For those of you who don’t know this already, Mark is an NC State graduate. Baby Blue rarely graces the threshold of this house. In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of times the boys wore it as infants. Sam’s “medium” blue golfshirt for church gives Mark the “heebee geebees” every time it’s worn.

Well, this morning we received a shocking piece of literature in the morning paper, the new “Online Learning” schedule for my alma mater, Western Carolina University. Behind the Western Carolina logo on the cover was a faint, but recognizable, series of three letters…..UNC. And underneath the logo were the words ” a University of North Carolina Campus”. After the initial shock passed, ……

Mark said ” That’s reason to …….” at which point he stopped, looked at me holding the baby, and paused.

And I said, “Yes Dear? You were saying.”

Mark, “Nothing”. (Going back to the morning paper.)

Me, “Good, you’d certainly have your hands full here.”

Then he choked on his Raisin Bran.

ha ha ha …….

On a happier note, Claire and I are recovering from the stomach bug that hit us yesterday. The boys are with Mark attending worship and preparing Thanksgiving meal boxes for needy families in our area. Sophie stayed here to help me…. she said, but she’s on her second cup of hot cocoa and there hasn’t been a ton of helping yet.

Those of you who know me know that I am more classic than cutting edge. However, I did make a change last January that has made a fabulous impact on our home PC life and my organization. When yet another of my PC’s was bogged down with spyware and viruses, to the point that even the local computer guru couldn’t get it clean enough to run more than one application, I defected. At my sister-in-laws suggestion, I bought an Apple Laptop. Seeing as they are MUCH more expensive, I did not get the top of the line model. I bought a MacBook. It has been wonderful!!

Apple is now releasing an update to their operating system that adds even more features to OS X. Check out this link on Apple to see what’s new. Next time you’re ready to upgrade your PC….. think Apple.

Those who know the real me know how I adore bathing a baby in the sink. It could be anybody’s baby. Admitedly I usually wait until they can sit unassisted and are about 6 months old. The last baby I got to bath in this manner was my niece, Piper. That was until last Saturday.

This past weekend we made the pilgrimage to Roxboro, North Carolina, to visit Mark’s parents. The real reason for the visit was so that the boys could all attend the NC State game, but based on the outcome of that we aren’t discussing it at this point.

Knowing that space in the car was precious and limited, I did not take a “baby bath tub”. I bathed Claire just prior to the trip and expected that we could make it two days without a bath. Not so!! When it became unavoidable, I had no alternatives other than the kitchen or bathroom sink areas. After thorough examination, I opted for the hall bathroom. As you can see, Claire fit nicely in the sink and was able to comfortably recline on a folded towel.

She even seemed to enjoy it. She adores bath time and warm running water. What fun!!!

Some of you might remember the movie by the same name from 1987. Roxanne is an amusing comedy about a small-town firefighter, C.D. Bales (Steve Martin), who becomes smitten with a newcomer in town, Roxanne Kowalski (Daryl Hannah). Sadly, he is self-conscious about his exceedingly long nose. Much hilarity ensues when C.D. tries to help a friend “woo” the fair maiden.

One of my favorite lines in the movie comes during a bar scene when C.D. gets involved in an insult-slinging “bar fight”. He’s challenged to come up with 20 insults about his own nose. One of the best… “it must wonderful to wake up in the morning and smell the coffee… in Brazil.” (ha ha ha). Well, I have a new appreciate for that this morning.

Last night, as I was setting up my coffee pot for this morning, I opened a new bag of coffee and it smelled REALLY good. It made me wonder why the coffee this week hasn’t been so tasty-most likely it’s been operator error. But, my quest for an answer sent me to the already open bag of coffee I’ve been using. I lifted a generous mound in the coffee scoop with every intention of sniffing it to determine if it smelled as tasty as the newly opened bag. I could tell as I lifted it that it didn’t have the same tasty aroma, but I sniffed anyway. Somehow, I was distracted in the sniffing process and I sniffed too efficiently. When I got up this morning, I was still blowing coffee grounds out of my nose – yuck.

I can say with complete certainty that the old coffee has lost it’s charm and I’m sticking with the new bag. I may even get a copy of Roxanne from NetFlix this week…. just for old time’s sake.