Well, until I can get online for a while and work the existing WordPress blog into this theme, I'll just be posting whatever randomly.

Hopefully it'll be fixed within a week of this going online, but it's dependent upon my internet connection more than anything. So, let's all hope for the best!

Anyone ever heard of it? It's called cleaning house whenever you get the time. Today we'll be working inside, even though we have tons of things to ge done outside before it starts to get cold this week. Bye-bye 80 degree temperatures, hello 70 and 60's, with lows at night inching their way down to zero.

I hope this winter will be a beautiful one, whether it be with snow or ice. Last year we had a terrible ice storm and it got rather cold in the house, so I hope it at least stays warm in here this year. Honestly, if it weren't for the sun hardly being up during the winter, it would truly be my favorite season. I just love the snow, and even if the ice gets bad it looks beautiful.

If it doesn't dry up outside today from the several inches of rain we've accumulated the past week, hopefully it will tomorrow. The drain for the sink and bathtub is messed up again, so the connector in the house is leaking. That's no good, seeing as how it's starting to ruin the bathroom floor. Even though it's just water, it's a pain when it gets in.

Mainly I'm just worried about getting the dinning room cleaned up for the winter. We have a wood-burning stove, so that room has to be cleared out for it to be used. The windowless room has slowly gathered objects since last year and needs to be picked through and properly organized before being put away. Mostly it's just clothes and some stuff we need to get rid of or sell.

Still, I can't do a whole lot yet. I've actually felt worse the past week or so than I did when I gave birth. They told me I couldn't lift more than my newborn, but I do have a one-year-old to take care of as well. Hence why J. has yet to go back to work--I need his help just taking care of these two, especially if I have to take pain medicine since it usually knocks me out. So, I hope I'll be a lot better within a couple of weeks.

Breastfeeding Accessories Needed:

- Breastpump that doesn't break. AKA, no manual or cheap ones this time.
- New baby sling. One that you can actually use to breastfeed, not just one that says you can.
- Bra pads. So I can stop leaking all over the place.
- Snappies. That I can't seem to find anywhere but the bag the hospital gave me.
- A bigger diaper bag to hold everything. Because the designer ones just don't cut it in the long run.

Jeep makes big diaper bags now, which seems durable enough for me. Especially for only twenty dollars at WalMart compared to the $50 one we bought at Babies R Us that tore within a year of minimal use.

Eh, oh well. She's just taking after my mother. Ha. It [the costume] mostly fits, which is rather surprising because she's in the correct age range for that costume and she's usually too small. Strangely, she's smarter than her age group but smaller than average.

Izzy is pretty big, at least I think so. She was just under 8 pounds at birth, dropped down to a little more than 7. Within the first two weeks, she managed to gain all her birth weight back and then almost another pound. Kalli didn't gain weight very fast, but she was long. Now she's evened out, but it seems like Izzy is just going to end up being bigger unless her growth suddenly slows down.

I'm rather tired today, but restless. I want to go out and do things, but I don't have the means to do so. It's annoying, but I should be used to it by now. I should have gotten some sleep when I could today, but I failed to do so.

Oh, and, before I forget, the little picture at the top is a polecat. I plan on adding a short section in the FAQ about him, so you can find your answers there soon enough. Currently, he/she has no name but is basically the new site mascot. The title for the site will be back soon, if it isn't already by the time you read this.

PS - I miss using WordPress. I tried geting it to work the last time I was online, but I ended up having quite a bit of issued with the hosting service I'm using. Hopefully I'll be able to get online soon and get it running.

J. is off taking trash to the dump before picking up Kalli from his parents' house. Speaking of family, I completely forgot to mention anything about my fathers' parents, as I finally met them (on accident) and introduced myself the other day.

It's not a freakishly long story, but to cut to the point--I love going to yard sales. That's mainly what my highlighters are for, as I have a system of colors for the different days and everything in the paper so we can go every Friday and Saturday. (That was until I had Izzy.)

So, one day I happened to drive past a sale I hadn't seen in the paper, which is pretty common, and decided to turn around and go to it since it appeared to be an old antique shop. I was mostly correct on that, as it was a small shed full of everything. The old woman was very tiny and quite nice, and Kalli really seemed to like her. (Which is sort of unusual because old ladies tend to creep her out a bit.)

