Tweet Tweet

So, in an effort to stay young and hip, I decided to give "Twitter" a go. I linked my updates, or "tweets", over there to the side...right on top....see it? I do like that I can do quick updates via my phone. We'll see if it is really worth all the hype.

After my show closes this Sunday, I'll have a lot more time for blogging... This weekend is sold out! Yay!

Oops.

We are recycle freaks. Or, I should say, Leo is a recycle freak. I really am trying. I want to be. I am tired of Leo going to put something in the trash and fishing out a scrap of paper I scribbled a note on and reprimanding me for not putting it in the recycle pile.

The thing is, we don't have a recycle pick up here, so we spend the weeks accumulating a massive amount of food boxes, magazines and newspapers, plastic bags, and, well, beer cans... We have a huge beat up laundry basket that we dump things in. Then, every couple weeks, Leo loads it, and all the other boxes and bins, into the truck and takes to the big recycle drop off.

Leo and Beau went on a walk Saturday morning after I left for work. As they rounded the corner Leo told me he saw said laundry basket on the street at our neighbor's house down the street.

Weird. That looks exactly like our beat up bin.

And upon closer look, seemed to be very VERY similar to the things that we use and recycle.

Come to find out that our recyclables had been removed from our garage and strewn about the street. Our down-the-street-neighbors just collected what they could from the road and put in on their curb so as not to have trash blowing around the entire neighborhood.

It must have been the neighborhood kids! What hoodlums! They must have come in our garage while it was open and decided to cause a bit a trouble.

Wait. A. Minute.

It all starts coming back to me.

Friday night after I got home from rehearsal I realized I pulled in the garage a bit too far. I had checked to make sure I didn't run over anything important, like my craft box that I keep right there in the garage. Phew. Just the recycle bin. It was already broken anyway. Good news.

Bad news. As I left for work on Saturday morning, it seems that the recycles tried to hitch a ride. The basket was attached to the front bumper somehow. NO, I didn't hear it Ok? That's the first thing everyone asks when I tell them the story. I guess I was already rocking out before I even left. Somehow, I pulled it all the way out of the driveway and pushed it along our street, I guess until I made the turn. Where it then sat, blew, and rolled all over the neighborhood.

*nervous laughter* Oops.

Easter

Before I get into the Easter photos, I would like to take the time to thank my guest blogger, Leo, for that, um, riveting and witty post last week.

On to Easter! We went to church with my family and then over to my mom and dad's for lunch...with close to 20 other friends and family. Hey, we love to party over here. HE is Risen! Please pass the mac and cheese.

So, my assignment was dessert. I decided to try the cake pops I saw on one of my favorite baking blogs Bakerella. Hers are much cuter and better done than mine...but I guess that's why I don't do a baking blog...right? Anyway, I was pretty proud of myself.

I had high hopes of a great family picture of us dressed in our Easter finest. This is the best one we got. All Beau wanted to do was run around in the yard...as you can see in the following pictures.

J Crew catalog? Anyone?

Definitely not interested in taking a picture with Mom. *sigh*

Hope you all had a Happy Easter! And your photo opps were better than mine.

Extra Extra, More Teeth in the Furlong Household

Beau has doubled his tooth count in just one day. Yes, you heard correctly. Beau now has two teeth on the bottom, and two teeth on the top. Pictures coming as soon as we can get them.

-Dad

Smoke on the Mountain, Fire in my Heart

What's been taking up all my time...and a shameless plug.

I will be in a production of "Smoke on the Mountain: A Homecoming" April 16-26th. It's spring 1945 and the Sanders Family is getting together for one last "sing" at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church before the family takes off in different directions. I play June, the only member of the Sanders Family that doesn't sing. June does, however, sign for the deaf...or something like that...

This show will mark the fourth time I've gotten to play June. (Sanders Family Christmas, 2004 and 2005; Smoke on the Mountain, 2005; and now Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming.) The Sanders Family is a favorite around these parts. If ya'll need a good laugh, come on down and see me.

"Smoke on the Mountain"

"Sanders Family Christmas"

The Money Shot

Over the past couple of weeks we have DOUBLED our tooth inventory. That gives us a grand total of (drum roll please...) TWO. Poor guy is going to be gumming his dinner until he's in kindergarten, I think. In these pictures does he not look like a Leo "mini-me"? I mean, besides the whole two teeth thing.

Race Weekend

I did it and lived to blog about it. Even though technically the race was on Sunday, I feel like I was running a wild and crazy marathon all weekend.

Let me take you back...

