Five Months.

Time is flying by way too fast for me.  You are almost half a year old, and it seems like just yesterday I was still pregnant with you.  Life is flying by too fast now that I think about it.  I feel like this month you’ve reached more milestones than I’d like to admit.

You are sleeping so much better.  Now, you usually go to bed around 9:30 or 10, and don’t wake up until 5:30 or 6.  One morning, you didn’t wake up until 7, I thought for a moment that maybe I had died, and gone to heaven!  I still really can’t complain.  I am just so glad that you are over that whole waking up every hour thing you had going on for a little bit.  You are usually super easy to get to sleep too.  If you don’t fall asleep eating, I can usually place you in your crib, turn your mobile on, and you will just lie there peacefully until you doze off.  On the mornings where you wake up a little bit before my body is ready to be awake with you (ok, every morning) I now just drag you into bed with me.  You’ve really outgrown your bassinet with your weight, and all your tossing, and kicking.  It may support you, but I don’t fully trust it.  You are a much better co-sleeper than your sister is.  She flips around, is restless all night, and usually ends up kicking us off our own bed.  Not you though.  You usually lay right where we put you, or cuddled up next to one of us, and stay there.  No feet in our faces, or elbows to the ribs in the middle of the night from you.  You are a little cuddler.

You have started “talking” a lot more than you had been.  I have so many videos of you trying to say things, they are so cute.  You are trying so hard.  I love it.  You said “momma” first, which, of course, made me super happy.  No other words yet, but you babble a ton.  When you aren’t happily babbling away, you still like to scream back and forth with your sister.  It’s not a bad scream; it is full of happiness and joy.  It’s actually funny to watch you two communicate.  It is never quiet around here!

Last weekend we took you to your very first photo-shoot!  We’ve been a little behind, and sadly, these are your first professional photos at almost 5 months old.  Unfortunately, there has been lack of time or funds, or both, and it never seemed to work out before now, and it’s only because Grandma Lynn gave me pictures for a Christmas present.  I wish we were loaded so we could have new pictures of you every month, but the eleven million pictures I take with my phone and camera will just have to do, for the most part.  The pictures didn’t go as well as planned.  Originally, we had planned to do an afternoon shoot, because none of us is morning people, but we were snowed out.  Our retake time was at 10 am on a Sunday.  Since it was in Tulsa, that means that we not only had to leave an hour before that, but everyone had to get ready, super early just to be out the door on time.  Again, none of us are morning people… and we had to get up super early.  Before the photos were even done: I had changed you at least six times, fed you three, both you and Quinn had thrown up all over yourselves, and us, and we were all exhausted.  In fact, you passed out before we were even done, so you ended up being in charge.  I have only seen some of the pictures so far; I just hope that even if we have no pictures where we are all smiling there is at least one with you and your gummy smile.  Your dad keeps teasing me that you’re getting teeth, and if nothing else was captured that day, I just hope it was that, because that is my favorite thing you do right now, and looking back at Quinn, teeth are cute, but the smile just isn’t the same.

So far, you haven’t been sick.  Which is a pretty huge feat for this family.  We’ve run you to the doctor a few times for things that concerned us, but so far, it has never actually been anything to worry about.  You have definitely had some weird stuff going on that always freaks me out, but never turns into anything.  This time you burst a blood vessel in your eye.  It started out on a Sunday night as about the size of a pinhead, and by Monday morning, it had quadrupled in size.  We took you to the doctor; they dropped some yellow stuff in your eye, put a black light on it, and said that you hadn’t scratched anything, and that it was like a bruise for your eyeball, so it would just heal with time.  It didn’t seem to bother you too much, but it looked so painful.  When you were born, you had something similar, so I hope it’s not just your eyes being super sensitive, and that it won’t continue to be an ongoing issue later in life.

After the doctor, we took you to see Santa.  You weren’t too sure of the big guy, but you tolerated him enough to get two pictures.  Quinn was scared of him this year, so we didn’t get one of you two together, but maybe next year.  Because of you two girls, I love Christmas more than I ever could have imagined.  Shopping for gifts for you guys to open Christmas morning is addicting as drugs.  Seriously, we’ve had a really hard time stopping.  We found a whole bunch of things that we thought you’d like, gave them all to the grandparents as suggestions, and were a little bummed that we didn’t save anything for us to get you.  It wasn’t a problem long, and we had a hard time not buying everything in sight.  This is probably one of the best Christmases that you will have, it’s a shame neither one of you will probably remember it.  We will take pictures though.

