I'm an aunt! (Again!)

Well, my sister had her second child this morning at 2:20am. So, I am now a proud aunt to another child. Her name is Haley Sue (not sure if I'm spelling that right), and she was 7 lbs. 11 oz. 19 inches. It sounds like she has a lot of dark hair already, which is funny because my nephew is so blonde. So, she might take after my brother-in-law more. I am very happy that both my sister and the baby came through safely after only 7 hours of labor. I won't get to see her for a few weekends, but in a few weeks I can see for myself how cute she is. Yea, babies!

A Family Affair

I have never thought of myself as being particularly similar to either one of my sisters. Growing up, I was always told how much I don't look like either one of my sisters, and we have always had our very distinct personalities. You know how in families you get each get known for something? Sarah was always the tempermental one, Chris was the social one, and I was the creative one. Despite our differences, I love my sisters very much and I feel like as we get older, we get closer to each other then ever. So, yesterday I went up to Madison to visit my oldest sister who was there for business. I was going to have dinner with her and two of her work colleagues and then she and I were going to do a little shopping. She introduced me to one guy she works with while this other girl was checking them into their hotel. He started talking about the Batman movie, and was referring to it as being The movie (as in, the only movie out right now worth seeing). So, I made a joke about how the other movie was the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and my sister starting having a breakdown she was laughing so hard. When I looked bewildered, she informed me that she had just made the same joke a few minutes before I had joined up with them. I could not stop laughing, it was so weird. So, while my sister and I might have some personality differences, apparently we make the same jokes.

Curiosity Almost Killed This Cat

I've had a pretty busy past couple of days. My family came to visit me, my mother, sister, and little nephew who just turned 2 years old. This was the first time that my sister and nephew had seen my apartment in Rockford, so it was pretty fun. My nephew is the cutest little boy ever, I feel like he just gets cuter and cuter the older he gets. He's starting to string together sentences and he has such a cute personality that is coming out more and more. He is a little leary of strangers, so it's nice that he is starting to recognize me and feel comfortable around me. While I was enjoying our visitors, Armani, my cat, was not so happy. Parker really enjoys cats because they have one at his house, so he spent a lot of time chasing Armani around the apartment and bossing him around. While my nephew is cute, he is definitely on the bossy side, and we spent almost half an hour with him on my bed demanding "Armani up" and pointing on the bed, at which I would put Armani on the bed, Armani would sit there tense and worried, and leap off the moment Parker would try to pet him. Despite this, Armani continued to follow us all around my apartment because he didn't want to be left out of the action. At one point, Parker was using a play golf club to hit balls, and Armani was sitting nearby watching when Parker accidentally hit Armani on the head. He didn't take that too well. Another time we were packing the cooler to go to the water park, and Armani had his head in it looking at everything, and Parker closed the cooler lid on Armani's head. He didn't like that as much either. Needless to say, Armani slept all afternoon long yesterday when they left.

Speaking of people almost getting killed, I also was watching the X Games yesterday night, the first night of them, and it was skateboarding on this mega-ramp and Moto X bikes doing tricks. It was so fascinating. I don't normally watch sports, but I was spellbound, and not just because I found the guys extremely attractive. I was really impressed during the skateboarding when this guy, Danny Way, broke his foot doing one stunt. It was his first run (they got 5 chances), and he had to be taken away to be looked at by a doctor. He came back in time for his 2nd round and completely nailed it, I was so impressed. They were talking to him afterwards and he was saying he thought his foot was broken and the doctor didn't want him to continue, but he told the doctor he would have to be physically restrained to stop him. He finished all of his runs and came in 2nd place. I was amazed at his strength and dedication to skateboarding, and the fact that he still managed to get 2nd place. It was neat watching the really good people do it, because they made it look so effortless. I almost felt like I could do it, although in reality I think I would actually die if I attempted it. I really think I could marry a professional skateboarder or biker. Now I just need to go meet one.

Cat-Trauma

I feel so bad for my little cat, Armani right now. I was gone yesterday until today to stay with my mom for Memorial Day weekend. I got back about 30 minutes ago, and when I started unlocking my door, I heard this really loud meowing, and I thought how odd it was I could hear it so well through my door. Imagine my shock and horror when I looked over to my right and saw Armani crouching in the corner outside of my apartment, by the door that leads outside. I felt so bad, I don't know how he got out. I usually check as I am leaving to make sure he doesn't get outside, but he must've been let out yesterday as I was leaving. So, poor kitty, he was locked out of the apartment all night, with no food, water, or litter box. And I wonder if my neighbors heard him crying outside all night long, he must've been pretty upset. Luckily some of my neighbors have moved, so there's only this one guy that lives next to me now, but I am so happy he didn't call Animal Control or anything, and I would have lost my poor little kitty forever. I feel very lucky, too, that he didn't get outside and make a run for it or anything. I just feel so bad for him right now, he is acting a little traumatized still. I will have to be more careful next time. Although, hopefully he won't be making any runs for the door any time soon.

ANTM

I just finished watching the season finale for America's Next Top Model (yes, I like this show), and I was so excited because they finally chose a winner who is a "full-figured model"! It makes me so happy because every season they have one or two models who are not your typical size zero, and they usually get booted off pretty early on in the season. I have been rooting for Whitney this whole time, she is a beautiful woman who had some curves to her, and she had a lot of confidence as well which can't be easy in a house full of toothpicks. Anyways, I kept thinking she wasn't going to win because they kept criticizing her pictures again and again, and she kept managing to hang in there. I just hope this can help out the whole industry so that there are not just tiny anorexic-looking girls being portrayed as what's beautiful. It made me happy to have a model that us normal-looking girls can finally relate to.

Weighing out against a first grader...

So, when I was at work today, I got taken out by this first grade boy. Now, I know it was an accident, but I was still pretty angry at him. It was at recess time, and we were out on the playground. I was on a swing, and this boy came up and asked if I would fly his little airplane for him. So, I got up to try to do it, not realizing he had gotten on the swing after I had gotten off. Now, this is a big boy. He weighs almost 120 lbs. I didn't notice when he pulled back to swing and hit me, causing me to fall to the ground. It really hurt. And I was really mad at him, I kind of yelled at him, saying he needs to be careful and watch before he starts swinging. He was trying to blame it on me, too, saying I needed to get out of the way, but eventually he apologized. Still, tonight I'm really starting to feel it, my back feels kind of sore and so do my knees and legs. Hopefully I won't get any bruises.

My Life as a Horror Movie

I don't know if it's because I have grown up in a more metropolitan area, but there's something about being in the country, especially at night, that gives me the creeps. I don't know if it's because there are so few people around or because it's so dark. I'm a little afraid of the dark. Or maybe it's because I have seen so many scary movies that are set in the country. Country people are always portrayed as being really strange (a la The Hills Have Eyes, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead, The Shining, Children of the Corn, Blair Witch Project, etc.)

Last weekend, I was visiting a friend who lives in this small town in nowhere Illinois, population 16,000. As I was leaving his house, it was all dark out, and I was convinced some weirdo psycho killer was going to come rushing at me out of the shadows wielding a chain saw or wicked long knife. The drive home, even though it was along a highway, wasn't much better. I kept having visions of little girls in white dresses jumping out onto the road in front of me and causing me to crash my car. So, while I can visit the country once in awhile, give me big cities with plain old thugs with guns any time.