Friday afternoon-

The crappy(est) thing about the ING Marathon is they don't mail you your race packet. They hold an "Expo" where you go and get your race bib and timing chip, and you are forced to peruse booths boasting the secret snacks to everlasting energy, and the newest, most technologically advanced non-chaffing running shorts. That's all fine and good, I guess, but too bad a monsoon was moving its way across metro-Atlanta. Beau and I packed up an afternoons worth of snacks and boarded our ark and floated our way down to the Georgia Dome.

I HATE driving in Atlanta. HATE IT. I don't know my way around (shamefully) and even with Garmin (that's a GPS, Mom...hehe) leading the way, it was high stress in my little Civic. I found the Dome fine...now just needed to park... I'm pretty sure that I payed a random bum $10 to park in a lot right there at the front of the Dome...but I didn't care. I was relieved to be there.

So it was pouring. I knew I needed to take Beau in his stroller because I wasn't sure how far we would have to walk, or how long we would have to wait. On the other hand, that meant I was going to ditch the umbrella and just hoof it as fast as possible. I tucked Beau into the stroller covered him up as much as I could, and ran.

There were signs everywhere, so it was very well marked, which was a relief. Until the bright orange and blue sign pointed down a huge set of stairs. Geez...We had to get to the lower level before we could even get inside. Which would have been no problem...except not so good with the stroller. Through the downpour I look for an elevator. Probably a good 5 minutes later of running around in the rain I finally found one that went where we needed to go. Come to find out that Beau is now terrified of elevators. Or maybe it was the fact that we were both soaked to the bone and he sensed my frustration, or heard my cussing under my breath knowing I gave up swearing for Lent. One or the other.

Anyway, long story longer, we finally got in and it literally took me five minutes to go through and get my number and packet and we were back in the rain. We finally get home, cold and wet, but mission accomplished.

That night I had rehearsal.

Moving to Saturday (a day before race)...

I worked from 11 to 7 and then went straight to rehearsal. I had decided to spend the night at my parent's house that night because 1)They live right next to where we were rehearsing so I wouldn't have to drive 45 min home and could just jump into bed for a good night's sleep. And 2)I didn't want to have to disrupt Beau's morning by getting everyone up at 5 am to get me to the starting line by 6:30.

Except, I failed to realize that this would be the first night away from Beau EVER. Laying in the bed in my old bedroom, my head just became consumed with thoughts of my baby and anxiety building for the next morning. I knew I would be going down to Centennial Park in a mass of 15,000 people all by my lonesome. Oh yeah, and running 13.1 miles with said 15,000 people. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much.

As you can imagine, 5 am came pretty early. I felt like I had just fallen asleep when I suddenly woke up a couple minutes before I had set my alarm. Ugh. Half an hour later my dad and I were on the road to downtown.

I was nervous about being able to find where I was supposed to go all by myself, but luckily there were people walking all over Atlanta. So, after a quick prayer, Dad just pulled over and I jumped into a mob of spandex-clad people I assumed would lead me to the starting line. And they did.

I failed to mention that this particular morning was quite brisk. And by brisk I mean a nippy 40 degrees. It was freezing. As I was standing there, pretending to be waiting for someone in the mile long potty line, I really began wondering what the hell I was doing. "So, you are standing here by yourself, freezing, waiting anxiously to (maybe) run 13.1 miles that you paid $85 to do so..." And I had forgotten my chapstick. That alone made me want to hail the closest taxi and have him return me to my warm bed, Carmex, and my baby. I was really beginning to doubt myself and I could feel myself teetering on the verge of a panic attack. I could feel my throat getting dry and my eyes getting wet. Crap. Don't cry Heather.

All of a sudden a crowd began to gather around the tent where I was standing. And I believe the following 10 minutes are what got me to that starting line, and to the finish line. A guy got on the loud speaker and turns out he is from a group called Christian Runners. He proceeded to give a short devotional about "running the good race". Run a good race, and you won't be running alone.

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1b

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13.

As I was running the sun came up on the skyline of Atlanta and I filled my lungs with cold southern air and I was grateful. Grateful to have my health, able to run. Grateful for my home, my city, my country. Grateful for my husband and sweet baby. For my friends and family. For the next two hours, over 13.1 miles of Atlanta, I had a heart to heart with God. And before I knew it, I was crossing the finish line.

It was a great experience despite that fact that it took me two hours and three meltdowns to find Leo and Beau after I finished. No lie, I wept to a strange lady after I borrowed her phone to find my husband. I'm just going to chalk that up to exhaustion. That and all I wanted was a latte, my chapstick, a toilet with pipes, and to squeeze my baby boy.

We finally found each other in the sea of people and I had enough time to go home, shower, and turn around and get to rehearsal.

Such is my life.

