41 posts tagged “family”

This past weekend, Prince E and I went to visit my sister Kiki and her new baby.  He was so scrumptiously cute that I wanted to eat his little ears. And his feet.  And kiss his cheeks over and over.

I managed to carry him around and not worry about breaking him.  For some reason he didn't seem as fragile as my other nephew did when I first held him at seven weeks, but I imagine it is more me and my maturity (ha!) than the actual difference between the babies.

Here are some photos of the little one (log in for more including his "My aunt is a hottie" shirt.)

As part of the preparation for my upcoming triathlon (as well as an effort to knock another thing of my 101 list), Prince E attempted to teach me how to use the fancy clipless pedals on my bicycle last weekend.  Being that I am chicken, I opted to wear one regular shoe and one bike shoe, so that my right foot remained unconnected to the bike for safety.

We got out into the driveway in front of our apartment building and Prince E explained how to get my left foot in the fancy pedal.  He said he wouldn't go too fast and then started up the sidewalk.  I got my left foot hooked into the pedal, tried to move forward and promptly fell over onto the driveway.

I wanted to go upstairs and get my other regular shoe and give up on the whole thing, but he convinced me to keep trying.  I eventually was able to get going and managed to ride around pretty easily.  He also explained to me how to stop, which I practiced a few times in the neighboring church lot.

We then decided to bike to his work because he needed to pick something up.  I made it there fine and without incident.  Then it came time to stop.  And I fell over again.  The second fall was a bit worse as it scraped a bigger part of my leg and bruised part of my hand.  Luckily though, nothing was broken and I managed to miss hitting my head on the nearby garbage can.

Undeterred I rode laps around the parking lot of his work, periodically stopping just to make sure I could.  We had brought the other bike shoe with us and I tried, briefly, to use both shoes.  We soon discovered though that there was some kind of defect, because even with all of my might, I could not easily get my right foot unhooked, even though the pedal was at the loosest setting. 

I certainly did not feel safe enough to ride around with both shoes attached to the bike where there was a very good chance I wouldn't be able to easily get out of it when I needed to stop.  So, we stopped the lesson and went to Dairy Queen.

Yesterday I rode my bike to the library, using two regular shoes and that was fun.  I like the idea of being able to have an option to driving, especially to places like the library that talk to long to walk to.  When I got home, I got out the step ladder and put my bike away all by myself way up onto the second rung of the bike rack.  I was so proud of myself, I jumped down from the ladder with glee...and promptly caught the side of my thing on the hard back part of the couch, resulting in a nasty looking and even nastier feeling bruise.

Did I mention I also burned myself with a cookie sheet on Sunday?  It has just been a klutzy kind of week.  I realized today talking to my mom that I probably inherited it from her when she revealed that she badly bruised herself while changing the filter of her vacuum.  Sounds like something I would do.

I am in Michigan visiting my family until Saturday.  My nephews, aged almost six and three are pretty entertaining. The three year old has very good manners. On Christmas Eve, he got a toy that had plastic cookies.  He carried around a tray of plastic cookies, handing them out to each person.  When my aunt took one, he said, "You didn't say thank you!"  He also accused Prince E of cheating because he used a giant ball to knock over some plastic bowling pins, instead of the little plastic bowling ball.

Prince E had to head back home for work and to take care of the cats. After Prince E headed back to Chicagoland on Tuesday, and my sister and her husband left as well, the three year old said to my mom, pointing at me, "Hey!  She forgot to leave!"

My poor cats all had to have a lime/sulfur dip due to ringworm.  Remember when the vet said that Eggy ate her tail because she was nervous because I made her go in the car to Michigan?  And I felt really guilty?  Turns out she had ringworm.  (Oh, and if you don't know, it is not really a worm, it is a skin fungus.  It is only called worm because it leave a circle shaped mark).

Here is poor (normally) white Eggy after the dip.  Did I mention that it smells like rotten eggs?

Eggy takes after me.  She has spilled her water bowl several times and today knocked over the freezie cup of water for the second day in a row.  For some reason she likes to check the temperature of the water with her paw before drinking, which usually ends with the water on the floor.

I love how in this video she just steps over the mess that she made and goes on with drinking.

By the way, if you clicked that link above for "freezie cup", you saw the picture of little Jiblets from a year ago.  I can't believe he was ever that little.  Here are a couple of picture of him with his best friend Eggy.

And this last picture is just funny:

Growing up we always decorated quite a lot for Christmas.  We had the usual tree and then also had some other touches here and there.  The best was when we (I should say my mom and dad) put a whole bunch of red bows on the giant blue spruce tree in the yard.  It looked great. 

That tree was special because it had been our Christmas tree a few years earlier.  For several years, before they bought an artificial tree, my parents made a point to buy Christmas trees with the roots still attached so that it could be replanted in our yard after the big day.

While I love Christmas and Christmas trees, it always makes me a bit sad to see the cut trees in the tree lots and on top of people's cars.  It seems unfair that the poor trees have to die for tradition.  Although I know that the trees are planted for this very purpose, it still makes me a little sad.

I really don't think that having an artificial tree makes Christmas any less Christmas-y.  If you want it to seem more authentic, just buy some pine scented air freshener.

* Topic idea from No One Cares What you Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for your blog by Margaret Mason (Idea 13)

My brother tagged me to do a meme where I write five facts about me.  I decided to make them about me and my brother instead.

1.  My brother used to say "I'll time you!" as a motivation for me to go get him something from the fridge. It worked, but sometimes he forgot to actually time me.

2. My brother and I once spent several hours creating a trap in the woods behind our house for our sisters to fall into, but by the time we finished we all had to go inside for dinner.

3. My brother and I once made a music video for "Be Like Mike" which featured us playing basketball in our driveway.

4. My brother and I once made a music video for "You Can Call Me Al."  He was Chevy Chase. I was Paul Simon.

5. We recreated the "You can Call Me Al" video at both of our weddings.

Prince E has expressed some concern over whether Jiblets (who is 12 pounds and likes to wrestle) will be too much for little 4 pound Eggatha.  Since she has been in quarantine, she has been able to get her strength up in private and train for their eventual meeting.  If the last couple of days are any indication, I think that she will be just fine.

She can climb her cat tower with speed and precision (good climbing skills are good when hiding from older brothers):

She is very strong (see that box?  she knocked it to the ground in the middle of the night trying to find a toy she wanted to play with):

She puts up a good fight with a stuffed mouse (I love how all of a sudden she realizes that she is being filmed and looks at the camera):

The official race report is now up over Princess Runner.

Friends and family should log in to see some additional pictures below.

My mom and I ran a 10 mile race here in Illinois.  I thought it was a lot of fun, but she did not seem to be enjoying herself all that much.  I thought that she did great!  If you are friends or family, be sure to log in to see some photos of the race.  Thanks so much to Prince E who once again served as the excellent event photographer.

Here is a video of Simba and Jiblets showing their love for one another.  Keep in mind when watching it that Simba (the orange kitty) is usually the one getting picked on, so this show of force from him is rare.