TreeGate 2010 - The Saga Continues

This is the situation in our backyard right now.  In case you can't really tell, that's a very dead tree. and it's leaning quite precariously, positioned to fall at any given moment, directly into the power line, the shed, and the fence.

(I should mention here that we have not been negligent in trying to get our property management people to take care of this.  In fact, we let them know about it the week we moved in, which was almost FOUR YEARS ago.  So, yeah.)


Here's another picture...you can see sort of see where it's actually cracked down towards the base.

This is the second tree that will have fallen in the past month or so, although to be fair, the first one was not IN our yard -- just right BEHIND it.  (For the record, it wound up that the first tree was not on the power lines, as we initially thought.  It was on the phone/cable lines....and it's still there.  Not sure what the city is waiting on with that one.)


Needless to say, it's a tad on the disconcerting side to essentially be just sitting and waiting for this tree to come crashing down.

As soon as we noticed how much it was leaning, we put in a call to our property management people to let them know of the pending situation.  As of today, it's still there, although I have been advised that the tree people ARE going to come out. Fingers crossed that it gets taken down before it comes down of its own accord!

Hey, you.

Why don't you check out my new baking blog, That's What She Bakes?  It's full of yummy things...or it will be soon, anyway.

Ella's 2-year stats

Height: 34.25" (~60th percentile)
Weight: 28 lb 5.5oz (~70th percentile)
Head circumference: 20" (95+ percentile...as usual)

There was slightly less screaming than normal at today's appointment, so I consider that a small victory of sorts.  She did have to get one shot and a finger stick (which was the worst bit...the nurse had a hard time getting enough blood). 

We've had an ongoing issue with one of her eyes drifting and not staying completely focused.  I tend to notice it more when she's tired, but we do occasionally see it other times as well.  We had it checked a couple of months ago by her pediatrician, and he said to watch it, and we'd follow up at her appointment that we had today.  There hasn't been any real change in it one way or the other since then, but to make sure that the vision is developing properly in both eyes, we're going to make an appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist.  It's not a major concern at this point, but better safe than sorry, especially considering the crummy vision both of her parents have.

Other than than, a clean bill of health, and hopefully, no more visits until she's 3!

2 years old!

Ella turned two today, and we celebrated yesterday with a party at the Natural Science Center!  I wasn't sure what to expect having a party in a location, but it went really well, and I think everyone (even the grown-ups!) had a good time. 

We started out with pizza from Elizabeth's, presents, and cake from Delicious, who helped me out on short notice when the oven died -- they've made customers for life!   Ella got lots of awesome new books and toys from everyone, and seemed to get into opening her presents for the first time.

After that, we moved to another room for an animal workshop, which was lots of fun.  We got to meet and pet Charlie Brown the rabbit, Moe the Guinea pig, and Cyril the tortoise.  The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals up close and getting to touch them.  

Pictures from the day:

CAKE!

Daddy and Ella at the animal workshop

Charlie Brown the rabbit

Moe the Guinea pig

Cyril the tortoise

Birthday hugs!

House a-fire! Well, almost.

I was going to bake some cookies today, and as standard when baking, I turned on the oven to preheat to 375.

I was getting the dough all mixed up and had just put it in the fridge to chill for a few minutes. I was putting things away, wiping up around the stove, when the oven beeped at me. I glanced up, and it had turned itself off. I thought maybe I had accidentally bumped the buttons when I was wiping, so I turned it back on -- same thing happened again.

I opened the oven -- it was SO FREAKIN HOT. Had to be at least 500+ degrees. The element was glowing super-bright orange, and it was smoking. It was almost like it was on the auto-clean mode.

At this point, I was in a bit of a panic, and I went and retrieved Jon to come have a look. He was as baffled as I was, and despite the fact that the oven was OFF, it really seemed like it was getting hotter and hotter. It certainly wasn't cooling down any at this point.

We weren't sure how we were going to manage this, and I finally remembered -- the breaker! So Jon went out and flipped the breaker to cut the power to the oven, and it finally went off. It took a really long time to cool down and stop smoking, though.

Needless to say, I'm a little freaked out about using the oven now. We're going to get someone out to look at it, but I've got no idea when that might be, and I've got to bake for Ella's b-day party next weekend...UGH.   

Really, Britax?

You recommend NOT machine washing your car-seat covers?  

'Cause, honestly, I don't think dabbing at barf w/a paper towel is gonna cut it.

Luckily, I didn't actually have the barf situation happen -- just some spilled milk. But I still would prefer that the car and car seat don't smell like sour milk.

Jon got the seat out and all disassembled only to find that they "don't recommend" machine washing the thing! Well, too late -- it's washing.  

We will air-dry it, of course, so it doesn't shrink, but it just seems ridiculous to me that ANY product manufactured for the wee ones wouldn't automatically be machine washable by default.