I Love To Learn!!

For the past couple of weeks when Katelyn and I have woken up in the mornings, PBS has not been on. So instead of Sesame Street, we've been watching Hip Hop Harry. That's Harry, down below...
I think he should try out for the White Rapper Show. He could sooo win. I've been trying to move and talk and rhyme like him - I'm really learning a lot. Because I! Love! To! Learn!

"I had a question that needed an answer, so I asked my friends, they’re hip hop dancers - 'where could I go, where should I look?' To start the adventure they gave me a book. I opened it up and to my surprise, so many fun things were hidden inside…"

Now all he needs to do is add some Crypt Walkin' to his repertoire.
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I've discovered M&M's Dark. And I like them. I'm sure in the world of Dark Chocolate Connoisseurs this is blaspheme. But I'm pregnant, and I like 'em!
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Last night we watched Flags of Our Fathers. Good movie.
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I moved offices (cubicles) in early January. I used to come in to work each morning, open up my blinds, and watch the progress of the growing bananas on the trees across the yard. Since I've moved, I now come in each morning, open up my blinds, and watch the neighbors dog take a dump in the yard.

Sugar sugar...honey honey...

I had an appointment yesterday. It went well. The baby sounded great and dant da da da - my glucola test was awesome!

I'll be seeing a Doctor in two weeks for a VBAC consult. As much as I think it'd be neat to have a VBAC - I'm a bit scared.

Full Cream, 2%, or Half and Half?

Akeelah and the Bee - cute movie.
Mad Hot Ballroom - cute documentary.

The Rabbit Proof Fence appears very sad, and for this, James and I didn't watch very much of it. Maybe we'll finish it this week. But in the first 2 minutes of the film I learned something. Half-caste. As in half-CASTE, not half-cast, not half-cash. This makes me sad.

I always thought that I was half-cast...I didn't know it is half-castE.
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Oh and I checked out Dolphin, there are no umbrella strollers for $15 on Saipan. But you know what there is an abundance of? Volcanic gas from Anatahan.

My back is killing me!

I usually sing to Katelyn to put her to sleep at night and for her weekend naps. But she doesn't like to stray too much, we just stick to the usual songs - Papa's Song (Mockingbird song), a song about bubble gum, On Top of Spaghetti, Joy Joy Joy, and the Boom Boom song.

Yesterday she asked me to sing, "On top of spaghetti - all covered with bubble gum".
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Oh, please don't forget to complete an offer if you are helping me get a new camera.

Please help Deece get a new camera.

You all (by you all, I mean the 5 of you) know how I don't have a working camera. And I can't afford one right now - and I won't be able to afford one for a long time. Well I've found a way to get one. Please help me get a new camera before my new baby arrives. It doesn't have to cost you anything. Just follow this link and join the website, then sign up for one of the free or minimal cost offers, and don't forget to click on the button that says "I Completed This Offer". Please help - I only need ten of you to sign up.

I'm not trying to get a fancy shmancy one, just the same one that I used to have so I can still use my same memory card and batteries.

You can sign up to receive a new laptop, digital camera, digital video camera, mp3 player, game consoles, and more. I just really want a camera so that I can take pictures of my children. A few of you might remember that I lost all of Katelyn's newborn pictures - I am still very sad. Please help me preserve memories of the day my next little one will be born.

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Since James and I (and most of the Commonwealth) are really in a financial pinch, I am starting to pay more attention to the price of goods at different stores. So here are a few prices that might help you out:

(keep in mind that I really only do my grocery-type shopping at 6 stores - Sara Market, Joeten Hafa Adai or Susupe, Carmen Safeway, H-Mart, and Costco)

• Milk: Anchor milk - $12.50/case at H-Mart; $1.13/box at Carmen
• Ground Beef: $2.50/lb 70% lean at H-Mart (when available); $15.99 for 5lbs 70% lean at Costco
• Onions: $0.69/lb at H-Mart (this is cheaper than Joeten's and Carmen's sale prices)
• Mushrooms: $2.60/carton at Carmen (it's never less than $3.52 for the same amount at Joeten)
• Rice: $18.99/50 lbs Diamond G Rice at Sara (this is cheaper than the sale prices Joeten)
• Toilet Paper: $0.69/roll Kirkland Signature brand at Costco; $6.99/12 rolls Charmin Basic at Sara Market
• Eggs are cheap at Sara and Costco - sorry no exact prices yet
• Regular vegetable cooking oil is pretty much the same price everywhere, but I think that the lowest prices are at H-Mart and Sara
• Fruits are cheaper and more abundant at Joeten
• Canned foods and other pre-packaged foods are usually cheapest at H-Mart
• Except for onions, vegetables are usually more expensive at H-Mart
• Of course, when you have the money to buy in bulk, Costco is usually a great save. In particular, I like to buy these from Costco:
  
