Ask The Scientist

Ok. Here's something new for today. I'm going to call it "Ask The Scientist". Do you ever wonder about science related things? Like why your stomach doesn't digest itself or how aquatic frogs can hibernate underwater all winter and survive? No? Just me? Well if you do have any burning scientific questions, ask me. I might know the answer right off the bat, but I guarantee I won't know the answer to all of the questions. But, I'll figure it out and get back to you.

Here's one to start us off. Did you ever wonder why your noes runs when it's cold outside?

You nose is designed to warm, humidify, and filter the air that you breath before it reaches your lungs. One way that your nose does this is to produce a warm liquid (ie. mucus) for the air to pass over. If you're healthy (and not cold) you produce about 32 ounces (almost 1 liter) of mucus every day. Most of this mucus falls down the back of your throat and is swallowed.

Underneath the glands that secrete this mucus, you have a huge amount of tiny blood vessels which help supply these glands with oxygen and plasma that's used to make the mucus. In cold weather, these blood vessels dilate. This means you have increased blood supply to your nose, which in part protects your nose from the cold, but also means your nose will begin producing greater amounts of mucus (because more plasma is reaching your glands). This increased blood flow is also why your nose turns red when it's cold. Because your nose is making much more mucus than usual, not all of it can go down the back of your throat all at once. The overflow, if you will, drips out of your nose while it's waiting to go down your throat. Make sense?

Ok, now it's your turn. What do you want to know?

Random Wednesday

Let's see. I haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately. Partly because I've been a little busier than usual, and partly because I just don't have much to say. But here are a couple random things that are swimming around in my head today.

• I finally broke down and did it. For the past 5 years, my husband has asked me to give him a list of things that I would like to get as gifts. Apparently, I'm hard to buy for (although I dispute that fact). So, he wanted me to make a list. Until Monday, I was very much against making said list. One reason was because I wanted my husband to read my mind (joking, but only kind of). Secondly, receiving gifts makes me a little uncomfortable to begin with, so the proposition of making a whole entire list of things that I wanted did not sound like fun. But, in the end I caved. I made my list and I even included which holidays are important to me (ie. I could care less about Valentine's Day but I want him to celebrate our anniversary). It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Is this something you do in your families or do you have another system that works?
• Harper is turning 2 on Saturday. I can't believe that 2 years have passed in the blink of an eye.
• I like reading blogs. Here are just a few of my favorites. What are some other blogs that you think I need to know about?

1. This is my friend Melanie's blog. She's funny and her family is always up to something interesting.
2. This is my friend Christina's blog. I don't actually know Christina. She lives in Texas. But, I'm pretty sure we'd be friends if we lived in the same town. She has a beautiful family and her youngest daughter reminds me so much of Harper (she even looks like Harper).
3. I've been reading this blog for a couple weeks now. The authors shared their story at our church a few months ago (and have recently come on staff). It was pretty amazing. Even if you can't relate to the specifics of their particular story, I challenge anyone to not be inspired and convicted by their daily advice and wisdom. They are doing a good thing and I appreciate it.

Snow Day

Rob has today off, so he and Harper are hanging out. Whenever Rob is home alone with Harper, he sends me pictures of their adventures - probably to reassure me that she's fine and that the house isn't burning down. I appreciate the gesture. Here are the pictures that were in my inbox when I got to work this morning.

A car seat makes for a comfortable way to sit at the front door and watch all of our neighbors struggle to get up the (tiny) hill at the top of our street.

Putting her new snow suit on to brave the flurries outside

Happy Snow Day!

Happy Birthday, Rob!

A couple things for today:

• I think the french onion dip that I ate last night (the same french onion dip that has been in my fridge for maybe 2 weeks) has taken on some hallucinogenic properties. After eating it, I had the weirdest, most vivid dreams last night.
• I am going to my first spinning class tonight. I'm oddly looking forward to it despite the fact that I may die.
• Today is my husband's birthday! He's a pretty ok guy. He does all kinds of things like...

changing every single one of Harper's diapers in the hospital

and changing the timing belt on my car in our little one car garage during a snow storm

and making cute babies that have his eyes

and this kind of stuff too.

Happy birthday, babe. I love you!

Love Is In The Air

Harper's teacher sent me this picture last night. As you can see, Harper and Luke are best buddies.

Rock a Bye

Lately, this scenario is happening more and more. She's a good little mamma.

Out Of Touch

The Oscar nominations were announced earlier this week. I am a little embarrassed to say that I have only seen one of the films nominated for best picture. And really, if I didn't have a kid, I wouldn't have seen that one either. I used to be kind of a movie buff. Sadly, no more. However, I am going to make an effort to see as many of the best picture nominees as I can before the Oscars. Wish me luck. In the mean time, I thought I'd tell you what my top 5 movies of all time are (because I know you are just dying to know).

In no particular order:

• The English Patient - I love everything about this movie. The casting is great. The score is fantastic. And, it's just a beautiful movie to watch.

• Life Is Beautiful - I'm kind of a snob and I like to watch foreign films in their original language. Reading subtitles doesn't bother me, but bad voice overs do. This movie is so beautifully bitter sweet. I particularly like this scene, because it reminds me of something my husband would do.

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - I just really like the concept of this movie. Very thought provoking.

• To Kill a Mockingbird - It's no secret that this is my favorite book, but I also love the movie.

• Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 - Technically, these are 2 separate movies, but director Quentin Tarantino originally envisioned them as one work. Kung Fu movies are one of my guilty pleasures and this movie is a great mixture of old school kung fu and modern edginess. Yes, it's violent and at times inappropriate. But, I still like it.

Ok, what's your top 5?