I know I talk about your hair a lot, it is just so awesome!  While we were at the doctor, the second time in two weeks, people remembered you because of your hair.  You are staring to be known as “that cute baby with the super cool hair that I love” by many of the nurses, nurses that don’t even work for your doctor.  Oh, by the way, you gained a pound in a little under a two-week span.  When we took you in to get your eye examined, you weighed 17 pounds!  Your sister only weighs 21 or 22 pounds, you are catching up with her, and I’m starting to wonder that even though you’re not Irish twins, if people are going to think, you are.  Right now, you two are pretty close, as close as a 5-month and a 20-month old can be, I guess.  You make each other laugh, and you both love to spend time together.  Sometimes in the morning, I put you both in bed with me, and we just have one big cuddle-fest.  Quinn loves to take care of you, and you love her paying attention to you.  Sometimes you two leave me out, but I love watching you all the same.

Love you my little Squidget.

Love,

Momma

The Diaper Challenge

Since we use Pampers for Quinn's spoiled little tush, I figured it was time to see if there was a more economical option out there.  I almost feel like I am doing an elementary school science project, but oh well. I made charts and stuff.  Yay!  Charts!

First, I ordered three different sample packs.  I'm including the Pamper's data as a baseline, since we know we like them, and we have no problems with them, besides cost of course.

Seeing my lovely chart now, we should have left off the Naty diapers, as they follow the same exact pricing as Pampers.  Oh well.  We are currently on size 1 diapers, which is why I listed all the way up until size 3.  Here's the cost comparison per diaper:

As you can see, the diapers.com diapers are priced significantly lower than any other. So they win hands down in the cost factor.

We also had "comfort" to look at.  If the diapers felt like sandpaper, or were stiff, I, personally, would not want to wear them; therefore, I couldn't expect my child to be comfortable in them either.  Pampers, diapers.com, and Seventh Generation diapers were all pretty soft, and almost cloth like.  The Naty diapers totally lost in this category, although they we're pretty much out as soon as I made my chart.  They were super stiff, and pretty rough.  Yuck.

Next we had convenience.  Only Pampers had stretchy tabs.  Seems dumb, but when you don't have them, you notice.  Seventh Generation made up for this by having a back stretchy thing.  It’s hard to explain, but it gave some give.  Naty was, again, stiff as a board, and Diapers had a little stretch to their tabs, but nothing to brag home about.  Where Naty lost again, and none of the other diapers did, was disposal.  With all the other diapers, even though the tabs are like a Velcro like material... Naty had NO WHERE to stick them when you are done with the diaper.  There was no wrapping up that mess, so that was a big no go to me.  God forbid the trash can roll over, or I miss when I toss it in, I am not cleaning up a poopy mess twice when I don't have to.  The rest of them had something to stick it too, all the way around.  Yay for them!

Lastly, we had the most important test of all:  the inside!  We have only (luckily) had to deal with diaper rash once, and that's when we switched to the sensitive Swadlers, versus the normal Swadlers, and we haven’t had any problems since.  We had stuck to brands that listed no extra chemicals, no bleach, chlorine, fragrances, etc. etc. as well as hypoallergenic.

Night 1, we tried Seventh Generation.  I had planned on putting the diapers on right when I put Quinn down for her actual bedtime (not attempted bedtime… try as I may) so that they would be put to the fullest test of overnight wetness, which is about 7-9 hours.  Well, silly me, I took a shower, and Jason took it upon himself to put her in the new diaper around 9 pm.  Lucky for him we had two… and she pooped.  Brilliant!  I highly doubted that we would ever get a poo test in because she’s so unpredictable, but we did.  And they passed.  It was a messy one too, but none got out, although it was reached to the max in every direction.  I kept her in regular diapers the rest of the night until she was ready for bed, and swapped out her last diaper for a Seventh Generation one.  Lasted through the night, and no leaks!  Jason’s only complaint is that they are a very light brown.  No design on them at all.  He just thought they looked “dirty”; I’d probably go with dingy more than dirty but to each their own.  Pretty much no one sees her without an outfit on anyway, so no big deal.  Pass pass pass!

