This and that

Yep, I did it again. I took on way too much. My mouth is full, bits and pieces of my world come spewing out when I try to speak, because I definitely bit off more than I could chew. TGFB - Thank Goodness For Blenders. I just blend it all up with some strawberries and honey and VOILA, a much more manageable Life smoothie. Try it sometime. It tastes great and is less filling. I still have my basketcase moments, but now that I am no longer pregnant and my hormones have found their stride, I'm much more enjoyable to be around. At least I think so. My husband and other family members may say otherwise, but this isn't their blog so I get to be biased and one-sided.

Speaking of family, Uncle Tyler finally found his adventure. Let's all take a big sigh of relief. This process started two years ago. First it was the Peace Corps in Africa, then Eastern Europe. Literally, the week he was supposed to buy his plane ticket and fly away the program lost its funding and it was all cancelled. Then there was the teaching English in South Korea gig, but the company that wanted to hire him was kind of sketchy. And who wants to work for a sketchy company while living overseas? Finally, this past week my brother-in-law was accepted into the AmeriCorps program, he will be maintaining trails in the national parks of MONTANA, he'll mostly be living in the woods. How freaking cool is that? I can hear Horace Greeley shouting now, "Go West young man, and grow up with the country!" Tyler will be leaving us in May. We are VERY excited for him and proud of him for sticking it out and accomplishing his goal. We will miss him, but are looking forward to visiting him and hopefully Glacier National Park. I need to see this place. I'm like Richard Dreyfuss from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's a burning desire in my soul. Such is life, at least mine, full of burning desires, but then again maybe it's just heartburn due to my love of spicey food.

Gavin Mann is definitely taking steps toward becoming a Little Mann, literally. He has started experimenting with standing on his own and taking small steps, before tumbling to the floor in giggles and slobber. He especially loves to play "let's try to stand and walk" in his crib, because when he falls he bounces and he loves to bounce in his bed. Even as an infant he liked this. He is a human metal detector. As much as we try to keep the floor clean of stuff that doesn't need to be in his mouth, he finds the most minuscule and inappropriate objects. I found a penny in his mouth the other day. A penny!!! I freaked out because he could have choked. He was irate that I had the audacity to dig that penny out of his cheeks. He screamed and yelled at me. Sorry little dude, we don't eat our money. We save it. This morning I found an apple sticker in his mouth while I was changing his diaper. I seriously have no idea where he found this. And of course, like with the penny, he cried when I confiscated his treasure. Gavin also loves his multi-grain Cheerios. He prefers to pick up as many as his tiny hands will hold and then shove them ALL in his mouth at once. We're working on picking one Cheerio up at a time and putting that one in the mouth before adding more. He has a long way to go, but lucky for him he has patient parents. I'll post pictures later.

Our trip to TX in April is up in the air now. Nothing is confirmed, no hard dates have been set and there is the possibility of me not being able to go at all, because of how much class I will have to miss. I can't even begin to talk to my professors about it because no dates have been set yet, and the further we get into the semester the less likely I think my professors will be able to work with me. It is frustrating. Casey and I may be making be taking separate vacations this year, as opposed to as a whole family, and that makes me sad. It's even more frustrating that we'll be going to essentially the same place, just a month apart. I wish my family and our friends weren't so inaccessible. I feel especially guilty that Gavin lives so far away from my family and that they only get to see him a couple times a year. It's not right.It shouldn't have to be like this. He's part of my family too.

I wouldn't say I am behind in my school work, but it is definitely a challenge to stay on top of everything between my work and home responsibilities. Not sure if I'll take two classes at once again, but for this semester it's too late to turn back now. Onward I go. Despite getting kind of stressed about the work and study load, the good news is I really enjoy what I am learning. In Biology (Botany) it is time to choose our topics for our term project. We have an option between writing a paper or conducting a greenhouse experiment. I've written lots of papers in my day so I have decided I would like to try a greenhouse experiment. I already contacted my professor about wanting to do it, the greenhouse projects are first come, first serve, so hopefully I asked about it early enough. We shall see. You won't believe what I am learning about the air quality in my part of the country. I won't bother you with facts and figures, they're easy enough to look up on your own or read this book, but let me tell ya, makes me want to hold my breath when I walk outside, never go on a hike in the Smoky Mountains again, and get the heck out of dodge much sooner than later. I'll add this to my list of reasons to head back West someday. The air quality in the Southern Appalachian Bioregion is one of the worst in the country, even Los Angeles. Unfortunately the Ozone (Oxygen-3)and NOx from the coal-burning energy plants, automobile exhaust, and whatever blows in from the West and the Gulf just sits in our valley and the mountains create a barrier so that the wind never really blows it all away and what does get picked up and absorbed into the atmosphere comes back down as acid rain. I guess I should start carrying a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) on my back when I go hiking! I wonder of they make those with a baby carrier attached? This is a big problemo people. It's not all gloom and doom though, progress has been made thanks to the Clean Air Act, but its not enough and we still boast one of the highest asthma rates in the nation. Go us!