I have this love/hate relationship with caffeine.  Love it–morning cup of coffee.  Need it–afternoon iced coffee while the toddler plays in the fountain because I’m so done with summer.  Hate it–1 am this morning when I can’t sleep because I had that 3pm coffee.

Really HATE it– 4:30 am when Audrey woke up screaming and would not go back to sleep.  Was it teeth?  A bad dream?  Just beeing stubborn? I have absolutely no idea.

Every time I think I have things mildly under control I realize how poorly I operate in a sleep deprived state.

I should be brilliant for class tonight.  We’re discussing Samuel Beckett’s short plays that don’t make any sense on a good day.  Yay for absurdism.

Remember how I was all worried that I’d committed some ethical sin by signing up for that free trial to Amazon Prime?  I played right into their marketing hands.  While I did not renew my free trial, I bought almost all of my school books (did I mention I started grad school last week? No? I did.) through Amazon and a few extra goodies.  I even let my Barnes and Noble membership lapse while I enjoyed free 2 day shipping a la Amazon and got great discounts on not quite textbooks from all of their used affiliates.

I liked my Amazon Prime so much, I’ve put my first commerical button on the sidebar.  I’m not so quick with the web editing stuff — I’ve meant to add more links, fancy up the site, make sure there are links to my portfolio, but it’s slow, slow work.  Click the link in the sidebar and get a free Amazon Prime trial.  If you’re afraid of getting suckered, it’s really, really easy to make sure that your credit carn never gets charged if you don’t want to autorenew.  Just go to your account, click on “Prime” and turn off renew.

But you know, I might just get the service.  When you count the gas I wasted driving to a Borders that was supposed to have an additional book I needed for Thursday and then the time it will waste to go all the way to Fullerton early so I can read one measly play before class–I think it might be worth that annual fee for free, fast shipping.

I’m the guest blogger over at Secret Agent Josephine today. She’s on vacay until September 15 and I’m stoked to get a chance to contribute to her wonderful blog.

I realized all of Audrey’s favorite things start with the letter B.  Ball, Birthday, Bear, Bunny–this may explain a little of the previous post.

Anyone want yellow zucchini? Our freezer, counter and backyard overfloweth.

We went to Disneyland last night.  If you eat at the French Quarter restaurant that is closest to Pirates of the Caribbean (of course, I don’t know the name) the chocolate crepe souffle is just a crepe with brownie batter in the middle.  If you make the mistake of asking your waitress how a crepe can also be a souffle and she lies and says it puffs so you order it anyway, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

This morning, there’s a thick marine layer and I feel autumn is just around the corner. I made loads of zucchini bread two nights ago (vegan and non-vegan batches with great success, btw.)  There’s not enough to last us through Nativity, but the dinosaur squash plant is going strong.  And the tomatoes are just starting to turn red.  We’re about to be overwhelmed by our teeny, tiny garden.

And it don’t hurt!

Now when Audrey stands at our closed sliding door to the patio, she points and says, “dirty?”

She wants to get dirty.  I love that.  I think.

I’ve been reading the Money Saving Mom blog off and on for a couple of months now, and am playing along with the CVS “game” a little here and there. I only get one paper’s worth of coupons and our local stores always seem to be out of the best deals, but it’s saved us some money.

Today I saw this post. It instructed readers how to sign up for an Amazon Prime free trial, promptly cancel and still get $10 credit towards your next purchase. I immediately followed the steps, ordered a cheesy fantasy novel for $7.99 and didn’t pay a dime. It should show up by Thursday. As soon as I got the order confirmation, I was hit by this question:

Did I just steal a book?

The part of me that did the ordering in the first place says, technically, no. That $10 in credit was part of their marketing budget. The author and publisher will still get paid.

But I have no intention of renewing the $79 per year Amazon Prime service. It enables you to get free 2 day shipping–not really worth it when I order 5 times a year. When I followed the directions to get my free $10, I knew that I was not who the marketing campaign was targeting, I was just taking advantage of a large corporation’s advertising efforts.

Not to sound too high and righteous; advertising efforts take advantage of me every day, so maybe I was due. I didn’t steal the book in the literal sense of the word, but I’m still not happy about the whole process.

I tried to leave a comment of the blog, but it either fell victim to cyberspace glitches or moderation. As many of us try to cut back in a tough economy, I’m wondering where you’re going to draw the line. For me, it’s no more freebies when I’m not genuinely interested in the service or product. There may be some other things to consider, but it’s a start.

