Bonus Post: Olivia Quiz Answers

Answers have been posted to the right.  Hooray to everyone that participated.  I'll update your points soon.

The scores are as follows:

Justine- 9
Jillian- 8
Alison- 7
Norie- 6
Jacque- 6
Stephanie- 5
Julie- 3
Kara- 2
Josef- 2

Feel free to double check your score if you wish.  I was looking at a lot of letters.

October 21-28

My grandparents came to visit from Tuesday to Wednesday.  Olivia was wary at first, but warmed up to them after a bit.  Wednesday morning (after raspberry pancakes, which Olivia destroyed), grandpa taught Olivia to wipe the noses of all her animals.

There's a site called kickstarter.com that allows you to post projects you are working on to get community funding from people who might be interested.  There's a reward system set up by each poster that gives perks and/or free products to different donor levels.  Pledges are made, but the site does not collect any money unless the stated goal is met.  It seems pretty neat, and Bryan decided to take a run at listing a video game he and some friends are working on.  They're hoping that with funding they'll be able to justify spending the extra time to make it really good.  Anyway, here's a link to the project: http://kck.st/XRHpEa.  Go check it out at least, and see what you think.  If you like it, you can choose to donate money, but don't feel obligated.  Even if this kind of game isn't really your style*, share the link with anyone you know who might appreciate it and/or want to help fund it.  We're hoping interest will spread.  :)

*Although video games aren't really my thing, tower defense games like this one are actually really fun.  If you're wondering what a tower defense game is, go to Bryan's website and play the first tower defense game he made.  Feel free to poke around on the site and try some other games while you're there.  :)

Did you take The Olivia Quiz yet?  You have until Wednesday, October 31 to get your answers in.  Everyone gets points!  If you've already taken the quiz, here's a chance to get more points:  Below are the number of points already earned by each person.  If you are dissatisfied with your score, you may elect to take the quiz again, changing as many or few answers as you wish.  HOWEVER.  I will not tell you which questions you got right or wrong AND (this is important) the last score counts.  Unless I'm feeling especially benevolent when I post the answers on Wednesday (don't count on it!), there will be no "best of" scoring.  The most recent answers I have for each person will be the ones used.

A couple hints: 

-The same letter does not ever appear as an answer in consecutive questions.

-Everyone so far has missed 4, 7, 11, and 15.

Retake at your own peril.  :)  Here are the scores so far:

Jacque: 6

Jillian: 5

Josef: 2

Julie (Oma): 3

Norie (Grandma/Just Lazy): 6

Stephanie (kleins): 5

Pictures and Videos:

October 14-21

Since we didn't make it to Michigan this weekend, Bryan's dad came over and they finished putting up all the drywall in the basement.  Now we just need to tape and mud and paint...  Someday.  It's a project to keep us busy.  :)

Sunday afternoon we all went to the local Applebees to catch the fourth quarter of the Browns' game.  We left home with the Browns losing 14-13.  We arrived at Applebees with the Browns winning 20-14.  Then the Browns scored 14 points in 7 seconds while we watched on TV and ended up winning 34-24.  Yay!  Especially since this is their first win this season!  And against the Bengals (the other Ohio football team)!  Bryan and Olivia happily watched until the end of the game (I couldn't see the television due to our need for a table short enough for a high chair) and then high-fives were exchanged all around.  Multiple times.  Olivia was so eager to give high-fives, we decided she must know the significance of what had just happened.  Stephanie, when you read this, make sure you tell Scott about this paragraph.  Scott, Bryan wants to make sure you understand what's going on here: His daughter high-fives people when the Browns win.  Because the Browns won, not just because she sees Bryan being excited and thinks that high-fives go with excitement.  Eva, you have work to do.

Olivia no longer walks like a zombie unless she's holding something or trying to go fast.  She's comfortable enough with walking now that it looks to me more like the goofy walk Jacque did in one of her plays when she was the not-very-bright servant.  I think.  Jacque, 12 points if you recreate this walk and send me a video for me to post so that those who didn't follow your high school acting career can see what I'm talking about.

Many of you know that my main source of news is Time Magazine, and that I'm generally 6-8 issues behind in my reading.  Between being busy and having library books with due dates (how inconvenient!), I tend to put off reading my magazines.  This week, however...  I finally caught up!  I've been making slow but steady progress for about a month now, and by the time this week's issue came on Saturday, I had only two pages left in the previous week's issue.  I finished those two pages and read my new issue on Sunday.  Now I have no Time Magazines to read.  And I won't get a new one until Saturday.

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Bonus Post: The Olivia Quiz!

In the right sidebar, right above "Points that Don't Matter," you'll find some new links.  One is "Home," which is just the regular blog.  The other is "The Olivia Quiz," which is today's bonus.  If you click on that link, you'll be able to take a quiz all about 14-month-old Olivia.  You can list your answers in a comment (make sure you leave a name!) and I'll check them and award points when I put the answers up in a couple of weeks.  I'll aim for October 28, although it might be later (but certainly not earlier).  You have until I get the answers up to take the quiz.  Most of the answers will be guesses for almost everybody, so don't worry about others copying your answers.  No one knows who knows what and who's just a good/bad guesser!

October 7-14

Justine has a purse that I like, so a while ago I decided to try to make one for myself.  While I was visiting her several months ago, I borrowed her purse and took measurements.  When I returned home, I made one for myself.  It turned out really well, so Bryan encouraged me to make a few more so that I could try to sell them at the farmer's market.  The farmer's market came and went this summer without my participation, but I did make several purses in preparation for next year's farmer's market.  This last Saturday, I went to a craft sale type thing (which turned out to be more of a independent consultant type thing) at a relative's house and sold my first (and only) bag!  Most of the people there (by which I mean all of them except Murry, Keshia, and me) were independent consultants for various sell-from-your-home businesses, so I was actually surprised to sell anything.  I have renewed hope, though, for sales in a market more geared towards what I make.