• Dial bar soap
• Kirkland Diapers ($21.99/70 count size 5)
• Kirkland baby wipes (I think it's possible to find just slightly cheaper wipes elsewhere, but I like the Kirkland ones best)
• Q-tips - always cheapest at Costco
• Pancake mix
• Syrup
• Olive oil
• Raisins
  
• I buy my meats from Carmen - they usually have the freshest Black Angus meats and their U.S. frozen meats just seem to cook up better than anything I've found at the other stores.
• Sometimes the local fruits and veggies are cheaper at Joeten - but I still prefer to buy them from the Sabalu market. I'll be there tomorrow.
• Nissin Yaki Soba is a good quick meal. You can find this at Carmen.
• Frescas are available at Joeten Susupe
• Joeten Hafa Adai has a better selection of soy milk.
• Joeten Susupe has a good selection of frozen juices - organic and non-organic choices available.
• Puff pastry and phyllo doughs available at Joeten Susupe.
• Another thing I like about H-Mart is its rewards card thing. I have a free H-Mart card and I get points for they money I spend. I think it's like a point for every dollar. And each point translates into a penny. So right now I have $4.00 saved on my H-Mart card - redeemable on the last four days of every month. I can either get cash for the points (i think) or use the points to purchase goods in the store. OR I can trade in the points for gifts. I know it's slow earning, but it's earnings, the other stores I like don't offer this. Also, on certain occasions, like Christmas, they have special promos where for every so many dollars you spend you get a certain number of scratch-off cards and the cards give you free gifts.
• When Carmen and Joeten have sales, it's really worth checking out. Some items' prices come way down.
• Western Family and Kirkland Signature are very good generic brands.
  

If you're interested in baby things...

• Don't just stick to the usual Carmen Baby News like I used to. Why, just today I picked up two toddler toilet seats (one for Maui and one for Katelyn) at Ace Hardware Gualo Rai for $5 each.
  
• Sara Market has a decent selection of kids toys.
  
• I also heard you can get an OK umbrella stroller at Dolphin - I'm going to check it out tomorrow. They usually have a good selection of stuffed animals too.
  
• If you want cute (and cheap) kids plastic dinnerware, flatware, and cups head to National Office Supply - I'll be there next payday.
  
• While most of the toys are really expensive at Lollipops, some things are very decently priced - this is pretty much never the case at Joeten Susupe, I just act like there is no toy department there.

That's all I can think of for now.

Peace out, yo!

The cost of Toilet Paper

Me: James, while there's virtually no difference...the price per sheet of toilet paper is cheaper at Costco than at Sara.

James: Oh my gosh. You audit too much. Only an auditor...

Pot fabot!

If anyone knows Ann Margaret, please tell her to stop giving out my cell phone number.

Either this girl has a number that is one digit off from mine or she's giving out my number! I'm getting really tired of teenage boys calling me up at 11 pm. But at least the boys are respectful, unlike the girls. The rudeness that vomits from these girls mouths is enough for me to - OK, they call me up and ask for Ann Margaret. I tell them they have the wrong number and either they don't believe me and start cussing at me like I'm their best friend or they speak so rudely like it's my fault they dialed the wrong number.

The phone calls are irritating not only for the aforementioned reasons, but also because they waste my minutes. At least the text messages they send me are free - and amusing. Why, just the other night a kid named Jay texted me. The text was nothing special, it was just fun to read a message sent by someone whose signature is "Runaway Love".

I've been thinking of purchasing a sign above MVA that reads something like, "Ann Margaret - Happy Birthday! And many more to come. Stop giving out my number, pot fabot! By da way, ur boy, RuNawAy LoVe, b lookin 4 u. "

Cookies 'N Cream! My favorite!

I was talking with someone whose husband bought her Cookies N Cream ice cream this evening. So after a long day of taking care of my poor sick daughter, my wonderful husband ran to the Sara Market to get me some too.

Katelyn hasn't had much of an appetite since late Friday. We had to take her and her dinner down to my sister's house so my nephew, Ikaika (a.k.a. Mikey), could feed her. Finally, some food in her belly!

