Fathomable Depths: August 2005

The Big Un-Easy

Well, the Wizard is back online again despite having to work a little extra this week. In my spare time I have been glued to the television watching the situation in New Orleans deteriorating and the rebuilding begin. It is simply overwhelming. Wifey says it is difficult to watch the footage because it is so reminiscent of the devastation she experienced after Hurricane Andrew. Several of my younger employees at work were visibly distraught and questioned whether this event had any historical precedent or were they just not as aware of previous disasters of this type. I assured them that disasters had been occurring before this most recent iteration and it was not the beginning of the apocalypse(which quite a few of them suspected). I was surprised by the general sense of panic concerning the price of gas in Knoxville today. When I gassed up this morning regular unleaded was at $2.59/gal. The stations across the street from work were at $2.99 when I arrived. By the time I left approximately 11 hours later the price had increased to $3.09/gal. There were reports of price gouging locally and in Atlanta there were instances of merchants charging over $6.00/gal. Almost every single employee pleaded to be excused to fill up their tanks and I could not turn them down. It seems that gas fever will soon have a hold on most of the country. I hope that will not prevent people from making a donation to the victims of this disaster. I may have a day off tomorrow, I may not. I will do my best to update with more as soon as possible. God bless and keep the hurricane victims safe.

Prepare to be pacified!

Daddy sings a post-work lullaby

That stroller is beautiful, so why are you crying?

Have baby, will travel

Mommy on a roll

Got sleep?

Nona and the crybaby

Sicky icky

Hey everybody, long time no post!! Sorry about the spontaneous hiatus(can't say I didn't warn you), but I have been a little under the weather recently. Luckily, Wifey did not get afflicted with my infirmity. Unfortunately Annabelle did get a touch of the bug, but she is dealing with it well and has made a quick recovery. No cause for concern because the doctor says at this stage it is okay to have them exposed to some germs to help build and condition their immune systems(as long as it's not Ebola or anything). She is feeling better and will be visiting the doc for her one month check-up on Thursday. She is certainly a lucky girl to have family that cares for her and sends her wonderful presents like the ones she received this week. Tia Emma sent a beautiful framed poem she wrote for her grandniece and Wendy and Randy Blue sent a care package full of gifts and clothes for our little girlie. Our across-the-street neighbors even stopped by with some goodies for her. We are doing our best to keep up with the thank you letters, although the gifts are arriving at such a feverish pace we are falling behind. We appreciate the presents immensely and are having a lot of fun with the fruits of your generosity. We have not forgotten the thank yous, they will be arriving soon. We received news of another August baby born into our family yesterday. David Andon Dexter was born Friday to his parents Django and Lisa Dexter in California. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. and is doing well. Congratulations you two and welcome to the world Andon! We can't wait for him to meet Annabelle. I will get some pics up as soon as I can. In the meantime I will share some more pics of our baby! Oh, and I also wanted to post a couple of recipes I tried recently with nice results. Hope you give them a shot, they are delicious. Here's number one and number two(I substituted broccoli for cauliflower and used real eggs--delicious). I have also enjoyed listening to music from a new artist I have been hearing on the local college radio station. It is by a guy named Matisyahu(Hebrew for Matthew) who is a Hasidic Jewish reggae-style rapper. Yes, you heard me right, a Hasidic rapper! Check out the "King Without a Crown" soundclip. He is touring the country and will be playing shows in Portland and Albuquerque(but not on Fridays, it's shabbas, of course). He's not coming to Knoxville, but I highly recommend checking him out if he stops by your neck of the woods. Have a great night and stay safe.

Flying Solo

Well, it's official. Wifey and I have made is through our first 24 hours without parental assistance. My folks headed home yesterday morning and left us on our own for the first time since Annabelle's birth. We would like to thank all of our parents for their priceless assistance during this transitional period of our lives. I have no idea how we would have done it without them. Annabelle is doing great and starting to sleep longer almost every night. Wifey is doing well and I am back to work. I have to give a special thanks to my Papi for working so hard Sunday to renovate our basement. We had fun installing new light fixtures and making the space a lot more livable. I will try to get some pictures up as soon as I can. I am feeling a little bit under the weather so I will keep this post short. Just wanted to let you all know we are doing well and getting a little sleep here and there. Have a great evening and stay safe.

Five days too long

Hello my frustrated blogbuddies, the Wizard is back to give you the update you have been craving. My parents have been visiting this week and I have gotten out to play golf twice, yes, twice this week. How about that for a feat?! We have been eating well the past two days, with Bar-B-Q ribs yesterday and grilled salmon and flounder today. Annabelle has been sleeping a little bit more at night and we are slowly getting caught up on our rest. We finally took that first walk I mentioned a few days ago and I have a few pictures documenting the event. I am exhausted from the day's activities, so I will have to keep this one short. I hope you enjoy the pics and I will post more soon, I promise :-)

And this little buggy came rolling home

The family unit in action(minus Sasha the cat)

Ramblin' rascals

Mama and baby on the roll

Meg got a snuggle for her birthday

Abuelo otra vez!

Here's looking at you kid!

Nona and her newest grandbaby

It's a snugglefest

Ahhhhh, snuggles

In this case you can believe everything you read, it's certainly true

We call this her "Milk Mug"

With newborns, you take your sleep when you can get it!

Less walk, more talk

Well, the aforementioned walk was postponed because of inclement weather, but in lieu of those photos, I will be posting more baby pics. Wifey and I have been having a lot of fun spending time with Nana and Annabelle. Work has been a little busy recently and Annabelle has been keeping us up at night, so I have not had a lot of chances to post. I hope all of my cherished viewers, veteran and novice, will forgive my lack of posts this week. I will do my best to get these things back on schedule soon. I will post some pics of the beautiful mural we commissioned at the restaurant soon, as it was just completed today. We are all looking forward to a visit from my parents this week. They just returned from a vacation in Maui and should be flying up tomorrow(weather permitting, of course). Until my next update, relax and enjoy some more pics of our gorgeous baby!