August 2009 Round Up

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

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?
Hey, I read half a book! I started rereading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince after seeing the movie. I also read three blogs all the way through, including a couple of years worth of archives for each. In this case, yes I do consider that equivalent to reading a book, particularly since one lady used her blog entries to actually publish a book.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
At the theater: G.I. Joe (was okay), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (quite good, though missing huge (important!) sections of the book), and we took Luke to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (he loved it, though I think it was right on the threshold of being too scary)

At home: The Remains of the Day is the only new movie I saw. It was both better than and not as good as I thought it would be.

Old favorites that I/we watched at least part of this month: Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mad Money, Far and Away, Empire Strikes Back, The Birdcage, The Princess Bride, Dante's Peak, Remember the Titans, Fantasia, The Lion King, Ice Age, Enchanted, Die Hard

Television: Finished up The Closer this month. Law & Order: Criminal Intent and In Plain Sight also finished up, but I can't remember if that was July or August. Now we're just waiting for new shows to start in September. I am absurdly excited that there are new Mac vs. PC commercials out. We just love those! In other television news, I hear Summer Glau is joining Dollhouse in a multi-episode arc. Love that Joss takes care of "family."

What special days did I celebrate and how?
Hubby turned 33. I always spend the 2 weeks between his birthday and mine glaring at him until he "catches up," like it's his fault he's younger than me, LOL. A week or so after his birthday, we finally managed a proper birthday celebration for the two of us: Japanese Hibachi and brown sugar bundt cake. Mmmm!



Little brother also turned 29. I teased him about it being the last year of his 20s, which was supposed to make him feel old, but instead made *me* feel old.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
Both DH and I received gift certificates from my parents to Amazon, which combined with the one from Annette last month got us a nice little haul, which I will show off next month when they actually arrive (though two are pre-orders that won't arrive until later).

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
We had quite the variety this month. Luke had a cold by the end of the second week (better than the first week like it's been the last couple of years). Somehow, I am still surprised when he comes down with something each year, but then I remember that changing classes often means meeting new kids, which also means meeting new germs. Yay. I somehow ended up with an ulcer on my tongue. I had no idea you could even get them there, but my doctor said that given my history of internal mouth ulcers, she was surprised I'd never had one before now. Wow, did it hurt!! It was difficult and painful to both talk and eat for a few days. DH came down with something later in the month. We think it was probably related to all the dust we have stirred up in our room due to our massive cleaning efforts. And then came the great "get sick in the car" episode, which was just not fun for anyone and caused Luke to miss his first day of school for the year.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?
We actually did quite a lot this month. We visited the Mighty 8th Museum in Pooler with my parents and my grandfather. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in WWII and/or the air force. We took Luke to see the special dinosaur exhibit at Fernbank, which was one of the reasons we became members of the museum for this year.



Afterwards, to make for a "dino-mite" day, we took Luke to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which as I mentioned previously, was almost too scary for him, but he still loved it. Later in the month, DH and I took a day off from work for just ourselves. We saw the Monet Waterlilies exhibit at the High and breezed through the current Louvre Atlanta exhibit. We also ate lunch at The Varsity, scoped out a couple of houses for sale, and saw two movies at the theater: G.I. Joe and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?
While we were in Pooler, we tried a local pizza place called Lovezzola's, which is just up the street from the museum. It was quite good! We also visited the Panda Express for the first time (or at least the first time that I can ever recall). It was just okay. Still looking for some good (quite Americanized, I'm sure) Chinese nearby.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
We rented a storage room to start prepping to move. I'd say it is easily 1/2 to 2/3 full already, which is both good and bad. We also had the house measured for an estimate to replace the vinyl and the carpet.

What were this month's disappointments?
I had a particularly rough week at work early in the month. It's never fun to cry out of frustration. I also came to the horrifying realization of exactly how truly terrible the local schools are. Investigating private schools was nearly as terrifying, which prompted the very speedy decision to move into a better district. Can you say stress? I thought you could. I have also been frustrated by the lack of communication coming from Luke's Pre-K teacher. Telling a 4-year-old to relay messages is not very efficient, IMO.

What were my accomplishments this month?
101 Things in 1001 Days Update: 24% of time elapsed, 17 items complete.

63. Decide whether or not to send Luke to private school.
That was easy. Took a whole day to decide we won't be sending him. Thanks, Kelli!

73. Clean out my closet.
It took the better part of two evenings, but I cleaned out both of my parts of the closet, and DH even did his. From the closet alone, we got rid of over 120 pieces of clothing.



Project 365 is two-thirds over. Hard to believe. It's going pretty well, I think.

What else did I do? Work is going well. We switched from being paired on projects to managing projects alone. I had my first solo project successfully complete this month. It was just a little tiny 3-point project, but it very well. I was also asked to pick up some additional work by my boss. Once I agreed, she told me she was also going to put in for a raise for me. Yay! That will come in handy with the move. Preliminary house hunting is going okay. We'll be getting both a buying and selling agent next month. And the house cleaning is actually going better than I thought, so far. I hope it holds.

What were Luke's accomplishments this month?


Lots of stuff going on for Luke this month (as well as everyone and everything else). He had his first dentist visit, which went extremely well. That was followed closely by his first day of Pre-K. ACK!! He really does seem to be enjoying it. He is also taking the optional phonics class (though they work on more than just that). Both the phonics teacher and the center director have commented on how well he is doing in there. Yay!



We got him yet *another* pair of new shoes. It hadn't even been 3 months since the last ones. I had to move that to the accomplishment section because it is becoming such a regular thing that it is no longer a "special or unusual purchase." They're size 1, and they look huge! He also watched Fantasia for the first time while he was home sick. He loves music, and he really seemed to enjoy it a lot. He's decided Chernabog is his favorite. Must run in the family (it's Jacob's favorite, too). He also managed to put together a jigsaw puzzle mostly by himself for the first time without getting frustrated in just a few minutes.

Anything else noteworthy to record?
Tigger had her feeding tube removed, and she is doing amazingly well! It really is a miracle. I cannot believe that she was just a few days from death, and now she's acting perfectly fine. She has started eating and even playing again. She might even be able to come off the steroids next month. She's already been weaned down to 1/2 a pill every other day. Woo-hoo!



The weather has been really wacky for August. It was cooler than typical in July, and even cooler yet (as opposed to the usual much warmer) in all of August, including several consecutive days when we didn't get out of the 70s. I know the cloud cover from all the rain has kept the temps down, but it's been so weird! And as if we needed any further reminders that fall is coming besides the lower temps and school starting, we can once again hear the half time shows from the stadium that is about 2 hours from the house. It is a shared stadium, so sometimes we get them on Friday and Saturday nights. It was funny the first year, but it got old pretty quickly. Now we hardly even notice. I wonder if we'll miss it after we move? LOL

Monthly Round Up courtesy of Katie the Scrapbook Lady.

Currently feeling: so so busy!