A new blog for Josh?

This probably won't be of interest to most of you, but I would like at least someone to know about it. (As Launi always says, if someone else knows about your goals, you're more likely to do something about them. :)) So, taking inspiration from my friend Joe, I decided to make my own review blog. Instead of movies, though, I'll be reviewing video games that I play. For those of you who may not know it, I'm kind of, um, picky when it comes to my games—not many M-rated games end up in my home and many T-rated games are also politely refused.

To give myself a project (and help with my critical review and writing skills), I've opened a new blog at redtieguy.blogspot.com. There's nothing there now but an explanation of my rating system, but I'll try to get reviews for at least one or two games done each month. (Don't worry, Laun, I plan on reviewing the games we own first. The buying new games comes later. :) )

He's at it again!

Our little punk has learned another trick. He can now pull himself up onto things reliably, as demonstrated in the picture below.


Why does this make me unhappy? Because I used to just let him play on the bathroom floor while I showered. But this morning, he pulled himself up onto the side of the tub, peeked in, and grinned at me. I might have thought it was cute if I wasn't worried he was going to slip and hit his head or fall into the tub. Argh! Sometimes I really don't like that he's growing up!

Okay, he's still cute. :)

No no no!

Lately, Alex will shake his head back and forth when we say no or shake our heads at him. He gets a kick out of it. This evening I was rocking him in his chair before bedtime and singing a song or two like I usually do. I happened to be singing "I Stand All Amazed" tonight, and when I got to the part where the lyrics are "No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat," Alex got a big smile on his face and started shaking his head because of the "no no." It made us both giggle. What a funny little kid!


Here's a video of the head-shaking, and also his other newest feat: high fives!

New 'Do

I chopped my hair!

Before: long, scraggly hair that I didn't generally have the patience to do anything with.


After: short, sassy, easy-to-do goodness! Hooray!



And, because most of our recent posts have not included a picture of Alex, here's a fix for you. :) We sat him down, and he moved onto his knees all by himself! (With a little help from his friend the box).

Another Tag

I thought this one was fun because you have to use images from Google search to answer the questions. NO using your own pictures, even on the picture of you.

Favorite color:

Light blue

Favorite Animal:

Kittens. But not cats. It's really unfortunate that kittens grow up to be cats, huh? :) (There is one exception to this rule: my cat, Sierra, but she's small enough to look like a kitten still, even though she's like 12 years old. So there you go.)

Bad Habit:

Need I say more?

Favorite Food:

Any kind of potatoes prepared pretty much any way. Except potato salad. That's only so-so. :)

Favorite Hobby:


Place I Live:

I live literally one block south of the bottom of this picture.

Favorite Song:

Starlight by Muse

My job:

Stay-at-home mom. It's the best!

Favorite Author:

Good ol' Darles Chickens himself.

Favorite Dessert:

Ooohhhh....I salivate just thinking about it.

Picture of ME:

I decided to just use the very first image that came up when I googled my name, and it just happened to be this picture of a spinning class (not our class) that my friend Angie put on her blog a few weeks ago. Because we went spinning. And holy cow, it kicks your butt! But this makes me look like I must be really fit, huh? Hooray!

That's it. And I tag whoever is in the mood for it. :)

Tag, I'm It

My lovely sister Lindsay tagged me. Here I go!

Who do I love? Joshua Darwyn Leavitt

How long have I been married? Almost three years

How long did we date? We dated for exactly three months, and were engaged for a little over three months. But we had been friends for like four years before we started dating, so it's not as crazy as it sounds. :)

Who is taller? Josh, barely. I had to give up all of my tall shoes.

Who can sing better? He'd probably say me, but I'd definitely say him. He's got this smooth, deep bass voice that just makes me swoon!

Who is smarter? I had a higher GPA upon graduating than he did, but I took hardly any science or math classes---that definitely would've lowered my grades a lot. :) I think for those subjects, and most real life situations, Josh is smarter. He helps me out by explaining stuff all the time. He has answers for all of my random questions!

Who does the laundry? Usually me, but Josh helps fold.

Who pays the bills? Me. Well, I write out the checks and put them in the envelopes, but Josh is the one making the money, so I guess we have to give him a little credit. :)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Josh does. Our bedside table fits better on the left side, and I have to be by the table so I can see the clock in the middle of the night. I'm kind of OCD that way. I really want to get one of those clocks that projects the time up on the ceiling.

Who mows the lawn? We have no lawn to mow, thank goodness! But I have made Josh promise that when we do, he will mow it, because it's probably my absolute least favorite chore. I told him I'd always do dishes if he'd always mow the lawn (yeah, I hate it that much).

Who cooks dinner? I do, though Josh can make some mean fajitas. And he also cooked all of the meat when I was pregnant, because I couldn't stand the smell.

Who drives? Usually Josh. I make him nervous when I drive. That's what I get for marrying someone who was raised by the owner of a trucking company. :)

Now let's see, who can I think of that hasn't done this already? I tag...Marseille, MaryIrene, Christy, and Nettie. If any of you have already done it or don't want to do it, no pressure. I'll probably still like you. ;) No touchbacks!

October 2005: I decided I needed a new hobby, and so Josh and I browsed the craft aisles at Walmart to see what we could find. We came across some cross-stitch patterns, and I, of course, chose the coolest one I could see. Not any of the simple ones, the cool one. If I did a cross-stitch, it was going to be cool.

March 2007, nearly two and a half years later: I finally finished the darn thing!


Took me long enough, huh? I certainly wasn't working on it constantly for those two and a half years; in fact, there were probably several stretches where I didn't work on it at all for months. But I am so pleased to finally be done with it that I wanted to share it with the world (or at least our faithful blog readers)! There are some glaring errors that I was too lazy to go back and pick out, so if you notice, I would appreciate it if you would politely ignore them. :)

For those interested, the Chinese characters (according to my packet) mean happiness, good fortune, good health, tranquility, and the big one in the middle is "omen".

It's the Tooth!

Yesterday we discovered that Alex has cut his first tooth! Hooray! Perfect timing too, since I just weaned him last week. I always said I would never nurse him once he could bite me. :)

You definitely can't see the tooth in these pictures, but they are cute anyway. We love our little guy!