Originally uploaded by rasputina1

Look what Rachel made.

• HL is sick. I sucked about a teaspoon of snot out of his nose with the bulb syringe this morning. Poor guy. Kara’s here watching him now; she’s a life-saver as I have a script to wrap up that I promised yesterday, “hell or high water.” Does an ice storm count as high water?
• In happier news, the splinter that’s been festering in my left index finger for 4 days finally gave up the ghost this morning. No sign of actual infection, either.
• We survived the ice storm. It wasn’t that bad, honestly. We never lost power and we had a house full of groceries so we didn’t have to venture out.
• Coffee is my friend.
• I made some difficult decisions about work and motherhood this weekend. More on that later.
• We’re tracking HL’s sleep again. In about a month, we’re going to try and institute regular nap and bed times. (This is dependent upon my getting the contents of our closet out of his nursery, of course.) I’ll let you know how it goes.
• Ivan and Kristyn are in South America.
• I’m on Day Three of my NO SWEETS/NO BREAD Two-Week resolve. So far, so good. Feeling better, though my appetite is still through the roof. That could be either stress or nursing or some combination of both. (Of course, our amazing neighbors, Kelly and Michael, brought over a box of goodies last night that nearly knocked me off the wagon. Rum cake, biscotti and homemade chocolate macaroons. I nearly died from the craving. Luckily, Fraction took the biscotti and macaroon bullets for me and Tony enjoyed the rum cake with coffee this morning. Disaster avoided!)
• I am having lots of IDEAS right now. I have to assume this is because I don’t have the time to follow through with them.
• If you want to play The Sixty One, go sign up and put Xtop down as your referrer. He gets points for it. I’m musically retarded (as is well-established), but I expect some of you might enjoy it.
• My psoriasis — the stuff that disappeared with my pregnancy? It’s back. My legs are growing hair again, too. (Mrroa!) Oh, well. I suppose the bright side is that my body chemistry must be returning to normal.
• EDITED TO ADD: Nikol’s calendars are up for sale.  Uberlisters will want to pick one up for sure.  This year?  Year of the Spitfire.

Decided on an exersaucer. Now: trying to decide between this one and this one. Any opinions/guidance?

• What a year, huh? I love you, Cowboy.
• I’m completely smitten with this wreath. I wish I had time for crafting. Or… anything, really. Showering… Meeting deadlines… Exercise…
• Fraction and I got each other a visit from California Closets for Xmas. I’ll post pictures soon.
• Anybody know where I could find a phthalate-free pitcher for the refrigerator? I’d go with glass, but I need something with a lid.
• What’s the rule of thumb for substituting fruit for fat in baking? I know you can replace up to BLANK (a half? a third? a quarter?) of the fat in any recipe with mashed fruit — babyfood prunes in dark-colored baked goods, bananas in light. Ringing any bells?
• OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO.
• Ahem.
• Sorry.
• Happy December, everyone.