It's Hootman!

Sierra with Hootie and The Blankie, taken last Christmas


Tonight I realized something...a tremendous amount of power in my household is held by a small gray stuffed animal we have named Hootie. He is Sierra's favorite stuffed animal. Hootie was a gift from Uncles Charlie and Chris last year, along with "The Blankie." Hootie and The Blankie are sacred items. You don't screw with them. They have power. Wonderous calming power. We even have a little chant: One, two, three, four. What the hell are we fightin' for? It's Hootman!

Now, the reason that I'm telling you all of this is that Hootie isn't home tonight. He's out galavanting in the van, where we unfortunately left him this morning. Rusty stayed in Jefferson City tonight after work, and I didn't even think about Hootie being in the van. Bedtime tonight was.....not as easy as I would have liked. As it turns out, even toddlers are not easily fooled. No matter how many stuffed animals I attempted, none were Hootie. My daughter looked at me like I was an idiot. I just love it when she gives me that look like I'm the dumbest person on the planet...and I thought I'd have to wait until she's a teenager.

A little Sunday Drive

The Reid Clan at Meramec Springs


This weekend we took a little Sunday drive with our friends Will and Angie to Meramec Springs State Park for their celebration of Old Iron Works Days. It's a thing that they do twice a year. Lots of good historical stuff and every craft known to man. It's like a craft fair with a 19th century theme. Pretty cool. We wandered around, fed the fish and had lots-o-family-fun.

















Sierra and Mommy feeding the fish.

My Mommy's Tattoo

Here's the tattoo my mom got when we went to Columbia. Turned out very well! I wish the picture did it justice.

Just another Saturday night

Last night Rusty and I took my mom to Columbia to the place where we got our tattoos. Rusty got his touched up, and I got a new one! I love it. He did a beautiful job. Anyway, my mom is turning 50 on October 5th, and she has been wanting one of her own. She hadn't planned on getting one while we were there, but she went home with one! When I get a pic of it, I'll upload that too. (I fianally got the program downloaded so I can upload pics to my blog. More random pics to come!)

Also, we have kind of bonded with our tattoo artist, Jason. When Rusty got is tattoo done we were there for like 4 hours. His wife Jenny and I were both pregnant at the time gabbed a lot. (Of course, she was tiny and looked like she had swallowed a basketball. I, on the other hand, was the size of a small house.) Come to find out, we were due on the same day. So, now when we go in there we all have to compare baby pics. It's just bizarre, but cute.

I can't tell you how funny it is to hang out with your mom at a tattoo parlor on a Satuday night...especially in Columbia. While were were there a myriad of college kids drifted in and out getting tattoos and piercings, talking about how their parents were going to react. Meanwhile, I'm laughing as my mom is sitting right next to me. Ah, the special joys of family bonding.

Spring has sprung, fall has fell

Welcome to my favorite time of year. Today is the first day of fall, which has for some reason become my favorite part of the year. When I was a kid I kind of dreaded fall because it meant going back to school. Now I look forward to it. Rusty and I seem to have had an action packed spring and summer. But fall brings a slow down in our schedule. We're a lot like bears...we hibernate for the winter. I'm gearing up for cool mornings, big pots of chili and hanging out in my comfy Raiders sweatshirt. Also, this year I'm kinda looking forward to a little snow. She won't be able to stay long, but I'll bet that Sierra will want to play in the snow this year.

Random thoughts.....

Today was one of those days of random thoughts. Maybe that's because work was so freakin busy that I didn't get to finish a complete thought before I had to move on to something else. I was sitting at my desk at one point today, and found myself thinking about the movie Chasing Amy. Don't ask why, because I have no answer. Anyway, there I was thinking about Chasing Amy and wondering, "I wonder what Kevin Smith is doing right now." For those of you who don't know who Kevin Smith is, he is the genius behind Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy and Jersey Girl. I highly recommend checking out his website, www.viewaskew.com.

Of course, I have no clue what he was doing at that very moment, but I'm hoping he's creating another cinematic work of art from which I can steal another witty line or two.

Ok, it's getting past my bedtime, and I'm starting to turn into a pumpkin.

Greetings from the Slacker

Howdy folks! My posts have been pretty sporadic, and I know, I am a slacker. Admittance is the first step. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Ok, here's a little of what I've been up to lately. First of all, the beginning of August I started yet another new job. My job with the arthritis program was eliminated due to budget cuts. (thank you republican Governor Blunt.) Fortunately, my bosses worked to find me a new job with the department. I moved over to the Special Health Care Needs unit. Great place. Love the job more than the last one, and my boss rocks. I love anyone with great use of obscenities. One of my very favorite qualities. Anyway, I'm part of the Information & Logistics Team and I also assist the coordinator for the Healthy Children & Youth program. It's good stuff that they're doing, and it's nice to be a part of something that really does help people. (Mostly kids, which is even better.)

On the home front, Sierra is getting so big. Well, not really big. She's only put on about a pound or two since January. But what I am referring to is the number of things that she can do now. She's not talking as much as I would really like, but we're getting there. She has gotten really good at letting us know what she wants. For instance, when she's thirsty she bangs on the fridge door. It may not sound like much, but for those of you who have small children, you know how nice it is when they finally start communicating a little more with you.

Rusty is good. He's sucked in to a new computer game. I have to admit that this one has me too. Guild Wars is an obsession at our house now.

Our major trip of the summer was to the zoo with our friends Angie and Will. Their son is about six months older than Sierra, so we must have been insane to take off to St. Louis in the heat of the summer with two toddlers. Strangely enough, it turned out well. We all had a blast. The penguin exhibit rocked. Of course, after a super hot day, a 40 degree building would have been awesome even if it didn't have anything in it.

This last Saturday I managed to survive my 10 year high school reunion. It wasn't quite like I imagined it would be, which is a good thing. I had visions of sitting around with all the people I had been less than crazy about. Fortunately, those people didn't show up. The ones who did were mostly the people I hung out with. I saw one who I hadn't seen since shortly after graduation. Michelle was there, of course. I don't get to see her very often, so that was nice. Also, Will and Angie went. (Will was in my class.) It was pleasant, I have to admit. Sierra wasn't as cooperative as I really would have liked, but she wasn't too bad. I think she was just kinda bored, and considering that she did really well. Anyway, I'm not sure exactly how many of my classmates showed up, but I'd say it was around a dozen. Granted, there were only around 50 of us to begin with.
I have to admit that it was kind of nice to see how everyone had changed. All of us are showing a bit of that 10 years of age, some more than others. I'm glad to know that the gods have evened the score for some of us a bit.

Until next time....

Posts

Ok, so I'm an idiot. I've sent a couple posts that I just discovered didn't post to this page. I just wasn't smart enough to check to make sure that it posted. (No comments from the peanut gallery, please. Yes, Chelle, that means you too.)

Random question for the day....if you could be like Katie Holmes, and end up engaged to the person who's poster was on your wall as a kid, who would it be? I remember the first real poster I had. It was Don Johnson on one side and Rob Lowe on the other. That was followed up by Chad Allen (should have known he was too pretty to be straight), Jason Bateman, Charlie Sheen and Michael J. Fox. Not to mention massive ones of the New Kids. (I still love Donnie!!!!) From that I went on to posters of male strippers. (I think my mom was actually pretty fond of that phase, all truth be told.) I had a favorite. I think his name was Robert Parish. My final decor was a massive alter to professional wrestlers. Those were my favorite. Yummy.

I'm feeling a little quirky today. I am listening to the collection of music I made as sort of a soundtrack from college. Currently I am doing the Macarena....naked beneath my clothes.