Archive for April 2008

Wishful thinking, that’s why. No less than five times so far this morning I’ve had to remind myself it’s only Wednesday. Which is better than it being Tuesday or (gah) Monday, but STILL. I’ve even hoped on several occasions that it was Thursday, because then at least I would have “Lost” and “The Office” and “30 Rock” to look forward to. Bummer.

The earthquakes seem to be (knock on wood) slowly diminishing. Of course, it’s not rumbling right under my feet like the poor people who live over in that area, so I only feel things in the high 3’s on up. And we haven’t had one of those since Monday morning. What with the fires we’ve been having in the area the last couple of days, I feel like Reno is being beset by plagues or something. The end is nigh! Repent!

I’ve become totally obsessed with cloth diapers. I know no one is impressed. Shoot, no wonder my comments have diminished lately… all I talk about is earthquakes and cloth diapers. Snore fest! But I’m just telling you what’s on my mind. I’ve decided I’d like to get several of the bumGenius one-size diapers to try out. They sound just about perfect for a newbie like me. Expensive, yes. I found a good coupon online though, and think I’ll use that. But now I’m also starting to think of other accessories it’d be nice to have like a diaper pail liner, some cloth wipes, extra inserts and a diaper sprayer. This is going to be spendy, yo. Come on, economic stimulus check!

Anywho.  I wish I had some thing more exciting to share with you all, but I don’t.  It’s hard to have anything to talk about when you’ve got a tick-leech attached to your person around the clock.  I love that tick-leech, mind you, but SHEESH.

Tags: bumGenius, cloth diapers, earthquake
Filed under General Snark |

I’ll be the first to admit that as a photographer, I pretty much suck.  I have no idea what composition means and as much as I covet a DSLR camera (and boy howdy, do I ever covet), I’d be lucky to know how to use the manual focus.  I just take pictures that I think look good and go from there.   I read the Pioneer Woman’s Photography blog and try to absorb as much of her tips and tricks and Photoshop tutorials as I can.  I love learning new things about taking pictures.  And sprucing up a snapshot in Photoshop gives me such pleasure, it’s downright ridiculous.  Just now, I’m practically giddy because I know there are pictures in my camera right now that need to be downloaded to my laptop and then I’ll be able to play with them in Photoshop and WHAT FUN THAT WILL BE.

Okay, so along with being a total newbie photographer, I’m also a pretty raging geek.

My camera is one that I got as an anniversary gift back in August of 2005.  It wasn’t top of the line at the time and it’s certainly nothing special now.  It’s just your average Sony Cyber-shot, a 4.1 megapixel point-and-shoot.  It’s a lot nicer than the camera I had before that, which was a prehistoric Olympus digital camera that at the time when it was purchased was QUITE THE THING, but by 2005 had become quite a dinosaur.  That thing is as old as my oldest son, ya’ll.  YIKES.  So the Sony was a step up, FOR SURE.  Yet, whenever we’re at any store that sells cameras, I find myself fondling the DSLRs (at least until someone comes by and tells me to stop).   Someday, people.  Someday.  (Yeah, it’s right up there with my new laptop.  I’m jonesing for a Sony Vaio this time as Dell has irritated me of late.) (Dude, what is it with my sudden Sony brand loyalty?  I just noticed that.  Very weird.)

At the core of it, though, I take pictures because I love to have nice pictures.  If I want a nicer camera someday, it’s only because I want to be able to take even NICER pictures.  Just as long as we all recognize that any terrific ability would be attributed DIRECTLY to the camera and not to me.  (This should be obvious if you’ve been paying attention.)  And keeping in mind that my favorite subject is, of course, my kids.

^{I just LOVE how this turned out with P-Dub’s vintage action.}

^{I dig the detail on her “furry” cheeks and forehead.}

^{Can you tell she’s my favorite subject right now?}

^{I called this one “It’s all too much” version 2.0.  I did it for Loralee. Heh.}

^{Capturing moments like this one is what it’s really all about.}

Tags: cameras, photography, pictures
Filed under Evelyn, General Snark |

You’re probably all sick to death of hearing me yammer on and on about these earthquakes, aren’t you? Especially those of you from California who are thinking, “They haven’t even had a 5.0 yet and she’s complaining? Pansy!” You wouldn’t be half wrong, either. I fully admit I am a pansy. It’s a little like flying in an airplane. When I was younger, I loved to fly across country. Turbulence didn’t both me in the least and in fact, I enjoyed it on several occasions. Take off and landing didn’t bother me one bit. Last year, when I flew to Chicago for BlogHer ‘07, I noticed my feelings on the subject had changed. I am now a much more nervous flyer. I decided it was because I have a family, I have something to lose. Having children has turned me soft, I suppose.

