too bad I'm so stupid, but atleast I got a lot of exercise

I really liked my sister's post of her jogging route and I decided I wanted to do a similar post today. I went jogging this morning, but I decided I am too uncoordinated to take pictures while I jog so Teddy agreed to walk the route with me in the evening so I could take my pictures. We went and walked the route and I took some beautiful pictures, and then deleted them all on accident. Ugh, I'll try again tomorrow.

P.S. I'm going to try and buy a car tomorrow. I am ridiculously stressed about it, wish me luck!

Lord, I'm coming home to you

One of the reasons Teddy and I were skeptical about moving back to Alabama is the religious zealots. It is pretty typical that immediately after you introduce yourself to someone they will ask you where you go to church. If you say "no where" they seem confused, and a lot of times will offer to take you to church with them ( or this has been my experience, maybe I just look like I need some church). People asking curious questions doesn't really bother me, but it is the judgement and trying to "save" me that bothers me. If you go to church that is fine with me, great with me actually, and I have no intention of asking you to stop going, so don't ask me to start.

On the drive to Birmingham there is a billboard stating "go to church or the devil will get you!" I actually have a t-shirt with this sign on it because I think it is so ridiculous, but unfortunately most folks don't think it is ridiculous, they thing it is REAL.

I was really surprised this morning when I was browsing the news that Alabama allowed a billboard to go up supporting Atheists and Agnostics. Now my guess is that before too long people will complain (they already started) and the billboard will be taken down, but to me it seems like progress.

Christian organizations are complaining that the billboard is "offensive." I don't really think it is offensive but it happens to support my way of thinking...what do you think?

Edited to add:
When I went back and was reading the article about the "Imagine no Religion" billboard again, I saw a link to another article about another religious billboard in Alabama.

Uhh, I'm sorry but I think that is creepy. Alabama is weird.

it seems important at the time

I stayed up for HOURS last night worrying...You know what I spent hours of my precious life worrying about? License plates. Yes. License plates, like for cars. The week before I stayed up for hours worrying about...dog crates. Yup, those cages you buy for your dog. I needed to get one.

I got the crate, so I thought my worrying could stop, but then it came and it might be too big, and I spent 80$ on it. Then I made Teddy go around and measure other people's cars ON THE STREET in front of strangers walking by on the crowded sidewalk. I made our whole family go out on an expedition to find the make and model of the car I want to buy to peer in the cargo area to see if we thought the dog crate would fit. I found three cars, and I made Teddy look at all of them. One had a for sale sign in the window so it looked less weird for us to be measuring that one, with a measuring tape I brought with us.

I can comprehend that these things are RIDICULOUS and that I shouldn't worry about them, but that doesn't seem to make me stop. I also try and think about how lots of other people have REAL problems, like looking for work or having sick family members...but that doesn't seem to help me in the moment either. At midnight last night the most important thing in the world was how I'm going to get a license plate, and do I have to get one for NJ even though I'll be moving to AL one week later. DO YOU KNOW BECAUSE I STILL DON'T?

threes

It always seems like bad things (and good things) happen in thirds around here. We found out last week that we are going to have to pay a lot of money up front for our medical insurance next year, and they want the money now. That sucks...we are generally healthy people BUT I wouldn't risk not having insurance.

It also seems my UTI made a reappearance over the weekend. Yay, that is awesome...I already made an appointment to see my PCP but damn now I have to go there and pay 20$. I was really hoping my self diagnosing and old prescriptions would do the trick. I also have some Zoloft in the cabinet from when I had PPD and some Valium from a neck muscle thing, maybe I should just take those too and call it a day.

Now I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop...when something happens I wonder if that was the third thing or not. In my wacky mind the things have to be around the same severity, so if today I give myself a paper cut, well that isn't bad enough so that can't be the third thing... so now I just wait.

Oh, I just got a text from my sister reminding me that my mom is coming to visit us in September, maybe that is the third thing.

Things I'm not clever enough to write whole blog posts about.

1. Remember this? Now look at it. This is equally exciting and terrifying...OK maybe not equally maybe leaning more toward terrifying but still exciting. OK maybe more like 60% terrifying and 40% exciting ..Mmmmm maybe like 70/30...OK maybe more like 100% terrifying until we move, unpack, I get a job, and we are all settled in. THEN it will be mostly exciting....Like 80/20.

