Two, and three.

In case you were wondering, that's the phrase I said to the Orclette after she barraged me with "momma, do this right now " all morning. She understood my intent, if not the actual words, and ceased ordering me about. And I have been thinking about what I said all morning, because I said it naturally. I wasn't trying to come up with words seldom used or sound smart. It's just what came out. And that's how I've always spoken to the Orclette. I never spoke baby-talk to her. I couldn't, actually. It sounded silly and my voice wouldn't do it. As a result she sounds more like a teenager than a three-year old, pulling words and phrases out of her memory that routinely astonish us. Of course her maturity level is still at three, so sometimes the combination is overwhelmingly funny. In case you were curious, I do occasionally speak baby-talk to the Miniorc. I appear to have mastered that language the second time around. In other areas as well the Orclette ...

Note: Some comments to posts had been disappearing. I didn't even think to check my spam filter, but I did today, and lo and behold there they were. They have been released from their spam prison. Back to my topic: Once again, one of my professors likes to have their students give speeches. Last semester I chose to speak about Jin Ping Mei , which is, for all intents and purposes, a pornographic book. My topic was something along the lines of "What can we learn about Chinese society through its treatment of taboo subjects such as sexuality?" I'm sure I phrased that more prettily, but I am not rifling through my papers from last semester to find out precisely what I had written. In case you were wondering, the speech was well received. The only detractor was that I hadn't included pictures. This semester I don't think a subject like that would fly well. My Jin Ping Mei talk was given to a room full of Honor students, who had been working in close quarters with...

I need more blogs to read. Or the blogs I do read need to update more. Twice a day is just not enough! That is all.

I've been faithfully following fellow blogger TJ's postings about her pregnancy. I'm addicted to her writing style. While reading her accounts of being put on bed rest and other pregnancy adventures, I found myself wondering: Would I have gone on strict bed rest? I mean, I did trek cross country at eight months pregnant to see Damm after six months apart. Against doctor's orders, I might add. It got so bad with my doctor that I threatened to wait until I went into labor to grace the hospital with my presence. I don't do confrontations like that over the phone. It was quite unnerving. So I'm not a model patient. I don't think I'd take a sentence of strict bed rest lying down (a pun! a glorious pun!). I didn't have an actual reason at first to hypothetically disobey my doctor. It was just a feeling. Usually my feelings are right. So then I asked myself: is strict bed rest safe? Has there been any controversy over this? Now before I go further I have t...

My Song The song that defines me. It isn’t as easy as that. I listen to music very rarely and when I do the range of songs I listen to is rather wide. There has never been one song or one type of song that I really like. I do remember key songs that really impacted me at certain times of my life. I grew up on country (“Ain’t nothing wrong with my radio”) and Baptist hymns (“At the Cross”). When I hit college I started listening to rock (“Rainmaker”) and more contemporary praise music (“Show me your glory”). In between my college years it was more just rock with “Cold Eyed Bitch” (Jet) and “24 hours” (Jem). Later on “Citizen Soldier” by 3 Doors Down was initial reason I even looked into joining the Army. And now that I’m married with kids my tastes have drifted again with Cascada(“Evacuate the Dance Floor”) and Lady Gaga(“Pokerface”) and Flo Rida(“Apple bottom jeans”) taking a big role in my life. But the hymns are still very much a factor as I si...