C'est la vie

Don't Stop Believing

2011-10-11T09:53:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's such a cliche post title. Yes, I am a huge Journey fan, from 1981, when I discovered my mother's "Escape" album in her collection, and after that, I found departure, and then bought Frontiers with my own allowance money.
Yes, that now infamous song title was my Senior quote printed in the year book in class of '94. Of course, in '94, not too many people we're familiar with that particular lyric as everyone is today (thanks Glee!).

I grew up with lot's of Classic rock in the background, along with what was trending in the '80's, such as U2, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran and the Hooters. I loved it all, didn't know any different. I could recognize any song within before the first lyric was sung, it's like photographic memory for the ears, (does that exist? I'll have to google it later), none the less, a strange & useless talent.

I did not enjoy all of it the music I heard, but found it all comforting, it was the closet thing to home to me. Music is my on main source of comfort. One artist I did not care for was Eric Clapton. My mother loved this man, and would constantly turn the volume up everytime his music was aired. I did not care for him. I think my dislike stemmed from her love. I didn't want to like everything she liked, be an individual. Although I did think it was cool that I was the only child in my school that was just as familiar with Kansas and Asia songs as the teachers, but I drew the line at Clapton.
When I was 12, my mother babysat my 1 year old cousin, every weekday. During those days she expose him to lots of Mellencamp videos that were airing on MTV at that time, and would force him to dance. He got excited, moved his limbs, but only by her example, and only to what she deemed was good music. Like a typical budding teenager I rolled my eyes to this and insisted it was brainwashing and swore I would not do this to my own children.

Fast forward to know. During my daughter's early years, I worked and she was with my Sister-In-Law during the days. My Sister-In-Law is a HUGE fan of Micheal Buble. Guess what, my now 7 year old daughter is a huge fan of Micheal Buble. It just figures I myself am not a fan, oh well. My son like top 40, whatever is currently playing on the radio while we drive. He was home with me from infancy on. But, I did not force him to like type of music, try to get him excited about anything in particular. I just expose both of them, and he likes what he hears, and I noticed he also has the knack for knowing a song from it's first note, that's my boy :)

Wondering when I'm coming around to the Journey again? here it is. I listen to Journey still today, but i play it the kitchen, for my own ears, while the kids are watching TV. I don't play it much in the car, unless it comes across a "Classic Rock" or "'80's" station. My daughter does not recognize Journey if you threw it at her, nor would my son, or so I thought. A couple days ago, my 4 year old son & I were shopping and as I was pushing the cart, I was barely able to hear him mindlessly singing, "Don't Stop Believing, Hold Onto That Feeling" and in perfect melody. I am surprised. This means he overheard me listening to it and that easily he can recall it's lyrics and tune. I was surprised, and hearing him sing this on his own will made me smile, (normally he sings anything Katy Perry or Kesha). :)

Footloose

2011-10-05T09:49:00.001-04:00

I received a pass to view a screening of Footloose (the new remake) last night. Since I'm about music and movies of the 80's, this was great. I took my 17 year old niece, she was excited to go because her high school performed it as their spring musical last year. Gawd, that alone makes me feel old.
Going in I was nervous about it being all country-like. I know the story takes place in the country, but I didn't want to listen to country music all night. I was relieved.
First, three original songs were kept in the film, one was even kept to the original scene, and same exact song (Let's Hear For My Boy) original artist, recording, etc. Another was in it's original scene, but sung by different artists (Almost Paradise). The third is the iconic theme, also redone by different artists, but was placed in different scenes. Thierry was one or two country sings played, but there were also a rsp sing or two and a Quiet Riot, nice mix.
Even iconic scenes were reproduced just right. Instead of the iconic "barn solo dance" it was an abandoned factory, complete with a pulley to dangle from and wall slats, you guessed it, where the sunlight provided that striped background. Even some dance moves were recreated, in keeping it as the original, but mixed in lots of more modern dance steps and a more modern song.
Remember the scene where his friend remembers to dance? Still there. Again updated with some newer steps, but some original moves were there and the original song still played perfectly.
Lastly the "Prom" scene. This made me laugh. The character playing Kevin Bacon's roll had his hair pouffed like Kevin's throughout the movie, but that last scene, he was dressed in the same dark red dinner jacket and big goofy black bow-tie. Of course they had confetti shoot overhead as they did that iconic dance where everyone copied his moves behind him, like you saw in old Kevin Bacon movie posters.

It was a great homage to an iconic 80's movie. That's my take on it :)

Stretching thin

2011-10-04T09:21:00.002-04:00

This school year, I am Room Mom not only to Mad's 2nd grade class, but to Nic's pre-school class as well. Luckily I share the responsibility with other mothers. I have a co-mom in Mad's room, one that I volunteered with last year and we work well together, and two new co-mom's in Nic's class.

The and only conflict is Halloween day, of course they are both scheduled to have parties that same day, and almost nearly the same time. This is wehn it would of been helpful to of had him in a morning class so his party would be out of the way before her's started after lunch.

First thought, I want to attend his, since his food allergies are more sever then Mad's, I like to be on board so I can help him navigate the treats and to help the volunteer parent to understand his allergy as well. Mad will be OK with this, she had me in the class room for the past 4 years.

But I'm thinking I still want to be present in her room party. A recent event of a class "bully" has arisen with Mad as her target, so now I want to be a presence in this class, A) to see this girl as she interacts, and B) to show her that Mad's Momma is around, watch-out, lol!

Here is my current thinking:

12:30 pre-school drop off. Pics taken of the pre-schoolers, introductions mad, instructions given to Nic of what he can and can not touch/eat.

1:15 Report to elementary school to assist Mad with her costume, and see parade. Assist other volunteer moms with party set-up.

2pm Run back to pre-school to wrap-up party there. Bring Nic home at 3pm dismissal. Return to elementary school for Mad's 3:30 dismissal. Try to re-enter classroom.

Yes, I know, it's a crazy thought, but I am gonna discuss this with the other co-mom's. i really don't feel an overwhelming need to be at Nic's as I do want to be at Mad's because of this potential class bully in the works. Im confident that Nic knows not to eat anything he cant at the party, he's very good about it at his age. i know there will be a lot of questions form other volunteer moms wanting to know more about his condition, but i will be available for future parties :)

2011-10-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

Recent thing Mad has said to Nic:
Mad: "When you grow up you will be a daddy, and your lucky, because mommy's have the baby's and I bet that hurts, right Mommy?
Me: "uhmm, yes"

Catching up.

2011-10-03T19:20:00.003-04:00

I'm Baaack!

It's been brought to my attentions that I should continue again. So, I will :)

First of all, eldest, aka, Girl child, is now 7, and youngest, boy child, is 4. The boy continues to have EOE, or Eosinophilic esophagitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eosinophilic_esophagitis), and in fact has yet another scope next Wednesday. We recently took oatmeal out of his diet. He ate tons of it everyday and his last scope proved his levels were still too high. Let's pray he passes this test with normal levels, pretty please!

The girl child has been, as she calls it, "I see Black" or "I feel dizzy" for the last year, inconsistantly. First we blamed the heat of summer when she would "black out" and be pale as a a sheet at summer day camp. Then when she had a "moment" and was all clammy & white disembarking a plane, we blamed anxiety of being on vacation. Then we it happened in the doctors office, while having her blood pressure taken, which was 43 over something, we knew it was low blood pressure. Her EKG was fine. She has Vasovagal Syncope,http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vasovagal-syncope/DS00806) ( a condition more commonly found in pre-teens or teenagers. Yes, we will be dealing with this condition of hers till she grows out of it, out of her teen years. Yay, my 7 year old is a teenager already, not funny. She will pass out if she stands too quickly, (she moves about slowly as it is already), sees blood or anything she considers gross, or is overheated. Doctor's cure: add more table salt too all her meals. She has been loving the salt. One night recently after eating dinner she told me she was still feeling dizzy, so i showed her to lick her wrist, add salt and lick again for a quick pick-me-up. Was that bad?

Besides the kids, I myself have had major surgery this past spring. I experienced great weakness in my arms/wrists and lots of achy-ness form my shoulders down. Turning my head form side to side was not negotiable and that made it uncomfortable for me to drive. I saw a new specialty MD about having injections in my neck, to kill the pain. They sent me for an MRI, how I loath small, long, tight spaces. The results were two herniated disks in my neck were pinching my spine. Apparently the surgery to fix this is not performed on anyone my age, they really emphasized this to me while still pressing taht I was not in a position to wait too long to surgically correct the problem. So I had the surgery to remove & replace the two disks and also have my neck re-aligned. Fun stuff.

Thngs Madeline has said

2008-12-14T10:48:00.000-05:00

Recently Madeline has said a few things that were really interesting. she is a 4 year old that has an answer for everything. Here are two examples:

Example One
Aunt: "Madeline, can i write a list for santa, will he bring me things too?"
Mad: "Yes"
Aunt: "But I want really big things, will he bring them?"
Mad: "Yes, u just need really big paper to write on!"

Example Two
Mad talking to Santa: "I want a Jetplane, new barbies, playdoh"
Santa "Ok, make sure you listen to your mommy and daddy"

Me: "Mad, do u think santa will bring u a full size jetplane, or do u think he will figure out that you really ment a barbie size jetplane?"
Mad: Laughes, "He can't bring me a real one mommy, he doesn't have enough wrapping paper on his roll for that!"
Me: "Good point, he must be a smart man"

Gotta love a child's reasoning

2008-11-25T11:38:00.003-05:00

So, Tom, my bff, tagged me in this blog-related thing, and sicne i haven't typed anything since september, why not, right?

directions:
Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Write 6 random things about yourself. Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post. Let each person know he/she has been tagged. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1) I love music, it is teh best mood inducer, and mood lifter for me. I turn "into" waht ever i currently listen to, be it dance R&B as of lately, or more grunge rock to classic rock, or the ultimate, 80's! Currently it is Charolett Church and enya holiday stuff :)

2) I am very spritual. Not many people pick up on it becasue I am not very forward with it nor pratice it in convential forms, but I am.

3) I have a gift of being a receiver. Only a few people know this. I've had the gift all me life but early on as a young girl, i tried all i could to surpress my "receptors". In recent years, that has not worked. I've had many visitors. some i have mentioned to freinds, and others I've always kept to myself. In this past year, i've had so many visitations. Most recetly I've been able to actully use this "gift" to help send a message from a dearly departed to my cousin, the messager was his aunt (no relation to me). When i gave him her message he was so happy and revelaed that it was what had needed to hear, so now he can complete his greaiving. It was moving for me to actully help and do good with waht i always considered a burden of mine.

4)I have become very addicted to a game on both facebooka nd myspace called YoVille. Not sure why it's captured me so much, but it has.

5) My favorite season is Summer, I relish in heat and can't bear the cold.

6) My favorite holiday season is now till mid Jan. I love the whole christmas in the air feeling, Startign this week, the week of thanksgiving, I am filled with such joy that I can not explain. i also have impressive patiance to wait in line and traffic along with teh "complainers" who act upset and surpried thsi smae time of year every year. The rest of the year my patience are low, lol!

Cindy: A friend in college that i keep regular contact thru our family forum.

Tom: Who had tagged me with doing this. He's my bff from college, plus the godfather to my son. His blog is great, it' sa mix of things to ponder and hear a bout his family.

Laura: She is actully my hihg school friend's college friend, get that? Anywho we keep in contact via the same forum as Cindy and Tom's wife, Erin. Her children are adorable. She, Tom, and I have son's taht are clsoe in age, all three in a row!

Diane: I dont have a link to her blog yet, but i will work on that. She is my bff from high school and her blog is about homeschooling preschoolers.

-: This blog i've been following ever since i vacationed in Sint Maartin 2 years ago, it pretty cool about life on teh island
.
Hurley: The big guy form LOST, i love his blog. most of it is non-lost related, but he is cool and funny to read about. He had a lot of travels between seasons and likes to goof around :)

21

2008-09-09T09:57:00.002-04:00

Dream title: 21
Date: 9.9.08 (My college roomie's bday)
Setting: In a touristy town, very small and non-descript and near a beach.

We begin, my family, on the beach, one that is wooded so maybe it's a lake beach. I run into my childhood best friend and her immediate family (sister, hubby, mother & father). We pass by and say a quick hello. Later we are in a dim resturant. I feel tense and awkward for not spending time with her, but it is not easy to do so because she is with her family and I am with mine. I do pass her in the resturant and she asks for $21 that I apparent;y owe her (not sure why I owe her). i open my wallet and see different bills, none are of a 20, and not enough 5's or 10's. I tell sorry. She says OK, but tension is still felt.
Next scene is of the next day and we are packing up to leave. the resturant is part of a Bed & Breakfast we are staying at. I see my friend's family and I approach them. They tell me my friends is not leaving with them but staying behind. I look in my wallet again and see a $2 and a $1. I run to the Inn Keeper's room, she is getting dressed, then tells me where I can find my friend. I find her and hand her the cash.
The end.

I'm at a lost with this dream, It's like there is no meaning to be found in it at all, LOL!

Reocurring Dream

2008-09-06T10:25:00.003-04:00

For a few years, I've had this dream. In the last year it's frequency increased. The setting is always different, but the outcome and emotions are always the same.

Setting: A freinds home, a vacation bed & breakfast, and lastly, my own basement.

I will be in these various setting either with my hubby, or family members, or with my daughter. We tour the location and I will feel that one room is not for me to be in. I get an uneasy feeling that I should not be in that room, that it is haunted and I am ridden with fear just being in the room. In the course of the dream I will be forced to be in this room, and something does happen. Things will move, I will hear noises, but I won't "see" anything. What does happen frightens me awake. Once I'm awake my heart will be pounding and I will be sweating. I usually go back to sleep, peacefully a few minutes later.

The last ocurrance of this dream took place in my own basement. I was with my daughter, when suddenly she is frightned and something sends us fear, I never saw what frightened us so much, I just felt the emotion of fear, and I woke up the same way, heart pounding and sweating.

After that last dream I though for sure that I was being haunted and that I needed to look into it, to stop the fear. I found an energy healer that happened to be an aquantince. I explained these dreams to her and asked if she had any recommendations on how to deal with a possible haunting. Her answer surprised me. For her the dreams were very obvious and not related to be being haunted. Instead, I apperently have "sensitivity," meaning, I posess a little phsycic ability. The dreams represent my own struggle to unlock my abilities. In sleep, my hidden abilities want to be active and communicate, but my own fears fight against it because I fear the unknown. Interesting, I have stopped having this dream now, yay.

Dream Journaling

2008-09-04T21:24:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine has started dream journaling some time back. i commented to him that I would join him and do the same, only I kept forgetting to write my dreams down and then began forgetting my dreams more and more.

Normally I have very vivid dreams, some have been re-occurring and filled with fear. Recently I've found out what the meaning to those were and they have since stopped, good thing.

I can now write aobut two dreams.

Dream One, Title: "Energy Source" 7/08

Setting: The upstairs bedroom of the house I grew up in.

I am sitting in the room chatting away and packing belongings up, as if to move out. There is a crowd in the room with me, no one that i recognize, but in this dream, they seem to be friends of mine. We find a room within the crawl space next to my room, there are rods of clothing, children's clothing, I never seen this room before. I'm back into the main room. A man with a suit enters and says, "Here is where your problem is" as he opens my closet door and points down to the left. "This air conditioner unit is the source of all your energy"

I look at where he is pointing and find an air unit. This is wierd because this particular house had window units only, no central air. I look up to where I should see where my granmother used to store her glass coffe pots, but instead I see an SUV parked un the truss beams in the roof/attic space. I suddenly hear my grandmother's voice describe that the vehicle belonged to my Uncle and he hid it there to hide it from my Grandfather.

End.

There are so many things wrong in that dream, like how do you fit a vehicle into a house's truss beams??!!!

Dream Two, Title: "Convention" 9/4/08

Setting: Sitting in seats at an unknown convention somwhere.

All around me are people I do not recognize, but in the dream I am chatting away with them. We are all dressed profesionally. someone stands near me and joins in the conversation and is holding a baby. The baby is missing a head, I can see into it's neck, the muscle, the veins and etc. I look around and no one appears to be alarmed, I follow along and bring no attentin to the baby.

More happens in this dream, like adiffernt scenerio and storline, but I can no longer remeber it.

Wow, I got real far behind didn't I!

2008-06-10T13:05:00.003-04:00

Well, my son is almost about to walk, amazing. This time last year I found it hard to get into my pool with his many short naps....now i can't wait for him to take his onw nap so my daughter and I can get in on this 94 degree and climbing day!

Things have abeen a bit hectic. The little man had isues with putting on weight, his weight flatlined since his 9 month well visit. Plus he has been puking on and off all month of May, quite fustrating. More fustrating was the many lab tests and x-arys he had to have to rule out anything serious, poor guy. godd thing he is a happy guy, still smiles at the dr. after all the poking.

My daughter is good, altough she seems to be more clingy and more jealous then she has ever been, odd since her brother has been here over a year now, not sure what is going on inside her mind.

The shore, yep we are back to driving down every other weekend to our little getaway down the shore, despite the increasing gas $$$.

Travel:
We went to Disney World for 4 days back on Easter (March), and then drove to Tampa and cought a 4 day cruise to Key West and Cozumel, Mx. (our favorite port). We weren't happy about the short cruise, but booked it anyway last minute due to having family already booked on it. We much more prefer the 7 night or longer voyages, but after 4 days in Orland, this was enough. My 4 year old daughter enjoyed the cruise more over Disney World, so did we, haha. Nothing is better then walking past all the tourist taps in Mexico and going right up to the cab and asking for your favorite beach then shopping after that. oh yeah, the shopping. Hubby and I planned on not doing much shopping due to little space in our luggage. I was fine with this, plus we didn't need anymore Mexican artwork. Low and behold, hubby dragged me, carrying our 12 month old, 16 lb son in a sling and our daughter who does not take heat to well, up and down the allys with bags of "souvineirs" go fig. At least we stopped to get mommy a slammer, ahhh, so refreshing followed by a margarita, thank goodness my son was fully weaned off the breastmilk the week before this vacation, haha!

Next on my todo agenda, next years vacation. St. Thomas or Playa Del Carmen, Mx. we don't know yet.

it's Official, Nic's crawling

2008-02-29T20:37:00.001-05:00

Photobucket Album

Exhausted, but so worth the fun

2008-02-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

Today, Mad had two back to back partys, both fo the smae type, indoor blow up moon bounce equipment. The first was called "Bounce U" 7 the 2nd at "Pump It UP"
it was SO MUCH FUN!! At first mad was intimidated, so I had to go in one of the moonbouce obstacle courses with her that ended in a practically freefall slide (90 degree drop) and we did it over and over and over and so on, it was fun, but boy I'm pooped and I think I pulled somehting, but she was able to do it herslef there after that and a bouncy monster was created! even on flat hard surface floors she continued to jump. 4 hours later at the 2nd identical party she was looking pooped and moving/climbing slower but still chugged on. She should sleep in real late, hehe!

My cute son

2008-01-28T23:26:00.001-05:00

You seriously will not see anything more adorable than this, except for your own son, OMG!

My husband is right, I have sissified him!

Celebrating My Greyhound

2008-01-15T15:44:00.000-05:00

I have one, her name is Slate. her racing name had been "Clean slate" and she hailed from Florida. she is now 11 years old, a senior dog, but year or two left in her. Greyhound life expectancy, as pets, are 10-15. 15 years is not seen by too many. Slate will not finish out her 12th.
Today she went to the vet for an xray, she has cancer. It is rapidly growing on her face, it's pushing on her eye and her nasal cavity. One night she woke us up with a horrible snorting sound.

Eight years ago, I was still living with my grandmother. I wanted a dog and my Grandmother told of a news article she recently read about a guy in Philly who was litterly "flying" racing greyhounds up to be adopted and to be saved from a shorter life on the tracks. I had grew with big german sheperds and labadors. Having a Greyhound sounded intriuging, and saving it's life was more interesting. I needed a co-adopter since I was not a home owner, my Grandmother signed as co-adopter. In August, 1999, we were given Slate, an all black female that was a little roudy and visious with squeky toys and newspapers. She needed to be in a home with no other animals, that was us. she quickly had our hearts and shortly after, she had my husbands, who at the time I was dating. She loved running, so much she made it out the door and down the block a couple of times. She loved ripping squeaky toys to pieces.

Thsi past fall she needed 6 teeth removed. They were extracted. then the swelling from the surgury never went down. The thoguht she needed one other tooth removed, they went ahead and removed a 7th. Swellign still had not gone down. She been on many different antibiotics and none worked. So finally, via xray today, it was determined as a cancerous tumor.

They said to keep her comfortable for the next few weeks. I asked if she would make it to Easter or more, and he said no.

Greyhounds are amazing pets. Theyy are gentle, great with children. They don't pester, but do require to be on a leash. Someday, furthur down the road, we will get another one.

Seraching for items

2008-01-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Hope all is well with everyone out there!
I've begun the new year with a quest for a few itemsa needed for both a trip to Florida in March and for summer weekend trips down the shore.