Anyway, we bought a couple of things and got in the Jeep to leave. When I was turning around I realized the house I was looking at was fairly yellow. Well, I was a couple of towns over and I remembered my mother telling me that the house was yellow and in this general area. There were no other yellow houses around. I went home and asked my mom if that was it, and she said it sounded like it but she hadn't been over that way in a long time.

The rest of the day it bothered me. I wanted to know if those were the only grandparents I had left. I wanted to know if they wanted anything to do with me, since they had been told I was their granddaughter before I was born.

After a number of hours, I decided to go. It took a lot of strange questions on my part to get to the point, but I finally said I was their sons' daughter. (She didn't recognize my mothers' name.) She seemed rather surprised and gave me a hug, then proceeded to introduce me to my grandfather--the only blood one I've ever met.

There were the standard introduction hugs and empty conversation attempting to fill the void of silence as we all had nothing to talk about. It was just a freakishly ackward while before we (because I dug my husband along with me) were asked to sit in the backyard. We stayed for a while until it started to get dark and my aunt (whom also had no idea who I was) came over with her family.

My grandmother tried saying a couple of times that my mother should have told them I was their granddaughter a long time ago. (Hint: She did but they refused to believe her. Why? I didn't bother asking.)

You see, during the summer my father's brother came over and introduced himself to us. I had never met him before, but he was nice enough to drop by and say who he was and try to ge to know me and my family a little better. He knew about me because my half-brother had been asking questions and wondering if I knew about them and everything. So, obviously, a good number of people in the family knew who I was. They knew who my mother was as well. So why play dumb? I don't know--maybe it was just an honest moment of forgetfulness, I may never know.

In any case, I have my own family to work on right now, so if they want anything else to do with me until I get everything back in order after having another new baby, they can stop by since everyone knows exactly where I live and say "Hello." I wouldn't mind it too much if it were a sibling (because I'm an only child and have always wanted to have siblings) or a kind aunt or uncle that just wanted to see how we were doing, since they seem like the most likely candidates for getting out and dropping by.

I'm done mumbling... New series is on now--Flash Forward.

This is my current "style," so to say. The light green bracelet is my nursing band, that keeps the time and side last used while breastfeeding. It's actually a lot more useful than one might think, since it's really easy to forget those things when you're sleepy. The other two are the "Sharing the Promise" breast cancer band and the "LiveStrong" band. Obvious what those two are for, I hope.

Here's where Izzy is residing in the bedroom. Ignore the large black cable in the background if you see it, as it is farther away from her than it looks in this photo. (It's actually fastened to the wall, and she isn't close to the wall.) The round thing hanging up there is a plate, in case you were wondering.

I did have pictures of my hospital room and her sleeping in the room, but my mother messed up her camera which had the memory card in it, so those are all gone now. I'm really upset about that, because I had taken the same photos that I did when I had Kalli, so it just seems like something is missing.

This is my purse, to the left. It's olive apparently, because that's what the tag told me. I got it one day down at Gander Mountain when I was looking for stuff for Father's Day. It doesn't look like it used to of course, since I colored in the flower on the front and back, (not shown in the photograph). I also added a pocket on the inside, since it didn't have one to begin with. The blue thing is a WalMart bag and the round purple/white thing is a rock keychain. Colorful highlighters are hanging on the front, while three Hello Kitty pens hang out on the inside. Then, as you can see, my rebate cards are on the outer clasp, dangling in the front is my Rewards R Us card.

Here are my keys. The lanyard is Tamagotchi stuff I bought on eBay a couple of years ago. My house key is tye-dyed and the Jeep key is old and gold. The white box in the picture is one of those addictive clicky things that sounds like bubble wrap. And, yes, that is a lucky lotto scratcher. (I won enough money on the first ticket I scratched off with it to pay for it, the ticket, and another ticket, which I also won money on.)

And, before I forget with all the pictures and all, I finally dyed my hair again. I dyed it darker than I wanted because it always seems to turn out darker anyway, even though I didn't leave it in as long as one is supposed to. Evil hair.