Bryan says we're doing this parenting thing all backward.  I didn't ever buy baby food for Olivia, figuring she could just eat what we're eating.  We were mostly unworried about allergies or blended foods and just fed her bits and pieces of whatever we had for dinner.  This system actually works remarkably well, although it does backfire a bit when you have an opinionated one-year-old who knows where the Froot Loops are kept.  (I've since moved the Froot Loops to a different, more secret location, because I'm opposed to Olivia eating them for EVERY meal, even if they ARE packed with vitamins and nutrients under all that sugar.)  At some point, I became the owner of 13 of those new squeezie pouches -- essentially baby food in a capri sun juice pack.  We would allow Olivia to eat one every now ad again, especially if we were short on fruits and vegetables.  We had to ration them, though, because we only had 13.  I thought about buying more, but they cost more than I'm willing to pay.  If I'm going to buy baby food, the jars hold more and cost less.  We picked up a few more pouches when they were on sale, but by and large our supply of pouches was slowly but surely dwindling.  It was when we got down to one pouch that Olivia went on strike.  She decided that she would eat predominantly saltines and froot loops, and nothing else.  In a quest to get more (and varied) fruits and vegetables into her, I broke down and bought about thirty jars of baby food.  None of the gross ones, though, gross being defined as the whole meal pureed into one jar.  I couldn't handle buying "complete turkey meal with gravy," especially as the label had a picture of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a vegetable.  Anyway.  Olivia now has the stage 1-3 baby foods (basics, two flavor blends, and more exciting blends), classified as the ones for babies up through the "crawling" stage.  She had steak before she ever tasted pureed peas.

Olivia has been battling a cold on an off for about a month now.  I assume it's mostly related to the fact that she's getting her molars.  I'm still not exactly sure why teething (especially molars) often causes colds and/or fevers.  I heard it theorized that it's because teething babies have their hands in their mouth exponentially more.  And that teething toddlers cutting molars have their hands touching EVERYTHING else when ever they're not crammed in their mouths.  It makes sense to me.  Bryan and I have been steadfastly resisting catching Olivia's bug(s).  Until this week.  Wednesday night I started to feel sick and by Thursday I'd definitely caught whatever it is.  Mostly a runny nose and general congestion, although I get a periodic sore throat from drainage, too, since I'm better than Olivia at keeping my snot from just dripping freely from my nose all day.  It remains to be seen how long Bryan will last before he, too, succumbs.

Thursday night, Olivia developed a loud, barking cough.  I took her to the pediatrician on Friday, and she was diagnosed with croup and a mild ear infection.  We canceled our original plans to visit Michigan this weekend (which is a bummer, because everyone, including Justine, Joseph, and William, was going to be there) and stayed home to recuperate.

I had a video this week, but something is wrong with the video card on our computer and it won't upload.  When we get that fixed, I'll upload the ever so exciting video of Olivia resolutely carrying her toys one at a time from her toy box to the laundry basket across the room.

The correct number of weddings was 6.  I was in Justine's and Amanda's, Bryan was in Phil's and Derek's, and we also went to Amber's and Matt's.  I loved Jillian's guess, though.  Jillian, you must think we do nothing but go to weddings!  :)

Check in later this week (probably Wednesday) for a special Bonus Post involving up to 15 points to be earned per person!

Finally got that video to upload!
On a Mission

September 30-October 7

Last Friday I had the 10 week ultrasound for baby number 2.  It's amazing how much ultrasound technology has improved in just a few years.  The office got new equipment between the 10 week and 20 week ultrasounds for Olivia, and the change in quality is amazing when you compare this most recent one with Olivia's first.  Olivia was a little jelly bean with a blinking heartbeat.  This was a discernible baby with kicking feet and waving arms.  Go here to see Olivia's 10 week ultrasound (for comparison).

Last Saturday we were home on the weekend for the first time in a month.  We went to check out a few local garage sales and lucked out big time at the first one, which was a collection of all the baby stuff that one couple had gathered from all their children and grandchildren.  We got a nice (long-sleeved) winter dress, a couple of long sleeved shirts, and a coat for Olivia.  The coat might be too big this year since it's a 4T, but it will fit next year!

Saturday afternoon we went to yet another wedding.  3 points if you know the total number of weddings we've attended since our own.  Here's a hint: This was only the second wedding in which neither Bryan nor I was a participant.

Olivia walks all the time now!  Her arms are still up in the air most of the time, raised in a perpetual surrender to an unseen enemy.  She has little use for crawling, though, and happily stomps around the house all day.  She does seem a bit sad at times with her inability to go faster.

Friday I discovered 2 molars in Olivia's mouth.  One had just barely broken through and could have come in that day.  The other has obviously been there for a while.  I'd feel worse about not noticing if checking for molars didn't come with the risk of losing fingers.

My two orchestras (Monday and Thursday nights) are playing one of the same pieces this concert period.  Luckily, I like the piece, so I generally don't mind rehearsing it twice a week.  It's a little interesting trying to remember which conductor wants what, though.  It took me a while to figure out that I was playing the same piece twice, because one is Dvorak's Symphony No. 4 in G Major and the other is Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 in G Major.  Different names means different music, right?  Wrong.  It turns out that Dvorak stole an entire symphony from himself.  Actually, as it turns out, there is another Symphony No. 4 (in d minor), but Dvorak suppressed his earliest symphonies because he didn't think they stylistically matched his later works.  Because of this, the later symphonies were traditionally known by lower numbers, and it just so happens that Symphony No. 8's traditional number was 4 until we learned that there were earlier works and had to reorder the whole mess.  You learn something every day.

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