Soup to Dutts

I turn 29 tomorrow. I really, really love my birthday. I still count down the days like I did when I was a kid. Even this year, while I'm fighting a nasty sinus infection and probably won't do much of anything tomorrow, I'm beside myself with anticipation. I just can't help myself. This year I'm feeling especially reflective. As I embark on the last year of my 20s, I've been thinking a lot about my 20th birthday. I was a junior at Clemson, and I spent the night in the library, working on a paper that was due the next morning. Truth be told, I didn't feel much like celebrating that particular birthday. I was not at all excited about turning 20. It seemed like I was surrounded by people who'd had all these amazing life experiences, and I hadn't done much of anything. At least that's what I told myself. Well, here I am, nine years older, and I still haven't learned how to snowboard. I've never been to Europe, or even to the West Coast....

You guys. It's November . I realize that I'm a little late to the party, since we're already two weeks in, but still! Where has this year gone?! Anyway, November also means that Offtime October is over. I have allowed myself to reenter the world of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. The only thing is...I kinda haven't wanted to. I've gotten back on most those sites, liked some of my friends' posts, and even made a few posts of my own, but most of the time I'm just not into it like I was before. You see, October was a very productive month for me, and I attribute much of that to not wasting time on social media. Here are just some of the things I did in October: started and finished reading two books, and made good progress on some others rearranged the furniture in the den (with tremendous help from my husband), a project I'd been wanting to tackle for months spent a lot more quality time with the Little Cute Girl, including watchi...

The Little Cute Girl has another cold. There are, of course, plenty of downsides to having a sick child. She and I missed church on Sunday morning. She has a complete meltdown every time I wipe her nose, which is quite often. Oh, and trying to get her to eat her vegetables is even more difficult than usual. However, I have discovered that there are also some niceties. I've been using the Nosefrida on the LCG a lot, and you know how I feel about that. She's also been taking some extra-long naps, which have allowed me to get a lot more than usual done around the house. But the best part? The snuggling. When she woke up on Sunday morning, I discovered that her diaper had leaked all over her pajamas and her sleep sack, so I threw them in the wash. I figured the sleep sack would be clean and dry in time for her nap, which she usually doesn't take until mid-afternoon. But at 11 AM, she was rubbing her eyes and acting lethargic. I then decided that it was going to be a two-na...