I miss posts from my favorite bloggers but then I realize that I hardly post anymore either.

Lots of big changes in the Rice house. Merritt was easily potty trained in about three weeks. Suddenly that's one less kid in diapers and it rocks. He doesn't even have a changing table in his room anymore. I'm so proud of him and amazed at how quickly he got it.

Justin, on the other hand, continues to amaze me with his lack of sleep. He sees nothing wrong with waking before dawn and sleeping for a scant one hour in the afternoon. My days have been stressed out by trying to keep him awake in the car (because if he gets even five minutes in the AM then it's zero sleep in the afternoon) and by having Merritt sleep for several hours while whiny no sleep baby puts a wrench in my down time and then Merritt has trouble falling asleep at night because he took a long nap--or Merritt takes no nap because he slept late in the morning. So now I'm trying a whole new approach: no set naps for either and a nice early bedtime. That way I don't care if Justin dozes in the car and hopefully they will both sleep late in the AM. I have been seriously at my wits end and I don't know what else to do.

Merritt started his two day per week preschool. It's going well so far and yesterday he pulled out some sign language he had learned ("No stop"). His teacher told me he was smart and was good at playing independently and when he got hurt he did not want anyone to attend to him but his mother so they just let him be.

This blows my mind...imagine what they all look like in reality:

Today is the five year anniversary of this, the Tuskart blog. Read my first entry here. Read my most popular entry here.

My whole art site is now black background with pink text.

Soon I will have a tattoo anklet of black vines and pink flowers to complement the existing ankh from eighteen years ago (!).

There has been a very exciting development on the home exchange front.

I'm taking a longer and more advanced yoga class in place of the gentle one. It's time to stop being lazy and take it to the next level. The new class is challenging and hard work and hopefully this leftover pregnancy belly of mine will finally recede.

My sister and her daughter are going to be living in St. Augustine for a while, possibly long term or permanently. I'll be watching Maggie a lot so Mary can commute to her weekend job in SC, which means lots of babysitting in exchange. I am looking forward to more dates with Andy.

America's Next Top Model premiers September 19th and I'm going to devote my other blog, The Pretty Gene, to writing about it.

Both boys are getting molars at the same time! If one of them is sleeping well, the other one is not. The days are looooooonnnnnnng....

Merritt starts preschool next Tuesday. I need to buy him his first lunchbox and it will most likely be Thomas the Tank Engine.

I took him to see the Thomas stage show in Jacksonville the other day. He wore his Thomas T-shirt along with the hundred or so other kids. It was cool in a massive mind control cult kind of way.

His third birthday is coming up next month and it's easy to guess what the theme is going to be.

We put down the Flor tiles in the guest/kid bath and they look amazing. I love the way they feel on bare feet.

I am in the process of redoing parts of my website, starting with the home page. This blog is next.

Remember when you and your friends and family gathered around the television set to watch the world premiere of Michael Jackson's Thriller video? I do.

Eggman913 has done it again:

The Soundtrack to My Life

Opening Credits:
Dirty Boots - Sonic Youth

Waking Up:
Close to Me - The Cure

First Day At School:
Working Class Hero - John Lennon

Falling In Love:
Love is the Shit That Makes Life Bloom - Spearhead

Fight Song:
Lunchbox - Marilyn Manson

Breaking Up:
Divorce Song - Liz Phair

Prom:
Shake It Like a White Girl - EU

Life:
Beautiful World - Coldplay

Mental Breakdown:
Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin

Driving:
Another Day - Jimmie's Chicken Shack

Flashback:
Wish Your Were Here - Pink Floyd

Getting Back Together:
Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy

Wedding:
One Rainy Wish - Jimi Hendrix Experience

Birth Of Child:
Serenade - Steve Miller Band

Final Battle:
Love Removal Machine - The Cult

Death Scene:
Hurricane Waters - Citizen Cope

Funeral Song:
And She Was - Talking Heads

End Credits:
Fool's Gold - Stone Roses

Whitney sent this out and I had to laugh--I think I am about 80 percent Floridian at this point. I did have to reply back and ask her about the stingray shuffle though.

THIS IS FLORIDA AND ONLY FLORIDIANS KNOW THIS...

"Down South" means Key West

"Panhandling" means going to Pensacola.

You think no-one over 70 should be allowed to drive.

