I needed a new toothbrush...You know, after all that puking and brushing the taste of vomit out of my mouth......Eeeew

I went to Hannaford looking for a small head soft toothbrush. (I have a small mouth and sensitive gums.)

Guess what squee I found?!

I'm not so sure I am so much into Hello Kitty as a cowgirl....But I grabbed two toothbrushes.  One with the blue handle and one with the the purple handle.  I will let you know if the cowgirl Hello Kitty brush works any better than the Geisha girl brush.

I am back to work tomorrow.  I expect it will drain me.  Then tomorrow evening, we have a big meeting at the high school regarding Nature Boy moving on up next fall.  I am not sure exactly how it is that my baby is now so old as to be going to high school. <shakes head>

Well...since I am home convalescing, how about some pictures?

But first an update on me....I am doing better, but still am pretty sick feeling.  I am trying to rehydrate myself, but am still losing fluids in an <ahem> rather unpleasant way.  However, that is easing off some.  I have been doing the BRAT diet today and it's been okay.  My stomach still doesn't feel great, but at least it is not turning inside out anymore. 

I have some winter pictures from a couple of weeks ago before we had the Great Rain.  It was an icy, crisp morning and dh and I went out to do the chicken chores and were just amazed at how the frost had landed on all the surfaces making vertical frost flakes. So pretty! Everything sparkled in the morning sun....It was quite magical.

So pretty! 

It's funny, I've been bantering a bit with Fibermom on Facebook about ice storms....That she does not really care for them and that I think they are kind of fun and beautiful.  I guess I have to like winter and what it throws at me, or living in Vermont would not work so well.  

Now...Speaking of weather, we had the Great Rain last week.  It got very, very mild here and rained...no it poured all day. I guess that was Monday. All that sparkly snow in the pictures above is gone!!!  We have since gotten a bit more so at least the ground is white again, but it does bring to mind the phrase, "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes."

Here is a whine blog:

I am sick.  I have the worst stomach bug of any I can recall in my whole life.  I can't move for fear of setting off another round of vomiting.  I can't avoid moving as I have (TMI here folks) explosive diarrhea and must dash to the toilet.  My stomach isn't just nauseated, it hurts.  I feel like I have been turned inside out from such severe vomiting.  And last evening, I had 8 spells of severe vomiting in less than 4 hours.  I got some sleep last night, but did have to get up to vomit more and dash to the potty more.

Ugh, ugh, ugh.

This particular bug, I picked up at work.  Over half our department's staff has had it over the last few weeks, with evidently, more folks getting it.  Clearly it is highly contagious, even with all the hand washing, hand sanitizing and glove wearing we do.  My concern is that dh and Nature Boy will get it too.  <sigh>

So, here I lay on the couch, feeling miserable and biding my time until the next bathroom run. 

We have fledglings! Squee!

According to the book, the babies should have started fledging yesterday.  I had no fledglings yesterday, nor early this morning....But about midmorning, I went up to change their cage and two of them were out and about!

They fly well.  Evidently, finches are hardwired to fly.  However, they are not hard wired as to how to land gracefully (or land at all!) nor on how to control their flight.  There has been lots of flying into the side of the cage and then clinging on for dear life as the baby slowly slides down the bars.  There has also been some very untidy crash landings onto branches and the bottom of the cage.  Each time though, they manage to get themselves righted and balanced and into the air again.

There is also a major disturbance in the group.  The parent birds are very protective and since the babies are all over the cage now, they are giving my other pair a hard time.  I expect this will all even out as the parents start pushing the babies toward independence and some pecking order issues are worked out.

These babies won't actually be staying with us though.  They are spoken for by Berry, who would like a lovely bit of finchy sweetness at her house.

Now, the pictures: 

Here were the babies a few days ago skulking in their nest.

And then this morning....Freedom!

See how the babies still have their juvenile plumage? They are dark gray and their beaks are black.  At this point, there is no way to sex them...It will be a surprise later.

Yes, I took advantage of a bumbling baby and caught it....It was very easy to do this morning as the poor thing couldn't figure out how to fly away.  I tried to catch one a few minutes ago (late afternoon) and they have already learned how to dodge and weave and stay away from the Hand.

Of course, once I had the baby this morning, it perched on my thumb and stayed there.  I waited and waited and finally had to just sort of slide it off onto one of the perches. 

As you know, I love my finches.  They are so fun to watch and so pleasing to hear. I am very glad I got them!

Roses!

I don't even remember if I blogged properly about our anniversary lunch.  We went to a nice restaurant. Dh had made reservations and when we arrived we were seated at our table.  On our table were 14 ivory roses that dh had had delivered....So sweet!

The are a week and a half old now and are just starting to go by.  They opened into huge, luscious blossoms. 

I think there is something extra romantic about getting beautiful roses on my anniversary.

How I amuse myself when home sick from work.....

Your Results   Closed-Minded Open to New Experiences Disorganized Conscientious Introverted Extraverted Disagreeable Agreeable Calm / Relaxed Nervous / High-Strung   What aspects of personality does this tell me about? There has been much research on how people describe others, and five major dimensions of human personality have been found. They are often referred to as the OCEAN model of personality, because of the acronym from the names of the five dimensions. Openness to Experience/Intellect          High scorers tend to be original, creative, curious, complex; Low scorers tend to be conventional, down to earth, narrow interests, uncreative.          You are relatively open to new experiences.     (Your percentile: 70)   Conscientiousness          High scorers tend to be reliable, well-organized, self-disciplined, careful; Low scorers tend to be disorganized, undependable, negligent.          You are very well-organized, and can be relied upon.     (Your percentile: 96)   Extraversion          High scorers tend to be sociable, friendly, fun loving, talkative; Low scorers tend to be introverted, reserved, inhibited, quiet.          You tend to shy away from social situations.     (Your percentile: 37)   Agreeableness          High scorers tend to be good natured, sympathetic, forgiving, courteous; Low scorers tend to be critical, rude, harsh, callous.          You are neither extremely forgiving nor irritable.     (Your percentile: 57)   Neuroticism          High scorers tend to be nervous, high-strung, insecure, worrying; Low scorers tend to be calm, relaxed, secure, hardy.          You tend to become anxious or nervous.     (Your percentile: 66)   What do the scores tell me? In order to provide you with a meaningful comparison, the scores you received have been converted to "percentile scores." This means that your personality score can be directly compared to another group of people who have also taken this personality test. The percentile scores show you where you score on the five personality dimensions relative to the comparison sample of other people who have taken this test on-line. In other words, your percentile scores indicate the percentage of people who score less than you on each dimension. For example, your Extraversion percentile score is 37, which means that about 37 percent of the people in our comparison sample are less extraverted than you -- in other words, you are rather introverted. Keep in mind that these percentile scores are relative to our particular sample of people. Thus, your percentile scores may differ if you were compared to another sample (e.g., elderly British people). From http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/ And........from another site: I N F J Strength of the preferences % 67 12 25 50

What does it mean? 

Excerpts from  http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html :

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types. 

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives.

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature

INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring.

INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone

The INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else.

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition.

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.

Knitting! Fun!

Okay, so I am having a lot of fun knitting these days.  I have been cranking out 5 Hour Baby Sweaters.  I knit one small sized and have given it to a coworker who is due any day now.

And I knit one jumbo for a friend's toddler daughter. 

I also had a couple others kicking around, so I had four sweaters I needed buttons for!

I got buttons on the two I have given away.  I did buy buttons for the other ones, I just haven't sewn them on yet.

I also knit another soaker.  This is for a coworker who had a baby in the fall. 

The color isn't showing up right n my monitor, I hope it's better on yours.  The soaker is a cheery bright pink.  The contrast yarn is some I had hand dyed myself and it happened to have just the right pink in it.  I turned the waist and ran an elastic through it.  I think it came out pretty cute.

I have another soaker on the needles. As a matter of fact, I think I will go work on that now!

So behind with pics and words!!!  Oh well, better late than never, right?

So, I have made references to those ugly baby birds.  Can you believe I have had them for two weeks already? It is so exciting.  They have grown a ton and yesterday, I peeked at them and saw the shining black eyes peering back at me.....And I realized they have turned cute.  I tried to get a picture of them today, but they were not cooperative. 

However, I do have pictures of one of the babies at two days old.  They hatch pretty much embryonic (and ugly!)

Here's the egg that one of the babies came out of....So tiny!

I  bet you can imagine that a tiny, tiny hatchling came out of this egg! It is true!!!

I scooped the baby out of the nest with a teaspoon from the silverware drawer.  It fit in the teaspoon with room to spare! Crazy small!

And did I mention? Homely!

In more current news, a terrible GI bug has been sweeping through work.  I am very worried I am going to get it.  I wash my hands a zillion times a day and hand sanitizer is my second best friend (part of my two step approach, first wash, then sanitize).  Every day that I wake up and I am not vomiting, I consider a triumph.  Let's hope my immune system carries me through unscathed!!!!

And I have yet another soaker on the needles.  Have you seen those Cascade 220 heathers? So yummy!

K...I just can't keep up on blogging sometimes.  I have so many pictures on the camera...but I need to get them onto the computer and uploaded to Xanga. 

So....The bulleted update:

• One baby bird died, so I am now down to three very ugly and fast growing babies
• I finished a pink soaker for my coworker's baby
• I started an everlasting soaker.  Did the waist ribbing with size twos and am doing the body with 6s
• Had a meeting with the other UU preschool teachers and organized the spring semester
• Made coffee cake this morning. Blueberry for dh and me. Plain for Nature Boy.
• Got together with a friend yesterday and knit. So much fun!
• Got our very first egg from our free loading chickens yesterday. Got egg #2 today.
• Have taken up drawing.
• The adult seating area in our bedroom is slowly coming together.
• It was in the 40s yesterday and today....So delicious to have a heat wave and be able to go out with no coat!
• I am totally enjoying a series dh found on Netflix instant watch: The Legend of the Seeker
• Had a wonderful anniversary with dh.

K...I will work on getting those pictures uploaded in the next couple of days.  Have a good week everybody.

14 years.

Summer '09

This past year was a trying one for me in many ways.   My dh was always there to support me, comfort me, and to pick up and take care of things when I could not.  I cannot describe how comforting it feels to have dh as a steady rock in my life when other things whirl chaotic.

I also feel that this past year, our relationship has grown closer.  We have learned that we really need to carve time out for us; time as a couple to be together and talk and share.  I love that our relationship is always evolving and that we continually grow and learn and are better partners to each other.

Happy Anniversary, honey!