I know, what a silly thing: New Year's resolutions. Does anyone take them seriously?

I do, I suppose, although I always leave mine purposely vague. Some people may resolve to quit smoking or lose 10 lbs, but these are too concrete: by the end of the year, you can measure whether you have quit smoking (are you still buying cigarettes? If yes: then no.) or if you've lost 10 lbs (step on a scale). If you pick something blurry, like "Be nicer to puppies" or "Dance less foolishly at wedding receptions," the result is subject to interpretation, and on December 31 you can choose to congratulate yourself for a job well done, or not.
    

So here we are, settled back in at home. Our Florida vacation was much too short. :(

I spent the morning unpacking all our clothes and doing laundry while Theseus gathered up his military gear. He has an equipment inspection this weekend at drill, so our car will be filled with musty duffle bags and stacks of mostly-unused clothing. Army gear has a distinctive smell to it - a mix of wet dogs, rust and sour milk. Fellow Soldiers: you know what I'm talking about, right?
    

when all the cats move back into the bedroom at night.

Last night I woke up with a cat on either side of me, pinning me down under the blanket. I was also so hot I was almost on fire - little furry furnaces! It's hard to be mad at them when they are looking so sweet and angelic. I can almost convice myself they're snuggling because they love me, not because they are cold.

And --- I had to scrape my car for the first time this season! I'm really not prepared for this weather. Doesn't it feel like it just snuck up this year? And wouldn't you know it, I was running late for drill (of course) and I couldn't find my scraper. Thankfully the frost wasn't very think; I used my license to scrape a quick porthole and jumped into the freezing car.

But it's ok, because in a few short days I will be standing in some sunny sand, looking out over the water with the people most dear to me. In addition to this creeping chilly weather, I hope to leave behind some of my cares in this lonely state of NJ.

So - guily pleasure alert: I love those jailhouse-documentary-ish shows. You know the ones I mean? There's Lockup on MSNBC, Beyond Scared Straight on A&E and Jail on Spike. Tonight we found another one - Cellblock 6: Female Lock Up on TLC.

The people in these shows are just fascinating to me, especially the women. How does one find oneself in jail? I mean, yeah, hitting your spouse or selling drugs or stealing something - but what leads up to that? There was a moment when each of these people crossed the line into criminal behavior. How does that happen?

This girl on tv now - she was arrested for passing bad checks, possession of marijuana and theft. She has "Kevin" tattooed under her right eye. Under her eye! She's 25 and has a 6 year old son. I just don't understand it. How??

Their stories are all similar and sad. Some talk about how much they hate jail/prison and how they're going to do whatever it takes to never go back in. Others worry that they've been incarcerated too long and will never be able to function once they are released. I can't help but wonder about those seconds right before the line was crossed - do they ever think about that moment?

but then it started pouring.

...Who am I kidding, I wasn't going to rake today.

Looking out at the sea of fallen leaves covering my yard is horribly depressing. And worse - our neighbors raked their yard earlier this week, so now we're jerks if we don't rake ours pretty soon: a good windy day and our leaves will be in their yard. Maybe this is the year I figure out how to use our leaf blower...

A little white ridge has appeared on the baby's lower gum - explains the recent fever/crankiness/excessive (!!!) drool. Poor little thing. Growing teeth is serious business! :D

We began the final dissection in Bio Lab tonight - fetal pigs. Makes me feel sorry for the little thing, but unfortunately I have to just get through it. One of my lab partners (we are dissecting in teams of 3-4 due to a lack of pigs) works with laboratory animals and is quite good at cutting, so Anne and I mostly just held the poor thing's feet and watched. I just want this semester to be over. :/

What the heck?!

So we spent the day inside, snuggling the baby and making delicious things in the oven. Theseus made a huge batch of his super-yummy granola (way better than any store-bought kind) and I finally roasted all the spaghetti squash seeds that had been waiting patiently in the fridge. The entire house smelled wonderful. So cozy.

Theseus also got some homework done and I did a couple loads of laundry. This evening, now that the baby has had a bath and is tucked in (until his 10 p.m. feeding), we're hanging out on the couch in front of the television. I don't feel like I accomplished very much, but that's ok. I've got big plans for tomorrow:

- making these cookies
- finishing my study sheet for Bio Lab
- begin study sheet for Chem
- vacuuming?
- begin Christmas shopping (online)

What an exciting life I lead! This post just about put me to sleep. I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow.

This week Austin discovered he can get places by rolling. Suddenly, the sweet little baby who would fall asleep in my arms has boundless energy and wants to roll and squirm his way across the world. So far we have been keeping him somewhat contained in a section of the family room we call "Baby Land," but I can see this won't last much longer. Items on the outer edges of Baby Land - a box of cat toys, our book shelves, the rocking chair - will have to be relocated once he realizes he's capable of the next stage of locomotion: crawling.

Where does the time go? He's 7 months and 1 week, 18 lbs with a growing mop of blonde hair, chunky thighs and a giant, crazy smile. I look at him and I can actually see him learning things. Seems like, seriously, yesterday that I was counting down days until my next ultrasound and waiting for Theseus to get home.

Crazy, right?

Thought I had something to say, got distracted, been staring at this blank page for like 4 hours.

I'll try again tomorrow. In the meantime: