The Crall Space

Greetings from Carter on his 6-month b-day!

It's been a long time and I might be a bit rusty, but really, blog writing is like riding a bike . . . it's a lot harder when you're going uphill. I mean, you have to excuse me because I was in the middle of finals and then we had Christmas (I mean "Winter") break and I just wasn't in the blogging mood. I had better things to do, like wait in line for over an hour at See's Candies. Let me tell you, though, it was worth it. Usually we get chocolate Santas in our stockings, which are pretty ho-hum, but this year I went and picked me out some California Brittle . . . Ho-YUM! Anyway, sit down and relax and spend the next hour and a half reading this entry, assuming you read really, really, really slowly and at approximately a first grade level.

Carter's First Christmas Break
Both Lorein and I had two weeks off, so we stayed at my parents' house in Temecula for a good long stretch. It was great because they have stuff for Carter to do that we don't. I mean, our sink is way smaller than their's and he outgrew it a good four months ago! I think Carter also really enjoyed seeing everybody. He was so much happier than at our apartment and I think it's because he enjoys chaos. For example, Carter and I go on a walk everyday when I'm watching him because it eats up a big chunk of time. Our neighborhood is pretty happening seeing as it's all apartments and surrounded by busy streets, so I like to walk over into Culver City where it's chill and relaxed. I've noticed, however, that Carter doesn't last nearly as long on our Culver City walks as he does when we just walk around the neighborhood. He wants the noise (although he did cry the other day when the fire engine drove by with its sirens blaring). So, Carter really enjoyed seeing his aunt, uncles, and grandparents.
He also LOVED my parents' dog Creimer, which was unfortunate because Lorein's allergic. He played with Creimer the entire first day, but then Lorein immediately started itching all over and got a super runny nose when she fed him, so we had to restrict his access after that. He was only allowed to play with Creimer right before his bath. It was amazing how much he liked the dog, though. There were multiple times when he was totally crying that I would walk by Creimer and he would immediately stop crying and start laughing.



The real only downside to having Carter there was when it came time to open presents. In my family, we each take turns opening one present at a time. With Carter getting so many presents, and his relative inexperience in opening them, people were getting pretty impatient. On the bright side, it made present opening last a lot longer; I mean, it felt like Hannukah!



Here's a few more Carter pictures to show you what a good time he had:

Hanging out with Cary

Playing with Grandpa's hat

Taking a bath in his floatie

Eating rice cereal for the first time

Post Office Rant
Since we were leaving for two weeks and our mailbox is pretty small, I made sure the post office held our mail. We went down to the post office, picked up the form, took it home and filled it out, went back to the post office, waited in a long line, and gave the form to the post office lady. I assumed that would be sufficient to have our mail held while we were away.
After we got back, we headed over to the post office to get our mail. We waited in the special mail pick-up line which I think is special because it's way longer than the normal line and takes twice as much time too. Finally, the lady came out and asked for our slips. Since we were just picking up our mail, though, I didn't have a slip. What follows is the ensuing dialogue:

Me: I had my mail held and I need to pick it up, so I don't have a slip.
Her: Where's your slip?
Me: I don't have one. I need to pick up my held mail.
Her: Anyone with a slip? (person rushes over, cuts in front of me and gives her his slip)
Me: I just need to pick up my mail.
Her: Anyone else with a slip? (another person comes up and gives her a slip)
Me: I don't have a slip because I just need to pick up my mail.
Her: Why don't you have a slip?
Me: I came in two weeks ago, filled out the form to hold my mail and now I need to pick it up.
Her: Is this your slip? (pointing to a hold mail form in her hand)
Me: No, I turned mine in two weeks ago.
Her: Then whose slip is this?
Me: I don't know. That slip is from whoever gave it to you.

Her: What?! Get out of here! You're just trying to confuse me! Anybody have a slip? (another person comes up and gives her a slip)
Me: No, I'm not trying to confuse you. I just want to pick up my mail.

Finally, she wrote my address down and sent me back to wait with everybody else. After about twenty minutes, a different guy came out and said they didn't have any mail for me but that the lady was still checking. So, I sent Lorein back to check our mailbox. After another ten minutes, the lady came out and said there was no mail but I could call our letter carrier tomorrow. A few minutes later, Lorein arrived and said the mail lady was at our apartment and they hadn't held our mail at all. There was two weeks worth of mail crammed into our mailbox.
I can't really get mad at the post office for wasting my time since we should've just checked our mailbox on the way over. On the other hand, why did we fill out the form? It's not like it's a complicated, novel thing we asked them to do. In fact, it's so common they have a form right out there on the counter!

I just want some pizza
When we moved into our apartment in August 2006, the strip mall on the corner had a store with a "New York Pizza" sign. I was pretty stoked, but it turned out it wasn't open yet, but had a banner assuring me it was "Coming Soon". After a few months, the sign changed to "Mama's Pizza" but still "Coming Soon". A few months after that, a new banner appeared reading "Nina's Pizza Kitchen: Coming Soon". That lasted about a year until last week when the sign suddenly changed to "Johnnie's New York Pizzeria". Underneath the sign, though, the "Nina's Pizza Kitchen: Coming Soon" still hangs. Either way, it appears the pizza place is not coming soon and it angers me greatly. I am sure it will open the day we move.

Anyway, Carter wants to leave you with this GQ pose; just look at those lips!