Item #1) A toddler travel bed. At the end of last summer my horrible pack "n play broke beyond repairable, it was man-handled due to being so horrible. AKA, my husband snapped a rail by bending it since trying to "unlock" the rails was impossible to due.
Good freinds of mine have a really cool travel bed for thier children. It's inflatable and has raised sides to prevent rolling out, I something along the lines of that. Another chocie is something new I saw, but very expensive, it springs open and can be zipped shut, so when my 1 year wakes up before us, at least I know he is enclosed.
Like I said, the latter is pricey, (of course ideal) and the first mentioned one will fit the bill, some on ebay are reasonbly priced, but the shipping charge is killing me and I can't find it in any store in town, hence my "quest"

Item #2) A storage bag for a carseat so It can be protected when checked as luggage on flights. In March I will fliy with my 12 month old in my lap and my 3 3/4 year old will be dine in a seat, she's done it before. so I'd like to check the carseats so that i don't have to rely on the nasty ones that come with the rental cars. A good freind of mine lent me a contraption that will strap the carseat to carryon luggage so it can act as a stroller. But I'm not set that is the best scenario. I will need to take two umbrella strollers anyway since they will be needed for the theme parks. I might as well gate check them since i will need to take them, so converting luggage to a stroller is not an answer for me, but i may, still mualing waht to do. I did reserve a bosster seat for my almost 4 year old with the car rentsl and only want to take the convertable or infant seat & base for the 12 month old son.
Yes I know this bag I'm looking for is $15 or so and easy enough to find at babies 'r us, but, since i'm already on a roll of being cheap, i keep rolling with it, LOL!

So these item I am scouring criagslist for and I can tell you now, they are NOT popular items people are looking to let go!

If you know the whereabouts of any of these, plaese tell me!!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-22T16:05:00.000-05:00

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

a little snooze

2007-12-16T15:10:00.000-05:00

After his Adventure to get the bar stool (as seen below) i find found him taking a nap, shhh...

Man on a mission

2007-12-16T15:09:00.000-05:00

I caught him trying to reach for the bar stool in the kitchen. He wasn't fussing, infact he was very quiet because he was concentrating, LOL!

Just as things were moving along...

2007-12-16T11:46:00.000-05:00

I get a cold.
I got my project off my plate, (as mentioned in previous post) and I had a couple days of chaotic decluttering and I come down with a cold, right before I start with the deep house cleaning required to be done prior to the arrival of holiday house guests & festivites.

This is one reason why I'm so glad I am not working, other wise i'd have an extra stress on time, If I was working and had the cold, I'd be too wiped out at night to even think about cleaning.

I have house geusts arriving on Friday evening. i know i can get it all done by then, plus bake cookies, no problem Mon!

Little MAn

2007-12-14T17:13:00.000-05:00

Is still asleep! A 3 hour nap! Should i worry?

I was just complaining that latly his nap run for only an hour at a time, at a total of 3 naps. We had a play date, had a 30 min. morning nap and missed his lunch nap completly, but is now making up for it. He also has not been sleeping well at night, he's up screaming in pain, a combo of not passing any poop and teething.

I am so lucky taht my eldest 3.5 year old alos fell asleep at 3:30pm and is still asleep at 5:30pm.

I had time to finish up earlier mentioned project for previous posts, it's malied out and off my plate, yeah!!!!

Now I can cath-up on the house clutter, decotate tree, make cookies, catch up on laudry before hubby has to re-wear his boxers, wtap up gifts and scoop dog waste outta the back yard (that is a bit overdue, oops)!
First I'm enjoying a hot bowl of mac 'n cheese in peace.....
:)

finding balance (cont...)

2007-12-10T23:03:00.000-05:00

Christmas cards, cookies, christmas tree, playing dollhouse, laundry. The many things I'm trying to accomplish this month, all of which are on the back burner while I received a freelance project. A 2 story house with basement needs to be drafted by yours truly, and I'm finding it very difficult to dedicate any time to anything, so I have been very unproductive.

I try to start drafting, then realize that I need to load a new version of Autocad, I do so, time consuming. As that is going I start a load of luandry, then comeback to the cad, ahh, Nic is crying...Mad needs something.... By this point I realize that it's 5pm and I haven't thoguht about dinner yet.

I see my four plants in the dinning room, two are cacti (is that plural for cactus?), hardy, that good. Then there is one is an orchid, i know, very delicate, the other, I'm not sure wha tit is but it is big, tall & green, and probably needs water. They all do. Ther is one petal left on the orchid. Why do I have these plants, good question, my hubby thinks I can care for them. The first cactus was a gift from him early in our marriage, a few later he gave me the other cactus. He saw that they were still alive and most recently got me the orchid, being it's my favorite flower. Well, the cactus held out because they are hardy, but what was he thinking, i have no green thumb!

See, here I am posting a 2 part blog when I should really be out shopping for food, we've run dangerously low. Then I should get started on the drafting that I need to do.
My biggest problem is while i'm trying to work, beside the kid frendly interruptions. My mind worries aobut the other things, the dirt kitchen counters, the carpet taht needs vaccuming, the larger piles of clean clothes that need folding, the filthy bathrooms......that is when I become unproductive, I can't focus.
I know that ifd this was Jan, this all would be a minor issue, but it's 2 weeks from xmass and I need to get cards out and cookies baked and the house suitable for our Christmas Eve party.
oy.

Ok, no more complaining, i'm logging off and goign to do something!

Happy Holidays to all!

finding balance

2007-12-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

Finding balance is hard this time of year. Ever since February, I've been home as a stay at home mom. I love it. But i haven't found my groove yet. From mid Feb. to early March, I still had just my daughter and I was enjoying that time together. I was also keeping up on laudry and stuff so that when the baby came, it wasn't chaotic for hubby to continue housekeeping. Early March came and baby Nic was here. People came to visit, thinfs were good. After two weeks post partum I began leaving the house every morning to walk the mall before store hours, for excercie and out of house time. I met my sister in law there, taht was good, and often I ran errands between the mall and home. Most of the time baby nic was good for this routine, only a few months later he began to cry in the car, in the mornign was when he cryed least. I instisted he needed to get used to car rides, we con't function otherwise.

Now as for the house keeping....I never really got a stable groove. For a while Nic was eating every 2 hours, not much free time for me. Then he began every 3 hours, I found myself with more time, but not enough, or i just didn't spend it well, I still wasn't very productive.

Now he is on a wacky nap schedule, only an hour nap 3 times a day, not enough, and he won't let me out of his site and he is getting bored unless I directly entertain him. I hope this is a short phase.

I blame the fact not finding my groove is due to an everchanging scahedlue of an infnat. I hope that this time next year will be better.

Know waht we need

2007-12-01T15:03:00.000-05:00

Am address database taht is on the internet and not a conputer installed software. Like Outlook, only you can access it from any conmputer.
This address book will be spicifically for mailouts, like chirtmas card list and birthday party invite list, according to child, and it would print to lables according to the Avery codes, like outlook would.

Too many times I've upgraded my computer since my original christmas card list. I'm on my third now and it's laptop. Other times I've used the smae computer but upgrades had been installed and I can't acces my address list in Outlokk because I don't understand how to find and open a psp or wahtever it is file.
Nother thing, you know that whole mail merge thing outlook does, it takes me a couple hours every year to figure this $#@!& thing out, away with that, my new site will be able to do it without haveing to "merge stupid fields"

Is there anything out there like that already???

