a list of lately

1. two months ago, when we moved to our new house, we had a security system installed. (we also got two ferocious guard dogs. killer guard dogs actually. any potential robbers reading this should watch out.) last night, i noticed there was a piece missing from one of our walls. the door is still able to be armed, but, since it's only been two months, i called the company tonight to see if they could send someone out to replace the missing piece. i think the part that's missing is cosmetic--because, like i mentioned, the system still works. anyway, i was told that, sure, someone could come out. it would cost $77 for the 1st 15 minutes and $16 for each additional 15 minutes the service person was out. so, i asked to speak to a supervisor. he told me he was unable to waive any fees because we'd not signed up for a service warranty. in all fairness, he was really nice. he told me i could call the local office tomorrow, and perhaps they would waive the fees. i (nicely, i swear) told him i'd cancel the service if they charge us to fix it. so annoying. it feels like a huge scam to me.

2. it's busy 'round these parts. a flurry (heh heh) of christmas parties and birthdays and events. bad news is, we don't have a reliable babysitter, besides my brothers and folks and all of them live an hour away.

3. can we talk for a second about how lucky i feel to have two brothers who're such great uncles to my little boy? they love him so much and they're so good to him. and, he loves both of them. he calls them "an-knee" and "quiss," for anthony and chris.

4. speaking of ollie-talk, i wanted to make a list of his vocabulary right now because it kills me:

christmas lights = cream lites

yellow= yellyow

purple= people

right there= right dare

cheerios= chews

sumic=music

5. and, yesterday he said, "i love you," for the first time. each time he says it, he actually says, "i love you, too," even if he says it first.

6. a family member who was ill for a long time is doing better. for this i'm so grateful. each time i think about this, it makes me happy.

7. good night!