It’s the same with these earthquakes. Now, it’s not just me. I’m not the only one dealing with an earthquake. I have a husband, a son and two babies to think about. So every time it starts shaking, I’m not only thinking about what I’ll do if it’s a “big one” but what about the kids? And Harry being easily old enough to get what is going on is very scared and I have to deal with that too. I own a house now that I need to worry about getting damaged. There are so many factors here. Plus, it’s been a good 14 years since I’ve lived in California and have become sensitized to a degree, I suppose.

We had a 4.2 at 4:33 this morning (I’ve been enjoying reading comments on these news stories, btw). Woke both of us up, though I had a feeling I was already awake. Hard to explain. Anyhow, besides the usual heart pounding-sick in the stomach-weak in the knees feeling I usually have been having with these earthquakes, I also felt EXHAUSTED (and not just because it was 4:33 in the morning). I’m tired of this. I’m tired of not knowing what the freak is going to happen. Or when.

There’s lots of guessing games being played. Someone on the newspaper website put a link up yesterday to a research paper done in 1997 that profiled all the earthquakes in Reno’s history and I found this entry particularly interesting:

Verdi Earthquake, December 29, 1948, M6.0
On December 29, 1948, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake near Verdi caused Intensity VII damage to that community. The main event was preceded by several foreshocks. On December 27, notable foreshocks occurred at 5:15, 6:24, 8:21, 8:24, 9:24, and 10:04 p.m. (PST). The event at 9:24 p.m. is described as “a prolonged jolt beneath the city [Reno] for perhaps 30 seconds.” On December 28, numerous earthquakes were felt, and at Verdi there were almost continuous vibrations. Following a lull of nearly 36 hours, almost everyone in a radius of 80 km (50 mi) was awakened by the mainshock at 5:53 AM on December 29th. Nearly every building in Verdi had some sort of damage. Brick parapets on the east and west sides of the Verdi school building were sheared and thrown off. A wall of a grocery store fell down. Several chimneys came down in Verdi and Floriston, and bricks fell from many others. A chimney was also broken in Dog Valley. Windows were broken as far away as Reno. A water main between Reno and Sparks was sheared. In Verdi, stoves were knocked out of line and in some cases went sliding into walls. Large boulders up to 1.5 m (5 ft) came down in the Truckee River Canyon along U.S. Highway 40 south of Verdi, knocking out both power and telephone lines. Telephone service in Reno was out for one to two days.

The earthquake is thought to have originated in Dog Valley and to have possibly occurred along the Verdi fault (which is northerly striking as is the orientation of the most severe damage) or the Dog Valley lineament. In addition to foreshocks, “mysterious rumbles” or subterranean roars were heard in the Verdi-Reno region for about a year before the Verdi earthquake (Bell et al., 1982). [MSL 6, MBM 6.0]

Which, you know, is pretty much exactly what is happening now. Well, minus the 6.0 earthquake (so far), of course.  All of these earthquakes are happening in a populated area of town, meaning the epicenter is directly underneath people’s homes.  These people are pretty much feeling shaking and hearing rumbles ALL THE TIME.  So this here tells me that this has happened before and it has happened in roughly the same area and I AM NOT ENCOURAGED ONE LITTLE BIT.

We did some “earthquake preparedness” this weekend because we are twitchy freaks.  We took down the framed art that was located above our bed, mostly because that is where Evie is sleeping and we didn’t want anything to fall on her in the night, even though we’ll be right there.  We rearranged the living room to maximize safety.  We moved the sofa from the wall underneath the windows to out in the middle of the floor, creating a “conversation pit” of sorts.

This is a move we’ve been wanting to make anyhow, the earthquakes just gave us incentive.  The move freed up space under the windows for the pack n’ play  and the bassinet.  I’m not concerned about broken glass so much, since we do have full length curtains they would contain any “blow out” pretty well.  And it got the pack n’ play out from in front of the china cabinet which is very tall and VERY unstable.