Happy Holidays!

Santa timeline

2007-11-30T09:31:00.000-05:00

This was our first. It was taken at a local residence where the owner and his neighbor outdo each other with lights and decorations, it's quite magcval to see. The owner on most nights will dress up for free pics with your own camera.

This was taken a year later in '05 at the local mall. ou can see here she was still not wild about beign put on the lap of a stranger.

Here she is in '06 at a different mall. Still not keen about sitting on his lap.

Alas! Santa '07! Mad is 3 and Nic is shy of 9 months!
She is much, much happier to sit with Santa, now that she is well aware of the "Snata brings gifts" part, haha!

Tom Can

2007-11-19T12:44:00.000-05:00

Madline: Can we go visit Rachel tomorrow?
Me: No, It's too far of a ride for Daddy and I right now, Daddy has to work.
Madeline: Tom can!

(Tom is Rachel's daddy)

59

2007-10-29T09:01:00.000-04:00

Woke up this morning and it's 59, just i the house!!! I turned on the heat for the first time this year.

I HATE COLD WEATHER!

Introducing Charlie

2007-10-15T15:12:00.003-04:00

He is a 4 month old miniature schnauzer pup. He is great, no house accidents yet and he is active yet calm, he chills on our lap at night when the kids are in bed. Slate, our 11 year old Greyhound, even tolerates him.

2007-10-15T15:12:00.001-04:00

Fall has arrived

2007-10-15T14:39:00.001-04:00

Took the kids for thier free fall photo from picture people. It was also Nic's 7 month photo.
Man, I love walking out with an awesome 8X10 and not paying a single dime :) I've learned good self control and not buying more poses, LOL!
To the right is another pic hubby took of the kids in Stone Harbour a couple weekends ago

Disney Headache!!!

2007-10-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

OY!!!
I was on disney's site trying to "build my vacation" and I just got SO fustrated. I was told by somebody recently that if I want to do a charcter event, such as breakfast with the princesses, I need to book now.
So here I am online checking it out, I see it listed under dining attrations, but I can't find a way to purchase tickets or passes to it, the site only wants me to purchase a "Magic My Way" ticket with only 3 options: no exp., park hopper, and something else I was not interested in, it was not the princess thing.
Then I stumble upon a blurb about a meal plan I can include into my base "Magic my Way" ticket, great, but HOW??? I'm screaming at the computer because it keeps putting me in a circle that lands me back to purchasing tickets only, ARHG!!!

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Do I need to contact a travel agent aobut Disney tickets and meal package????

I already have accomadations, at my timeshare, Marriott, and I' pnly plan to be at the park for two days, ONLY, the rest of the week will be R&R at the resort.

Also, I want to know if they do any specail Easter events, like an egg hunt, if so I would like to book that, the white house has an egg roll, why not Disney world, but know, they show no special events past christmas, does anyone know if Disney even acknowlidgs Easter?

Roomba, my new friend

2007-10-04T10:08:00.000-04:00

No, i didn't get a 2nd dog yet. But I did get a new vaccum!
Here's the story, I had $100 burning a hole in my pocket (birthday money) and did some researching online what I wanted to spend it on. I've always wanted the robot vacuum, you know, that flying saucer that cleans your floor for you, but it was always out of my price range. So here is it 4 years later fro when I first saw it. Price is still more that I had to spend. Looked on ebay, looked for online coupons...I did see one just under $200 at bestbuy online, lower budget model. Yesterday I set out to check it out. Looked all thru the store didn't see it. Then I found it all by it's lonesome and a little beat up, a higher model out of it's box sitting on a shelf. Open box sale. I inquire about it's price, $199, and its been there since last dec. Ok, I think the price should be lower since it's been there so long looking as it does when I could order a brnd new one online instead for the same price (next model down though). she said she could sell it to me for $90 and it is returnable. I had a $50 coupon for my "Besybuy rewards card" (free card program, everyone should get it). So I paid $50 for this upper model vaccum that vaccume o it's own. It's vaccuming my basement now as I type, doing an awesome job, picking iup dryed up ply-doh peices, yuck!!!

Schnoodle - by request

2007-10-03T08:20:00.000-04:00

My friend Tom suggested that I post a pic of a schnoodle. Thay are described as
"very loyal, affectionate, extremely intelligent, easily trained. They are good with children and get along fine with other animals. They are great watchdogs because they will let you know when someone is near, but they are non-aggressive. Most are not yappy dogs. They love car rides. Because the Poodle and the Schnauzer both do not shed, the Schnoodle does not shed so they must be brushed weekly and clipped every 6 to 12 weeks depending on the length of hair preferred. The Schnoodle sheds little to no hair and is considered good for allergy sufferers."

Now that the phillies are really good...

2007-10-01T23:36:00.000-04:00

Do you think I could score tckets now to take my youngsters to...DON'T THINK SO!

Go PHILLIES!!!

To have a 2nd dog or not...

2007-10-01T00:14:00.000-04:00

I have an 11 year old couch potato...i mean, greyhound. I've had her 8 years. For some reason, out of the blue, hubby and I have been looking into getting a 2nd, smaller dog. Maybe 'cause I'm home fulltime, dunno. But we are set on doing small this time. All weekend we were doing deep research into what are good breeds with kids, good with allergies, aka, non-shedding, no yappers, and non known diggers. It really narrows our list.
Boston Terrier
Bichon/yorkie mix
Mini Schnauzer
Schnoodle
Boxer
Italian Greyhound

We actually have a down payment on adopting an adorable Italian Greyhound, we are still sleepign on it.

Any opinions??

Digital scrapbooking

2007-09-21T09:47:00.000-04:00

Something i've been dipping into over the year. I haven't invested a whole lot of time inot it yet, but looking forward to now. I stumbled upon a site that has both free and premium program. This what I was able to do with the free:

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Pretty cool huh. It's called smilebox.com
It's so simple, try it out

birthday, cont'd...

2007-09-20T13:33:00.000-04:00

My birthday evening ended well.
First, since hubby was working, I heated up a frozen white pizza for my daughter and I. then mixed 2 tbs of rice cereal for my son. My son ate his cereal with no hesitation, but my daughter turned down her pizza after seeing spinah on it. Normally I don't allow her anything alese to eat until she eats what was served to her, but being it was my birthday, I didn't want to the day to end with a tantrum. So, I let her eate yogurt. Then it was bathtime for both kids and then bed. My son went to bed happily, but my daughter tried pushing the limit. I'm instituting an earlier time due to her gogin to school in the mornings, problem is that she just isn't tired enough to go so she gives me a bit of a hard time. After only 2 trips to the bathroom she was down.
At that time I poured myself a glass of white zinfadel that my neighbor left me :) and watched some Real World, my secret obsession.

Around 9:30, hubby came home baring chocolate chip cookies, swedish fish and an Orchid! I love orchids, but never pictured caring for one. It came with directions. I'm afraid, hubby joked about taking an insurance policy on it, it must of been pricey!
Anyway, I loved it :)

Birthday

2007-09-19T18:26:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty lame day, blah blah blah....
Then my neighbor from across the street shows up with a bottle of white zinfendel, not bad ;)

When did birthday become so blah?

