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

Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Hi.  My name is Beth-Annie, and I have a problem.
It rears its ugly head every year around this time:  bad made-for-TV Christmas movies.  I watch them.  I watch a lot of them.  You know, the kind they show on Hallmark Channel and ABC Family and the like.  The cheese, the sap, the cliches, the "Christmas magic," the bad acting -- I watch it all.  I just can't help myself.  I'm so ashamed.
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Thursday, December 13, 2007
A day I've been simultaneously dreading and looking forward to.
This morning I had a chalazian (a kind of cyst) surgically removed from my lower left eyelid.  It's a big red bump I've been living with for months (it was a result of my eye infection troubles over the summer), trying to cover with makeup as best I could while going to this doctor and that doctor trying different ointments, drops and other remedies to try to get rid of it without surgery.  But after nothing worked, today the day finally came.  It wasn't pleasant, but at least it was quick (the procedure itself only took about ten minutes).  Once the local anesthetic started to wear off on the way home, it hurt like the dickens (Tylenol is my friend right now) but I am SO glad to be rid of it.  I won't actually be able to see how it looks until it heals, and was told to expect a couple days of swelling during which my eye will look worse than it ever did before, but after all that it should be back to normal.  Finally.  Well, I also have to go back in early January to have the tube they placed in my tear duct so that it can't heal shut removed, but that's a small thing (really -- it must be very, very tiny to fit in there ;-)).

Meanwhile, Ava's sick, with a fever (low-medium) and some nasty sniffles that have kept her from sleeping very well at night -- which in turn keeps us from sleeping very well at night.  So we're not the happiest of households at the moment, but once Ava feels better we'll be good.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Seriously, what's with all the snow?
I've lived in Wisconsin and Iowa my whole life, so I'm plenty used to snow in the winter -- just not so much in December. It's been snowing about every other day for a week or so. We now have close to a foot of snow on the ground (almost four feet in the piles next to the driveway/street), and it's not likely to melt much anytime soon. I can't remember the last time we had this much snow in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Of course, knowing how things work we'll probably have several days of temps in the 40s right before Christmas and it'll all melt. But at least for now it does make things feel a lot more Christmasy than brown grass and trees.
11:36 PM || I want to be a comment. Post me!

Friday, December 7, 2007
For Kaly.
And when I say that, I mean that this will mean absolutely nothing to most of you, so just ignore it.

11:48 PM || I want to be a comment. Post me!

Monday, December 3, 2007
October is Birthday Month 'round these parts.
Benji's, Ava's and Josh's birthdays are all in October, so we all got together one weekend to celebrate. And now I'm finally geting those photos to you. Hey, at least it didn't take me as long as for the 4th of July photos. (Incidentally, if you haven't seen them, moM has some photos and videos on her blog.)

Waving was Ava's newest trick in the middle of October.

I think Benji and Ava really look quite alike.

While we were disc golfing, Josh saved the day by crawling under a ginormous fence to fetch a wayward disc (and grab Benji a tennis ball while he was at it). Eh, I'm sure those security cameras were fakes...

The birthday kids.

Benji and Ava actually share a toy. For a few seconds, anyway.

As far as Ava's concerned, presents are just as much for climbing on as for opening. Maybe even moreso.

I don't know where Benji is this morning, but Clark Kent is looking fine.

Smart girl, she already knows what the microphone's for. (Because we certainly didn't just luck out getting a picture where she just happened to be holding it in the right spot.)

She did get a kick out of Benji's keyboard.

Ah, to be two again...

I can definitely see both his parents in Benji's face now.

Aw. I'd call that a hug. Ish.

Very nice of Charles Nelson Reilly to share his chair with Ava.

She's got a little ways to go before her feet reach the ground from this one.

Hey, my horse ain't goin' nowhere...

Ava acquainted herself with Benji's fridge letters.

She also has a ways to go before she fits Daddy's baseball cap.

And a bonus video of Benji and Ava "playing" "together." :-)
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