Show Me the Money!

I took it upon myself to go through all of the books we have in our library at home (which is a lot, mind you), and weed out the books that if I were living in Tucson, would probably be taken to Bookman's. These books (just my books), and Nick's textbooks from college, have been listed on Half.com. I am new to selling on Half, and it seems like a fair trade. I did the listing of Nick's textbooks while he was at a squadron roll call, and I had already sold a textbook of his when he got home! I am going to be selling more books, once Nick goes through his personal inventory, and listing more on Half.com. I hope this really works out!

Also, I figured out that I was trying to upload too many pictures to the blog at one time, so I guess I am back to posting...YAY!

(BTW:the picture above is of my birthday cake when Razvan gets ahold of the candles)

Safety is Important

In the Rad family, we know that child-proofing and safety are important around the house. We have put locks on all cabinets to keep little people out of the chemicals that would be harmful to them. See? If you have a child lock for the baby to play with, it means that she is not going to get into the poisonous chemicals. Good thing we figured this out!!! (clears throat toward Nick) Dear? The lock may work a little better if you put it on the cabinet. Just a suggestion!

On another note, Auntie Jude has been making that baby some fabulous outfits, and the following pictures are of the dress, bloomers, and bonnet that were sent for Hannah's birthday. The dress says, "Future Pilot" on the top part, and I really like it. Now, getting my daughter to stand still long enough so I can take a picture to show her Great Auntie was another story:

Just for fun, this is a picture I snuck while Hannah was sleeping:

Have a great day!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Today is Hannah's first birthday!!! She has been such a joy and blessing to our family. I know it's only been a year, but we can't imagine life without her.

I know I can run my mouth in this blog, but I will let the pictures do the talking. This is the year that was:

WE LOVE YOU, SWEETHEART!

"Ask for Me Tomorrow, and You Shall Find Me a Grave Man, er, Woman"

Everyone knows what a klutz I am, correct? If you don't, I not only fall down stairs, but up stairs. I run into walls (I blame that they weren't there before). I constantly have bruises on my shins for running into tables, and other stationary, inanimate objects, and yell at them for getting in my way. I fall off the couch when I roll over. I fall (literally) into our bed, because the side rails are low, and I have scraped the top of my feet on them on numerous occasions. I crack my elbows on doorknobs. Suffice it to say, I am a walking train wreck. Mmkay?

I don't need any help in hurting myself, and this is why we have a lighted, clear path to Hannah's room in the house, because if I need to go in there during the night, I can guarantee I will run into something, and curse the air blue, which wakes up the whole house.

Since Nick and I have lived together, I have accused him of sabotage, due to the fact that he enjoys leaving his flip flops out in the living room. He now has a crawling monster that enjoys playing with them, and though he may leave them under the coffee table, she gets them out and places them strategically in the walkway. I figured that this is some way of getting mom back for something or other. I know they have planned it...I have found graphs, PowerPoint presentations, etc. on how to get mom to kill herself.

I was picking up the house yesterday in preparation for my mom coming to visit. She asked that I not make a big deal about it, and go on a cleaning-spree of the house (yeah, right), but I did figure that it would be nice if there were a clear path to the places in the house (i.e. kitchen, couch, the guest bedroom). I was picking up Hannah's toys and putting them in the toy bin, when lo and behold, I tripped over those dang flip flops in the walkway. I was then possessed by something, because I decided that it was necessary to make the following item out of poster board, and attach it to the door leading into the garage, so that Nick would see it directly when coming home:

For those who don't know, papuci is the Romanian word for slippers, or in this case, flippie-doos. I had the idea to wait to hear the garage door opening when Nick came home from work, and lay down on the ground with the flip flops by me. Kelly thought it would be good to make a masking tape outline of a body, but I don't have that much time. Unfortunately, there was a roll call at the squadron, and Nick didn't come home until way late, so I had to just show him the tombstone, and he laughed, laughed, laughed. I hope he gets the point!!!

Anyway, because I haven't posted in a while, here are some pictures of that monkey, because I do realize that people usually read the blog for stories on her, and to see pictures, and I don't want to disappoint the public with my stories:

AHHHHHHHHHH!

I Finally Bowed Down to the Man

Actually, it was more like the grandma. She kept saying, "Hannah wants to go swimming", "You need to get her in the water so she gets used to it", etc. I honestly believe that she wanted Hannah to get use out of her THREE bathing suits before she was too large and in charge. Anyone who knows me can tell me what I do at swimming pools: sit in one of the lounge chairs, fully-clothed with jeans on, not even wanting to put my feet in. Now, before I received this WONDERFUL gift known as the, "post-baby body", I did that, and now, it's worse. Yeah, yeah, I could be worse off, but I think I went swimming too much as a child, and now have no interest in it. I figured swimming could be something that daddy could do with Hannah (along with golf, because everyone knows that golf makes you throw up).