The next night, our only other option was the diapers.com diapers, because the Naty diapers were shipped from a different location, and they hadn’t arrived yet.  Lots of people complained about how there were green and purple designs on the diapers, and if your baby wore white it showed right through.  Really?  Let’s call the fashion police on that one!  The designs were cute, with stripes and polka dots.  Many of the reviewers online said they got monkeys on their diapers, but I got a bunny on both of mine, standing next to a big “B”.  Maybe it had something to do with the size.  The diapers were easy to put on, and I did the first one a little bit before her bedtime because I was hoping for another poopy one, and I got it!  (Yes, it’s a sad day when you hope for poop!)  While the diaper held the poop very well, Quinn only had it on for an hour, two max, and she already had diaper rash developing.  I didn’t even both with the second diaper.  I am not putting either of us through that again.

I made my little chart before I even tried the Naty diapers.  Seeing that they really didn’t matter, I just used them in the middle of the day yesterday… and got another pooper!  They were very stiff to put on, and almost hard, as they had no give (hence the love of stretchy tabs.)  When she pooped, I could smell it.  Normally her poop doesn’t smell, and if it does, it’s minimal since she is exclusively breastfed.  I am convinced something “natural” (since that’s what these diapers bragged about) in the diaper made her poop stink.  I could tell she had a poopy diaper before I even picked her up.  While her rash has still not gone away completely, it got no worse with these diapers, but with all their cons, as well as not being any cheaper than Pampers, they were also a no go.

Yesterday, I ordered a pack of Seventh Generation diapers.  The price was nice, and size 1 diapers are 20% off until sometime in December (we will grow out of that size before then) so they are even cheaper than normal.  If we make it through the pack with no major incidents, than I think we will have a new diaper, and a few more bucks in our pockets even when buying by the case.  If not, back to Pampers we will go.

Mo' diapers, mo' money.

Another diaper story?  I know.  Aren’t you sick of this shit?  Har har har.  See what I did there?

Anyway, in light of my last diapering disaster, I am not about to let it happen again, even with disposables.  A month or so back, I found diapers.com.  I love this site.  Not only do they offer free 2 day shipping on orders over $49, which is easy to accomplish with diaper jumbo packs, but they are also a part of a network of sites, and if you order from those sites (which offer home products, drugstore products, pet products, and toys), they knock down the free shipping requirement to $39!  I also love wag.com which is part of this network, as they offer our dog food, and while it is a few bucks more (I think $3) we don’t have to drive to the next town to get it (45 minutes each way) and we don’t pay taxes, so it’s worth it all around for the time saved, and gas spent.  I don’t know about the other sites, but I do know that diapers.com also accepts coupons, which makes it all the more worthwhile!

Anyway, back to the story.  I have been looking for a more cost-effective diaper, but it also needed to be fragrance-free, and hypoallergenic.  Most diaper packs you have to buy a whole bunch and you’re forking out at least $10 a pack.  That’s a lot of money, and a lot of diapers if you end up not liking them.  I was thrilled in my search last night that diapers.com has sample packs!  I got three different brands for $0.99 each!  They each come with two diapers, and some of the packs even come with wipe samples.  I am so excited that I don’t have to fork out another load of cash, albeit a lot cheaper than the whole cloth diaper fiasco, just to test out some different options.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Pampers, but they are so expensive.  I want my little girl’s tush to be pampered too, but if I can get a diaper for a lot less, and it does the same good work that pampers does, I’m all for it, because that means we can put that money towards other things for her.

I’ll have to report back when we have the results.

This is just the beginning...

Some of you may have heard from Jason that I went a little crazy with some bins... here is just one small portion of what I have done:

Thats right.  They all have their own little bins with their own little categories.  Jason's favorite is the 'Osama Bin Ramen' bin, which sadly enough is actually filled with ramen.  I really don't know what we're going to do with all of it... more to come...