Maybe by being an only child I was spoiled by my mother and grandparents taht always made a huge deal about my birthday, no big parties, but family celebration, favorite dinner, favorite activities and family visiting. Plus I had an uncle that always made a point of celebrating his adult birthdays, I thought it was the norm.
Not anymore. My mother & granmother live in an apartment without transportation, so they call. My in-laws celabrate birthdays by having a cake after dinner on Sundays, so i have to wait till Sunday to getr my all-special-important cookie cake (by speacial request). My hubby is working day and night today, so it's just me and my kids, who have no idea. ideally i wanted to play Zelda on my Wii for the majority, but instead I was doing some house work but my son is really crnaky so not even much of that. Can't really complain, I had to take my minivan in today to be serviced so my Siste-In-Law took me to lunch at Cheesecake Factory, my fav :)

But still in all, what happened to the fun birthdays?

fundraising

2007-09-12T19:52:00.000-04:00

OK, my daughter had her first day at pre-school. She loved it. In my fat packet of paperwork from her teacher a got a fundraising packet that needs to be turned in Sept. 28th. So I need to work fast, welcome to Catholic schools, LOL!!!

Ok first is http://www.innisbrook.com/NewIcom/homepage.cfm
second is http://www.helengrace.com/eShop/stores/InnisbrookA/CustomerService.cfm

Comment me if you are interested in ordering anything for my daughter's preschool ;)

Somebody reads my blog!!!!

2007-09-12T19:49:00.000-04:00

I was recently told by someone that they had a "Reality Check" from reading my blog. SO COOL!!! My blog actully touched someone, ha ha :)
Ok, grant it the reality check was from a friend how was traveling to NH with us and she was reminded ta tis was time to pack soon, but hey, I touched somebody, right?

Vacation time

2007-08-23T11:34:00.000-04:00

We are going to New Hampshire, Laconia, Nh to be exact. Why, becuse my hubby closed his his eyes, flipped threw a catalog and opened to the page with this resort on it, saw it had an indoor waterslide and thought it would be fun for our daughter. I'm not sold on it yet, he thinks we may love it, i dunno, I'm used to Florida and caribbean destinations. We haven't been on vacation since last June, since then we had a son. This will be interesting. We are driving there....'nuf said. There is so much more to think about packing when you have both a toddler and infant. First I thought a baby wouldn't make much of a difference, but I think the back of our van is going to be packed quite tight.
My daughter is excited, she is spending the vacatin with her BFF Rachel, she can't wait. She fainlly at the age where she understands that she has a friendship and remebers her, it's too funny.
My son just started to sleep thru the night, agian (he's given me hope a few times before), I hope the vacation wont screw him up, oh well, C'est la vie if it does, right!
What to pack, I went shopping yesterday for some odds & ends, now I need to start packing so I know this time next week what odds & ends I really still need!

Left at pre-school

2007-08-14T19:07:00.000-04:00

Madeline, my eldest at 3, starts pre school this September. It's no secret, she's well aware of it, we've visited the school and talked aobut how it will be. She's excited and also scared, typical.

I was having lunch with a friend today and I was telling her That Mad start's school this year. The waitress chimes in and asks Mad, "Are you going to school this year?"
Mad answers, "Yes, my mom is leaving me there and nobody will take me home!"

Awww, I guess I emphasized the fact that I cant stay but forgot to mention I will pick her up, opps!

Swim lessons

2007-08-12T15:51:00.000-04:00

I got private swim lessons for my daughter and a neighbors child. I started looking into group swim lessons, but they were expensive. I found a women willing to do them for $12.50 a 30 min or so session. I discovered by a one time lesson with this women, to try it out, that Mad is very tired after 30 min. The lesson went well. it's done in our own pool. With may and hubby, mad dosen't want to take her swimmies off, try going under water or try to float...but for Miss Erin, she will do whatever she asks of her, go fig, children are so silly. But at least I can expect her to listen to her teacher in pre-school this year, she dose well with ohter authority, just not with us ;)

Another reason why Wegman's is awesome

2007-08-12T15:43:00.000-04:00

They have this short cart. It's shorter and a duoble decker, none of the other supermarkets around here have these, not yet. In this, the top basket can hold Nic's whole carseat, much better then using the shelf/seat of the regular cart, in which it is hard for a 5' person to see over, or the basket of the cart which the whole cart useless 'casue it takes up that whole basket.
So nic fits in perfectly stable in the top basket, I load up the bottem basket (2 gallons of milk, bread, cearel, cookies, the normal run stuff) and then there is a little lip/shelf on the bottem facing me that mad sits on. We are so compact :)

BTW, my friends Tom & Erin told me that they have babysitting, at theirs, I think mine dose not, have not seen it yet, but even without, it's still an awesome store, despite the LARGE parking lot (yes, all the "with infant" stalls were taken :( )

An MRI story

2007-07-27T07:23:00.000-04:00

Remove your clothes and change into this paper gown and pants, put your belongings into this locker. Keep the key, it's brass, safe to take in with you. I had to sit in one of two waiting chairs, both facing a large 4' wide door with metal edging and bolts taht had a large "warning" sign. The door opens, "Come in."
Inside awaits a gigantic machine, nothing else, and within the machine, a pinhole in which I am to be inserted.
I lay on the device's table where a helmet is insert onto my head, an open helmet thats purpose is something to do with the cameras. Within the helmet is a mirror which allows me to see out of the pinhole.
I am rolled in and the radiologist runs out into another room, comforting.
I have a panic button in my hand, in case it's too much for me, they will take me out so I could reschedule...NO THanks! The helmet also has a speaker in it so I can hear the radiologist if she speaks to me.

I hear a vert loud motor, very loud despite the squishy things in my ears. No music as I was told there would be by friends.

i do start to get overwelmingly nervous. I look into the mirror and what I see is the window of the radiologists booth, which is reflecting the image of my feet, and nothing behind them, only a large dome, NOT comforting.

I close my eyes instead and try to daydream. I am succesful, the loud hum is constant so I am able to vlock it out. I even start to feel as if I'm floating in a boat, or like what I am lying on moves up and down like the seat on Gravitron ride. Suddenly the pitch of the loud hum cahnges startling me making me jump, realizing how confined I am, wonderful. I start to feel tear drip down my cheeks, despite me not being sad. I must of been mildly, silently freaking out.
Finally it's over, I'm rolled out, I sit up and I feel dizzy and nauseous. I get into my car and I start to bawl, for no real reason only that I feel overcome by many emotions at once, plus the headache, dizzyness and nausea.
Later that night the headache is worst. The next morning the headsche persits into that night. two days later, finally it is al over with.
I'm told that if there is any potential for a brain anurism, they could detect it now, weather it would happen now or years from now, so I'm less likely to ever need an MRI again, Thank goodness! Now I'm waiting for the doctors results.

Picture comparison

2007-07-16T14:29:00.000-04:00

Above is a picture of my daughter in July of 2004, to the right is a picture of my son, July of 2007. They look related?

We have chicklets!!!