So, because it is near the end of the summer, or just in the middle, because being a stay-at-home mom, your summer doesn't end until the summer actually ends, I found an inflatable pool at Walmart (spare me, people. I live in the South, and you don't have a lot of choice on where to shop. Our BX-eeeeeeeeeee is laughable-remember that, you DM peeps, because yours is HEAVEN!) Anyway, it was on clearance for 5 smackers, and I decided to get it. After this asthmatic nearly passed out from blowing it up, we took it to the back porch (dear husband asked not on the grass-he loves his grass more than anything, and didn't want it killed), and proceeded to have a wonderful time splashing. I think it was the best $5 that I ever spent! AND I got in the pool with my bikini on (one that I had before I was blessed with a munchkin), and it actually fit! Maybe I am not that bad after all!

Maybe I Feel Better Today...

Maybe I feel a little like blogging today. It could be that yesterday was crap (literally), it could be that I have already started drinking coffee, it could be that DH will be home soon (soon is good enough-OP SEC people!-this isn't a secure line!)

Everyone who is on my e-mail list or is a friend on Facebook already knows what my darling, sweet, girlie-girl of a daughter did yesterday, and since Papa Stoli has yet to hear about it, and because I don't want you to think that all I think about is poop, I will not bore you with the retelling of said story yet again on my blog. Today is a new day!

I would like to say that a ton of things have been happening while we have been away from the blog. They have, but as I put up top, you probably know about them from already receiving pictures either through e-mail or Facebook. Hannah and I have made it through the deployment so far, and we don't have much longer to go. We were blessed with the opportunity to be able to visit Aunt Judy and Uncle Donn in Mississippi for a few days, and also were blessed by the arrival of my seeeeeeeester, Kelly, at the end of June. This has wonderfully broken up the monotony that sometimes makes up our lives (which is really not a bad thing, as I could be working again).

Hannah has made leaps and bounds since I last posted a "real" post on here. She is now trying several solid foods, not even things that you would think a baby of 10 months should eat: bean and cheese burritos, Palak Paneer (Indian-style spinach casserole with Indian cheese), Pita bread, basmati rice, someone named Judy gave her ice cream, someone named Marco gave her chocolate donut, Mămăligă (look it up, laymen)). She really makes me proud with the food she likes, a true Williams and Radoescu. None of this, "I will only eat white bread with mayo and sugar" garbage, thank goodness!

Hannah is also standing on her own for short periods of time, still holding on to furniture, or whatever she can get her little hands on to pull up (which is why momma keeps a keen eye on her, because she thinks the cat should stand still enough for her to pull up). She is babbling ALL THE TIME-I wake up to it on the monitor in the morning...that paired with the darn cat meowing is enough to make me go crazier than I already am, and first thing in the morning!

We have had a sweetheart of a person assist me with the mowing and trimming in the yard while Stoli has been gone. I wish I knew who it was, but I will have to "Pay it Forward", because it really has been helpful. The only time that I have to mow without a monkey screaming in the background is at 2000 hours, before it gets completely dark. YUCK! I told Stoli to get ready for his homecoming by picturing our yard with "sideburns". I have yet to figure out how to turn the trimmer on, and if we lived on a busier street, that thing would have been chucked into traffic long ago. All in all, this time has been an adventure, to say the least!!

P.S.-as for the picture at the top of the post-betcha didn't know that the Chonger is my birthday buddy-'splains a lot!!!!!

P.P.S-I think that Hannah's call sign should be "Stoli Razberi", because she really blows those raspberries at the most opportune times-see:spouse's coffee when the Wing commander is speaking, grocery store when the cashier is making small talk, same spouse's coffee when the hostess is offering a blessing prior to the food being served) I love my little mouth-farting daughter!

Dear Reader

Dear loyal "Rad Report" reader,

I apologize for not posting on the blog since May. I did attempt to post in June, and while I was reading the blog for accuracy, I found that the tone of the entire post was quite snarky, and so it was promptly deleted. I want this blog to be fun, and mark what is going on in our lives. It's not as though nothing has been happening, because it definitely has, but the undertone is sad and a little mad, because one of our members is, "out of pocket". Until I can get a better attitude (which I have been working on for a couple of months), I will not be posting. I am sorry, but if you really want to know what's going on until that day comes, please request to be my friend on Facebook, and you can see the drivel that I post.

Thanks!

JLR and Fam