Personal Goals

So I have made two recent personal goals:

1. Update this more often then once every few months. (Whoops!)


2. Organize! Organize! Organize! I have been reading a few blogs, and I think it may be an epidemic. You read one blog where someone organizes, and you're like, wow, why didn't I think of that? And then you pick up a magazine with new ideas on how to save space as well... and it just starts a whole mess. As we are trying to save money right now, we have to start small. I'm starting in our pantry, which is a closet full of mess! I really wish I had taken before pictures because it would make even the slobbiest of slobs cringe. I read in some magazine that you can use wire or see through bins to help organize into categories, and I was hooked at that very moment. I have't been able to find any cheap wire or see through bins (sad) so I am stuck with some plain ole' plastic ones. Target had some on sale for $2 each, so I snagged a few. However, they only had black, fuchsia, and lime green. We took the last four black ones at that store, and plan to pick up more tomorrow. I already see an improvement in space and it feels great. I think it will also help with our grocery shopping issue where we just buy frivolously and in excess because we don't know what we even have. Some of the space issue was old stuff, and we literally had items that expired before we even moved into this house. Eeesh. I plan to tackle the garage sometime soon as that is also a big disaster and we can barely even walk in it, much less get a car in it. However, I will have to wait for it to cool down before I take on that job. The kitchen, and our den need some work also, but I figure baby steps are a good thing.

Let's get this show on the road people!

It is currently 2:40 am (when I started this) and I cannot sleep.  Why?  Probably because I have a million and one things racing through my head.  Jason and I spent the majority of Sunday cleaning.  I must say, since the wedding has gotten closer, we have been super lazy with the upkeep of our house.  I also must say, I can’t understand how two people can createso much trash.  I went through some parts (read: not even the entire house) and filled up our almost empty trash bin.  Granted I super cleaned out our fridge but that was only two bags.  I am also amazed at how much stuff expires and you wouldn’t even know it.  Yuck.

I have started to flip out about our caterer.  She seems vaguely crazy, and controlling.  I just figured out tonight, that when she wouldn’t let me round up when I asked, she actually rounded down, and I don’t know if we are going to have enough place settings for everyone.  I spent most of yesterday flipping out about how I had 18 spots of bridal party and family to seat in 16 seats, and totally missed this one.  This also messed up our table decorations as we got enough for 6 tables of 10, and she has given us 7 tables of 8.  I also forgot to decorate the sweetheart table for Jason and me.  These are the kind of things I hate because you can’t really know until the very last minute exactly how much you need.  I’m super frustrated because we have some “definite maybe” people that we still don’t know if they are coming or not, and I hate to say this, but I hope they don’t because we will be screwed if they do.  I’m sorry, but don’t wait until we track you down almost 2 months after the RSVP date, and then tell me you may be coming, and that you’re still not sure.  I am pretty sure bridezilla will come out on October 3^rd, and she will not be pretty, and heads will fly if I see someone who is not expected to be there.  Just sayin’.

I finally got my test results back from my MRI, and that was also not good.  It wasn’t “bad” just not good.  I have a 4mm tumor on my pituitary gland.  Sure, 4mm isn’t big, but when my pituitary gland is only 9mm, it is pretty large in comparison.  Jason and I have seen my regular doctor, who couldn’t (or wouldn’t, I’m not sure) tell us much; but she referred me to a neurosurgeon to discuss options—the appointment isn’t until the 14^th of October, but it just adds to my list of worries.  She also stated that there is a likelihood of having to be rescanned and several more tests.  Not what I am looking forward to.  I do not want another MRI.  If you have never had one, they are horrible.  I felt like I was in a lighted coffin with jackhammers on top of me.  It was so close, and so noisy, I seriously felt like this device was meant to drive people to insanity.  Mine took 45 minutes, and it felt like hours or pure hell.  I left with one of the worst headaches that I have ever had.  There are a few things that bother me about this entire situation.  My insurance denied this claim.  Why?  They went through my records, and found out that I was on a specific drug that can elevate levels of prolactin.  Fine.  They did not go through my records enough to see that I hadn’t actually used this prescription in over a year.  Not fine.  They did not notify me (and my doctor) until a month later, at which point, I had already had the MRI done, and paid out of pocket for it.  Also not fine.  The original denial was just that I was on a specific drug, not which drug, so I didn’t know to stop it, for how long, anything.  Neither did my doctor, or the facility that I was going to get the MRI at.  I called them last week to see if I could get reimbursed, and they basically told me to screw myself.  I am glad this is not life threatening, because they honestly expected me to wait a month, and wait for them to tell me the drug, then schedule with my doctor, then wait for my doctor to write a note that I wasn’t on this drug (or that I had stopped it for a week) and to resubmit the referral, then wait for them to approve or deny it again, and then wait for my actual MRI to take place.  Thanks for being a quality insurance company.  No thanks.  Another scary thing was that the list of drugs was long.  Some of it included anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, stuff for bi-polar people, stuff for people with ADHD, etc.  I’m sorry, you’re an insurance company and you want people to stop taking drugs that they (sometimes) need to survive their life, and function in society as normal people for a WEEK?!  Are you kidding me?  Seriously, I’m not one for naming names, but Aetna is a JOKE.  Now, here’s the kicker.  I finally found a doctor who examines every possible angle in every situation, and I really like her.  She may have found the solution to many of my health problems, including the massive weight gain over the last 4 years… and if I drop my insurance to go to Jason’s insurance (which is beyond awesome) I will lose her.  If I take Jason’s insurance, most of my medical procedures are covered with a small fee; surgery would literally be like $75; if I stick with mine I have something like a $3,500 deductible before my insurance kicks in.  I’m sure with all of my doctors visits, blood draws, and tests I have at least half that covered, but it is still so frustrating.

