One more sweet picture

My mom also made this precious hat and sweater outfit for Aidan. The hat has two little pom poms on the top attached to a small inch long yarn string. I love the sweater neck, too. It's so cute! His pants, socks and striped turtle-neck are new from Grandma too. This little baby is all ready for fall and winter!

Walking with Grandpa

Here is the most adorable picture of Grandpa and Aidan walking down the sidewalk together.

My weekly update

I've been so busy every day that it seems I've only got time to update the blog once a week now!
Mom's been here since Saturday night to spend time with Aidan and for a change of scenery for herself. It's been SO nice having her here and part of that is because Aidan can spend some quality time with his Grandma and the added perk is Golf and I can get a lot done.

So that's just what I have been doing: Working hard this week. In addition to doing our e-commerce work, I got to clean out Adian's room and rearrange the furniture, which is something I wanted to get done for weeks now. We gave away a huge garbage bag of his baby clothes, but kept quite a few pieces from his infancy as momentos.

Aidan updates: Our baby wants to eat by himself now! He had been refusing food for a few days and Mom said to let him try eating by himself. We gave him a spoon and helped him out and he was happy as a clam! Our baby's growing up! Mom also takes him for walks where he walks down the sidewalk with us, holding our hands, just like a big kid. She took a picture of my dad holding his hand walking ahead of her and it's the most precious thing. That photo is on Golf's computer, so later today I'll get on his and upload it here, it's darling.

Work update: The school district called AND I got an application in the mail to be a sub. There is a meeting tomorrow about it for all applicants, so that will be interesting, so all hope is not lost. It will be good part time income and it won't be dreadfully boring.

Later this morning I'm taking part in a market study for bloggers. I'm getting paid for two hours of my time by a research group -- a woman I'm friends with got me involved. Hey, for about 3 hours of time total (incl. driving time) what I'm being paid is really a good deal.

I plan to buy a bicycle seat today with the money. The FREE bike my sister gave me was STOLEN and the other one we got for free has an easily removeable seat, which got stolen, so now I have no bike to ride. So this means I have to remove the bike seat every time I lock it up. It SUCKS!!! What's wrong with people?!?!!?

Anyway, that's my update for now. I hope to get that precious picture up later today.

7 from the Goal

Weight loss update: I'm nearly there!!! My skinny jeans fit as do my other skinny pants, but they are still a wee bit snug. I can't tell you how great it feels to have my normal body back!!! WOO HOO!!!!!

The Thai military coup

It's been all over the news and of course Golf and I are watching closely. I think in the end, this is a very good thing for Thailand, as their Prime Minister is NOT good for the country. Gee, can the US stage a similar coup to oust Bush?!? :) But Golf got to chat with his brother online yesterday and it's peaceful, with life as usual, but perhaps more low key. Many schools were cancelled and banks closed, but that was about the extent of it.

My former colleage, Michelle, is still there in Bangkok and is blogging about her experience of it here.

Here is a good CNN article summing up the coup:

Everything you ought to know about the military takeover in Bangkok.

So what happened?
The Thai military seized control of government buildings and television stations in Bangkok in a bloodless coup on Tuesday while Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was away in New York attending the U.N. General Assembly. Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin has been placed in charge of the country as head of an interim military-run Political Reform Council, revoking the country's constitution and declaring martial law as tanks and troops continue to police the streets.

A bit sneaky, wasn't it?
Perhaps, but so far there has been no sign of any opposition to the coup, with military leaders having been received by Thailand's popular monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin, prime minister since 2001 and one of Thailand's richest businessmen, had become an increasingly controversial figure in recent months amid allegations of corruption and cronyism, despite being re-elected by a landslide in 2005 and enjoying widespread popularity in the countryside because of his populist spending policies, including the introduction of virtually free healthcare for the rural poor.

What is Thaksin accused of?
Thaksin has been using Thailand as a front for his family telecommunications business, Shin, according to his critics. In January he made around $1.9 billion by selling his family's controlling stake to Singapore's state investment company, paying no tax on the sale. Opponents claimed the deal involved insider trading and the sale of national assets to a foreign government. In April, Thaksin staged and won a snap election in an attempt to defuse the crisis, only for the result to be ruled unconstitutional by the national court. A fresh ballot on his leadership had been scheduled for November which Thaksim's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party had been expected to win.

Tanks on the street, generals on television ... it's all a bit old-fashioned, isn't it?
"Military coups are a thing of the past," Sonthi said recently, with a wink. "Political troubles should be resolved by politicians." But although Thailand (formerly Siam) has been a stable democracy since 1991, it has a long history of this sort of thing, with 18 coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

So what happens next?
The army has promised to return power to the people swiftly and says a new prime minister will be appointed within two weeks. "I would like to assure that the Council has no intention of running the country by itself and will return power, under the constitutional monarchy, to the people as soon as possible," Sonthi said.

What about Thaksin?
Somewhat belatedly, Thaksin announced he had fired Sonthi and ordered him to report to the office of his deputy PM. He also declared a state of emergency and insisted, against the evidence of local reports, that his government remained in charge of the armed forces. But Thaksin was last seen heading for London, where he has an apartment, to meet his family and plot his next move.

So should I cancel my holiday to Phuket?
So far the coup has been unmarked by violence but most countries including the U.S., the EU states and Australia are warning citizens planning to visit Thailand to reconsider until the situation settles down. Those in the country are being urged to stay in their homes or avoid large gatherings. New Zealand told its citizens not to go sightseeing around government buildings. But flights in and out of the country are undisturbed, and organizers of next week's Thailand Open tennis tournament also said the event would go ahead -- so pack your racket.

We're now on the RIGHT path

Remember a few weeks ago how I wondered if I was even on the right path with regard to my teaching and how I ended up with roadblock after roadblock? Well, it's so weird because a few days ago, the universe opened up to Golf and me and a new path was shown to us so clearly and obviously that a person would be a fool not to take it. It's been frightening taking these new steps, but it's more frightening to stay in our current situation than to take some risks that will pay off in the future. I can't say much on what it is we're up to, but this is the reason my blog has been a bit quiet. We're really busy! As time goes on, I will let on to what we're up to. :)

Formatting screwed up

Don't know what's up with Blogger's formatting. Hope it's better by tomorrow! 

A very busy week

The whole week last week has been a whirlwind of hard work. Last Tuesday I went to a 
warehouse outlet that sells clothing and such from good department stores. I spent a LOT of money, and 
since I want to get it back by selling it on eBay and hopefully getting a profit, I spent the rest of the week creating the ads, taking photos,  editing the photos, researching the market data to make the best ads I could, then scheduling them for release. I wake up every morning at 5:30 to get some work time in at the computer before Aidan wakes up. Sunday is flea market day and we found some more treasures to sell.

The problem with buying used goods is that there is a chance it is not selling well. Most of the stuff Golf has bought at yard sales is sitting around our apartment because it's not 
selling well at the time, so we keep it til later. I'm purchasing the kind of stuff that has high turnaround. I don't want to keep stuff around in our apartment. I want it out! So we'll see how my stuff goes this coming week.

On a different topic. Bugs. Cockroaches to be exact. We didn't have this problem this time last year. They're in our kitchen and while they are mostly tiny, there are some that are larger, although not the giant size you get in Thailand.  Several weeks ago we had an exterminator come out and spray and put in roach traps 
in our cupboards. The bastards are still here. I keep a clean kitchen. I cook every day so
there's a lot of food around, could that be why? No other neighbor has a cockroach problem. I
keep the floor clean the counter and stovetop clean -- everything. The only food I leave out on
the counter is bananas or other fruit. It's driving me crazy and makes me feel like I'm a filthy
person, especially since we're the only apartment with this problem! Is it because we cook every day? I just don't understand and it's driving me crazy. 

Steve Irwin's death

I'm just so sad about the news of Steve Irwin's death. He's a good guy, friendly, and he truly cares about animals. My heart goes out to his wife and two children. :( :(