Friday Afternoon

It has rained every single day this week. I just looked up how much rain we had last month. For the month of July, we received 18.12 inches of rain. So if you remember me bitching a lot about the rain a few months ago, I wasn't exaggerating. If you want to check my source, click here. Anyway, the amount of rain we've had this month is nothing in comparison to July, it's just this week has been annoying. Every morning has been beautiful, but when I get home, the clouds roll in and the rain starts. Which means I haven't been able to do laundry all week since my dryer's still broken. I've never bothered to get it fixed because I like drying my clothes outside. They don't shrink, they smell nice, it saves electricity, and I'm a lot more likely to put the clothes away once they're dry. It just sucks that the weather determines whether or not I can do laundry. I went outside a few minutes ago and took this picture of the rain clouds closing in. Check out all those power lines. That's my backyard. I better be careful out there.

Chloe is refusing to take a nap today, and it's driving me nuts. She's very obviously tired, but she just won't sleep. She's in her bed right now practicing her most pathetic wail. Practice makes perfect, and she's just about there.

Speaking of Chloe, I got some more crappy video of her walking. She was trying to keep a necklace on her arm while walking. Again, this is from my digital camera, so no sound, and it's choppy. It's taking forever to process again, so just click here if you want to see it.

Earlier this summer, I learned that the university I attend has a swimming pool. I assumed it was an indoor pool and that it was inside this large building that I'd never been inside. I also heard that this infamous building had free lockers, so yesterday I went to check out the building. I discovered the the pool is actually an outdoor pool! I was so excited. And even better, the time for open swim is 12:00 to 1:00. I just so happen to have a break at that time on monday, wednesday, and friday. So today I went swimming. Actually, I didn't do much swimming. I did a lot of bobbing around and examining insects I found in the pool (remember, I'm a nerdy Biology major). I think the two things I enjoyed most about my pool time was getting the weight of gravity off my huge belly for a half hour, and of course, the cool after-swimming hair. Check it out...
Oh yeah. My hair is curly enough to get frizzy, but not curly enough to actually be curly and look cute. It's looking like Chloe may end up with hair a lot like mine. Poor creature.

That picture really emphasizes the scar on my forehead. In case anyone doesn't know how I acquired the scar on my head, I'll go ahead and tell you. I don't remember how it happened, because I was a small child, but from what my mother tells me, I was in the back of a station wagon in the seat that faces the rear. We were with some group delivering flowers or something silly like that. Anyway, the driver hit the brakes, I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, and I hit my head on a piece of metal. To stop the bleeding, mom put a maxi pad on my head. She says it worked really well. I'm sure it did. The scar just happens to be right on a natural forehead crease, so it's not too noticeable. Even if it were, that's the least of my cosmetic woes.

I've really been wanting to get another tattoo lately. This is the point where any family member of mine reading this gasps and leaves me a comment about why I shouldn't get tattoos. But I think tattoos are a little different for me than for other people. The way I see it, I was born with a tattoo: a massive, red tattoo covering my right arm from shoulder blade to pinky finger, and I don't really like the tattoo I was born with. If I didn't have this birthmark, I don't know that I would have any tattoos. I would be a little more hesitant to put the first mark on a blank canvas, so to speak. But since I can't really screw up my skin more than it already is, I have no problem adding art that I actually enjoy to my body. That way, at least there's something on my body I enjoy looking at. This picture is for the few of you who haven't seen my shoulder tattoo, and the even fewer who haven't seen my birthmark. I won't post my other tattoo because it's on my lower hip, which is covered in stretch marks thanks to my pregnancies. In hindsight, it wasn't the best place to get a tattoo. But who knew I'd get such horrible stretch marks? Anyway, one more thought on this. People worry about later on in life. What if I don't like my tattoo when I get older? Well, then I'll just be back at square one: with a permanent marking on my skin that I don't really like.

Ok, I think I've rambled enough. The missionaries want to come share a "message" with me tonight, so I should probably tidy up the house a bit. I'm actually considering asking them to move my furniture around. Believe me, I have ulterior motives for allowing them to come share a "message" with me. Ok, Chloe has fallen asleep as is now awake, so I better go get her.