Plus, now the bassinet is right next to my chair.  I put the bouncer seat in there this morning (well, Kile did actually) and now I don’t have to worry about Liam sitting on her should I want to put her in it during the day.  This morning, I helped Kile take the top part of the china cabinet, the hutch, off and set it on the floor.  Then he strapped it to the base.  It’s not very attractive, but at least it won’t fall over.  And it’s just temporary until these earthquakes die down.

The only things left to worry about are a couple of shelfs with knick knacks on them and the entertainment center.  I’m more concerned about junk piled on top of falling off than of the tv coming out.  The tv has been sort of “built in” so it would take quite a bit to shake it out of there.  Plus, the entertainment center as a whole is rather squat and sturdy and not terribly top-heavy.  So that’s good.  Still, if it starts shaking terribly hard I’m going to make sure Liam isn’t sitting right in front of it.

I tell you, if Kile wants to ever move to Elko, today is the perfect day to come home and announce we are indeed going to move.  I will even pack the boxes myself.

Filed under General Snark |

So I took the plunge yesterday.  I figured it was a good day for it, Kile was home so he could run interference with Liam if needed and we had no plans to leave the house so that wouldn’t complicate things.  So I went ahead and put Evie in her first gDiaper.

I was impressed with the fit right off the bat.  It was easy to get the diaper fit snuggly around her waist and thighs.  I checked that the liner was in place as it should be in order to prevent leaks and it was.  The diaper itself is a touch bulky, but I think that has more to do with her small size at this point and less a defect with the diaper itself.  She seemed comfortable, which is the important part.

I found I was actually looking forward to changing her diaper.  I wanted to see how it held up.  I was nervous there would be a leak and checked her fairly often for any breakthrough wetness or stains but there was nothing.  I waited a couple hours, three at the most, and changed her when she woke up for her next feeding which is when I would have changed her anyhow.

Now, this changing could have gone a lot smoother and the fault was entirely mine that it wasn’t.  For some inane reason, I felt like I should re-se the “little g” pants that I had on her and simply restuff the liner.  Which meant that Evie was out of her diaper for a few minutes, which means that she peed during the change and it ran down into her outfit so I had to change her whole outfit anyhow.  D’oh!  The worst part?  I had the other “little g” pant all stuffed and ready to go.  So yeah, that was stupid of me.  I got her all changed and handed her off to Kile while I took the soiled liner into the bathroom for The Flushing.

I was nervous about this part.  But really, it was actually… fun.  I tore the sides of the liner and the stuffing fell neatly into the bowl of the toilet.  I used their swish stick and stirred the contents around a few times but I had the impression that if I had even just left the filling there in the toilet for a few minutes, it would have broken up enough on it’s own.  The stick did speed things along and it only took a few stirs before the contents resembled broken up bits of toilet paper.  I flushed and voila… everything went down just as it should.  We have a low flow toilet so I knew better than to try to get the outer liner in with the first flush.  I just dropped it in when the bowl refilled and flushed again.  Wow.  That was so easy.

I left the diaper on her a little longer this next time, about four hours or so.  I wanted to truly test the diaper.  And, again, it performed excellently.   Not a leak to be found.  And, once again, The Flushing went according to plan and I had myself a little party right there in the bathroom.  And this time, I was smart and simply changed her into the other “little g” pant so the changing went super smooth.

I even had Kile perform the last change before bedtime so that he could experience The Flushing for himself.  I don’t think he was near as excited as I was about it though.  Still, it worked great for him too and I think he was impressed at how easy it really was to work with.   We put her in a regular disposable diaper for nighttime, since she don’t generally change her in the night unless we absolutely have to and I really didn’t want to test the limits of the gDiaper in that fashion.

But I think the Great gDiaper Experiment went really well.  The starter pack I have only comes with ten flushable inserts so that’s one more day at best.  It won’t be today, as we’re going to be out at church and running around like chickens with their heads cut off all day long.   But soon.  And now that I’ve tried out the pants, I really would like to get some cloth inserts to try.  That’s a whole new ball game, of course, involving laundry and whatnot.  But I think I’m up to the challenge.  I performed admirably with the first challenge, after all.

I guess my point is, if you’re on the fence about gDiapers, give them a shot.  A starter pack isn’t a huge investment and should give you a good idea of how the system works and if it’s a good fit for you and your baby.

Filed under Evelyn, General Snark |