Eileen’s Neighborhood

We put my son on the potty when he wakes up and after meals. He'll often poop in the potty rather than his diaper if we give him this opportunity. Sometime in the last month or two, he has started to only go if he has privacy. So I'll put him on the potty and leave him in his room for a few minutes. I did this today after he finished breakfast. My husband went into the room to see if he had gone yet and found that, not only had he gone, but he had picked up a piece of poop from the potty and was playing with it!

I'm glad he did this when my husband was around, that was someone could hold his hands while I ran to get wipes to clean him (and the carpet!) off.

Ick.

I post this rather sheepishly because I know it's not extraordinary to grow tomatoes.  I've read they're some of the easiest vegetables to grow.  But, for me the following photo does show a gardening feat (as I tend to kill anything green)...or at least vast improvement from where I was in garden cultivation a couple years ago.

They taste amazing.  Which is definitely worth the little bit of work it takes.  Also, in the age of the salmonella scare the peace of mind knowing these were grown in my backyard helps.

I will definitely be growing more of these babies in subsequent years. Now if only I could move to a new residence with a little more land...

Hidden Bastard

.:What I'm Watching:.

30 Days, Season 2. [What better way to give people a crash course in empathy than to have them inhabit somebody else's life for 30 days? That's exactly what Super Size Me director and star Morgan Spurlock does on this popular FX Network show. Season 2 opens with "a border-patrolling minuteman" moving in with an undocumented Mexican family and continues with episodes on abortion, New Age healing, prisons (with Spurlock himself spending time behind bars) and more. ~netflix] the first story was truly touching and amazing. the other ones were entertaining for sure, but didn't pull on my heartstrings like the first one did. looking forward to the second disc. this show is way better than the other trashy reality tv shows. 4 stars.

Cannibal! The Musical. [Featuring riotous tunes, crass humor and sight gags galore, this hilarious genre bender set in 1873 chronicles the tale of Alferd Packer (Trey Parker of "South Park" fame) -- the only American ever found guilty of cannibalism. With Packer at the helm, a party of gold prospectors gets stranded in the midst of a savage Rocky Mountain winter, and next thing you know, ribs and liver are on the menu. "South Park" co-creator Matt Stone also stars. ~netflix] schpadoinkle! before there was South Park, there was Cannibal! The Musical. and seriously, i LOVE this movie. i don't know that anyone else really does. but i LOVE it. 5 stars, damn it!

The Incredible Hulk. [Edward Norton stars as Bruce Banner in this version of the classic comic book tale about a doctor who searches for a cure for his exotic condition, which causes him to transform into a huge green monster when under duress. Drawing closer to finding a remedy, Dr. Banner becomes sidetracked as he's pursued first by the military and then by a rival monster known as the Abomination. Robert Downey Jr. co-stars as adversary Tony Stark. ~netflix] okay. i was kinda disappointed in it. i wanted less talky-talky and more hulk-smashy-smashy. and i seriously wanted to hulk-smash liv tyler's face EVERY TIME SHE TALKED. there were a lot of moments where i just had to roll my eyes and just ignore them because it just annoyed me so much. 2.5 stars. also, the netflix synopsis there makes it sound like robert downey jr actually co-stars. uhm. he doesn't. he's in it for all of ... MAYBE 5 minutes. at the very end.

The Middleman. [A struggling artist is recruited by a secret agency to fight against evil forces. Based on the graphic novels by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine. ~imdb.com] way fun. i was a little iffy about it because the promo posters totally sexed up Wendy Watson's character, but the show is really fun with really good dialogue. i'd suggest reading the comic it's based on, as well. 4 stars.

Penelope. [Penelope Wilhern (Christina Ricci) is cursed, and the only way out of it is to fall in love with someone of suitable stock. But how can she possibly find her soul mate when she's sequestered inside her family's sprawling estate with only her parents (Catherine O'Hara and Richard E. Grant) to keep her company? Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon co-produced this unconventional fairy tale about a girl who bucks convention to make her own happy ending. ~netflix] it was cute. not a great movie, but i liked it. i thought it was kind of sweet, and at the same time still having that girl empowerment thing going on. oh, and also, Burn Gorman (Owen in Torchwood) makes an appearance. i love him. too bad they didn't give him more to do in this movie. Nick Frost (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hyperdrive) is also in it very briefly. 3 stars.

Samurai Jack, Season 2. [The Emmy-winning series' sophomore season finds the young samurai again wrestling with a bizarre future universe and trying desperately to return to the past. Meanwhile, he continues to do battle with malevolent wizard Aku (who transported the Japanese warrior to the future) and his many minions. Boasting amazing animation and action-packed story lines, this compilation of 13 episodes will keep the kids riveted. ~netflix] i think this season is less focused than the first season. sometimes they'd have completely unrelated things in an episode and i'd get slightly confused. still giving it 4 stars, though.

Wild China. [This six-part series from the BBC uncovers some of the most exotic and uncharted natural habitats hidden within the vast and diverse topography of China, including Yunnan's forests, the Tibetan plateau, the Silk Road and the Mongol steppes. Through high-definition and other cutting-edge camera technologies, the footage presented here captures stunning wildlife sequences, along with a plethora of breathtaking landscape photography. ~netflix] fascinating. really. i'm serious! it's really interesting to watch. i am enjoying the heck out of it. 4 stars.

.:What Mia's Watching:.

The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation. [The Care Bears (NobleHeart, TrueHeart, TenderHeart, SwiftHeart, FunShine and Grumpy) fight an evil demon named DarkHeart who wants to stop all caring and loving on Earth. In a pact with DarkHeart, an unhappy girl agrees to help capture the Care Bears using a magical crystal. Will the warm and caring bear clan prevail over the evil DarkHeart and his misguided minion? ~netflix] mia really liked watching the fuzzy, chubby bears. hehe. at the end, she was totally doing that audience participation thing... they ask if anyone else cares and she started chanting, "we care! we care!" hehe... and THEN she started really getting into yelling, "i care! i care!" yeah. it was funny as hell. also, she was totally dancing during the end credits to that bad 80s music they had going on. hehe. she'd probably give it 4 stars. hehe.

Clifford's Really Big Movie. [Colossal canine Clifford (voiced by the late John Ritter) lives with his wonderful owners, the Howard family, whom he loves. But soon, the lovable red dog wonders whether his oversized stature is becoming a burden on his family. Hoping to rid them of the responsibility, Clifford joins a traveling animal circus with his buddies Cleo (voiced by Cree Summer) and T-Bone (voiced by Kel Mitchell). ~netflix] mia still informs me every now and again that, "it's a good day to go watch the clifford movie!" she really enjoyed it and had a fun time at the movies. mia would give it 4 stars... if she knew how to rate movies. hehe. the animation in the movie is much better than the animation on the PBS television show.

What is your legacy?
Submitted by Beautifully Broken.

The Kid and the crazy sense of humor he got from me.  :-D

90 degrees and snowing tomorrow? O rly?

My son has been trying to be a little helper the past few days. Yesterday, he decided that I needed the coasters that were on the end table. He picked up the coaster tray to carry it to me. But it has an open end and all the coasters fell out. No problem, he just sat down, put the coasters back in, and stood up again. And they fell out, again. He kept repeating this (and surprisingly, he did not get frustrated). He even tried wrapping a burp cloth around the coasters to keep them from falling out. Eventually he did give up and started bringing them to me one by one.

And then today he helped with laundry. I would hand him a piece of wet laundry from the washer and he would throw it into the dryer. Just the smaller items like his clothing, washcloths, socks, etc. Near the end he got kind of excited and started flinging the items any direction he pleased. He also started putting them into the laundry basket rather than the dryer. It's a start, at least!

Ancient ruins at Back Bay

So I'm Nebraska for a while - almost two weeks!  I'm so excited to get to see my family and friends and relax out in the country. 

I've been running almost every day and pretty much just having fun hanging out with my mom.  I hope to have some pics up later.

:o)

Well, my time here is nearly up.  Tomorrow we go to Omaha to stay with my aunt and uncle for an night, and then I fly out on Thursday at 5:20 pm. 

I have some really great pics, none of which I can post (at least none of my own, as I am a moron and forgot the correct camera cable); therefore I don't know when anyone will see them, as I don't have a home computer so... when these pics finally post, the trip will most likely be so far in the past no one will even remember that I even came here to Nebraska.

However, I do have some pics from my mom.  My sister colored my hair for me on my birthday as my gift - which I thought was SO COOL of her - and here is a pic of her and me afterwards at a Mexican restaurant:

 

 

I don't know if you can tell but my hair is purple and platinum!  (That would be a good band name.)  I love it!! 

Also, here's a pic of my brother Jon, his girlfriend Stacey, and me.  Jon is one of my favorite people on the planet - I love that little dude!  Stacey is just absolutely adorable and we all really love her!  Here we are:

 

Well...I don't know when I can post again...damn, I really need to get a computer.