2007-07-16T13:15:00.000-04:00

Remember the gum, chicklets, the little white squares? That's what I call infant teeth, just about to break through the gum.

My son is 4 months old, has been drooling and chowing on his fist, erractically sleeping for over a month now, and here they come, his first teeth, yay!!!

My daughter's first teeth broke throuh around 5 or 6 months, but started drooling at 2 months!

Strange animals in NJ

2007-07-15T10:49:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, hubby discovered that we had a mouse in our basement. We put peanut butter on the existing glu baords we had for cathing spiders and crickets in the basement. Next nothing, except for peanut butter beign missing from one of the boards. Hmm...stickyness gone?
Hubby deals with pest control at his job and asked the guy for advice, he set my hubby up with poison cubes, pellets and srping traps.
I somebody out ther is mad that we are using mean ways to get rid of this mouse, but eww, i don't want it in my kitchen where the food is!!!

The next day, a mouse was caught. I disposed of the body, done. Next morning the remaining poison cubes were missing?!?! A mouse could not lug those big cubes! Also peanut butter was missing from one snap trap, arhg! So pest control guy told us that it had to be a baby to be light enough to not set off the trap, but something else had to be big enough to carry the poison cubes!

At this tiem we realized that the poison thing may of been bad, in case it dies in the walls or such. So we search for the cubes, I found one, on other side of the basement wher it originally was, obvioulsy nibbles on, but the 2nd could not be found. Dh silicones the entire basement sill plate!

A morning later I found a slightly larger mouse on the gluboard, got em! But he wasn't that big!
Well, I hadn't the time to dispose of him yet so I had waited till that evening. That eveing i grab a trashbag, grab the back end of the glueboard with the bag (like picking up dog doo), and the mouse moves his head!!!! I jumped, not expecting it to still be alive, and the glue board lands on a lampbase being stored down there, and my flipflops land on other gluebaords, I made a big mess! It was hysterical (notice hubby is not involved in any removal or set up processs!). I manage to remove my shoes and get the mouse right side up, but I leave him, not wanting for him to loosen somehow and bite me. 2 hours later I check him and he's stiff, must of been a heart attack brought on by me, LOL!

Done, no more actin since then. He had tossed remaining poison pellets and cubes under our bushes along side the house, all gone the next morning. In addition the pest guy gave us somethign called a "catch-all box" its the size of a shoe box with ppison cubes set up inside. Idea is, pest are supposed to come in, nibble, leave and die somewhere else. But with this box, cats and dogs can't get into the poison, just pest sized rodents. Well, just last night Hubby informed me that the entire box is missing!!!! All I can picture is a racoon carrying this box over his head on two legs down the street, LOL!!!! Where would he take it too?

What aniamls do we really have around us??? Supermice?!?! We had Fox living next to us a short time ago, but this recent surge in rodents tells me that nieghbors complianed and had this nice fox removed by animal control, thanks :(

Hopefully that next time I'm up doing an early morning feeding with my son, that I don't look out the window to find a bear, LOL!!!

how cute

2007-07-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

just trying to add a pic as my blogging freinds do. Just testing it out. This pic is of my two darling children :)

Craziness is over!

2007-07-06T11:48:00.000-04:00

Whew!
All last Week my daughter had her first school like experience at Vacation Bible School. Her 12 year old cousin was her "counsler" so it was a good experience to leave her in a school setting for the first time. 4 hours each day. Of course she didn't want me to leave her, but i stood on the side while they danced and sang and snuck out. When it was all over each day, she said she missed me and my 12 year old neice siad she did fine each day and intently listened and watched. One day she even dozed off a little during a samll group activity. Taht my daughter, only taking naps as she needs them, anywhere she's at, LOL!
ON the last day of the VBS (Vacation Bible School) she puked in her carseat, the weekend and to this day has been filled with coughing and runny noses, she even passed it onto her 4 month old brother, his first cold :(

Also we had an adventure with mice in our house last week, that's a story for another post!

Prior to that was my son's christening and prior to that was a crazy week of running around and cleaning house.

I feel a littel of my daughter & son's cold now, yuck. But, I'm packing up and we are heading to the shore till Monday, YAY!!!

My husband has a very big interview, all day Tuesday with his "dream company"
please pray that he gets the job. We all need this weekend to relax before his big interview.

Need to do something for myself

2007-06-29T14:28:00.000-04:00

Over xmass holidays, a friend's friend had collapsed from a brain aneurysm. My friend told me that her husband had a family history of these and that he is having a precedure, like a CT to check if he has the potential of one because hereditary is a leading cause. Other leading causes are oral contraceptives and smoking.
Hubby and I discussed that after I have the baby that I should get one of these procedures.

But I have not gotten around to doing so, i'm not trying to avoid it, but, I think subconsiously (spelling?) I'm afraid of the outcome. I really need to get it done and it is now my summer mission :(

My mother had a brain aneurysm in her early 30's, that is right where I am at right now. I've taken many years of oral contraceptives, including the patch (higher risk of blod clotting). My mother did not take oral contraceptives, but she did smoke, i don't smoke but vice versa, so it is really scary to me, and feels so much like a reality, as if it will happen, I hope I am so very wrong, or that it can be preventable if found early.

It's so rare to survive a rupture, and when you do, you really struggle. My mom is very lucky, she struggled, but I still feel my grandmother and I struggle more to this day. She is very much a child in her thinking due to what areas of her brain were damaged, the adult area i guess.

I can't say I want to live longer that my mother, she is very much alive, but I want to have the abilities I currently have longer thatn she did. i don't know if I can be as strong as her to survive a brain aneurysm, but I'm sending out prayer requests that I continue to hold onto my FULL mind as long as I possibly can!

2007-06-22T13:13:00.000-04:00

I went too Wegman's supermarket yesterday and now I'm hooked!!!
I normally go to my low budget food store that was formally a Giant because
a) It's walking distance if I ever feel i need the extra excercise
b) it's cheap, or I thought it was

I always turned away from our new wegman's 'cause
a) It's hip/trendy and EVERYONE in Cherry Hill shops there, and Cherry hill families tend to be well to do.
b) I know their fresh pre-pared foods are pricey, so the rest of the store must be, since they have all the extras, huge cafe, pharmacy, yadda yadda, someone needs to pay for all those extras...
c) It always appeared to me to carry only those "organic healthy" foods like Trader Joes has that I'm not into, I like my junk foods, LOL!!!

I was wrong.

So it appears to be all the above from the outside, but inside it's a different story. I got cheap milk, 2 for one soda, the good Coke stuff, 2 for one butter, well priced store brand marinades that look awesome and spent less than i would of for the same at my local "Stop & Shop" Then Mad and I enjoyed lunch there
I was impressed. Their pre-pared foods still are $$$ but the regulare groceries are great prices.

Would an Italian be offended with a dinner at Olive Garden?

2007-06-22T12:58:00.000-04:00

Our favorite preist is coming to baptise our son this Sunday. We've known him since before my husband & I were married, he married uu, came and baptised my daughter at a different parish, and now my son at another parish. He's very freindly, nice & funny guy, we really love him. So for a gift we got him a gift card to Olive Garden. He is Italian and I've heard other Italian guys say Olive Garden is like fast food to them. He's slso a Catholic preist, so hopefully he is forgiving if he is offended, LOL!

cont'd

2007-06-20T11:57:00.000-04:00

I really wanted to add that I LOvE Monty Python & Faulty Towers to my list but I forgot.

