lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007
We finally did it. The first haircut.
Since it was just a trim, I wanted to try it myself instead of paying someone else to make a few snips. And I'd say it actually turned out pretty well.

Girl has no idea what's about to happen to her.

The back of her booster seat is in the way a bit, but you can still see pretty well just how long (and mulletish) her hair was.

Don't mind Mommy, Ava, she's not doing a thing...

There's just no way to get a one-year-old to keep her head still.

We normally don't let Ava play with our keys, but we needed a serious distraction for this.

Ta da! Our first after shot.

I cut off between two and three inches, I'd say.

I didn't trim her bangs (she needs to be asleep for that, like the last time I did it), but they are getting close to the length where I'll need to.

I just tried pigtails on her for the first time today (a week after her haircut), and her hair is *just* long enough for a couple of short ones. Yay!

Showing off her new 'do the day after.
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Monday, November 26, 2007
The good, the bad and the writers' strike.
Once again Patty asks and I answer.  (Maybe I should just have her keep giving me topics so I never have to think of my own. ;-))  I do in fact have some things to say about the world of television.  After all, there have been some rather important happenings over the last couple weeks about which I've thus far remained mum.

If you haven't heard yet that members of the Writers' Guild of America are on strike, then the strike probably isn't going to affect you.  I, on the other hand... well, you all know me.  A very brief recap:  TV and movie writers are not writing, which means shows like "Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live" are in repeats indefinitely, and primetime comedies and dramas will run out of episodes in varying lengths of time, depending on how many episodes they had written/produced before the strike.  A few shows, like "The Office," have actually already run out of new episodes, while other shows have many more ("Men in Trees," for instance, still has a whopping twelve).  Most shows have a-few-to-several episodes left at this point (here's a handy chart for reference), and if the strike drags on long enough what exists now could be all that's produced for the entire season.  (Incidentally, because the production timeline of movies is much longer, there won't really be any effect at the theaters until early 2009 or so.)  Now, of course there are huge negatives to a strike like this that don't directly affect us, mainly the fact that all the rest of the people who are employed by these productions -- of which there are A LOT -- aren't earning a paycheck and could lose their jobs entirely.  That alone is reason enough to hope the strike ends as soon as possible.  That aside, this is a blog about me, so here's how the strike affects me.

The Bad:  Did I mention "The Office" is done?  Or that "Pushing Daisies" only has two new episodes left?  There are some shows that I will just plain really miss when their episodes run out.  The above two, of course, plus "Friday Night Lights," "How I Met Your Mother," and two new shows I've really been digging, "Journeyman" and "Moonlight."  And "Lost," which has produced eight of this season's sixteen episodes, may air only half its season or none until they can show them all, neither of which is a terribly desirable prospect.  Also, if the strike goes on long enough, some shows on the bubble between cancellation and survival may wind up on the canceled side because it's easier to just keep production shut down permanently or because the networks figure what audience was there before won't come back after such a long time.  And then there's "Scrubs," a show that is in its final season and may not get a real series finale at all if the rest of the season is a goner.  Any show that lasts seven seasons deserves a fitting send-off -- especially a good show like "Scrubs."

The Good:  In the case of a show like "Journeyman," whose ratings are on the anemic side, the potential programming shortage may be causing NBC to keep it on the air longer than they ordinarily would have, giving us fans more episodes.  And my summer guilty pleasure, "Big Brother," is casting for a possible winter edition if CBS needs to fill space on their schedule (secret yay!).  But mostly I would just have fewer things to watch, which would give me a chance to catch up on some of the shows I'm behind on (like the entire summer run of AMC's "Mad Men," which is supposed to be super), watch DVDs I haven't had time for (like "Nowhere Man," "seaQuest" and "Veronica Mars"), and just plain do other things.  I will miss my favorite shows, but I'll actually welcome a bit of a break if it comes.

But both sides were supposed to be back to talking today for the first time since the strike began, so maybe it'll all be moot.  Ish.  Or maybe not.  We'll see.
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Friday, November 16, 2007
Summer Redux, part something-or-other.
This group of photos is from our family get-together at my Aunt and Uncle's house Labor Day weekend.

I may be cute, but I am up to no good.

My cousin Rachel very nicely lets Ava play with her phone, and Ava in return sits on her lap.

Is that... a baby? (That's my cousin Jill's daughter Lauren.)

It certainly feels like a baby.

Whoa, this is new...

This might be okay, especially if I hold on.

Great Uncle Dave's fingers are very entertaining.

Ava already likes vents, but they become even more exciting when someone
talks to you through one (Uncle Dave again).

Wheeeee!

Sliding down the slide is still a little too scary, but trying to climb up it is just right.

Our lawn at home isn't soft enough for Ava to crawl on, so she seemed
to enjoy getting a full-fledged grass experiece.
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Thursday, November 15, 2007
Question.
We go to a store. We park in the parking ramp. We walk inside and are faced with people escalators and shopping cart escalators. Where are we?
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Friday, November 9, 2007
The Patty has spoken.
She asked for more and she's gonna get it -- and of herself, even! Ha. That'll teach her.

So for the 4th of July we drove to Kansas to visit my sister Kaly and her husband Paul and spend a few days with our friend Patty who flew in from Florida before she jetted off overseas with the Navy for a couple of years. (Sorry for the run-on sentence -- I'm tired and don't have the energy to rework it. Though apparently I have the energy to write an entirely new sentence about how I don't have the energy to fix an already-existing sentence. And then write another one. And another. Please stop me.) Here are some of the best pictures from that trip.

There was severe weather in the area (including tornado warnings -- fun!) as we drove into the Kansas City area. I love it when you can see the curtains of rain coming from the storm clouds, though.

It's the Arc de Triomphe! Or, you know, something a whole lot smaller in a Junction City, KS park where we partook of their Independence Day festivities. Post-storm sunsets = awesome.

Patty must have a way with the kiddos -- Ava let her hold her pretty much right away, which is... unusual.

We ate watermelon and listened to REO Speedwagon -- the actual band, not a recording -- while we waited for the fireworks to start.

Josh experimented with taking a lot of photos during the fireworks, and one of them actually turned out to be decent. Amazing, I know.

Wow, Ava's hair was so short! (Seriously.)

Ava took us all to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Really, she insisted.

I look a little drugged-out here, but Ranger Ava is in control and adorable. :-)

We took a tour of the 19th century ranch house at the preserve. This was on the porch.

Ava obviously hadn't had her V8 yet that day.

Nerts, it's a serious business. And at times a little violent. You'd never know it to look at her, but that Patty, she's got a mean streak. ;-)

Our lovely group pose taken in a real hurry Sunday morning as Kaly, Paul and Patty tried not to be late for church and we headed for home.
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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Halloweenie.
This wasn't Ava's first Halloween, but it was the first one for which she wasn't three days old. I took her trick-or-treating -- up and down our own street was pretty much it -- while Josh stayed home to hand out candy to the young'uns. She took it all pretty well, though she didn't exactly get into it (I couldn't even get her to hold onto her candy sack at any point). It was a chilly, kind of breezy evening, so I was glad she had a nice warm costume.

Getting chicken-suited-up.

Never before has a chicken been so huggable...

...or so adorable. :-)

We didn't stay out very long, so her loot wasn't very big, but it was still interesting to paw through.

What do you mean I don't get to eat my candy?

That's my daughter, goin' for the good stuff.

I don't know what Monster Sticks are, Mommy, but I know they're awesome!

Any more in there?
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