after posting a bajillion times yesterday

I stayed up way past bedtime reading through my xanga blog. Parts of it really, really made me laugh. Very nostalgic.

Anyway, four things:

1. I miss doing "quote of the whatever" at the bottom of my blog posts. I may reinstate QOTW here.

2. The day I started falling for Rodgers was Saturday, June 11, 2005. I didn't blog that, even though I was totally grungy that day, he told me that I look more beautiful every day (which is what put me over the edge). But, I did blog that I visited Claire at camp that day, and that's when it happened.

3. I've forgotten the source for many of the QOTWs. This is a sad day.

4. I'm finally far enough removed from my horrible first job that I can really laugh about my dumb, douchecanoe former boss.

for my long-time followers

I know, three posts in one day is ridiculous.

Dad mentioned my old blog the other day, and I just wanted to point out that while the url is no longer active, I did import the blog into this one. Just felt like keeping it all in one place. If you're looking for some of my really old stuff, anything on this blog written before Aug 10, 2008 is from my "justrachet" blog. For about the first year of "rodgersrachel," I kept both blogs going, posting my deepest thoughts on the other one, and updates about the wedding planning, getting married, the green card journey, and pregnancy here. Eventually I just decided to put it all in one place. Then I stopped having deep thoughts.

When I imported, I didn't label all my old blog posts as such, they just mingled in with these. Now, I've tried to go back through and label them for organization's sake, though honestly, I probably didn't get them all labeled correctly. You'll see a huge label in my label gadget in the sidebar that says "justrachet." That's where you'll find all of my posts from my old blog, including anything about my time on Doulos. Warning: many pictures used way back then may no longer exist on the internet, and there are probably lots of broken links.

If you're one of my really old followers, you may remember when I blogged on xanga. That blog is still there.  If you fancy taking a glimpse at my beginnings in blogworld, have a go.

2 cute pictures

Eating some Lil Crunchies, while watching TV. I think he looks more like a kid (rather than baby) in this pose than any other.

We used the rubber tooth and gum massager for a long time. Finally, I bought him a baby toothbrush. He loves it and doesn't try to swallow it. After I brush his teeth, he gets a turn. I think he basically just chews the brush and sucks all of the (safe if swallowed) toothpaste off. He loves brushing his teeth.

see 'n say

I don't remember if I had my own See 'n Say as a child, but I remember playing with them in church nurseries and possibly my grandmother's house. I remember one that was yellow, with a pull string:

from here [click]

...and a blue one with a lever:

from here [click]

I loved listening to the animal sounds. I can still hear in my memory, "Here is the coyote: ow--ow-ow-owoooooo!"

Nate has a new fangled See 'n Say. He also loves listening to the animal sounds. He hasn't quite figured out the lever himself, but he brings the See 'n Say to me so that I can make it work for him. He has this one:

(sort of, the pictures on his are different)
from here [click]

I like that is has 2 "pages." (The yellow part flips over to the other side, revealing more animals.) Nate likes it, too. He loves turning pages, so flipping back and forth between the 2 sides is one of his favorite parts. I also like the songs - one side plays Old McDonald (with animals and animal sounds from the See 'n Say) and the other plays The Farmer in the Dell. The quiz is fun, too, and when Nate figures out how to work the See 'n Say, I'm sure he'll enjoy that.

Here's my complaint:

Rather than having the same intro to each animal, it switches back and forth between "The [animal] says: [sound]" and "That's the [animal]. [sound]." Then it goes back to "The [animal] says: [sound]." Back and forth. Every other pull of the lever. Fine.

On the side not shown in the picture above, there is a bunny. What sound does a bunny make? I know what sound it makes when a labrador is eating it alive, but that's not really a cute sound for a children's toy. The sound they use is "boing, boing," like a hopping noise. Ok...

Here's the problem: if, for example, the previous animal was "The cat says: meow, meow," and then you play the bunny, it will say, "That's the bunny: boing, boing." But, if you play the bunny after it plays "That's the cat. meow, meow," it will say, "The bunny says: boing, boing."

No, it doesn't, See 'n Say. The bunny does not say, "boing." That is all.

maisha kamili blog

Maisha Kamili blog is now live at http://maishakamilimombasa.blogspot.com/. If you are one of those in our circle who has received a copy of the proposal, you will recognize that the current posts are copied and pasted from the proposal. More pieces will be published as we make our plans.