OK

2007-06-20T11:35:00.001-04:00

I got my frst comment, yippee!!!
But it's blogging tag thing, oh joy, more work, LOL! It's work because it requires me to think, about myself. First the directions:
a) I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
b) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
c) People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
d) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
e) Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they are tagged and to visit your blog.

Ok
1) I've developed an unhealthy obsession with Oreo cookies immediately follwing labor/delvery of my son 3 mohts ago...will this craving last nine months?

2)I too have a love for '80's music like my freind Tom, but also for all the iconography (is that a word), fashion and junk. I'm still much a fan of Duran Duran, but really miss the Hooters.

3) I am so much a south Jersey girl that i was just commented this morning that I'm teaching my daughter to speak south jersey. Well i'm not teaching her, she just happens to be learning from her sorroundings. she says "yay-a" instead of yes and "down the shore" insted of going to the shore, too cute.

4) My daughter really really needs to be challenged by a school setting. She is only 3 and amazes me and I think I've tought her all I can at this point, now she needs higher education, like pre-school. But I could be biased :)

5) My son seems advanced to me already. He probably right on target, but my daughter was lazy and hit milestones last minute, right before we needed to be concerned. But NicMan (my son's nicname), seems to be a little ahead. At three months he is already grabbing and playing with toys.

6) See, I said this was work...what else. I love warm weather, can't get enough of it. I wish NJ could sail down and take root in the gulf next to Florida.

7) I also REALLY love Mexico :)

8) Last one. I was always a cat person growing up. I could never have one due to bigtime allergies. I grew up with dogs, they're cool but i perfer cats. That has changed. I'm nolonger into cats liek i was, but I adore my greyhound :)

I only know two people who have blogs, one tagged me and the other is already being tagged by the one that tagged me so, I can't do the last step.

Tapestries

2007-06-18T22:23:00.000-04:00

I never thought i'd ever buy a tapestry. Nothing against them, I just never thought I need to buy one. Well i just did, and they are pricey!!!
We own a shore home, well, a place to call home 3 motnhs a year. It's not quite a trailer, and not quite a mobil home either. It's called a Park Model Mobil home. It dosen't go anywher once it's parked, the wheels go up, an apron is put onto it, and an addition, a.k.a. Florida room gets built onto it, making permenate.
Hubby calls it our condo, since we pay condo fees on it, I call it a d o u b l e w i d e
LOL!

My sister in law owns one as well, in the same community as ours. We both aquired these last year so we are still decorating them, what, all 40 square feet of them! So being the Interior designer tha I'm "degree-ed" to be, ours is bare, and hers is a show home. Hubby sees she has a tapestry wall hanging in hers, so, my assignment, find one I like online to purchase. Monkey see, Monkey do.....
Well, our style is different than hers, instead of getting a still life of a flower overlooking a beach, we got a tropical sunset...ahh, i just need the matching drink, LOL!

Funny how competitive brothers and sisters can be. I never had that since I'm an only child, but I seem to be benefitting from hubby competitiveness :)

Oy!

2007-06-18T15:50:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a busy week i had last week.
Just when you think you finished a busy week, you face another one. I'm just barely getting necesary things done, and without doing fun stuff like swimming in my pool :( It's a shame to, so gorgeous here, in the 90's, perfect pool weather, sigh.
So, here I am sitting indoors on the phone all day getting multiple quotes for auto and home, what a papermess I created at the kitchen table.

I really need to find my Zire 31 power charger and computer cord so i can a) power it up, and b) load useful info from the laptop onto it like contacts and such, but i lost it.

I wonder, if i'm barely getting anything done, how would I of done it while still working full time, NOT! Can't imagine how i ever would of!

Well off to be busy and capture last minute RSVP's for my Son's baptim this weekend.

Tuesday nonsense

2007-06-12T10:34:00.000-04:00

Let me warn ya, I;m not technically inclined like my friend Tom. He adds pocs and links to his blog. It may be awhile before I can figure this whole blog thing out.

First of all, here's a link to his blog: http://www.tlbignerd.com/ . He has a neater way of linking by saying "click here" must be some 'puter guru/programmer trick.

Second of all, being that i was in the architectural field, we are well known foe being horrible spellers, and I'm GREAT with typos, so don't be surprised if you can't undertsan my typing.

Now that's out of the way, my Tuesday as of, well, today.

Normally I wake up, rush myself, infant & toddler out the door to the local mall, Cherry Hill Mall (first constructed mall in America), for some "mall walking." This is where you walk the entire mall, multiple times at your own pace for exercise. I have recent baby weight to drop off. This walking thing is done before the shops are open, so it's quiet and i can catch up on the latest window fashions. I do this with my SIL (sister-in-law). She has been a SAHM for 13 years now. She started mall waking when she started care for my daghter, she watchedc her while i worked. Anyways, that is how I normallt start my day. Not today.

Occasionlly, my SIL can't go due to some event at her children's school, or a dr's appt. Today she was not able to go. I find it very unmotivating to go, getr toddler in stroller, get infant in sling, and kkep them happy the whole walk by myself, so i sleep in when I know she won't be there to help & keep us company.

Instead i got up, fed baby boy, laid in bed with daughter. decided among the many things that need to be done, should be done....got out chicken to defrost, then decided that our beloved greyhounds neglactance needs to end! Well, she really just smelled. I looked up groomers in the area schelued her a visit today, they wanted me to drop her off asap, and i needed her to get out of the house asap, she smelled, did I mention that?

This is a new groomer, her usual one is always very busy, and well, it's been almost 3 years since i took her there. We were washing her ourselves, which i hate, but hubby loved since he is a budget cruncher. I prefer working with coupons. So too embarrased to go to her normal groomer (kinda like going to a different haidresser, ya know), i found a coupn online anmd dropped her off. I hope she will do OK. She tends to be VERY dramatic, especially when it comes to getting her nails clipped. One time, i took her to different groomer, this was the last time i tried someone different, she came home with huge brusies on her belly. Poor thing, so you can un derstand my worries.

That was my first task of today, next while i'm still waiting for her to come home all spiffy, i need to search for online bagains for partyware. My son's baptism is in two weeks and i need paperplates and napkins for 50 odd guests. If i see no bargins or patterns i like, off to the dollar store....oh, i need to design a cake! Whew, glad i remembered that.
We have house guests this weekend, so i better get to cleaning.

The start of something new

2007-06-11T22:57:00.000-04:00

I'm a new SAHM. I used to be an architectural designer. I loved that, somewhat, but not some of the people I had to work with. I do love beign home and balancing/managing home things and errands. I really enjoy "managing" my home rather than being managed, although i feel as if my daughter is managing me, LOL!

My daughter is 3 years old, very demanding. My son is 3 months old, he has his demands too. A 10 year old greyhound, she just demands to be fed 2x a day and let out, no prob. Then a husband. I think he has demands too, but I haven't been paying full attention.
That's it for tonight.