wigblog ramblings of a philomathic polymath

Great News!

Hi everyone. Jess here. For those who don't know, I opted not to renew my contract at the company I was working for. So, as of Oct 31st, I am now a full time stay at home mom, again. There are a lot of things I am hoping to do with this new found "free time". One of those things is writing more blogs. I will admit that the subject matter of 98% of what I write will be Maddie. The other 2% will most likely have something to do with what James calls "worthless crappy stuff". Things in this category include shopping, scrapbooking, decorating and other FUN things like that! Check back often!

You would think that being married to James, I would be a wiz at getting pictures from the camera to the computer. Not the case. My own father is better at this than I am! I can take the card out of the camera, but beyond that I am worthless! I don't even know how to format pictures for sending out once they are on the computer. This is one area that I am hoping to learn about during this "free time" of mine. If I can figure it all out, it will mean that pictures will get posted more often! And by me "figuring it out", that means James gives me a lesson and hopefully it will all sink in.

Just to make my husband happy (wink wink), I have to make one little note here. My mother is an avid party planner and is known in the family as one who never does it the simple way. If we have dinner at their house (my brother and his wife included), we will eat in the dining room at a table all set with centerpieces, candles, charger plates, and good napkins. It always looks pretty and we love it, but is something we tease her about.

The joke for the past 5 years has been regarding charger plates. For those geeky friends of ours who are not up on the art of entertaining, charger plates are plates that go under the dinner plate. They are for decor purposes only and can not be eaten off of themselves. My sister-in-law and I love them and want them, but our husbands think they are the most worthless things on the planet. Well, they were on sale for ridiculously cheap at Target this week, so I just had to pick some up! I am sure my husband is secretly excited and can't wait to have a bit of gold sparkle at his dinner setting!

And about my wonderful daughter, she amazes me every day. We recently went to Bates Nut Farm with the family to get some pumpkins and enjoy "fall" in San Diego. Last year Maddie was terrified of the petting zoo and thought the baby goats were out to get her. This year she wanted to touch them all, pet them, feed them, and cover them with straw. She also wanted to go on the pony ride. It was her first time on a pony. She was so cute and smiled the entire time. I am sure there will be pictures posted eventually! And for Halloween she was the cutest little ladybug. She picked out the costume herself! She originally wanted to be a big, red gooey fish (ask me about that later), and I promised she could be one if she could find the costume. Then she wanted to be the fairy godmother from Cinderella. Then it was Pete from Mickey Mouse. Then she finally picked something we could get a costume for! Great choice Maddie!

For those who know me well, I love everything about Christmas. I am one of those corny ones who like to decorate the tree together while the fire is going, listen the Christmas music, drink hot cocoa, wear snuggly PJs, put Christmas sheets on the bed, etc. I love the day after Thanksgiving sales with all the decorations, Christmas music playing, crowds, and the sales of course. Anyway, Maddie saw a Christmas CD out and wanted to know what it was. I told her it was Christmas music. Well, she insisted that we listed to it! A daughter after my own heart. We listened to it twice. I am sure the Christmas cartoons will be coming out in a few days.