Naebody in Particular podcast cover: a collage of old family photographs, handwritten letters, a magnifying glass and a fountain pen

Naebody in Particular

You won't find them on a shortbread tin, but our ancestors live on so long as we keep telling their stories. Scots, Yanks, Canucks and the Auld Enemy. Newest posts are the ancestors, but scroll for the living.

  • walking home

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    sparklet insisted on walking home, tonight — and she made it all four blocks from the car back to the apartment. my back and i have never been so proud.
  • goob

    we’ll, we’ve been bouncing around a little bit with nicknames for sparklet — not that we’re giving up on sparklet for external marketing purposes, but it’s a little harsh/abrupt/awkward to use in daily life.

    for now, we’ve settled on some variation on the word “goober” — including goob, goober bear, and goober nut. (it’s important to be nimble.)

    now, on the surface, i can see how this might sound odd, but in our defense the the urban dictionary — one of the least polite chroniclers of slang on our fine planet — defines goober as:

    a goober is just a kindhearted, rather oblivious goofball. it’s term of endearment really. it comes from the ancient scottish verb “to goub”, which has to do with doing a dance and smiling sheepishly while doing so, exposing the goubs in one’s teeth.

    so, it’s actually kind of appropriate.

    i wish i knew exactly how “goober” worked its way into our collective vernacular — i have a feeling it was because we were calling her doofus during her “running into walls” phase and decided we should shoot for something a bit more charitable.

    either way, the nickname was cemented about six months ago when we first watch disney’s meet the robinsons — one of the two lead characters’ nicknames is goob, and he has that sort of sheepish, lovable quality that we see in sparklet at this age.

    of course, he also turns out to be the arch-villain of the story, but that’s for another time.

  • sixteen boxes down

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    we’ve been packing.

    the lady sparkler’s parents were here this weekend, which has meant a happy and distracted baby/baby mommy, which has allowed me to start the long process of fixing/packing casa de sparkler up for sale.

    art is off the wall, books are off the shelves, breakables are off the flat surfaces. and i’m starting to work through all those little projects i’ve been putting off for the last three years.

    first observation: each and every project takes two to four times longer with a child. i have no idea where exactly the time gets sucked too — it’s not like i’ve been the one looking after her while i’ve been operating the power tools — but i’m going to officially posit it as a law of physics.

    second observation: we have a lot of crap.

  • guestbook: grandparents

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    guestbook: grandparents
  • good news/bad news

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    sparklet had her 15 month checkup today, and the good news is that she’s still growing like a weed at 28 lbs (97th percentile) and 33 inches tall (off the chart).

    the bad news is that she’s got some kind of an ear infection, which means that she’ll get her first ever dosing of antibiotics. she’s not contagious, according to the doctor, which is a darn fine thing considering her bff’s birthday is tomorrow.

    i see lots of Plaza Sésamo and Fraggle Rock in her future.

    UPDATE: sparklet no-likey the antibiotics. well, actually, she loves taking them — they just don’t stay down for long. i wonder how long this cycle of futility is going to last.

    UPDATE #2: we think it started off as an ear infection, and then became the flu — namely because i got the flu about three days later.

  • color correction

    our real estate agent came through tonight and picked out new wall colors that he said would help our place move more quickly.

    ever since we painted our very first room, the lady sparkler and i have known that we’d have to repaint all of our wall colors when we moved out — but it didn’t make the new (rather dull) color selections sting any less.

    Living Room

    before: after:

    Grape Green (Behr)

    Reticence (Sherman Williams)

    Master Bedroom

    before: after:

    Ruby Ring (Behr)

    Soft Tan (Sherman Williams)

    Nursary

    before: after:

    Acorn Squash (Olympic)

    Hubbard Squash (Sherman Williams)

    Bathroom

    before: after:

    Warm Spring (Behr)

    Caen Stone (Sherman Williams)

    Kitchen

    before: after:

    Cerise (Olympic)

    Sand Trap (Sherman Williams)

    Foyer

    before: after:

    Porpoise (Behr)

    Reticence (Sherman Williams)

    if i ever needed confirmation that i’m nothing like the rest of the kids on the playground, this did the trick.