See, we're really not freaks after all

We're by far not the only ones disinterested in religion according to this survey.

What do I have to do to get a quiet morning?

Good grief, what a morning. There was an explosion on an offshore drilling rig, so of course people who apparently pay no attention to what my husband does or what division of offshore oil he works in freak the hell out.

It took me less than 5 minutes on Google to get details that would have assured me it wasn't DH's rig. I didn't need to confirm it because my DH called me after talking to his freaked out parents to tell me it wasn't his rig, but still. We've been there with helicopter crashes that weren't even on crew change day that had people scared it was him.

It's tiring and stressful to deal with family jumping at shadows all of the time when I already know his job isn't safe. There's a reason we have an insane amount of life insurance on him, but there's a limit as to how often I'm willing to scare myself silly without rhyme or reason.

Just a Couple of Gabriel Pics

Here's my boy slurping up nothing other than leftover A1 steak sauce. He stole the plate while I was in the bathroom and apparently inherited my ability to practically drink the stuff.

The second picture is from Gabriel's birthday get together. Nothing's better than giving them their first taste of chocolate on their first birthday....the reaction (and resulting pics) are priceless!

Back from WI with puppy pics!

Here's a pic of one of the pups. Jasmine's OK with me but not with me with the camera so this pic was "stolen" while she went outside for a moment.

Weigh in went well. I'm down 3.8 pounds. Yay!

Gabriel went with MeMe and I to the meeting. He ran around like a crazy person and entertained the women there. They were all flirting with him. It was tiring for me, though. My arms and back are sore from chasing him. I wonder how many activity points I earned during that meeting?!? LOL

Knitting....ah yes. I'm being selfish with it lately. I'm working on a sweater for myself and just completed my first sock with real sock yarn. It's adorable and totally the best thing I've ever had on my feet. I used Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters and am now proudly loving sock knitting. This is especially good news for Dean. He's been wanting some handknit socks for a while. I really need to be sewing play dresses and knitting shorties, though. Hmmm.....where is that second sock again? ;)

WW, homeschool, and my precious....

Let's see, the usual update: Jasmine had puppies. We think there's some bulldog involved. They're super cute but only 2 days old. I'll post pics when I swap my pics to my newish replacement laptop (I'll explain below).

Claudia's birthday is coming up on the 4th. She wants a SHEEP. Not a stuffed sheep. A real, live sheep. Dean and I are trying to sell her on a goat. She's not having it. She wants a fluffy pet sheep. *sigh* She'll probably get it, too. Dean's talking to a friend of a coworker who raises them.

I'm amazed by the girls' progress in homeschool. Nadine read her very first real book to Dean the night he went out. "It has its own cover and evathing, Mommy!" She is so excited and really wants to read. Dean is super supportive of the girls' homeschool. They love to save papers and things to show him when he comes home and he stops everything to let them show off. It's easy to keep them excited about learning when their parents are excited, too.

I'm going to WW meetings with Meme now. I had my first meeting last week and have one tonight. I didn't think I'd like the meetings, but I've been having trouble "getting on the wagon" since Gabriel was born and thought the accountability of a weigh in would help. I was right. I've done pretty well this week. I tried online (which worked before Gabriel) but things have been so hectic I would forget to even weigh in. I'm stoked though, because I weighed 263 last week. I was expecting 15 to 20 pounds heavier than that...

After over a month of fighting with Dell, the accident replacement warranty laptop finally got here today. And all it took was me making some suggestions as to how Dell and the rep might make use of their recreational time to do it. It's not my fault, honest. I try so hard to be nice to tech support folks, but this was so totally over the top I lost it. While I was trying to find out the status of my now 3 weeks late replacement laptop, I was told the warranty was almost up and that I should buy an extension. Um, no. You're not honoring the warranty I have, you know I'm having issues, and it's pretty sad to be throwing a sales pitch into the mix. I probably should have told them off 3 weeks ago because this morning I received a very pleasant phone call from someone identifying themselves as a VP of Customer Relations at Dell. They had a tracking number for me (overnighted OMG!) and I was very impressed at the quick response. I had only contacted corporate yesterday, after all. I would have been a very happy customer with just that level of attention and the VP's interest in the inability of Dell's departments to communicate that caused this problem. Then he told me what he sent me "as a gesture of continued goodwill", and my jaw hit the floor. It's around here somewhere. Still too in shock to go find it. Ladies, I am typing this blog right now on a refurbished Alienware laptop that retails for roughly $4,000. *pets laptop gently* My precious....

I told Dean I paid for this thing with blood, sweat, and tears with their "support" line, so I don't feel too guilty, but dang, she's really, really nice. Add to that the fact that Dell went that far to make sure they have happy customers and well, I forgive them...for everything but trying to sell me an extension. I'm a working on it. Let the Alienware log me into stuff a few more times by recognizing my face (!!!) and I'm sure I'll forget all about it.