Fame in Philly

We travelled to Philadelphia this weekend to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday which happened to fall on Friday the 13th this year. He was born on Friday the 13th as was his wife, my aunt, one of his great great grandchildren, and me. (My father-in-law was also born on Friday the 13th.) My grandfather could have had an entire hour dedicated to his life story about how God has taken care of him over the years, but you'll catch just a brief glimpse of that here.

This is not my television debut in Philadelphia. My photo has been on the news twice before when the reporters covered the same story with a different angle. This is, however, my first interview on the news in Philadelphia!

Happy 90th Birthday, Pop-Pop! Proud to be one of the fellow Friday the 13th-ers in the family!

(Print version can be found here.)

Week in Review

It has been a whirlwind week as we welcomed our newest Bean to the family. Here are some of my favorite photos of the last 7 days! Enjoy!

Ready to go to the hospital. 40 weeks on the dot.
Photo by Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean waiting for the action to begin.
Photo by Mandie

String Bean meets her little sister for the first time!
Photo by Mr. Bean

String Bean ready and waiting to give Dad the diaper. A very willing assistant.
Photo by Mandie

Sisters!
Photo by Mr. Bean

Earthquake!

At 4 am, Mr. Bean and I both woke up. I only knew he was awake because I heard him gasp in response to the low rumble and shaking of our home. It was a surreal moment where I was processing what exactly was happening as I fell asleep. "Earthquake!" went through my mind, but by the time I woke up, I had dismissed the notion thinking it was all a dream. Sure enough, I heard on the news that an earthquake had indeed hit the Chicago-land area.

Mr. Bean grew up in Japan which means he has lived through his fare share of earthquakes. This also explains his gasp in the midnight hours. What we experienced was mild, but certainly brought up the appropriate fear of an impending natural disaster in his mind. He told me he considered that perhaps a snow plow had hit the building, but dismissed that after the shaking went on long enough. (I should mention we were in the middle of a large snow storm during the earthquake!)

While the earthquake we experienced in the Chicago-land area was no where near the severity of the earthquake that hit Haiti in January, it was a surprise and shock for all of us here. We just don't expect this kind of event in Chicago!

My sister lives in northern California and has been regularly experiencing earthquakes the last few months. I just had to update my facebook status to let her know she was not the only earthquake survivor in the family. My grandmother's response was, "What is it with you sisters that causes earthquakes????"

For those who are wondering, String Bean slept through the entire episode.

It's a...

We found out (for certain) yesterday that the new addition to the Bean family will be a girl! String Bean is warming up to the idea that she's not getting a brother. We asked her yesterday what she thought we should name this baby and after a thoughtful pause she replied, "Oo-Ah-Ah-Ah!"

We considered Oo-Ah-Ah-Ah and suggested that perhaps we should just name this baby "Mildred Gertrude" and did String Bean like that name? Without hesitation, she said, "YES!"

The jury is still out, but we are open to suggestions. After all, this child gets a legal name and a blog name. Oh, the possibilities!

String Bean's Big News

Big Sister status should be bestowed officially around May 3, 2010!

Practical Jokes

I was reminded today of the day my sister tried to prank me for getting her into trouble. In all fairness, she deserved it. My dad told her to do a chore and she turned around and told me that dad told her to tell me to do it, and I did it. Then dad thanked her at dinner for doing said chore. Imagine my surprise!

Well, I said tried to prank me and here's what she did:

• Saran wrapped the toilet. Unfortunately, she didn't do it tight enough and it just fell in when I...uh...went.
  
• Rubber band around the kitchen sink sprayer. Well, let's just say my dad discovered it before I did.
  
• Short-sheeting my bed. I got in and recognized the problem, yanked on my sheets and went to sleep, She didn't do it right.
  

Not understanding why I was getting pranked when she's the one who pranked me in the first place, I got her back.

• First, I snunk into her room after she was asleep and set her clock forward by several hours; when she thought she was getting up at 7 am, it was really 3 am.
• Second, I set my alarm to be up 5 minutes before hers went off.
• When I got up, I went into the bathroom and steamed it up with hot water. I listened for her alarm to go off and put a towel on my head and crept down the hall.
  
• I told my sister a whopper about our older sister being sick and not going to school that day.
  
• I went back to bed and locked my door--just in case.

I found out the next morning that my sister had gotten up, showered, dressed, eaten breakfast and watched TV. Mind you, she passed multiple clocks that were set correctly by this point. It wasn't until she was getting ready to go out to catch the school bus that she realized it was 3 something in the morning. Mwaha ha ha ha!

Don't mess with me, Holly.

Animal Lovers Unite on Craigslist

My sister had a run-in with a vet. Basically, she took a friend's cat in for a gum cleaning and now the cat is barely alive. When confronting the vet, she got yelled and screamed at and "banned for life" from the vet's office. Ironically, she does not even own a pet, so this is a real tragedy for her. *Note sarcasm. (For the whole story, look here but note the video referenced has been taken down.)

If you follow the chatter on the Craigslist Humboldt Pet section, you'll see that there is a boycott/protest planned for later this week.

After a quick googling of the vet's name, I found that he was just put on probation for neglecting an animal in his care. Sounds like someone might be losing their license soon.

If you live in northern California and want to get involved, check out the Craigslist postings for details on when and where.

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Don't forget to enter our giveaway which ends 11/30 at noon!


My sister, Holly, just discovered a new galaxy! She knows it is a new galaxy because, "its coordinates aren't listed in the tome of known celestial bodies."

Holly's taking solicitations for names. If you've got an idea, we'd love to hear it!

For you astronomy buffs, its "address" is RA: 1hr 50min 36sec; DEC: 10' 50.

Random Thoughts for Today

I'm stealing this blog posting idea from my friend Emily. Here are my thoughts for today:

• The dishwasher is running and it sounds like it is about to take off (as in fly).
  
• I got allergy shots today and my arms are itchy.
• String Bean got a flu shot today (part 2 of 2) and screamed. She recovered from the ordeal in about 20 seconds. Now you'd never know she got a shot.
• String Bean and I went to our polling place and there was no line at 11:45 am! We both got a sticker for doing our civic duty. As of this post, String Bean has not taken hers off, yet.
• Mr. Bean hasn't been in his office all morning.
  
• My mom and sister went to the polling place together in Alabama this morning. Apparently their votes for the presidential candidates canceled one other out.
• I love that my new watch tells me the date!
• Babies that eat corn don't digest it very well.
• Most of my Facebook friends have a status update about voting today.
• My friend, Christy, spells Savior the British way: "Saviour"
• String Bean has learned to brush her own hair. It is very cute, but she needs more practice before I let her go out of the house like that.
• I haven't taken allergy medication (or cold medication) in almost 2 years thanks to pregnancy and nursing.
  
• I can feel the winter dry skin approaching already.
• My living room floor is filled with board books.
• I'm really in the mood to decorate the house for Christmas, but it is a bit early. Maybe I'll just wrap the presents I've already purchased instead.
• I wonder why the Fisher-Price Noah's Ark does not have a monkey.