Posted (stole) some pictures from Gramma’s camera.

• - Converts to the ASCII code point for the space character (” “);
• - The number of teeth in a full set of teeth of an adult human;
• - Total number of chess pieces, and the number of each black & white squares on a chess board;
• - The number of Kabbalistic Paths of Wisdom;
• - The (supposed) age of Jesus when crucified;
• - The atomic number of germanium;
• - in binary, 100000;

thanks Wikipedia

Just watch, I can’t really express it it words.

See what I mean?

In other semi-news, I finally bit the bullet and got all – okay, most – of my hair chopped. It’s about chin-length, the shortest it’s been since it first grew in (sometime around my 7th birthday, I think). It’s alternately cute and wonky depending on the weather and how much time Bean gives me to fuss with it in the morning, but it’s definitely a lot easier to take care of and harder for him to pull out of my head. That’s a good thing. No pictures of that either.

And last but not least, I was made a Resident Artist at the PRTC this week. In a strictly practical sense, it doesn’t really mean much, but I’m more than a little pleased to have my name in the same list with people who have been members of the company since day one. Yea, me!

So we have switched to another blogging script. Yes, it’s Wordpress, for those that are familiar with these things. This will allow us to focus more on the content than the code, we can utilize plugins (and we have), and if I get the urge I can write my own widgets.

What does this mean for you, the reader? Well, right away you can register yourself on the website, with your own profile, etc… The photo albums now have captions; there are separate RSS feeds for entries and comments; we can put up polls; and more.

Over time we’ll be adding some more features to make it more fun for everyone. Take a look around, and consider registering, and when you’re done let us know what you think by leaving a comment, or voting in the poll over on the right (if you’re the silent type).

Mostly, though, I try to appreciate each moment, precious in a way I could never have imagined a year ago … just 2 days ago, my son reached for me for the first time. And every time since, when he puts his chubby little arms in the air and trusts that I will be there, I remind myself to savor it.

The food list is getting longer, and today, Carter ate 5 – yes, FIVE! – different things: cereal, banana, avocado, squash and apples. Every new discovery is hilarious and amazing. Looks like green beans or carrots are up next.

My life got very small when Bean was born … I take that back. Life got small about the time we found out that I was pregnant and continued to shrink until he was born. I don’t think that my focus has ever been that narrow, and when my maternity leave ended, it seemed so invasive to have to let the “real world” back in. I’m getting better at juggling the things that life demands, but it’s still hard to look any further ahead than the next time my little family gets to be together again, hard to think of anything more important than how we can create more time to be together in.

I did get through my first post-Bean design gig, much thanks to Gramma and Grampa and Maga and Dave. Luckily, the show this time was minimally demanding, so tech was miraculously short and changes were pretty minimal. Even so, the time away seemed brutal, even though I enjoy the work. It helped that I had a new sound system to learn; hopefully, that excitement will carry me through the spring show, which promises to be a challenge.

That’s me in a nutshell tonight, quietly waiting for my husband to come home. I just finished catching up on some of the workload that’s threatening to overwhelm and realized that I hadn’t posted for awhile. Nothing that really qualifies as news, just random thoughts for whoever’s out there. Sleep well.

I also seem to become more inspired when it comes to cooking this time of year. I tend to experiment more, to seek out new ingredients, or relish in old ones I haven’t used for awhile.

Anyway, some of you may have noticed that little recipe link over to your left, and you may have also noticed that there were no recipes there. Well, not anymore, I added a sauce recipe tonight. I’ll be adding more in the days to come. I look forward to reading your comments on them. If you have any recipe requests just email them to me.

It’s autumn in Michigan, and it gets me every year.

Anyway, there’s the aforementioned tour of Bean’s finished nursery (lacking only some cool stuff to hang on the walls), our trip to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky (when we were pregnant, but didn’t know it yet), Christmas 2006 (where Grampa and Gramma first discover that they’re about to be grandparents), and The Subject Was Roses (Tess’ professional directing debut and the only early pregnancy pix we have). We also added a couple of belly pix to the Bean gallery for posterity – one at around 6 months and one at 8 1/2 months. Believe it or not, the belly is even bigger now.