I have three days of work this week, and then a week and a half of freedom from it.  I wouldn’t say freedom from work though.  Freedom from the 8-5.  This week is still going to be a ton of work I am sure.  I am going to try and see if I can maybe get Wednesday off as well to tie up some loose ends here and there.  We have people coming in starting Wednesday.  I am so excited, and so nervous because there are so many things still up in the air.  Eeek!

Lastly, on a note not about Jason and I:

If you like to eat, and you like to feel good about doing good in your community, I would like to offer you this:

Monday, September 28^th, 2009, is St. Jude’s Day at Chili’s.  One HUNDRED percent of your food and drink bill goes to St. Jude’s on this day.  Please eat, not only to fill your bellies, but to help childhood cancer research at this wonderful facility.  Just think about it.  For two people you could be making a $30-$50 donation, and you’re getting a meal out of it!  Please eat out at Chili’s today, Monday, September 28^th, 2009.  There is seriously, no easier way to donate, and you have nothing to lose, but your empty stomach!  You can read more here:  St. Jude's.

*Last year, Jason and I unknowingly went, and sadly the restaurant was empty.  We ended up racking up close to a $70 bill, all of which went to St. Jude’s.

Poll Time

We need your opinions!  (Pretty please... and be honest.)

  

poll by twiigs.com

We're in the money!

We've been spending fools this weekend, because I finally got my school money.  We got caught up on all of our past due bills and even paid one off completely.  Jason also purchased parts for his computer (which he is in dire need of) we got some organizational things, and we got to Costco to get our massive amounts of stuff.  We also renewed our vehicles, and both put in for personalized plates.  We don't know if we get them until we actually get them in the mail 4-6 weeks down the road... but be watching out for us!

Wahoo!  We're so excited.

In other news, all of my bridal party has accepted their invitations to watch me gracefully turn into bridezilla, and I have picked out and ordered my gown.  It's soooo pretty.  Jason went with me to go look at them, and he liked it too.  (Blah blah blah, we already got yelled at enough at the store because he was there... but he is the only one who will tell me if I look bad, if I actually do!)  We also picked our DJ (did I mention that before?)  So now we have cake, flowers, and invitations, and then I think we are done.  Oh yeah, and registries also.  It's crazy how many people have asked us when we are going to get one up.  We still have 8 months to go!  Yikes!  :P  We will get one soon.  We both love going through stores and zapping things ;).

This afternoon, after I worked Jason like a horse to get our garage organized and clean, we headed off to a movie.  It is crazy how expensive they are.  For the two of us, at a matinee, with a small popcorn and a medium drink we spent almost the full $25 gift card my mom gave us for Christmas... we have a whopping 50¢ left over.   Anyway, we saw Taken, which was surprisingly good, and suspenseful.  I love me some Liam Neeson (and his accent!)

Anyway, I tried to jam a whole bunch of information in here because I haven't updated in like, a week or more... but I need to go to bed!  More later.

Whoops.

I put a contact form up, and it didn't really work.  So luckily, only one person sent us a message, and we were able to deduct from the information that they sent us who it was, but other than that... I got a contact form up now that actually tells us who sent the message.  :P  Also, I created us an email account that sends it to both of us, and it's easy to remember because... well, it matches the site.   fendiandemo@gmail.com (Sorry it's not linkified, but I wanted to protect us from spam.)