2. This is also terrifying me, looking at these boxes...that I've packed...because we are moving. ACK. I'm not trying to be over dramatic but twice today I've looked at that stack of boxes and felt a wave of nausea so strong I had to sit down...Oh I just LOVE being me sometimes. (Eli LOVES that pink cat carrier... I have never seen him play with anything as much as he plays with that. He carries a stuffed cat around in it and just really amuses himself.) (Oh that reminds me we went to Target yesterday and I told him he could pick out some Band Aids and he picked out the Barbie ones.)
3. At Target yesterday I got ANOTHER bottle of this:
I am now obsessed with having tan legs and I moved on from the light version to the medium. I think I may have a problem and I might need an intervention soon. I had a friend who once told me "tan fat is better than pale fat" and by Jesus she was right. It also has FIRMING. I have no idea if it is actually firming anything, but I like to believe it is.
4. There are (hardly ever) benefits to be married to a dude that writes about children's music, but we got a free copy of Mr. Leebot's new CD and it is awesome. I totally would have even paid for it, which is saying a lot because I never buy CDs.
5. I have still been jogging, at least 4 times a week and usually about 20 miles a week, but I haven't been losing weight. I have been journaling, but not staying with in my Weight Watchers POINTS ( I have no idea why that is all caps but on the WW site it is always written like that ) This has been the first week, in weeks and weeks, I stayed with in my POINTS and I'm hoping to finally have a loss.
6. TLC is killing me. I mean it. I can't stand to see another ad for I didn't know I was pregnant, because it makes me want to punch someone in their chocha. I have been pregnant, and I don't buy it. And I know, I know that your sister's, cousin's, friend had a baby in the toilet because FOR REALS she didn't know she was pregnant and I'm calling BULLSHIT. Anyway, now there is 650 lb Virgin, and I just can't bear it.

I think that is all I got for now...although I could write more about my love for House Hunters and any documentary about someone getting murdered, but I'll save those topics for later.

Naming names

I love names and how people came up with the names they call their kids, or their pets, or their plants whatever. I name everything. If I have fish I name all of them, if we find a snail in the backyard we name it, if we see a particularly cute squirrel we give it a name.

When we were naming our son we really wanted a name that was original, but not too original...nothing like Pilot Inspektor or Jermajesty...Teddy and I both have fairly plain first names that neither one of us particularly liked growing up. I wanted a more original name and Teddy wanted a name that was easier to pronounce (Teddy's real name is not Teddy). It is interesting to me because today I was reading a post by a person with an original name and she was saying she always wanted a name you could find on one of those bicycle license plates, I always wished I had a name that was so original you wouldn't be able to get one of those things.

Anyway, when we were trying to pick out first names for our son we could not agree on anything, every name just sounded too plain and it just.wasn't. right. We ended up annoying everyone by giving our son Teddy's last name as his first name and my last name as his last name. Got it? So let's say Teddy's name is Teddy Smith and my name is Penny InExile our son's name is Smith InExile. So not only do I not have my husband's last name but our son has my last name. I know, we are weird. Here in the very blue, very liberal NJ no one really cares and they think it is "cool" when we explain it to them...I'm not sure how well this is going to go over in Alabama.

When we were naming our son we were SURE, and I mean ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE we did not want any more kids so we never considered sibling names. Now that we think we MIGHT, MAYBE, KIND OF want another one we have a naming dilemma. Whose last name do they get? Teddy seems to think they should share a last name (mine) but I don't really care, I mean I don't have the same last name as my sister, but I still understand we are related. And what are we supposed to give them as a first name when our other kid had Teddy's last name as his first name...

I'm thinking if I ever get pregnant with a second child I might ask Swistle for her advice...

Happy fourth of UTI!

I woke up at 3 AM on the 4th with the unmistakable signs of another UTI. Interestingly, it was exactly the one year anniversary of my last UTI, which is odd. My body somehow rejects America's birthday. I dunno. Luckily I had a course of Cipro ( I know, I know, I really shouldn't be diagnosing myself and taking old antibiotics) in the cabinet and after 24 hours I am already feeling 95% better.

To celebrate fourth of July I did my traditional making of the red, white, and blue food. I have had some really good creations...this year wasn't one of them.

These are the patriotic pancakes we had for breakfast.

This is my annual red, "white," and blue Jello. This year I could not find the white grape flavor, which is clear, and had to use pineapple which was way too yellow. Big disappointment. Two years ago I used white chocolate pudding. It looked pretty, but tasted awful.

And speaking of pee (weren't we?) we took the opportunity of a long weekend and started the potty training process. In some ways it is going much better than I thought, and in other ways it seems like it might never end. I'm already sick of saying "do you need to pee" and I feel like a total idiot asking him every seven seconds. He seems to get the idea, but he only likes to use his special small potty, and we are all confused about what we are supposed to do if he needs to go while we are out. We are using the bribery method and every time he uses the potty, he gets candy. I don't really like to do anything with out a theme, so potty training theme is "frogs."

I hope you had a great 4th, without so much talk of peeing.