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James decided to build a ramp for Ikaika this afternoon. Of course, Auntie Deece wasn't thrilled about it.

It started off small...

Then it got bigger...

Then it got small again...

Then someone wiped out...

And it was no more.

My girl.

Katelyn skipped her nap two days ago and took a short one yesterday. So today she had a runny nose and a fever. The tylenol didn't do much for her, only the motrin reduced her fever. Poor thing didn't want to eat or drink even - she eventually did. She's asleep now, I hope she'll get over this quickly. I hate to see my girl suffer.

Even though she wasn't feeling well, she was still happy enough to take this picture.

"We're talkin' it up! On the Barry Gibbs talk show. Talkin' 'bout chest hair, talkin' 'bout crazy cool medallions..." ~Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

Barbie Q.

At the Taste of the Marianas one year. We placed first in the ribs competition. My sister made the ribs. I made the avocado salad. Oh, she also made the aprons.

My sister is actually taller than me. I don't know why I look taller in the photo - oh wait, that's right. It's the ridiculously tall shoes I used to wear.

I'm getting WAY too fat!

James bought Katelyn another Care Bear for Valentine's today. (He bought me a Whatchamacallit.) Really, it's a Care Bear Cousin - Brave Heart Lion. I still have my old Brave Heart Lion that I plan to give her someday. I don't know why Katelyn needs two, but whatever, I'm sure she'll love them both.

I know I've mentioned this before, but Katelyn has a lot of stuffed animals (bears). I fear that one day when we take Katelyn to a real zoo [not like the Saipan Zoo whose wild african cat , Eli, escaped and found its way into MY YARD] she'll reach over and start punching one of the bears. Because Katelyn knows that we "don't hit people, only bears."
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Look what I found. It's a monologue from the Christopher Marlowe play Doctor Faustus. The website describes it as "a dramatic monologue for a man". They don't know what they're talking about, I performed it in a competition when I was a senior in high school. And I was gooood.

BUT, I didn't win. I'd like to believe that what my coach and principal said was true - that I should have won. I'd like to think that the only reason why I didn't win was because we forgot to submit the monologue in written form to the judges. But who knows, right? Maybe I didn't win because I performed a piece about a man who sold his soul to the devil while we were in the Grace Christian Academy church. Maybe I didn't win because someone else was actually better than me. Mona, were you there?
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We finally decided on a name if we have a girl - Leah Marie.

The Beach.

On Sunday James and I took Katelyn to the beach. We didn't plan on it being a very involved trip. We put on our swimming clothes, threw on some sunblock, packed some towels, bought our girl some beach toys, and drove down to Lally 4.

She was apprehensive at first, but she slowly warmed up to the point where she didn't want to leave. I borrowed my sister's video camera and was hoping to post some clips. But while her camera can take digital still photos the video can only be recoded on tape. And I don't know how to transfer the video.

As I watched my daughter and husband play and laugh in the water I just had to thank God for that day. It's so wonderful that my daughter can at any time play in the same water and on the same white sandy beach that my mother grew up on back in the late 40's and 50's. Maybe my mom will come along with us next time - we plan to go often.

I'm takin' over!

I'm borrowing my sister's video camera. I need a way to preserve memories and until I can get my camera fixed or get a new camera...I'm takin' over!

Here is a picture of James on the first day he felt well enough to leave the house after he got sick in November. I took this picture just before my camera stopped working, luckily I was able to upload it by sticking the memory card into the video camera.

This is Katelyn. Earlier tonight. Trying to cover the camera lens.

"You've got to walk that lonesome valley...."

So I changed my cell phone plan. I had been planning on downgrading my plan - I was going to switch to Saipan Cell because of their new lower rate plans. But then PTI just outdid them. In yo face!

I no longer have unlimited nights and weekends and I have a pretty small number of regular airtime minutes. But I have free long distance. So if I can keep my minutes under control, there's a person in Seattle I'll be calling from time to time. ;-)
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I bought a pair of "dress" shoes from Payless a few weeks ago. The first time I wore them the buckle on the left shoe broke. But I decided that I'm going to get some mileage out of these cheapo shoes so I went through the house looking for super glue - I ended up with a bottle of my niece's Elmer's School Glue gel. Say what you want, the buckle is back on. Boo-ya!