Flip-flops are everyday wear.

Shoes are for business meetings and church.

No, wait, flip flops are good for church too, unless it's Easter or
Christmas.

Sweet tea can be served at any meal.

An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.

You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip or cruise to Florida.

You measure distance in minutes.

You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.

You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.

All the local festivals are named after a fruit.

A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.

You think everyone from a bigger city has a northern accent.

You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer,
not summer but really hot, and Christmas.

It's not soda, cola, or pop...its coke, regardless of brand or flavor, "What kinda coke you want?"

Anything under 95 is just warm.

Anything under 70 is chilly.

You've hosted a hurricane party.

You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the best rides.

You pass on the right and honk at the elderly.

You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches.

You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee, Withlacoochee, Okahumpka and
Loxahatchee.

You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.

Bumper stickers on the pickup in front of you include: various fish, NRA, and a confederate flag.

You were 8 before you realized they made houses without pools.

You were 12 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.

You get angry when people say "Florida isn't really part of the SOUTH"

You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.

You know what the "stingray shuffle" is, and why it's important!

Socks are only for bowling

Orange juice from concentrate makes you vomit

Tap water makes you vomit

You never use an umbrella because you know the rain will be over in
five minutes

A good parking place has nothing to do with distance from the store,
but everything to do with shade.

Your winter coat is made of denim

You can tell the difference between fire ant bites and mosquito bites

You're younger than thirty but some of your friends are over 65

You've driven through Yeehaw Junction.

You could swim before you could read

You have to drive north to get to The South

You know that no other grocery store can compare to Publix.

Every other house had blue roofs in 2004-2005

You've gotten out of school early on Halloween to trick or treat before it got dark

You know that anything under a Category 3 just isn't worth waking up for.

You dread lovebug season.

You are on a first name basis with the Hurricane list. They aren't Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances...but Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

You know what a snowbird is and you hate them.

You know why flamingos are pink.

You think a six-foot alligator is actually pretty average.

You were twelve before you ever saw snow or you still haven't.

Polygamy Party Night!

No, my life isn't really that exciting. But I am mixing up a batch (or two) of my new favorite cocktail and watching Big Love tonight.

Watermelon YUM
Place four cups of fresh delicious cubed watermelon in the blender bowl and put in freezer until melon is half frozen. Add three tablespoons lime juice and one quarter cup vodka, rum, or my favorite: coconut rum. Blend and enjoy.

Big Love and Top Chef are my shows right now. Sex and food.

Last night I saw two of the absolute worst movies I've ever seen. I'm still haunted by them. Thanks DVR. Gerry: two guys get lost in the desert and walk. And walk. And walk. And walk some more. Thanks Gus Van Sant for wasting two hours of my life with your absurd idea of avant garde. Havoc: the acting was painful to watch, the plot was ridiculous, and I'm still disturbed by how overall terrible the film was. Avoid Gerry and Havoc at all costs.

I am back on Makeup Alley and having fun with it. Back when I was making real money for the first time in my life I spent most of it on spa treatments and expensive makeup that I don't use anymore. So now I'm swapping it for things like OPI nail polish and books I want to read.

Merritt starts preschool two days a week on August 21st. It's a huge milestone and if he weren't such a sweet, outgoing kid I would be worried. I know he will love the whole school experience. It will be a big change for all of us though. I am taking him to the Thomas the Tank Engine stage show in Jacksonville the week before so that will be special.

Justin is walking all over the place and since starting that he sleeps a bit better, presumably he's expending a lot of energy. No major injuries yet but this is the time for a lot of bumps and bruises. I always say that Merritt and Justin are like night and day, and they are, but one thing they have in common is that they love books and being read to. Justin will come right up to you with his favorite pop-up book (Peekaboo Farm, was Merritt's favorite at this stage too) and push it in your hands until you read it to him.

We are ramping up for major home updates. I picked out two deep shades of grey/brown paint for the great room and of course I have the beautiful red for the master bedroom. I think we're going to do a gold for the master bath. We've got FLOR tiles for the guest bath in Parrot and Painted Turtle. We bought a beautiful Pacific Bamboo laminate to replace all our carpet (except the dining room--hoping to do cork in there) and now we just need to decide whether to install it ourselves or pay someone to do it.

Bamboo:



Cork: