The BugVac 2000

My parents gave me a bug vacuum for Christmas one year. It was kind of like a skinny dustbuster- but with an extendable sucker-part. It allowed the user to stand far away and capture the spider without having to look too closely at it, or risk it jumping from the wall into your hair. It was great until I realized that the spiders weren't instantly killed (they were sucked in and stuck to some sticky paper I think); after that I was too afraid to use it in case they somehow got un-stuck and decided to attack me in force.

It's the thought that counts right? And it did spare Dad one or two middle of the night rescue operations, so that's something.

Cinematic-Tolerance Regression

It's been interesting to re-watch movies I loved as a kid, because most of the time I can't stand them- either they are too cheesy or too scary. Don thinks it's silly that I'm scared of movies now, when I didn't used to be; he says immature, I say sensitive! Anyways, it led me to make a new list:

Movies I Used to Like, but Now can't Watch

• Big Trouble in Little China (Kurt Russel)
• The Flight of Dragons (Voice of John Ritter)
• Little Monsters (Fred Savage)
• Connecticut Yankee: A Kid in King Arthur's Court (Rudy, from the Cosby Show)
• Edward Scissor Hands (Johnny Depp)
• The Three Musketeers (Keifer Sutherland)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Harrison Ford)
• What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford)
• Super Mario Brothers (John Leguizamo)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-the live action ones
• The Incredible Mr Limpet (Don Knotts)
• Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (Stuart Whitman)
• George of the Jungle (Brendan Fraser)
• The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)
• The Parent Trap (Lindsay Lohan)
• Clueless (Alicia Silverstone)
• Batman (Jack Nicholson)
• Ghostbusters II (Bill Murray)

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure my family can recall some others...

Charming, Isn't He?

Anything You Can Do

"I can do better," says Tony as I'm feeding him his bottle. He promptly wriggles his hands into position, and shoving mine aside, takes over the task.

Now, if only he'd learn to change his own diaper...

Who's the Boss?

Don is!!

He has been promoted to the Chief of Accounting position at the VA, and he starts on Monday! We are very excited about this step forward in his career, and of course for the extra $$ :) Having a wife with ever-deteriorating teeth, a dog that is allergic to grass, and a baby who goes through formula faster than a Wege through chocolate* gets expensive! So hooray for Don!!

*hehe - Hi mom

Party Time!

Tony has been really interested in standing, so we decided to get him an exersaucer. They are pretty spendy at the stores, so I found one on Craigslist for only 20 bucks! It has all the toys and is still in great shape, so we're pretty pleased. Tony loves it! He will play in it for up to 30 minutes, which is way longer than any of his other toys hold his attention. Hooray!

My Son, the Giant

Well, not really a giant, but he's gotten so much bigger in what seems like so little time! He had his 4 month check up today; here are his new stats

4 months

12 lbs 7 oz--10th percentile

25.5 inches tall--75th percentile!

Up from:

2 months
9lbs 0 oz--5th %

22.25 inches--15th%

Things That Scare Me

**This list is neither all-inclusive nor in any particular order**

• Spiders- even if they're small, or way across the room. They can't be trusted.
• Movies that are even slightly gory/suspenseful/ or with monsters or aliens. Hence, M. Night Shyamalan is not my favorite person.
• Opening old leftover containers
• Music by Nine Inch Nails
• Shark Week on the Discovery channel
• Bridges (see post below)
• Public Transportation
• Downtown Portland
• Narrow roads
• My neighborhood
• Being the only person awake at night
• Driving other peoples' cars
• Eating food that has been out for more than 30 minutes
• Fog- I always think I'm seeing something in it. Usually people, so when I'm driving I slam on the brakes unnecessarily
• Icy or snowy roads
• Deep sea creatures
• Dreams- not all, but most
• Making weird faces in the mirror
• Hot Dogs and Meatloaf- you don't really know what's in them. Same goes for food from those trailer-restaurants that Don likes to eat at
• People touching their eye
• Being home alone

Valdivieso Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Just Pictures

Tony Tells a Story

When Tony first wakes up he is usually in a pretty good mood, and he often has a lot to say. Here he is telling his mobile about the funny dream he just had.

Caught!

He takes after me :)

Xanax, Anyone?

I am a very anxious person. All my life I've had what I thought were normal, somewhat rational fears, i.e. spiders (they are not more scared of me than I am of them!), burglars, monsters in the closet, etc. Now that I'm a grown up, you'd think I'd have a handle on these things, and that they wouldn't really bother me. But, alas, that is not the case. My trepidation has only increased over the years, to the point of near-medicatable* levels (And no, it's not just because I'm a mother now, though that hasn't helped things).

One situation that I frequently obsess over is what I would do if something happened while I was driving over a bridge, sending me plummeting off the edge into the watery abyss below. What if: the bridge collapses/ I collide with another car/ my car suddenly loses functionality and I can't turn the wheel/ a tire pops/ I sneeze and cause my arms to jerk suddenly to the side... A lot can go wrong when you're 200 feet up, with nothing but a two-foot tall cement barrier separating you from the plunge of nearly-certain death! So, to my friends on the other side of the Willamette, if I don't see you for long periods of time, don't worry, it's not you, it's me. Me, and my paranoid, angst-ridden mind.



*not a real word, but you catch my drift, right?