I’m not saying that Amazon needs my $7.99. But they do need our 7.99. When I was a teenager, my dad showed me how getting a free Starbucks from your friend who works there is tantamount to stealing. This situation is different because the program was authorized by someone higher than a 17 year-old’s desire to be liked, but I still feel the same icky.

So here’s my question to all of you, and I know you’re there because I see that hundreds of you stop by every week and say absolutely nothing.

What are you doing to save money (if anything?)

and

Did I steal this book????

There are LOTS of things swirling in my head right now that I’d like to put into a blog post. So many.

I want to write about

• How our list of prayers for the dead should really stop growing
• All of the preschools I’ve been visiting and how there should be one with this
• This Speaking of Faith interview with Barbara Kingsolver that I just re-listened to
  (and how it makes me want to grow more vegetables)
• My sinking suspicion that out life needs to slow down more–and I don’t think we’re that busy
• The latest book I’m afraid to read: Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life

But- I’m trying desperately to launch a new project out the door and know that I have to keep up here or I’ll lose all of you who never leave comments (bad you!) So, here’s a list of words another busy brain has been spouting:

Knows for sure:

Meow
Bath (this was her 1st one)
Mama
Dada
Nana
Papa
Auntie
Ball
Bear
Dog
Cat
Bubbles
Pool
Zebra
Bow (and she does!)
Mail
Peas
Please (sounds more like “eeeese”)
Elmo (Welmo)
did I mention Meow?
Hot
Brrrr (that would be cold)
NO!
No, mama.
Know? (with a raised shoulders and arms)
All Done
Blue (all colors are blue)
Noodle
Basa (that’d be kielbasa)
What’s That (was tat?)
More
Beach (sounds like bitch…)
Melon
Birthday Cake (birday cay)

There are some more words I’ve heard her mimic, but not say without prompting. Of course, I can’t remember most of them.

But my favorite thing I’ve heard come out of her mouth:

Renoir

I’m not joking. We look at impressionist paintings in a little book (in French!)

She’s a genius. Or at least a really cool sponge.

We learned a very  important lesson a few years ago.: Pay your web domain bills on time!   AND– make sure you are the one in charge of paying the bill.  Jake was the pastor of Rock and Roll church at the time and the guy who built our website had moved and wasn’t responding to our emails or calls.  Our rather popular domain name expired and was purchased out from under us.  Big bummer.

I did some serious linking in my last post to a certain powerhouse for prosphora information.  It seems the same thing has happened to them.  If you google “prosphora” you can still see the cached pages, but the front of prosphora.org has become a link farm.  I’m not sure what the story is, but I’d say get your prosphora information quick.

My mom thought my last post needed a link to where you can buy seals and I would have suggested that now defunct site, but here’s another link to buying Orthodox Holy Bread seals.  I recommend the plastic–it’s easier to clean.

For the next week, we’ll be here:

(edit: so I broke a big web rule and just linked to a photo.  Sorry. I’m still on vacation but I promise a post on Monday.)

I doubt I will be blogging. But come by, you never know. I do know I will be drinking a lot of these:

This is where we’re at folks.

I did, however, have an extremely productive afternoon and was able to poke around on the internet after I got some work done.  Here are a few things for you to look at while we’re still battling molars and a cold and a general lack of sleep.

Anna Marie Horner. I wish I was more coordinated with the thread and the needle and the fingers.

NY Times Modern Love.  I’ll be blogging more about this tomorrow, hopefully.

The Belief Blog.  There are a lot of things I want to think about on here.  Very sacred and the profane sort of stuff.

Now that the car-induced week from hell is over, we’ve been buzy making up lost fun.  I was inspired by SAJ to make Audrey a daisy chain crown.  We didn’t have any daisies so I used yummy smelling sweet peas from our garden.

This lasted for a few seconds.   She was much too busy enjoying a special treat– JUICE!

Those Trader Joe’s juice boxes must be super powered because Audrey quickly decided that the ground was not the place to sip apple juice and squish mommy’s favorite flowers.  She needed a new perspective. It was time to climb.

So, that was the beginning of a whole new world for us.   Audrey can officially hoist herself up onto everything.  No table, chair or light switch is safe.

The light switch game now provides hours of entertainment around this place.   I’d much rather have her be entertaining herself with full access to my tables, counter tops and upholstery than the days when she needed my constant attention all. the. time.

Things are good around this place.  I’ve been busy with freelance writing work and Audrey’s busy growing up.  We’re both happy