It Still Lives Here

There's a lot I could say right now about where I've been for the past four years. Things about "being busy" or "being depressed" or "being uninspired"... and I'm sure I will one day. Get to that stuff. But for now, for today, I'm just going to write and be happy that I am.

The very first post I wrote was at the end of October 2006 when our daughter was two and her personality emerged. "It Lives Here" was the title. My introduction of our little comedian to the big world of blogging. Well, she still lives here. She's still as funny as ever, but now we have a twist. It's called puberty. That whole stage in life where the cute "It" may turn into the psychotic "It".

A new beginning. A new journey. For her. For me. For her dad.

And I'm back to continue to tell the tale.

Books Read in July

Amazingly enough, I read three books this month.



Eclipse and Breaking Dawn were the final two books in the Twilight series. Once I picked up the first book there was no stopping. I loved the series, and although there is a lot of controversy over the final book, Breaking Dawn, I really thought it was wonderful. Other than... well, I won't put spoilers here, let's just say that I'd like to see evil sadistic vampires be torn to bits and leave it at that.

Last month, I also mentioned that I really liked having read the books after seeing the movies because it gave me a glimpse into how much genius it took to change a book into a screenplay. I could read the book and appreciate the need to shrink 200 pages into two minutes of screen time. This month, I finished the series and two days later went to see Eclipse in the theater. I did not have the same "genius mushy gushy" feeling. I was disappointed.

And so it goes that most likely, the book and your own imagination is much better than anyone could translate to the screen-- there simply isn't enough time to get everything from the book into the movie and there were scenes I desperately missed. I have a feeling though that once the movie comes out on video enough time will have elapsed, and I will have had enough time to rewatch the first two movies, that I will love the third for itself. Without comparison to a book series and love story that comes in second-- behind Jamie and Claire from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

The final book, by Judith McNaught, is a reread. Enough time had passed that I couldn't remember every word, so I picked it up again.

Ouchy Back

The only downfall from being at camp all week is that Short Person injured herself. Ironically, she didn't notice that she'd hurt herself until after camp was over and she was on her way home. She got into her car seat and stated that her back stung, I lifted up her shirt and yelped. The photo below is what greeted me.

At first glance, LJS and I thought maybe she'd been bitten by something, but from the photo you can tell that she simply received one heck of a scratch.

I've always had the weird ability to completely disregard any major injury. Unless I'm bleeding or unable to walk after it happens, the pain doesn't usually phase me if I'm engaged in something or enjoying what I'm doing. I've noticed cuts and bruises on my body the size of softballs with absolutely no idea how I received it. Sometimes I'll have a vague impression of something having happened earlier in the day or week, but I can never place the exactness of it. From this photo and the events leading up to the discovery of Short Person's ouchy, I'm going to surmise that she received the trait of pain disengagement from me.

I wonder if this means mommy needs to give her the once over every night when she changes into pajamas, just to make sure no infections are going on. At least until she's old enough to learn to do it herself.