Not really, but I wanted to use the word "fall" because it's the first day of autumn! Anyway, my laptop is even worse off than first thought. Today when I attempted to open it up to work, the screen was black--but not because it wasn't on. The damnable thing now has to be beaten not only into starting, but just to get the screen to show up as more than black. Anyone willing to give me a computer?

I wanted to take several pictures of different things today and make an interesting and colorful blog post, but I don't have my camera charged--or even know where all the parts to my charging dock are for that matter--and I don't feel like using J.'s. My mother just got a newer camera the other day that she doesn't really know how to use, standard, so I might just use it tomorrow or something.

Still, I like my camera even if it is a couple of years old and only a 5.1 megapixel. It still takes wonderful photos in my opinion, which is all that really matters I suppose. It is missing a couple of pixels on the LCD screen and has a crack in it, is scratched all to hell and back, but I still like my old Sony Cybershot.

Hmm, I just heard a "thump!" on the front porch. I wonder if that was a cat knocking off a planter or not. More than likely the answer will be "yes."

No internet, so here I am reworking some of the images for the site--again. I swear, I can never manage to just up and leave it alone. I always mess around with it, even when I'm done so it's never truly done. Oh well.

So, I had a baby just over a week ago. Her name is Izzy (or Izzi, Izzie, Izze--however she wants to spell her nickname when she gets older) and she's rather decent. I find that she is a lot easier to handle than Kalli was at this age, though she's starting to get to the point were she doesn't just sleep all day long, rather, she does stay awake a lot more and wants to cuddle all the time.

Whereas last week I figured I wouldn't be able to do anything till the new year because of the two of them, I don't think that'll be so much of a problem any longer. Currently, I'm wondering about the dual doctor's appointment on the 17th. How does that work anyway? I know I should be figuring out what to do for J. & Kalli's birthday next week, but I don't have any clue what they really want.

Besides all that, I'm really curious about flu shots this year. I know I haven't really cared one way or the other about the H1N1 virus because, well, I didn't see a point in worrying about nothing. But here I am, taking care of two little girls under the age of 1 and my mother is a type 2 diabetic and, god knows my immune system is shot for a bit since I just had a baby.. I just figure it would be a good idea to get flu shots this year.

Last year everyone in the house managed to catch a nasty cold around the end of the year and it was horrible. I was still run down and we were all still reeling from my grandmother's death, not to mention Kalli was only a couple of months old at that point. I could not manage to get rid of the cough and neither could J., though my mother and daughter got over it within a week. Honestly, I had it for over a month and it really, really sucked and I do not want to have to go through that again, especially if I'm going to be taking care of two children instead of one.

Oh, and I did get stitches yet again. Those are lovely and they hurt randomly. Wonderful.

Fall is my favorite season. It's just so nice and cool and, of course, it's rather beautiful. While I'd prefer the leaves on the trees not to fall off since we don't have too many large evergreens yet, the colors are usually worth it.

I'm still pregnant, obviously. I'd love to have the baby today, because I think September first would make a good birthdate. But, that's just me apparently, because I haven't even felt that bad.. Yet.

In any case, J. and Kallis' birthdays are approching fast too, but I don't think I'll be doing much of anything for them. What can I possibily do with a new baby to take care of? I guess just stay out of their hair for a bit.

If nothing else, I'd prefer my daughter not have a birthday party of any sort for the simple fact that their birthday is generally the start of flu season around here. We all have to attempt not to catch anything, due to my state and her being so young. But how bad can this new strain of the flu really be? Last year I had it for over two months, so I would hope that it couldn't be any worse.

Oh, and, as for the website, I've been trying to work on it to no avail. My free hosting service is rather slow on the upload and all day yesterday just kept dropping my connection on the FTP and annoying me to no end. I've gotten everything (for the most part) done that I can without a WordPress install, but I haven't managed to get the entire install installed. Once that's done and running, then everything should be working much smoother. Until then, however, I'm stuck making entries the old fashioned way.

I know it's been quite a while since I've been online, but it's been a couple of months since I've even been on the computer!