(I've already asked some ladies in my office to nominate me for What Not To Wear - after I shed the baby weight, that is.)
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Hershey's Dolce de Leche Kisses are really good!
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After years of saying I would, I got around to buying a tube of St. Ive's Apricot Scrub. I finally found a facial soap that works! Since Neutragena stopped working for me in high school, I found that nothing works! Including Proactiv. I don't have horrible acne, but I'm 25 and break out a little more than I'd expect at this age.

Oh snap! There was ONE other face soap and moisturizer combo that worked - Mary Kay, the stuff in the orange and white tubes. I miss Mary Kay...maybe one day you'll see me and my friend Velma driving around in pink Cadillacs.
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I (my mom) recently found some old tapes and CD's stashed away in the house. Two tapes are of me when I was a baby and toddler - very cute, if I do say so myself. One is one of my Uncle Tony's albums..."adios kirida neni, adios kirida neni, kirida neni adios sa esta bai hanaaaaoooo".

And I finally found them again: The Kingston Trio Collectors series and all the best Irish Drinking songs. This morning I started drafting a letter while listening to "Bog Down in the Valley" and "Wild Rover". I need to get myself some ear buds so I don't bother my office mate while I listen to "The Tijuana Jail", "Greenback Dollar", "Worried Man", and "Reverent Mr. Black".

A Camera! Finally!

Sorta. I comandeered my sister's camera this evening. I didn't go nuts with it, but I had some fun. Here we go!

Katelyn put this outfit together and then told me she was ready for work. Two sweaters and a Thai skirt.

My cute girl.

Making tea for her newest care bear.

Shameless Self Portraits

Belly shots.

Like my new short hair?

I've worn this shirt out a few times. I received several 'looks'. Whateva! I know what clan I'm from.

100

Last night I was thinking of posting a type of obligatory 'about me' post. Today, I found this through The Saipan Blog. So I decided to go for it. (This might get lengthy.)

100 Things About Deece

1. I'm a Christian
2. With Katelyn, my maternal instincts told me I was having a girl (even though growing up I always wanted a boy first). This time, my maternal instincts tell me it's a boy. We shall see.
   
3. I don't like gum and I don't like chips. And I HATE potatoes - but don't tell that to my Irish ancestors.
4. I graduated from high school and NMC when I was 16.
5. I only applied to two colleges: Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona.
   
6. I spent nearly two years of college as an Urban Planning major. One of my father's masters degrees was in City Planning. My mom suggested I major in business. I was adamantly against that idea. Then what happnened? In June 2003 I graduated from the College of Business at Cal Poly Pomona.
   
7. I quit drinking when I was 19.
8. I'm a published poet.
9. In 6th grade I did a research science project on pollution and the environment. I placed first in my class. The reason I didn't win overall in school? I lost on points because the judges thought I received too much help from my parents. Want to know how much I really received? None. (Soon after the science fair an article was written about me and my project in a local magazine...I can't remember wich one, but I've got a few copies around here somewhere.)
   
10. I played the clarinet in the school band for 4 years. For a little while I played the bass clarinet. My father told me I'd be partners with the Tuba player. He'd be the "oom" and I'd be the "pa pa".
    
11. My mother, my husband, my daughter, and I were all born in the Chinese year of the rooster.
12. My favorite food is rack of lamb.
13. My favorite soda is root beer.
    
14. I recently transfered to the Financial Unit at work. I love it. I'm not good with numbers, but I like working with them. I have no idea how I passed Math 132 at NMC. I had to retake algebra at Cal Poly. But once I got through it, I breezed through my stats and finance classes.
15. I used to want 9 kids. Now I think it'd be nice to have 4. But it's most likely that 2 is all I'll have. And I'm happy with that.
    
16. I make a mean Croissant...and Flan. And my reduced fat, low-sugar or sugar-free cream pies, cream puffs, and tiramisu are pretty darn good too.
17. I can't swim. I'm dealthy afraid of the ocean.
18. I could walk and talk when I was 9 months old.
19. I used to wear braces. Now I wear glasses (contacts).
20. My hair has been purple, purple and blue, orange (tried to go blonde), burgundy, and many shades of brown.
21. I used to cut hair for a lot of guys in my dorm. I let a friend cut my hair once - it was sad.
    
22. I have my own bass guitar that I don't know how to play.
23. I learned to drive a month before I turned 14.
24. I used to be a Polynesian Dancer. I danced at Hafa Adai, Dai Ichi, Nikko, and on a dinner cruise.
    
