We caved this last weekend and bought Ashleigh a little baby. It’s cute, wasn’t much, and even came with a carrier/car seat. Oh yeah, and didn’t have Graco plastered on it.

Ashleigh just got done “changing” her baby. Just too cute…and I’m not ready for this! She is growing up so fast but it sure is fun to watch. She even had her own diaper wipes out, lifting the baby’s legs up and saying “butt up” like I say to her.

I need to get a picture of Ash wearing her little backpack…another one of those things that just makes smile. She’s so proud of it and it fits her perfectly! She loves to carry her My Little Ponies in them, too.

Sigh…I suppose I’ll get used to this. The good stuff like these sure seem to make up for the crazy tantrums and midnight fits. Hearing her count “1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10″ as we go down the stairs is so worth it.

I was reading an article about how a small tribe didn’t have numbers in their language and I was excited. Granted, it’s more on the linguistic side of anthropology, but still, it’s partially cultural. Stuff I don’t understand yet because I’ve just begun studying this subject.

Anyhow, I did something I rarely do and started reading the comments for the article. I’m still not sure why I did. I began reading through and nothing but insults or blah blah. Then, someone starts mentioning anthropology as a “soft science” and the differences between hard and soft sciences and went a little off base. Off, in that they assumed anthropology as only cultural, not the four areas that it covers. I wanted SO bad to post a reply, explain how they were mistaken, that the part of anthropology they were comparing to psychology and biological sciences one only that…a PART. They apparently didn’t realize that anthropology encompasses cultural, biological, linguistics, and archaeological aspects. They were talking about genetics and touched on evolution and variations and I just wanted to scream “I know what you THINK you’re talking about but you’re getting it wrong!”

But I didn’t. As much passion as I have for anthropology, I’m still learning, still trying to remember certain terms, specific theories, and details that escape me as when I really need them. I know it takes years, but it’s FRUSTRATING, having the general knowledge and understanding but not the capability to spit it out and remember it in context or conversation.

I fixed it! Yeah me. I had turned off hot linking via my cPanel of Cashewstyle.com and that was causing the problem. Since I’m not having issues with hot linking (I’ll catch anyone who does because I check my stats every day to see who’s providing all my wonderful traffic), it’s not a big deal. It felt so good to email the people who’d been having problems that it was all fixed. I hated not knowing what was going on!

Whew, okay.

BTW, I started school yesterday, and so far, everything is going okay. I actually enjoyed my time in Cultural Anthro just because my teacher is so passionate about what he teaches. Monday and Wednesdays for an hour and a half are going to be my favorite times of the week, I can tell you that now.

I’m retaking my Math class so I can move on in that area and it’s already making more sense. World History and Art are online as well, so I’m pretty busy around here. I’m trying not freak out when thinking about all the responsibilities I have and just taking each day as I go.

I also made a call to the local mental health clinic and I’m still waiting to do the intake, but it’s progress. I have a feeling this “winging it” without meds isn’t going to be very manageable when I start rapid-cycling again.

Okay, time to read my 30 page chapter for my Art Appreciation class. Then, more tinkering with the Zen-Cart for my store. Priorities…I need to get this down one of these days and now is the best time to start.

I have a question for any who might have an answer for me.

Cashew Style is going really well. So well, my bandwidth is over 3 gig this month. I don’t think I’ve had that much in a year for this site!

Anyhow, I do have some people that have told me they need to turn their firewall off in order to view the images on my site. Not just the item images, but ALL images. My friend said she only had to do it for my site and a handful of other ones. I’m glad she knows what to do to access it but I’m sure not everyone who has that problem does.

I really had no idea what she meant until I decided to take a peak at cashewstyle.com from one of the computers in our apartment complex computer lab. NONE of the images were loading. Very weird.

So…anyone have an idea why it’s doing this and what I could change or fix to keep this from happening? Any help is MUCH appreciated.

Ashleigh loves the water and will stay in the pool forever, swimming around in her floaties like she own the place.

So, yesterday morning, the three of us headed out for what we thought was a quick trip to replace Ashleigh’s broken floaties. Once again, she had bit them and there was a hole that no longer to be fixed with Liquid Skin.

What we thought would be a few minute trip to Target ended up being a two hour ride from store to store to store until we finally found some floaties at the damn dollar store. I don’t get it. It is only the first week of August and no one seems to have anymore summer swim stuff. Most of what Target had was left overs on clearance, and of course it was stuff we didn’t.

This is Southern California. Since when did people stop swimming in August? I realize the school stuff is out and school will be starting in a couple weeks, but this is ridiculous. Kids will still play in the pools after school and on the weekends. I could understand taking summer stuff down from the aisles in Seattle, but in SoCal? Stupid, just stupid.

We ran into a handful of other people on the same quest yesterday morning: floaties for their kids. So we’re not the only ones!

Of course, all that driving around and wandering through stores doesn’t seem to matter since Ashleigh bit one of her arm floaties last night. It’s patched for now but I’m beginning to think it’s time for her to use one of those chest floatie thingies and learn how to swim.

I told John last week that I was feeling myself fall, feeling down, and that even though I knew it was happening I just couldn’t stop it. I’ve been floating down there this last week and I’m fighting every day.

Saturday fed my desires and we literally did nothing all day and took naps. I didn’t have to try to be happy, didn’t have to think about everything that is overwhelming me, I didn’t have to be anything other than what I was for that day.

Sunday was full of friends, barbecue, swimming and I made it. I actually had fun and enjoyed myself. Yet slowly, creeping through yesterday and now today, I am falling again. This positive thinking thing is really hard when I want to be happy about something that’s exciting but just can’t find that point when my engulfing mood doesn’t matter.