Things That Make You Go Hmmmm...

• One of the main reasons I wanted to move from our old house is because we had a snake problem (make that the only reason I wanted to move). Turns out we have an equally terrible problem here. Dead birds. I'd say G has disposed of 10-15 dead birds in the 6 weeks we've lived here. And it REALLY freaks me out. There are massive power lines behind our old house and behind our new house. I'm not paranoid about things like that because in all reality, they are quite a distance away. And if I get cancer it's probably going to be from all the junk I eat. The folks that bought our house had somebody come out to test for electromagnetic force and wouldn't you know the test came back great -- meaning it wasn't an issue. But before we knew for sure we made all sorts of jokes about "cleaning up the dead animals in the yard before the buyers came over" and that sort of thing. Weird that we really do have dead animals in our backyard now. It's not really funny anymore. So I've come up with a few causes. Either (1) the power lines, (2) avian flu, (3) the birds are running into the plexy glass (sp?) on our fence (my mom's theory). Please study the above picture and let me know what you think. Can you see the power lines?
  
• I found out today that Buddy doesn't know the ABC song. I asked him to sing it to his brother and he had no idea what I was talking about. I said, "You know, A-B-C-D-E-F-G." And he looked at me like it sounded familiar, but when I pressed him to do it, he couldn't. He knew the tune but jumbled up the letters worse than a 2-year old. I've been racking my brain all day to determine if I forgot to teach him that, or if he just forgot it. I hope they don't ask him to sing it at Kindergarten roundup next week or that will be a bit awkward. (For the record, he can read pretty well now so I'm not too worried about his knowledge of the alphabet.)
  
• Last night Buddy was talking to me about Ryan Seacrest as we snuggled in my bed and watched a few minutes of American Idol together. He was rather impressed by Ryan. That's my boy! He asked me how old Ryan is, so after he went to bed I went to my trusty Wikipedia bookmark and looked it up. By golly! Ryan and I share the same birthday (but he's two years older.) Hmm. Explains a lot. I knew I liked that guy! (If you don't like Ryan Seacrest, obviously you weren't a broadcasting major and obviously you don't know how hard it is to do what he does.)
• I learned yesterday that good old fashioned love is a lot better than the rod when it comes to discipline. Buddy has had a few behavior/sleep issues lately and I had tried everything. Then I remembered that to discipline is to teach. So I did that instead and interestingly enough, I didn't have a single issue with him yesterday or today. (See above to get an idea of how I rewarded him.)
• The utilities in our new house are actually cheaper than in our old. I'm not complaining. I guess this place is insulated a little better because otherwise that just doesn't make sense
  
• What is fundamentally wrong with the DMV and the folks who go there? There is something just creepy about that place and talk about inefficient. Enough said.
  
• Sambo had his 15-month checkup the other day and it turns out he only weighs 21 pounds which puts him in the 10th percentile for height and weight. I just cannot stop laughing/crying about that. He is tiny, but I guess he fits in height-wise with the rest of us. It is interesting to note though, that the child eats like a grown man. I can hardly imagine how much he'd weigh if he ate like a normal child. Most nights he eats the same amount as me for dinner, and everybody knows I can really pack food away myself. It is also interesting to note that when Buddy was 6 months he was 21 pounds and that the clothes Buddy wore when he was 8-12 months do not yet fit Sambo at 15 months.
  
• I've been doing a hot yoga class (95-degree room for 75 minutes) once a week for the past month. Plus I've been doing my usual high-intensity weights class twice a week and then I run a bit (2 miles) during the week. To recap, I've been exercising like crazy for a solid month. And wouldn't you know, I haven't lost a single pound. I'm not complaining because I rather like my eating/exercise routine. But it is interesting.
• And now that you're done reading this, please go straight-away to itunes and download the new Beyonce album. It is phenomenal. You know how much I love the Killers? This CD is almost as cool. And that's saying something.