How do you justify then, belief in God, and especially the most perhaps exclusive of all religious claims - which is Orthodox Christianity which says that Jesus Christ is the one true way to God? How do you justify that kind of claim and how do people with those kinds of exclusive beliefs fit and operate in a free democratic society?

I will admit to abnormal sniffing as the lemony smell wafting about is addictive and probably also killing me slowly as it fills my lungs. Two funny things that occured are these: Each time I spritzed with Febreeze today, Drew would scream. He didn’t mind the bottle being near him - but he FREAKED out whenever I would spray it. And then each time I used the vacuum, he would scream again at the top of his lungs and I’d look at him and see rivers of tears pouring down his cheeks and splashing onto his belly (because I didn’t put any clothes on him at all today). This grew old quickly as I had much to vacuum and wasn’t enjoying making him wail. So, I brought him into the living room, sat him in his high chair and vacuumed all around him. I figured if he was scared of it, he might as well know what it looked like up close (something to remember when dealing with any type of monster).

Believe it or not, it worked! He was in awe of the vacuum cleaner. I even had to bring the vacuum cleaner over to sit beside us as we ate lunch. Drew has a new friend! And the house is about 80% deep cleaned!

7 Lazy Ways to Go Green: Interesting ideas on saving money as well.

Vintage 101: A lovely guide to men and women’s vintage styles

Candied Bacon Ice Cream: Are you a bacon lover? OF COURSE you are.

Days of the Week Barrettes: I need these for my short hair now.

The New Chocolatiers: This makes me think of Chocolat. And dream of chocolate.

Twitter in Plain English: For those of you who are still wondering WHAT ON EARTH is Twitter all about?

The Marvelous Crooning Child: Um. Wow.

Handmade Weddings: A bride’s dream!

Toxic Plastic Info: I use Born Free.

An Illustrious Guide to Coffee Drinks: Now if I can only figure out how to do the leaf prints!

Cupcake Wrappers: I would eat cupcakes all day long if they looked like this.

Disco Belly: Funky silkscreened maternity tees.

Blender and Mason Jar Tip: I still have to try this out with my blender.

Wool Felted Easter Eggs: I absolutely LOVE these!!

Wedding Cakes: Simply amazing cakes. But I still love our cake. ;)

Natural Egg Dyeing Techniques: I can’t wait to teach Drew how to do this.

The First 1,000 Days: A baby journal

Knit Felt Clam: Cute attack!!

Make a Custom Lift-the-Flap Book for a Toddler: Here’s another project I’m going to start.

Visiting Walt Disney World: To attempt such a feat, it’s good to have insider information.

How to Amuse Toddlers: Great ideas for the wiggly tiny ones.

Earth at Night: Jaw-dropping!

Life in lists: I love to make lists. I make them every single day. I have books of lists. I do things just to cross them off the list.

Frugal Home Tips: 75 ways to save money in regards to your home

10 Meals under $1 per serving: Amazing! And tasty, too.

Bacon Cups: Have I mentioned that I love bacon? And that I KNOW it is one of the worst things you could possibly consume?

Your Handwriting Turned Into a Font: I need to sit down and do this.

Bedtime Stories: A glow-in-the-dark one would be really cool.

In three weeks, Drew will be one year old. That’s so hard to believe. But what is more surprising is that during this past year, he has not been sick! He hasn’t even had a fever. Only once did he get sniffly, and that was when we were traveling and it appeared to be a case of allergies that went away very quickly. He hasn’t even had a cold! Well, until this weekend. He has fought a cold all weekend and it is finally almost gone.

And since today has been absolutely beautiful, and it’s so warm outside, I thought a nice drive through the country would do wonders for us all. After lunchtime, we three piled into the car and took a drive to see the miniature animals on a farm nearby. I thought Drew would really love to see the animals up close. Especially now that he’s feeling lots better.

But by the time we got there, he was SOUND ASLEEP. So Daniel and Drew stayed in the car while I took my camera and visited the tiny baby goats.

I was tired. And I kept discovering that I was sitting on more toys than I realized. I finally thought I had all the toys put away when I felt something wet touching my leg. My first thought was that I had missed another toy, apparently one that Drew had been chewing on and perhaps that it was a wet, soggy, stuffed animal-friend. But a quick swipe with my fingers along the carpet proved there wasn’t anything there. I just thought it was my imagination.

I leaned over and put the green box that holds his toys on the shelf, and started to stand up when I felt something cold and wet SLITHER all over my legs.

AUGH AUGH AUGH AUGH AUGH AUGH!

I jumped up as fast as I can, danced really, really, really, really hard and began squealing like a little girl. To be honest, in hindsight, I’m surprised that I did that. If it had been a mouse that caught my eye, I think I would have been more intrigued as to how on earth had he gotten in the house and how on earth was I going to get him out. But it wasn’t a mouse.

As I was dancing, something fell onto the blanket at my feet and it SLITHERED and WIGGLED all the way over to the front door. I scooped Drew up so fast and literally slung him into his high chair and by this time, Daniel (who had been shouting at me to just simply TELL HIM WHAT WAS GOING ON!), ran to the door and saw the slithering thing.

It looked like a small snake to me. And that fact alone sent me over the edge. In one giant leap for mankind, I was on top of the green chair, SCREAMING. And left poor Daniel to fend off the Slithery Snake of Doom.

In a few minutes, we both realized that it was in fact, not a snake but a slimy lizard. Perhaps even a baby lizard. It was about 4-5 inches long and Daniel says he saw legs on it. I don’t know if I can believe it because it wasn’t running. It was wiggling its body back and forth.

It ended up crawling behind Drew’s bookshelf in the living room and Daniel and I got brooms and began pounding the floor to get it to run out the front door. All the while, Drew sat calmly in his high chair, watching us put on this freak show.

FINALLY, it scooted out the front door. To wait until we have our back turned and SNEAK BACK IN.

I have been fussily dealing with a PowerBook battery that is about kaput (it lasts about 20 minutes now) and a power adapter that I have to share with Daniel (because his started sparking and smoking). And obviously, since he is working most of the day, I am not able to use my laptop during the day. And during the evenings, when I can charge my laptop again, well, there are just more important and fun things to do.

We do, however, have Cliffy the Red Dell laptop that I can use at times. I’m at least able to check my email. Not that I’ve been replying. Sorry!

So, I haven’t been able to deal with the blog drama or be on Facebook or Twitter very much. My Twitter account is broken, too. I can only update if I choose “reset my password” every single time. Twitter is trying to fix it, supposedly.

The upside is that I’ve had quite a bit of time away from the Internet and have been able to READ BOOKS. I’ve fallen in love with reading again and have been whipping through my stack very quickly.

As far as the site goes, it’s back up. I’ve made a promise that I will keep it up and with it’s current theme for at least six months. That will be a challenge for me, since I’m fickle. But you know this already.

The archives are still around. I haven’t deleted anything but I do have a desire to simply begin anew. I’m in a new place, in many different ways, and I personally want some distance between where I’ve been and where I am. And since this is my blog, and my archives, I can do that. They may come back sometime, but for now I will just enjoy this brand new spring-is-around-the-corner feeling I have in regards to my blog.

Oh, and thank you for sticking around to read. ;)