In other news, we sent out the first batch of save the date cards.  Most of the people on my side that we're inviting got them (or should have) but a lot of Jason's side, we either don't have the address for, or we sent it, and have the wrong address.  :P  Be sure to update us if anything is wrong as well.  We did the list with one person reading information, and one person typing it out... we've had two mistakes so far, one on a person's name, and one on a street name, so feel free to tell us, so we don't feel like a jack-ass later on.  :P  Also, welcome to the site, and thanks for taking a peek into our little journey!

As for a little update:

Tuesday was our lucky day, not only did we win $21 on scratcher tickets (that we shouldn't have purchased but it looks like that was a $5 well spent) but Jason got his job back at Desert Schools.  This is good and bad, because he hates this job, but he's making almost twice the money (which means he got a raise), and he will have twice the hours, and he's really not digging the mortuary scene.  I think one of my friends has totally destroyed his dreams from Friday on.  We're pretty twisted there, but you kind of have to be.  :P

This coming Monday we have a meeting with our potential Pastor.  He is actually my runner (for work) and used to be in radio, and has been a pastor for years.  He does church services every Sunday (threw that in there to make the parents happy ;) haha) and does funeral services as well.  He is so calm and gentle, I just love him!  He said he's done 2-3 hundred wedding ceremonies and they have all been different, so we are having coffee to discuss all of our options Monday after work.

Today, Jason and I fought moron after moron at the Bridal Fashion Debut but we got a ton of information.  We spent 5 hours there, but got there 2 hours after it started and were basically kicked out at 3 when it ended, and we definitely could have used it.  :(  Anyway, we got toooooon of flyers and cards for photographers, and DJ's a few for floral and a few for cakes, pretty much the only things that we need now.  We also picked up some invitation stuff, as we haven't yet decided whether we want to do our own or not.  We got a few free samples, but man there are some crazy people out there.  Jason literally got hit 3 times by the same dumb girl with the stroller she was pushing, and every time he glared at her, yet she never even apologized.  I swear.  I realize it is a crowded place, but if you injure someone then at least have the courtesy to say sorry.  And I know it's a bridal fair, and you should bring someone with you, but omg, you do not need to bring your whole family and children along with you.  There were so many wretched misbehaving children around, and some people brought like mothers for both sides, and their entire bridal party plus some more friends, which totally blocked some exhibits, which was super annoying.  I even saw someone with a stroller that said 'Please DO NOT touch the baby."  Well lady, if you don't want strange people touching your baby, don't take it to a place with over 4,000 people crammed into it, hello common sense, obviously that was checked at the door.  Sadly, we missed the 3 bridal fashion shows, didn't win any of the gown give-aways, and the huge sale on bridal gowns (seriously 20-80% off!) because we found it as we were being shoved out the door.  They seriously need to make that thing longer as half of the 5 hours we spent there was waiting for large masses to pass by or shoving people out of the way.  Oh well.

 

And that is it for now.  I need to work on my bridal party invitations...

Setting things in motion.

1. We are canceling our home phone.  According to the phone company, we only use it 100 minutes a month (which, even that much is shocking) and they are raising their rates... so if you have the 602.441.2472 phone number, go ahead and delete it.  We have the number until mid-January, but the phones aren't even hooked up, and it goes to my cell phone anyway.


2. Jason had a job interview on Wednesday.  According to him, it went well (due to the fact that a friend, and former co-worker apparently wrote all the interview questions specifically so that only Jason would know the answers) but they told him they had 47 more applicants to go through, and he wouldn't hear anything for at least two weeks, which sucks for two reasons:
   
   
   
   1. Our vacation starts in two weeks.
   
   
   2. Should he get the job, this shoves him back to not working for two months, and I am not sure if we can actually (financially) survive that.  :(  * But at least he will have a job... right? * : /
   
   
   
   


3. We finally got to meet with the caterer, and despite the original flub, we love her!  Her prices for everything (being tables, chairs, linens, tableware, food, servers and bartender, no drinks though, we have decided to provide those per her recommendations, as it will save us money) was under $4,000.  However, that does not include the DJ, cake, flowers, or photographer; she can contract those, but does not specifically "provide" those services, and such, cannot give us price quotes, pictures, descriptions, anything.


4. We booked the caterer for the 3rd of October 2009.  It was only $100 and we can change everything up until something like 10 days before the event.  Didn't seem so bad, since the people before us had the 3rd weekend in October, and they were the last slot.  However, we don't know if the venue is still available, and if it is, we still don't have the $1,000 deposit for it.  Anyone want to loan / give us a grand and a little piece of mind?  Heh.