Anyway, if you made it to the end of this post, I should wrap you in a foil blanket and put a "finisher" medal around your neck. Thanks for finishing.

Greetings

Beau has finally mastered the word "Hi". We've been working on it for a while and when we would say "Hi Beau!", he would just smile and wave. I would plead with him, "Beau, can you say 'HI'? Say 'hi' for Mommy. Hi! Hi! Hi Beau!" ...Just a wave back. Until late last week. We finally got greeted back.


Nap schedules at the Furlongs are really up in the air right now. We used to be clockwork over here. Two naps a day. Two hours each. It. Was. Awesome. These days naps are hit or miss until we figure out the new ideal time slot. One particular day last week we were having a "miss". Beau was jumping around in his bed, singing and laughing. Usually he ends up throwing out his passy and Baby and gets upset after doing so. He'll fuss a bit until I go in and collect the discarded items, place Baby in hand and passy in mouth, lie him down, and try again. These days this little ritual goes on about four or five times before he finally settles down and goes to sleep. This day was no exception. However, each time I went in, the moment he spotted me, I was politely and enthusiastically greeted "HEY!".

As Promised...

I swear he doesn't cry all the time. Just when you interrupt something he is doing, like, walking toward a storm drain, playing in the toilet, climbing on the fireplace, or eating dog treats.

See? Here are some good ones. Don't 'cha just want to kiss those cheeks off?

Spring Break

I guess you've noticed a lack of postings here. It is Spring Break, after all. Don't stay-at-home moms and one-year-olds get a Spring Break? Air brushed tee shirts, anyone?

No, really the reason I haven't posted anything for a couple weeks is twofold:

1. Nothing really exciting has happened here in Furlongville. Beau is great, strong as an ox, healthy as a mule, and BAD. Tantrums. This boy can throw a tantrum. We are working on that... Pictures are hard to come by because now, when he sees the camera, he wants it. And when I don't let him have it, guess what happens... Same for videos. He loves walking up and down our street with the other kids (and we parents, too...don't worry). Beau loves walking, period. He gets mad when you pick him up and doesn't like being told which direction to go, either. His vocabulary is expanding everyday it seems. The newest additions are "WOOF WOOF" (more like a "uh uh" grunt, but we'll take it. He'll say it everytime he hears a dog bark.), "Beau", and "OOOO". I had a mediocre video to include at the end of this post to demonstrate these couple words; however, Leo did some sort of upgrade-y thing-y to the computer and I have no idea where it went. (Let's all look forward to the comment that my husband will leave mocking my complete and utter lack of computer know-how.) I'm beginning to the think the tooth fairy is going to have it easy over here at our house, as we are still counting in at ONE tooth.


2. Aside from nothing major happening, a TON a minor things have been going on, keeping me away from the keyboard.

Let me expound...

1. Oooo...I'm really feeling the numbered lists today, aren't I?...hehe. Ok, number one... I started rehearsals for a show I'm doing at the end of April. Four nights a week, sometimes five. Crazy schedule. The details of the show warrant an entire post for themselves, so we'll save that for another day.


2. I have temporarily (anyway, I hope it's temporary) lost my mind. I cut off all my hair (a classic symptom, no?), I left my keys in the door and COULD. NOT. FIND. THEM. meanwhile giving complete strangers the open invitation to come on into my house, oh, and please, use my key. Don't forget to help yourself to the car key too! Luckily, it turned out OK. Oh yeah, and lastly, I registered for a half-marathon. In two weeks. Yeah. Now, I've been a runner for a long time, but never done anything over a 10k (a bit over 6 miles) at one time. I just tell myself its just running two Peachtree Road Races back to back. That seems do-able? Right? Anywho, I've spent my spare time pounding the pavement so I'm not a complete embarrassment and the guy in the golf cart with oxygen and megaphone doesn't have to come by and go "Ma'am, the course is closed now. You've exceeded the time limit and we are going to reopen the roads now. I'm afraid you are going to have come with us..."


3. I have morphed into a tween boy. Meaning, I saved up some money and I purchased a video game console. I did. For me. Not my husband. Me. I don't know if any of you out there have played Rock Band, but I could be obsessed. I can literally play it for hours on end...and I have. I force my husband and other unwilling participants to play with me. Yes, my own mother has rocked the guitar. In fact, just typing about it makes we want to go downstairs right now and pull out those damn drums. I might need rehab, or better yet, there might be an entire episode of "Intervention" dedicated to my Rock Band habit.

So, there you have it. My lame excuses and a deeper insight to the complete dork I am. My hand to heaven, I will try and get some picture of Beau here soon. No promises on if they will be good or not...