525,600 minutes ...

Jan. 26

Jennifer Kirby — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:32:23 +0000

I have an absolute aversion to everything about my cell phone — from the sound of its ring to the idea that I (or anyone) should be available at all times. I deal by avoidance: I leave it in the car most of the time.

I usually check messages every day or two, except on the weekends, when I completely ignore it. Which means they’ve piled up by Monday morning.

Jan. 25

Jennifer Kirby — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:31:53 +0000

Unless we’re just exhausted, Matt and I usually read a few minutes every night before turning out the lights. Therefore there’s always a pile of books on each side of our bed, although his is smaller because he likes to finish one book before starting another, whereas I like variety.

Jan. 24

Jennifer Kirby — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:28:09 +0000

More Sadie. This was taken after her mom, Sallie, kicked off her heels and Sadie quickly claimed them.

Jan. 23

Jennifer Kirby — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:25:38 +0000

Tonight Matt and I got to babysit Sadie, one of the world’s cutest kids. Here she was directing a version of Simon Says in which Matt and I had to remove our shoes and copy everything she did.

Jan. 22

Jennifer Kirby — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:26:34 +0000

These signs tracking United Way’s progress toward its annual goal are scattered throughout town. I’m so proud of our community for bringing us to 80 percent of an ambitious goal in a very tough economic year.

Our United Way uses these donations to support about two-dozen deserving local agencies. These agencies go through a rigorous yearly review-and-allocations process to apply for these funds; the United Way of Moore County is an excellent steward of the money it distributes.

Today started and ended with United Way for me — a board meeting in the morning, and the annual Cornerstone Award banquet in the evening — so this seemed like an appropriate picture for the day.

Jan. 21

Jennifer Kirby — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:12:40 +0000

Everything refroze overnight so we didn’t go into work until lunchtime. These icicles greeted us at the office, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining today — they’ll melt before long.

Jan. 20

Jennifer Kirby — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:15:11 +0000

It is SO RARE to have a legitimate snow day around here, but it happened today! This was our back yard around 10 a.m. The flurries continued until early afternoon, and by the time it stopped we had about five inches.

Jan. 19

Jennifer Kirby — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:10:43 +0000

If you know me, you know how I feel about public libraries — I LOVE them and I USE them! I could make do with no public trash pickup; I’ve gone most of my life with no public transportation; I could substitute a well and a septic tank for public water and sewer — but I wouldn’t want to live in a community without a good public-library system.

Jan. 18

Jennifer Kirby — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 01:24:24 +0000

Lib, who gave birth just a few weeks ago, lent me her copy of “Baby Bargains,” which is kind of like “Consumer Reports” for all things baby. There’s a lot of information to absorb, and details aren’t my strong suit. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to turn the page and see this — a detailed, highlighted, marked-up, thoroughly Libified cheat sheet for crib shopping! It’s classic Lib and will be oh-so-useful in a couple of months. Thanks for all your hard work, chica!

Jan. 17

Jennifer Kirby — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:17:26 +0000

Our street lost power for the third time in 24 hours today. The first two times it was restored quickly, but the third time, around 10 this morning, several hours went by and the Progress Energy hotline still couldn’t give us an estimate of when we’d have electricity again. Meanwhile, the house was getting chilly, we were getting hungry, we had no hot water for showers and both State and Duke were about to play basketball.

The obvious solution was to invite ourselves to Carrie and Jacob’s house. I didn’t care about the games, but I did get to hold Riley all afternoon.