, what a way to start the day.

With that all said (I love to share), I think I might go take a nap. Both kids are asleep – Hooray!

So, changes and goings on among us in recent days…we had a successful garage sale on Saturday, getting rid of a bunch of stuff and making about $130 bucks in the process.  Which paid for most of our new pots and pans…fortunately Morgan picked up a great complete set of dishes for 8 at the thrift store!

In vehicular news, our growing family got us thinking we needed a bigger vehicle, so we’re almost the proud owners  of a 2002 Eurovan.  (Almost because we don’t actually have it yet, but it’s as good as ours.)  No, we’re not going to have FOUR cars, we’re going to sell the Saturn and the existing VW van.  So if you know anyone needing a vehicle…

I know I’ve been bad about posting pictures lately…it’s so hard to find time!   We hung a birdfeeder that the birds have been crazy about, so I need pictures of that, the new house, oh yeah, and our kids.  Hopefully this weekend.

Sidney’s doing well, being generally baby-like all the time.  Not a lot to report, really – he eats a bunch, has gas, cries, sleeps, and needs his diaper changed.  Lola is generally good, being a big sister, having her little moods from time to time, and still being her beautiful, engaging, captivating self most of the time.

That’s about all for now I suppose.  I’ll at least throw a tasty link your way for your viewing pleasure.  Here ya go.   Pass that around the internet a bit.

It’s hard to keep this blog viable when it feels like I just have the same stuff to say every time. ..

Another day, another brushfire.  Had a good view of it tonight, the hills above Caughlin Ranch aflame quite visibly as we came home from dinner with friends.  Seems like every day or two, something else is burning.  At least the really hot weather has settled back to normal hot.  Speaking of, um, brush…did something fun this weekend, a movie in the woods.  A friend of a friend does this most years, drags out a bunch of gear into the forest in Dog Valley and shows a low grade scary movie for anyone who cares to show up.  This year it was Slumber Party Massacre which I watched about half of before turning in, followed by Dawn of the Dead.  Fun time, grilled some burgers, drank some beers, slept in the van with Morgan and Lola, Paige and Maggie up top.  That’s about the most ambitious camping we’ll be up for this year, I’m thinking.

Got word today that we’ll probably be able to close the deal on our new house next Monday, coincidentally the due date for baby brother.  Hopefully the timing of things will shake out agreeably for all, one great event coming before the other rather than everything simultaneously.   Speaking of the move, we’ve treated ourselves to a few more big purchases with some of the equity from the sale of the house – found a decent dining room table and chairs (luckily, we can leave it at the store for as long as we like, until the end of July if need be) and really splurged on a nice big LCD TV that Costco had on sale.  Next up?  A new sofa (or if I’m lucky, a sectional) for the living room, and fat shed for the backyard.   Managed to stock up on a variety of sundry items at the Rite Aid-turned-Longs up on MaeAnne, bunch of miscellany up there for 75% off right now, too!

I suppose that’s the best I can offer for now, loyal readers (all of you).