5. We went and blew some of the gift cards we got for Christmas.  I got some much needed pants, and we got the doggies some treats.  We also got Lucy the cutest little hoodie but it didn't fit and she bit Jason so we had to return it.  :(

[caption id="attachment_284" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lucy loves her bone... so much that in 24 hours its already 2/3 gone."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_285" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Landon also loves his bone, however, his is still whole, and he likes to carry it around and thump it against things."][/caption]

Hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!
: )

Being fat pays off.

Yeah, you heard me.

The $1,100 that we spent on food alone in the last 3 months (that doesn't include alcohol or other crap that we buy) saved us $1.10 in gas, knocking it down to a whopping 42.9¢ per gallon.

Our final bill was $5.27 for almost 12 ¼ gallons of gas.  Sweet justice.  We are sticking it to the gas man!

Wednesdays are designated wedding planning days.

So we have a lot of information.

This "morning" started at a bright and early noon-time.  We headed off to the post office to ship some of the "larger" presents or "completed" presents that are going to Oklahoma, and spent an obscene amount of money doing so.  Did you know they charge you for packing peanuts, and don't tell you?  Yeah, we thought that was nice.   The rest of the day was spent traveling around a surprisingly small radius of Mesa, and not getting a ton done.  We had to go back home at the beginning of the trip because I forgot to put my engagement ring on when I woke up this morning (since I have to take it off at night to put medication on my hands) and Jason refused to do anything after the post office until that problem was fixed.  After that, we headed to Bookman's because I was looking for  a DIY wedding book, as one of the places we wanted to look at basically let you do everything for your own wedding, which made me happy.  (And this has both pro's and con's and I fear I may be turning into Bridezilla, but I just have not liked most of the things that I have seen, and I want it to be perfect.  :(  Sadface.)  Anyway, we ended up finally finding a copy of Wedding Planning For Dummies, which seems to be chock full of DIY ideas and tips / tricks, and The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weddings, which we skimmed through, and wow, it really is a survival guide, it has everything from the cake dropping, to someone objecting to your marriage to the wedding dress getting lost, and you not knowing how to dance!  I am seriously thinking of putting this in a glass case in a central location with an axe next to it on our wedding day,  so that should either side have an issue, they know where to go!  After that, we went to Hobby Lobby, where we spent a decent amount of time becuase the store is obnoxiously huge.  However, much to our benefit, they were having a huge sale!  I know we shouldn't be buying things, but sometimes it's just so hard, we are so used to living comfortably (not rich, but if we see something small that we want it's usually no issue to get it, and it's impossible to break that habit.)  We actually went there with a purpose: to find silk flowers.  But, since we have been to three places I think we may have to special order them.  However, we did end up picking up Jason a cute penguin etched glass ornament for $1, some purple glass candle holders for the wedding for 50¢ each (we probably should have picked out more) and some cute wooden picture frames for the kids (2 dog ones and 2 cat ones $1 each.)  Then we headed over to Joann's to continue our quest for silk flowers, and paper goods (because we want to make our own invitations too but can't find the right stuff for that either) with no luck, and headed home for a short break.

Skipping around, Tuesday night we went to an open house for The Palms on Southern.  It was cold, and rainy, but we went anyway hoping they were open.  They were literally 5 minutes away from us, it's actually further to go to the grocery store we shop at.  They were decently priced,  and had the 3rd open, so here are some pictures:

We got a lot of information from this place as well.  They even convinced these cheap technology-geeks that we did in fact need a DJ and we can't host our own wedding with an MP3 player, and we got a ton of resources from them with business cards and brochures for everything from cakes to DJs to photography.

Back to today:
After our romp around town, we went to another open house.  This one was for Chapel on the Farm.  The set-up is very basic and simplistic.  I fell in love with it online, and could barely wait for their open house today.  Everything was so quaint and cute.  This is the place that is pretty low on the price scale because they pretty much offer just the building for getting ready, and the reception site, which was fine with me (so far, we haven't investigated the cost for the rest of the stuff we need.)  I fell even more in love with it when we got there.  It has a ton of history that I will spare you, for now... Here are the pictures:

After that, we headed home, where I made Crab Puffs for dinner, with artichoke... and here we are... :)

I'll leave you with even more pictures, a little more in the Christmas spirit: