April 2009 Round Up

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Click mosaic to biggify, or see my April 2009 Project 365 Posts.

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
I've picked up and put down several books. I keep trying to read, but nothing is "sticking." I have no idea what the problem is.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
I realized that it might be more telling (interesting?) if I recorded all of the movies we watch in any given month, not just the new ones. We watch quite a few movies, even just parts of some (I have them on while I work sometimes). I won't necessarily talk about what we're watching on television every month, since that doesn't change much month over month, though we do have some shows that restarted this month.

So, movies this month - New movies: Shattered Glass (okay), Ice Age 2 (not good). Old favorites: Bolt, Chicken Little, Enchanted, The Incredibles, Bull Durham, The Birdcage, One Fine Day.

For television, we picked up Law & Order: Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight, which are both starting their new seasons on USA. Mythbusters also restarted. Most of the rest of our shows are either over already (Chuck, Heroes) or will be over in May (CBS and ABC shows). Guess we'll flex that Netflix membership this summer, since we haven't used it much for the last 6 months. Maybe we'll do a new series; that was fun when we did Heroes. I'm thinking I should get caught up on NCIS or Bones, but I'm open to suggestions as well.

What special days did I celebrate and how?
Lots of birthdays, including our niece and my two best friends, but everyone just got cards because I'm slack and sorry as a friend. :-(

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
None, I don't think, not even with the birthdays (see slackness). I have some ready to send out next month, though.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
I had a lot of little complaints that I finally mentioned to the doctor: an irritated back muscle, a recurring low fever, sudden sharp headaches that have dramatically increased in frequency (from 2-3 times a year to 2-3 times a month). I now have back exercises and a new blood pressure medication, and she's running blood work for the headache and fever. We'll see what that result is. In better health news, Luke saw the ENT and she doesn't think he will need another set of tubes, at least not right now. We go back in 6 months, but he is on no medicine or anything. Woo-hoo!

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
We had lots of culture this month. We went to the King Tut exhibit (which was really more general Pharaoh stuff with some King Tut stuff) and the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit. I liked them, but Luke seemed very unimpressed. I keep reminding myself that he's only 4, but I still hoped he would like it more than he did. Mom and Dad paid for the tickets to both, and they helped us to a Luke hand-off so we all got to enjoy them at our own pace. That really counts as a gift. Thank you to the best parents in the world!

Also, as a special treat for Luke, we stayed overnight at Stone Mountain. Luke loves hotels for some reason, so that was fun. We took him to the laser show, and it was so much better to just walk across the street and go to bed instead of sitting in 2 hours worth of traffic. We decided to make a whole weekend out of it, so we took him on his first picnic, took him to the top of the mountain for the first time, and rode the Duck Boats the next morning. He totally loved that!

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
We ate at the Stone Mountain Inn for the first time, dinner and breakfast buffets. I have a pizza sauce recipe "melding" in the refrigerator that I made today (4/30), but it has to sit overnight, so it won't be ready to try until tomorrow (5/1). I'll try to remember to report the results next month.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
Got tickets for something fun this coming Saturday (May 2), but the actual event isn't happening in April, so I won't tell you what they're for. You'll have to wait until next month. We also got Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves, which I haven't really gotten to play yet. We fiddled with it the first weekend we had it, then were out of town the next weekend, and we don't do much gaming during the week right now.

What were this month's disappointments?
Still not getting much work at work, which is a little distressing. No one is talking about layoffs or furloughs (yet) for the contractors, but I don't know how much longer they can financially justify keeping us all on staff when we're not even getting one new project a week. There's plenty of work, but there are other issues to be cleared before we can get them, and until that log-jam breaks, we're just sitting around (and when it does, it is going to flood us). I also didn't post to the blog very much this month either. Technically there were two more April blog posts than are shown here. I moved the two April Disney recap posts back to March so they would be more in order and appear all together in the archives. That still only makes for 10 posts this month, though. So sad.

What were my accomplishments this month?
I did my first song on drums Medium level on Guitar Hero. It was an easy one, but still, I'm getting better. If you'd told me a month ago that I would be the designated GH drummer and I would *like* it, I'd have said you were crazy. I also kept up with my Project 365 progress, though I will admit that it is getting a little harder. And I did miss a day, darn it! Still, I've been at it 1/3 of a year already. And last but not least, I actually managed quite a few items on my 101 List this month!

38. Ride the Duck Boats at Stone Mountain.
That was so much fun! It's just really bizarre knowing that you are driving off the road and right into the lake. I'm doubly sorry we didn't do them in Boston back in 2003. Guess this gives us something to do on our next Boston trip.

46. See a special exhibition at the High Museum.
I will admit that I had the Terra Cotta Warriors in mind when I put that item on the list, but there were several other exhibits that came and went at the High in the last couple of years that I had *every* intention of seeing and didn't, so just because that was the one I had in mind didn't necessarily mean it would happen.

77. Clean the outside of the windows.
86. Have gutters cleaned.
We had the whole house pressure washed, which took care of the windows, and they did the gutters at the same time, which was really nice. When the guy said he would do the gutters, I knew that would take care of #86, but it wasn't until I as updating the list that I realized it covered #77 as well. Cool!

What were Luke's accomplishments this month?


I tried to pick some different photos that you maybe hadn't seen either here or on my Project 365 blog. Luke had a busy month! He went on his first ever picnic (and freaked out about every single bug; you know, *outside*), and he made his first trip to the top of Stone Mountain. He got a good report on his ears. And he has spent the entire month pushing his (our!) limits. He is about to drive us crazy! The lying, the attitude, the lack of response to questions or requests (demands). And he's back to sticking his tongue out at me when I fuss at him, which is completely unacceptable. Just driving us batty. Not sure if that is an accomplishment, but there it is. He did have another first, though. He spontaneously came up to me and said, "Mommy, I love you!" ::sniff, sniff:: It was so sweet.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I have no idea what that might be.

Monthly Round Up courtesy of Katie the Scrapbook Lady.

Currently feeling: a busy month!