The bad news is that my only PC, my Sony Vaio laptop--an FS640--has some issues with age. A while back I picked it up to play something and it wasn't on, nor would it turn on. I took it apart, cleaned it up, made sure the fan was working since that's been a problem in the past, then put it back together--nothing. I ended up plugging it in without the bottom attached and that worked. Apparently, there are some wires getting pinched when the case is screwed together, so I'm just using it without the bottom attached. For the time being, it's just snapped together with no screws.

Since Kalli loves trying to play on the laptop, I just haven't bothered getting it out for several months in fear of her trying to "play" with it and breaking it. I just had to make a flyer today and had it out, so here I am.

Ironically enough, the computer started right away. The only problem I'm having currently is that Explorer is dead and I have no taskbar, which is really annoying. I'm used to not seeing the bar on the bottom because I have it on auto-hide, but that just means I keep forgetting that it's non-existant and trying to hover my pointer down there to see what time it is.

And the damn thing is running super slow for some unknown reason. I just need to get a new computer, but that's not possible at the current time. (Which really sucks since I'd love to start playing more PC games again.)

As for the title, I'm almost due with the second one. We don't know if it'll be a boy or a girl again, but with our luck it'll be another little girl. I've been very tired and sore lately, but what can I expect? It hasn't even been a year since we had our first child.

We have everything ready for this one, give or take. It's just a pain to get the house clean and the yardwork done with J. working all day and me at home watching Kalli. She doesn't really let anyone get things done, since she wants to be in the middle of everything. That's fine though, it just means she may end up helping more in a couple of years. Ha.

I'm currently just blaring my music because I haven't been able to do that in a long while. I just love to sit on the computer working on HTML or writing while singing to whatever pops up on random. I just don't tend to do that when there are other people in the house. It's just not the same as being alone, you know?

They should really stop while they're ahead. And by "ahead," I simply mean that no one has threatened to seek military action against them.

They've repeatedly gone against the U.N. and worldwide rules set out to protect all of humanity, but they don't seem to get it. It's like they're the little child that just doesn't understand that adults make these important guidelines to protect them.

Nuclear tests and weaponry is very dangerous and the state that North Korea has been in for decades does not help the situation any. The leaders that the country has had are not thinking about the welfare of their own people, let alone those in neighboring countries.

I can possibly understand why they would want nuclear power plants and things of that sort, but weapons of mass destruction don't need to be created in this day and age, rather, they should be disassembled. (Hey America, why not start a new trend?)

As for the news today that North Korea is threatening South Korea for joining America and other countries that are against them creating/testing/using nuclear weapons—grow up already. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that the border was lifted from a military zone and it was wonderful for all those families involved with it... Why not allow a generation or two of Koreans to enjoy it?

It's rather sad that North Korea still seems to think that by one-uping everyone around them they will suddenly get more respect or attention or whatever the hell it is that they're really after. The truly sad part is that people may lose their lives because their country doesn't care about safety so much as they care about keeping up appearances.

Did you ever happen to forget what one of your acquaintances name was? It's rather embarrassing to have to ask, "What's your name again?" If you've ever been on the receiving end of this question, it can also be rather disheartening.

I've even been in the situation where I was talking to a good friend and her name simply slipped my mind for the entire day. It was horrible, because I just could not remember for anything. Finally, I came up with a couple of ways to get around this problem.

(Though these ways are meant for people that you already know, I'm sure you could use them to get a strangers name—if you tried hard enough.)

Ask them how to spell their name.

Default. Sure, it will be embarrassing and may hurt their feelings, dependent upon how well you know them, but it will get the job done. If you don't want them to feel too bad, just try your best to make them laugh about it. If they are uptight, it probably won't happen, but it's worth a shot. Something like, "You aren't going to believe this, but I just can't remember your name today." Don't forget to laugh, not, har-har, but the pathetic kind of laugh. Blush a bit with embarrassment, it's okay. Anything to make you out to be the bad guy would be good at this point. Don't make direct eye contact after saying it, because that will make it seem like this conversation is the only reason why you are talking to them. You don't want that—so plan out a good discussion and toss this one in at the end of it.