25. My lemon-minty iced tea is awesome.
26. I was born in Berkeley when my father was finishing up his Doctorate. I miss the smell of the Eucalyptus trees that surrounded our apartment on Smyth Rd.
27. I've broke my wrist when I was in second grade. I tore a ligament in my knee in 4th grade.
28. My father died in 1993. I was supposed to be suspended from school for 3 days that week. I ended up taking two weeks off.
29. I was married just before sunset by a judge who was a good friend of my dad's.
30. I'm a green belt in Kyokushin karate.
    
31. I knit and crochet. I wish I could sew.
32. My dad used to brew his own beer. I used to cap the bottles. We were featured on the local news.
33. I love stuffed animals. So does my daughter.
34. I have a tattoo of a hibiscus flower on the back of my neck.
    
35. I've had piercings in my tongue, belly button, nose, and several in my ears.
36. When I was young I took ballet and jazz classes. I was never any good.
37. I learned to swing dance in college. So much fun!
38. I used to ride my bike all over Capital Hill. I was wanted to have a BMX like KenII.
39. I have arachnaphobia. Big time.
40. My dad used to take me to dinner a lot when I was young. Just the two of us. I used to love mud pies from Ship Ashore, Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread from Lens, Yaki Soba from Okame, and Shirley Temples at the revolving restaurant in the Nauru Building.
    
41. I love playing Burnout III, Mario Kart, and Puzzle Fighter.
42. I hate playing volleyball. I love playing football - American football, that is.
43. I love coffee. Cream, no sugar.
44. I'd love to be a lounge singer.
45. I once had a fever so high that I went delirious.
    
46. I used to sleep walk. I still, on occasion, sleep talk.
47. In highschool I'd watch the Golden Girls on Lifetime to fall asleep. As soon as it was over, I'd change it to MTV and put the sleep timer on. Unsolved Mysteries was on after the Golden Girls. The theme music alone scared the crap out of me. Still does.
48. I love cookies.
49. I met my first grade teacher a few years ago - for the first time since first grade. I was teaching her son.
50. I used to teach continuing education courses.
51. I used to clean my Nikes and K-Swisses every Saturday with a toothbrush.
52. I make really good fruit spritzers. My favorite is Mint Watering Red Berry.
53. I was in MathCounts. Amazingly.
54. I only took 3 real high school classes. Creative Writing, Geometry I, and Geometry II. I did very well in all three.
55. When I was 16 I pierced my tongue and my best friend (who was 14) got her first tattoo.
56. Once when we went to the gym I handled a machine wrong and I put a hole in my wrist. My first and only ride in the ambulance.
57. My third roommate in college was from Beverly Hills. Zip code: 90210. Seriously. Marissa is one of the sweetest people I know.
    
58. Her grandfather started Ralph's. He has an awesome house, pool, swimming pool. I would have liked living in his pool house.
59. Another friend in college, Joe - his grandfather was one of the Stater Brothers. Once he went to visit his grandma Stater in Newport Beach and he came back with a Cadillac. Sweet.
60. Aside from my c-section (which used staples anyway), I've had 11 stiches.
    
61. I've had oral surgery - twice. Only local anesthesia was used. Half my face was numb for hours.
62. I couldn't swallow pills until my last year in college.
63. Sometimes I don't hear so well. Especially when I eat oranges.
64. Once when James and I were in Beverly Hills, Ben Stein was checking me out.
65. I have the entire Little Mermaid movie memorized.
66. I wouldn't want to live in Vegas. Or New York.
67. I don't like rollercoasters.
68. I like to eat sandwiches, but I tear off most of the bread.
69. I love grahm crackers with cream cheese dipped in chocolate milk.
70. Reese's Pieces are good.
71. I'm allergic to cats.
72. I enjoy watching The Office, 30 Rock, and Take Home Chef.
73. I met another Chamorro in college. But he grew up in Fremont. His dad was from Guam. He knew nothing of the islands.
    
74. I pop my knuckles.
75. Like many girls, I had all my children's names picked out by the time I was 12. 'Katelyn' was one of them.
76. My first name is Dawn Chrystal. Not Dawn. I go by 'D.C.' or 'Deece' (sounds like peace).
77. My first word was 'bird'.
78. I rode a motorcycle twice. Once for 5 minutes and I was pretty scared. The second time was from Pomona to Encino. It was awesome.
79. I took three semesters of Japanese. I didn't want to take the last (hardest) class, so I took Intro to Chamorro instead.
80. I love orange juice.
81. I want to become a CPA.
82. I hate WWE-type wrestling.
83. I'm getting tired of writing this list.
84. I can drive a manual transmission.
85. I used to own the dance floor at GIGs.
86. I've never read Great Expectations - I just like the phrase.
87. I don't really like to read.
88. I sometimes get motion sickness on airplanes. I've never thrown up - but I don't htink my neighbors enjoy watching me pull out the barf-bag and have it sitck out of the seat pocket.
89. I've been to Palau, Japan, and Canada.
    
90. It'd be nice to visit the east coast again. But I don't want to live there.
91. My first roommate in college enjoyed making margaritas for us, but she didn't drink them herself.
92. I was never chosen for a part in any school plays.
93. I want to be creamated. Not buried.
94. I think it'd be fun to be a pastry chef.
95. I only like coconut if it's straight out of the nut. And only young coconut. I don't really like coconut juice. But I love most foods that are cooked in coconut milk.
    
96. I wish I could make coconut oil.
97. While my punches are harder from my right hand, I prefer a south-paw stance.
98. In elementary school, a woman across the street used to teach me Spanish. I was never any good at it. My father was fluent.
99. I'm named after my father's mentor. She gave me a drawing that's framed and hangs in my room. She also gave me a pewter kettle. I never met her - I think.
100. I'm never writing a list like this again. 100 is way too long.
     

I've got dibs!

James brought home a small tup of Dibs the other night. It's Dryer's Cookies 'n Cream ice cream covered in chocolate. It's deeelicious!
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I love hearing Katelyn talk in her sleep. It gives me an idea of what she dreams about. Two nights ago as I slipped back into bed after my first nightly pee-break I heard Katelyn say,

"What that? Wear it, Nen-nen's socks. No, I don't like."

Yum.

This morning's wonderful breakfast: A Phunanana Soy Smoothie.

Figure that one out! Boo-ya!
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Can someone help out Angelo and tell him what that is? I have no clue, but I'd like to know if people it eat.

Chop, chop!

So I got my hair cut this weekend. Finally. It's been months since my last trim, but it's been years since it's been this short (or had any style to it). If I had a camera I'd post a picture for you, but alas....

As I watched my hair go from 3 inches to 14 inches above the small of my back I noticed our Explorer pull up outside of the salon. The next thing I see is James pushing Katelyn on a new pink tricycle. Ai adai. What can I say - daddy's little girl.

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A question for PSS: Is the Super Bowl really that much more important than education?

Wow, more fun times!

So last night was rough. It's as if all the pregnancy sleep problems decided to hit me all at once - well, most of the sleep problems, I thank God that I didn't have any leg cramps.

I woke up at about a quarter to 1am. Couldn't sleep. Eventually turned on the TV and watched enough Flip This House to tell you that recessed lighting equals about $1,800 added value to a crappy old house. Boy, I tell you, whenever we move back to the states I do not want to buy a house that was built so many years ago but has recently gone thorugh a remodel. I'm not going to give someone $50,000 profit for not-quite-going-the-extra-mile on a flipped house. No, sir. I'd rather buy a new home that no one has lived in before or an older home whose owners are moving to Florida or something.

So anyway, I watched two and a half episodes of the show before attempting to go back to sleep. And it sill took me about 45 minutes to fall alseep because of the pain in my belly/uterus/pelvis/hips/you-name-it and because of James's crazy loud snoring. Now I don't know if his snoring was any louder than it ever is, but I had a hard time last night. When I was pregnant with Katelyn I used earplugs every night of my last trimester. It was the only way I got any sleep. But what am I supposed to do now? I can't plug up my ears with my daughter in the bed with me.

I was hoping to get some sleep when Katelyn took her nap today, but that didn't work. We have a bunch of movies that we need to watch by tomorrow night so I ended up watching the Da Vinci Code - long and dumb. Part of You, Me, and Dupree - notice how I said 'part of'. Last night we watched Lady in the Water - a cute little fairy tale. I know you're thinking, "fairly tale, Deece, surely you jest; you're such a chicken that all of M. Night Shamalamadingdong's movies scare you." Nay, says I. I actually was OK with this one, it was cute. We just finished Black Dahlia. I guess I was OK for the most part as we watched it. But I'm just not happy now. I don't care for that sort of thing.

Let me tell you what fun is.

Fun is when you wake up at nearly midnight to the sound of your aircon dripping, nay, spilling, water onto your bookshelf and carpet while the temperature is set at 68 degrees but it feels like its 80.

That's what happened last night.