JB's not being nice and going down for Daddy, so I get to put him to sleep.  (Big surprise,since Daddy's majorly grumpy.)  I'll try to come back with a real post, but I'm really tired, so he may put me to sleep with him.

My friend R finally got her power back today, yay!!!!

As I was driving home from work I noticed what a beautiful day it was, and thought of how fun it would be to go on a bike ride.  We were going to go to Winton Woods and rent a bike with a toddler seat on the back, but the boat house where they rent them is only open on Saturdays and Sundays. 

So then we were going to go to Parky's Farm, but my cousin, whom we were meeting up with, insisted that they only had an indoor playground that closed at 4:00.  (It was almost 4:30 by this point.)  So we decided to meet at a nice park right next to the Winton Woods High School.  I still had to drive right past Parky's Farm though, and since I had never been there I decided to go ahead and check it out.  Turns out they do have an outdoor playground also, but oh well.  We still had fun at the other park, and my cousin brought pizza, so I decided to forgive him.    I also invited Mom to join us, since I know she always enjoys hanging out with JB.  My cousin has 2 kids, and the youngest, Ryan, ended up with a bloody nose.  We're not sure how, but we know he was up higher on one the play structures, so he either fell, or hit his nose while climbing.  (He's....18 months old?)  The older boy Steven is 4 months older than JB, and kept asking JB to come play- it was so cute!!!

When he got tired of the park we headed off to the Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center for a free family friendly event.  It took him a little bit to warm up to the crowd and the surroundings, but he had a lot of fun once he did.  (And they had rice krispie treats!!!!  I just can't resist homemade rice crispie treats!!!)  Overall he ran around and played a lot, and went down to bed pretty easily. Here's to hoping he'll sleep in in the morning, since we have to pick up Daddy from work tonight, and I'm tired!!!

The first time I tried this I totally screwed up my page.  Hopefully, this time will be better!  I can't move the videos around or place them where I want to in the post, so I think one of them is really funny and the other is just wowzers! 

Nothing new here, just a little bored 'cause all of our playdate people
are either busy, sick, out of town, or I'm too self conscious of
rejection to call them up to get together.   
Yesterday morning we went to Toddler story time at the Green Township
library.  It was cute, but we definitely need to get JB to more group
activities!!!  He never left Daddy's lap, and after 15 minutes was
saying he needed to go in the library.  It could be just his
personality to not like groups, in which case it's fine, but I think he
hasn't been exposed to them enough.  I also judge that being
comfortable around groups is a crucial social skill in today's society
and that we need to teach him at least a little bit how to interact
with groups.  Perhaps I'm pushing it too much, but since I just sent
the check off to enroll him in the Spring session of Parents & Tots
at the Cincinnati Waldorf School, perhaps once a week at the library
will prepare him for once a week at school.

I keep trying to upload my video from the storm, but it never comes through, even though it says the upload was successful.  Very annoying!!!

I hope everyone has electricity tomorrow!

Alright, this is totally annoying and I'm out of ideas.  For some reason, after I upgraded to Firefox 3.0.1 (OS = Vista) now I can't access one of my favorite websites: www.ecfans.com/forums. 

• I cannot access it through Internet Explorer either
• I cannot access it even with the Windows firewall turned off
• I deleted all cookies and cleared the cache
• I CAN still access perfectly fine from work, so it's not like my profile was blocked or banned from the site.

This is really bugging me!!!!  Any computer gurus out there, please help!

Do not use screwdriver to attempt to take off little annoying piece on back of rearview mirror.  It will slip and leave a painful (but shallow) cut on the palm of your hand.  And then you will have to search for the Neosporin.  Annoying.

We went to Goodwill today to get Daddy some new T-shirts to wear under his uniform at work.  I showed great restraint and kept the bill to only $50.00

As we were leaving Goodwill he was in the car, but not wanting to get in his seat.  He threw a toy dinosaur out of the window and thought it was funny.  He said he dropped it and had to go get it.  I said he threw it out of the window and it was gone.  Maybe I'm mean, but I'm tired of the "let's throw it out the window!" game.  He has a ton of toys, and since it's right by the Goodwill parking lot, I presume someone will find it and donate it.  We then repeated many times on the way home that the dinosaur went bye-bye because he threw it out the window.  He has too many toys anyway.  Yep, I'm mean, I know.

I'm not ready for my baby to be big enough to not take a nap in the day.    He got a little fussy around 5, but other than that was fine without his nap.  Daddy still needs a nap though, so I don't know how that's going to work!

We tried out the Walnut Hills branch library today.  They definitely have the coolest interactive exhibits, but a pitiful DVD collection, and a small board book selection.  (But at least the board books were shelved!)

Private to Aunt Pat:  Fear not, the first thing we did was have a nice breakfast at IHOP!

In a surprising twist, hubby was off work today.  So we got to enjoy an extra family day, and we decided to check out the Harvest Home Fair.  It was neat, kind of like a mini county fair. We got to see chicken, sheep, turkeys, horses, ponies, and goats.  Hubby even caught a stray chicken that had gotten loose! (Wish I'd have had the camera with me!)  It was kind of on the expensive side though, we ended up spending almost $40.  ($10 admission for 2 adults included.)  Then of course hubby had to have a mett, and we had to have pizza, and ice cream, and all the other junk food one finds at these things.  (We stayed away from elephant ears and funnel cakes though.)

Tomorrow we'll be going to the bank to deposit an inheritance check that will enable us to pay off ALL of our debts (with the exception of student loans, it wouldn't put a dent in those.) We'll even have a small amount left over to hold back so we can visit my sister for Christmas.  Thank God!!!!  (And especially Aunt Juanita!!!)  Seriously, this takes so much stress from us.  We know it's just a one time windfall so it's a temporary reprieve, but boy does it help!!!  We might even be able to answer the phone again, imagine that!  After being at the point where we went to a food bank, this means soooo much to us.

So for those of you in Cincinnati, which Hamilton County library branch should we check out tomorrow?  We try to make the rounds and see what each one has to offer, especially in the kid's section.  (I know, you can have them send a book/video to your local branch, but where's the fun in that?)  My preferences go to those with toys/puzzles for the kids to play with and a large selection of SHELVED board books.  (I hate sorting through bins or baskets!) So far, we've been to these branches:

1. Corryvile- stained glass window in the ceiling
2. Clifton- Great toys!
3. Main (Downtown)- cool fish tank and lots of toys
4. Hyde Park- Live goldfish that go under a bridge!!!
5. North Central- board books in 5 baskets around play area
6. Delhi - Nice large play area with a toy fire truck
7. Northside-board books shoved in large bins under a bench
8. Bond Hill- no toys
9. Madeira- Nice play area, train table
10. Blue Ash- Large kid's area, but not many toys

I just realized that although we've been to the Westwood, Norwood, and Oakley branches many times, it was all for meetings and we never really checked out their kids' section. We'll check those out the next time we go to a meeting there.  Any recommendations?

You know the drill.