The Fabulous B@ker Blog

After 5 1/2 years in our house, we finally got motivated enough to unpack and organize the attic. It's pretty damp up there, with a lot of creepy-crawly things, so I was concerned about moving a lot of the stuff out of cardboard boxes and into large plastic containers. The long weekend proved a great time to get down to business, so up we went. I complain a lot about how much of a pack rat Mark is (I'm the opposite...I get rid of everything that I'm not using or haven't worn in the last couple of years), but for once I as glad for his tendency to save because I located (most likely) every letter I wrote to him during the early years of our courtship, dated from December 1981 through August 1984, right up to the time I moved to Rochester. After finding them, I did not have an overwhelming desire to read them, wanting to leave the past in the past, and figuring they'd be corny as heck. After 28 years together and 22 years of marriage, so much has happened (much great,...

Here's a little nugget to get your Thanksgiving week started out right. I've posted Annalisse-isms before here and here, and here's a conversation we had on Saturday on the way to the mall to buy her friend a birthday gift certificate: A: How much is a $20 gift certificate? Me: How much do you think it is? A: I don't know. Me: If you had to guess, what would you guess it costs? A: I don't know. Maybe $30? !!!!!!!!!! Well, it turns out that a $20 mall gift certificate actually costs $22, so I guess the joke was on me.

Most of last week was spent in Boston for a two-day conference for work. I arrived early on Tuesday morning and had the day to spend as "tourist" until I had to check-in at 9am on Wednesday morning. I suppose it's a sign of maturity that I thoroughly enjoyed the short walk to Quincy Market, a longer walk on the Freedom trail, wandering around Chinatown and relaxing (by myself!!) in my hotel room. I remember back to 1991 or so when I went to my first professional conference, and was very anxious about the trip - what would I do at mealtime? And what it would be like to be all alone in a hotel room? These days, I really enjoy the solitude of short get-away from "real life" and the sometimes mundane routine that comes from family and work! Are we talking escape, here?! One of the hot things going around on Facebook these days is the challenge to post a message every day about things we are thankful for. Of course, I'm thankful for the usual stuff: healthy kids...

This was another "great" week of bad health for the Bakers. While I was feeling more myself and back on the track to good health, the kids still struggled all week with coughing, low-grade fevers, sore throats and headaches. Looking over the years, I recall that February is a particularly bad month for sickness in our family and others, so the fact that it's all taken a such a hold so early in the season makes me very uncomfortable and anxious for the winter. Even our sweet nephew, Jackson, has been through the wringer this week with a double ear infection, pneumonia, and the H1N1 virus. Dave and Mandy have been in and out of doctors and emergency rooms with him for a week now, and Mom flew down on Wednesday morning to help out. Luckily, yesterday (after being in the ER for re-hydration until 4am the previous morning) he seemed to turn a corner and has been perking up regaining strength, and eating a little again. All of this does not bode well for a worry wart like me. N...