A moment nearly 11 years in the making

I paid off my student loans in one fell swoop!

I just sent the check to Sallie Mae and wanted to share the joy with the world.

Let it snow, let it snow!

Winter arrived with a vengeance some time last night, here in Buckeye Land. When I awoke this morning, there was a dusting of real snow over everything, and the temperature has been hovering in the low 20s F all day. Fortunately, I had an inkling (i.e. the weather report) that winter would soon be upon us, and so I'd prepared for it just two days ago. I went to the mall to purchase some items for someone else, and while I was there, I got a few items for myself:

Eddie Bauer coat (30% off), nearly identical to this one below, except that mine has fur lining on the hood. Warm, wind-resistant, relatively chic. I wish the coat was longer (full length instead of 3/4 length) but I have to admit, the Eddie Bauer folks totally know what they are doing when it comes to making cold-weather gear.

Bear Paw boots (40% off), very much in the style of the popular Ugg boots. I've always hated Ugg boots, but then I've always seen them worn in California with mini skirts or short shorts, which is just about as crazy a trend as anyone could find. I swore I would never wear boots like this, but then again, I also swore that I would never live any place that had snow. And with heavy denim trousers and a sensible jacket, these boots look great, utterly appropriate, and are water-proof, snow-proof, and extremely comfortable. Again, these manufacturers totally know what they are doing.

And never fear: Baby Bug also has his own cold-weather clothing, with a puffy down coat, a snow bunny suit from L.L. Bean (gift from Grandma Debbie), and water-proof baby Ecco boots (that cost, I might add, 25% more than a pair of my own boots).

No Business Like... Snow Business?

It snowed this morning. I didn't get all hyped up about it because it wasn't very much and I knew it wasn't going to stick. You can see in this picture that it was mostly melting on contact anyway.


You can see that there is a significant layer of fluff on the car, though.

Nathan was surprisingly unimpressed with the "snow" thing I kept mentioning, although I'm sure that when we get more of it, and it stays around for a while, he will be much more interested. The cats, by contrast, were rather intrigued, even disturbed. I realized that my hyper-aware and intelligent ninja cats had never seen snow before, and they were very cognizant of the fact that the white flakey stuff in the air and on the ground was something very new. They are inside-only cats, so they were not able to directly experience it, but let me know something was going on: They ran around my ankles meowing, then paced back and forth on the windowsill, their noses pressed against the window glass while their tails twitched and swished in slightly alarmed agitation.

The first snow of the winter season!

Ohio High Holy Day

Yesterday was the Most Important Day of the Year. Bigger than Independence Day, Christmas, New Year Day. No holiday, no day of personal significance, nothing can compare to... the Ohio State versus Michigan football game.

After all, everybody supports Ohio State on game day. Even us.

We don't have a television, so we never watch any games, but we do like to go to the shopping mall (the mall, mind you, not even near the OSU campus) to see the hundreds and thousands of people decked out in OSU gear. I took a lot of pictures at first, because it really is a sight to behold; I've never seen anything like it in SoCal. However, I guess I've kind of gotten used to it lately.

Anyway, Ohio State beat Michigan pretty soundly, which is good; I won't have to deal with Cookie Boss being all mopey. He is obsessed with OSU, but I guess it's understandable in his case because (unlike most of the people around here) he actually went to school there.

Happy 18 Months, Nater-bug!

Naters is 18 months old today. He is a lovely, happy, healthy little boy. He is, as always, very smart. He hasn't been talking as much as some children his age do, and I was starting to get a bit worried. I knew he understood a lot of what I would say to him, because he would respond very intelligently. But why didn't he speak?! My conclusion is, he didn't bother to talk very much, because he didn't really need to; he could get what he wanted without it. He'll say some words if he wants to.

Now, he says "Mama", which he's said for a long time, actually. He also says, "Nah!", which means "nose": he will point to (or bite) your nose while saying it. I taught both of those to him. I nearly missed the first word that I didn't teach him that he said. At daycare one day, I had come to pick him up, and he was playing in the main room. I came over, and he said, "Bah!" He will produce a lot of syllables all the time, so I don't much pay attention to them, since most of them are unintelligible. This time, however, I noticed that while he said it, he was pointing to a round object a few meters away. "Bah!" Oh, yes yes yes!! I went over and rolled it back toward him. "Yes, sweetie, it's a BALL!!" I don't think I'll ever be prouder, even when he wins a Nobel Prize.

Furthermore, last weekend, we visited with my friend Spencer from work, and he has a little fluffy dog. Nathan likes cats and dogs, and he LOVES to shriek with laughter and chase them around. When he saw Spence's dog, he said, "Beppie, beppie!" Yes, PUPPY!!

He's learning more and more about everything in the world, every day.

I love you, Nater-bug!

Sirens