The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In my head over the last week or so I had been working up a post about all the things that have changed in our lives over the last 3 (4?) years.  I can't do it.  I just can't.  It would take me forever, and inevitably I would forget something.  I've got too much going on in my life to keep up with it.  Right now there's back to school, working on a weighted blanket for Quinn, laundry, getting set up for Wee-Cycle, scanning in a million (probably underexaggerating) pieces of work from my kids from LAST school year, because I made a stupid promise to keep all their stuff, and this allows me to not keep an entire dead rainforest's worth of papers in my house, getting ready for doctors appointments, surgery, dog training, trying to keep a clean house, and my sanity, along with a slew of other things I know I'm forgetting.  (Didn't I tell you this would happen?)  And that's all in the next 2 weeks.

So the condensed version is this:

We moved (bought a house, actually.)

We gained a new family member! :)  (Jasper)

We lost a few family members.  :(  (Dakota, and Landon)

We got 2 puppies! :/ (Gus and Ludo.  Happy we have them, sad that it was due to Landon's death.)

Had a few vehicle swaps, and accident, health problems, drama, school and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff.  But that's the gist of it.

Buckle up, it's going to be an adventure!

Coming (Back) Soon

I go to run the dishwasher.  Its a portable one, because the bajillion year old house we live in doesn't have a normal one.  Doesn't have room for one, probably couldn't even support one, and there would probably be something wrong with it anyway.  So I go to plug it in, drop the plug in a cup of water.  Get so distracted wondering if I've dried it off enough or if I’m going to be electrocuted upon plugging it in, that I forget to hook up the water hose, and go about my way.  No big deal you say?  Oh no, it is a big deal, not only will it run without water, but it will drain without being hooked up... all over the floor… with the water that’s been sitting in the hoses from the last load of dishes.  Ugh.

This is my life.

We are in the midst of moving.  I’m hoping being on a single level house, although smaller, but better laid out, will improve my life so greatly, I will not only blog when my children hit important milestones in their life, but I will blog regularly, like I used to.  It was therapeutic.  I need therapy.  I will be back.  Soon!

Eight Months.

My beautiful, amazing baby girl.  I cannot believe that 8 months has flown by.  You are currently in your bouncer, screaming with joy.  So many things make you happy.  When I look at you, screams of joy.  If the dogs run by you, screams of joy.  Everything is just so wonderful for you; you are so full of happiness and joy.

This last month has been full of firsts for you.  First, we had your first Halloween.  You were a little pink monster, and you were pretty stinkin’ cute!

We also had many new foods this month (bananas, pears, carrots, and avocado), as well as your first Thanksgiving, which, honestly, wasn’t that exciting for you.  It was super exciting for Momma and Daddy though because we got to spend four whole days with you, something we don’t get to do or enjoy often enough.  

You do not like avocado.

Bananas are good...

...and so are carrots!

You also got to witness Daddy’s goofiness on Thanksgiving.  You were not amused.  

Your personality is starting to shine through.  You crack me and dad up every day with your antics.  You love to make us smile, and we love to make you smile.  You’ve just started to wave at people, and you’re pretty good at it.  You started with the finger movement, and not really sure of yourself when you did it, kind of like you were afraid to wave.  Now you get the whole arm going and wave at people excitedly all the time.  Hello, goodbye, it doesn’t matter, you just love to wave!  You babble a lot.  You still only say “Dada” on a regular basis, and sometimes, “nana”.  No “mama” yet, but I’m thinking you’re just holding out until Christmas!

We no longer have a mirror to walk by in our hallway since we moved.  I think this makes you a little sad, and I think you may actually miss the baby in the mirror.  We are working on it though, don’t worry.  I think you are lonely a lot, which makes me really sad.  You have other kids to play with at daycare all day, and I think you tolerate me on weeknights, but on the weekend, if you see a baby on TV, out and about, or even the baby on the diaper box, you always reach for them.  You seem so loving and caring to all babies and children, no matter their size.  You just want someone to hang out with.  Lilly’s mom and I keep talking about play dates, but we still haven’t fully moved in, and our house still smells somewhat funny, so I haven’t really pushed the idea.

Monday you start in a new classroom at daycare.  I’m sad and happy about this.  I am sad because we really like your morning teachers.  We’ve even had one come babysit for us, and she cried when she found out you were leaving her room.  They spend most of your day with you, and you always seem happy to see your morning teachers.  I am happy because we are finally getting away from your afternoon teacher.  I don’t like her because she doesn’t listen to what you need or what I want to happen for you, you only seem to tolerate her too, you never seem overly ecstatic to see her like you do your morning teachers.  Luckily, they are moving Lilly with you, so you two will be together.  You will be with many “older” babies, but I think they are all still under a year, so they are not much older—just developmentally more where you are headed.

You have stopped sleeping through the night, and there is rarely a night where you stay in your crib the entire time.  It’s getting super exhausting, but you seem to be doing better sleeping in our bed, and you don’t need the constant attention that you used to, which kept us up all night long.  It seems like every few hours you are hungry, so hopefully it’s just a growth spurt, and it won’t last forever.  It may also be that you’re lonely, although it’s no different from your room at our other house.  Maybe we need to let the dogs sleep in your room, so you don’t feel so alone.

I took you out a few weekends ago to try to get some good fall pictures of you, but I think you were mad that Daddy wasn’t there, and you weren’t very cooperative.  You ate a bunch of leaves (I think because they were crunchy) and that made you sick, which made it even more difficult for you to want to be there.  Oh well, I tried.

I am super excited for next month because it will be your very first Christmas.  We got you a few presents, so I hope you like them.  This weekend we are supposed to take you to see Santa, so I hope he doesn’t scare you too bad.

I love you so much!

Love,

Momma

Seven Months

Today you are seven months old.  Seven.  Wow.  Over half a year old.  Where is the time going?

 It seems like so much has changed in the last month, but at the same time, not much has changed.  I think we can chalk that up to our super crazy month.  We were all sick off and on for a 3 ½ week period.  If one of us wasn’t sick, the other two were, and at one point we all were.  On top of me and daddy working, daddy going to school, trying to move, things going wrong at both houses putting everything on hold, and leaving us with an uncomfortable place to live, no matter which house we stayed at, the sickness was too much for everyone, and I’m pretty sure we all lost some (or all) of our marbles.  I won’t lie.

You have been difficult this month, but I attribute that to the above statements.  You have been extremely clingy, to the point where I cannot sleep a full night, because you refuse to sleep without being held very closely.  This only applies to nighttime, and you are fine at daycare and into the evenings, but once its bedtime, all bets are off.  You turn into a shrieking, crying, nightmare of a child.  The sad part is no one believes me because you are so good the rest of the time.  Like right now, for instance, you are happily playing on the floor, by yourself, while I write this, and while daddy is working at the other house to get all of our stuff packed.  Come tonight, if we even get you as far as sleeping in your swing (because there is no getting you in your crib right now) you will wake up in 2-3 hours screaming your head off until we take you out and bring you into bed with us.  You may be little, but you manage to take up 50% of the bed, leaving daddy and I hanging off the edges.

At your 6 month check up with the doctors, you weighed 15 ½ lbs.  You are getting to be so big.  It took 3 of us and about 5 minutes of you squirming on the scale to get that weight, and it’s a rough estimate.  That’s the number we all saw the most often, because you were squirming so much, and trying to communicate with everyone around you that the numbers were going crazy.  Everyone commented on how pleasant you were.  You had to get shots, which is always traumatic, but they also threw in a flu shot, which I know was a pain.  Daddy had one a few weeks earlier, and he complained for a week about how much it hurt after the shot.  Wouldn’t you know it, this was also around the time where we “lost” all your medications for a few days, and therefore couldn’t give you relief when you needed it.  You were not so pleasant then.

Your doctor says you need to be on your knees and working towards crawling more, but I haven’t really listened much to that.  You are pretty mobile at this point by army crawling or rolling around and that’s just fine with me.  You want to move your legs, not your arms, and she told me to not let you sit in your bouncy chair, and make you have more floor time.  I say, screw that!  You love your bouncy chair, you love bouncing, and turning around, and playing with all the toys.  I understand that you need to develop, but I was told to basically take away your favorite thing, and only use it in emergencies, like if I had to answer the door, or go to the bathroom, and that’s it.  I think you are developing just fine.  I am not a big fan of doctors right now, or their charts.  All I’ve read is that babies develop on their own, I’m fine with that, and I’m patient.  Hell, most things I’ve read say you should have your first tooth right now, and while you’ve acted like you’re going to have some soon… you’ve been doing it for months.  What are they going to tell me next, that I need to surgically make your teeth come out?  You just take your time, and do what you need to do, kiddo.

We started on solid foods this month.  Well, more solid than the cereal that you’ve been getting in your bottle.  The first thing we tried was some acorn squash.  I steamed it, and pureed it myself and you loved it.  You had it for a few days, and with no reaction.  Next we tried butternut squash.  The doctor said I needed to start to not puree it and mash it with a fork to get you used to chewing.  I took a potato masher, and left some chunks, and you were not thrilled with them, but ate it anyway.  I think you liked the flavor of the acorn squash better, but next time, we are moving on to another food, so let the adventuring begin!

You “talk” more now.  You say dada a lot, and daddy, of course loves it.  Sometimes you say, what sounds like “hi, dada!” and I think that is his favorite.  No momma yet, but we will get there.  We were discussing tonight how you kindly have something for each of us.  I get all the kisses, and no “momma”, and he gets all the “dada” but no kisses.  It’s nice of you to share the love for each of us individually.  Every now and then you will nibble on his nose, just like you used to, when you were hungry, and I think that melts his heart the most

You still love your puppies, and they love you.  You giggle at them whenever they do pretty much anything.  I don’t think Landon can wait until you can actually play with him; he gets so excited when you do, so I know you two will have a great friendship.  Bath time is still pretty much the best thing in your world.  I’m pretty sure that if you didn’t wrinkle up like a little raisin, we could leave you in your tub for hours, just splish-splashin’ away.  You also love to touch faces.  I think you like how each one feels different; you love to squeeze noses until they honk (some people need a little “reminder” that that’s what happens when a nose gets pinched) and squishing cheeks in your fingers.  You love to explore new things. 

Halloween is tomorrow, and I am so excited to dress you up for it.  It is my favorite holiday, so I hope you at least enjoy it a little bit.  You are going to be a pink monster.  I had picked out a frog costume for you last year, before we knew that you were going to be a girl, but I got a 6-9 month size, thinking it would fit you perfect, but you are still in some 0-3 month stuff, and just barely fitting into some 3-6 month stuff, so that was pretty much not going to happen.  You will be adorably cute no matter what though.   I just hope that the costume is comfortable so you can wear it most of the night, so we can show you off it in, and that it doesn’t irritate you too badly.

I love you so much!

 

Love,

Momma

Six Months

Today you turned 6 months old.  Half a year.  The time has flown by.  I can’t believe how old and big you are getting on me, and so fast too.  It makes me a little sad that you are growing up so seemingly fast, but it is all part of life.

No matter where we go people love you.  You are usually smiling.  You seem to like old men the best.  You always flirt with them, and giggle and coo, and of course, flash your gorgeous smile.  We went to Chili’s last Monday because it was their annual St. Jude’s night.  We were there for almost 3 hours.  It was crowded, and noisy, but you were so good.  Good enough for some of the staff to come over and tell us how good you were, as if we don’t know!  We were with some of daddy’s work friends, and so they all got to see you, and a few got to love on you.  Not once did you get fussy.

Most days you are an easy baby.  I think it’s only when you don’t feel too well is when you’re really fussy, and even then, it’s not too bad.  We are such lucky parents.  You are such a joy to have around.  So far, you are good-natured, happy, go to bed (for the most part) on time, and without much fight, you try not to wake us up in the middle of the night, and you are always ready for cuddles!  We really couldn’t ask for better.

At day care you have made a friend, her name is Lilly.  She is about 3 or 4 weeks younger than you are, but you would never guess it for her size.  You two like to hang out on the floor and play with toys.  Her mom told me how you guys were playing a few weeks ago, and I didn’t get to see it until this week, and I must say, it is pretty sweet how you two are to each other.  One morning, we came in, and your teacher was already there, holding her, and you reached out and gave her a big wet kiss.  It almost brought tears to my eyes; it was such a beautiful moment.  Another day she came in right about when we did, you looked at her, took a hold of her dress, as if to say, “I love your outfit,” and you smiled at her.  You are getting such a personality.  We saw pictures last Friday of you two playing together, and you both had such big smiles on your faces.  I’m glad you’re able to make friends easily.  I love the fact that you are so loving and so caring already.

One of the downsides to this month was that we thought that you had some sort of bladder / urinary tract infection.  I will say right now, I am so sorry we had to put you through that.  We still don’t know what the problem is, but the way they test is horrible.  They had to put a needle into your bladder, and of course, they have your parent (only I was there) hold you down while they do it.  It was awful.  You cried, before, during, and even after when I was holding you, I almost cried right along with you, but I tried my hardest to stay strong.  It’s been almost a week, and I still feel bad that we put you through it, although I am thankful that nothing was wrong.

Today we signed a lease on a new (to us) house.  This one is bigger, and we won’t be living in fear that we may have to move on a whim because something went wrong.  You are getting the bigger room because we want you to have all the space you need for all the toys that you have.  Don’t worry though; I am sure your stuff will still be all over the house so that no matter where we are, you are entertained.  My biggest fear at this point is that the place has stairs, steep ones, and although you aren’t walking yet, they make me a little uneasy.  I’m going to be a nervous wreck anytime I walk on them with you.  I’m a nervous wreck walking on stairs alone.  Another concern I have is that the cat, Jack, will be in the house with us.  Since you were born, he has been living in the garage.  He likes it, the dogs can’t get him or his food, and that’s just the way it’s been.  This new house has no garage, and the storage addition to the house has no ventilation.  You are not a huge fan of Jack by any means, and I don’t think he is a huge fan of you either, so it should be interesting.  I hope that we won’t be dealing with tear-filled nights like tonight, every night.  Maybe you two can just leave each other alone.  I am super excited about finally getting to decorate your room the way it deserves to be decorated.  We have had a ton of stuff to put on the walls for your room since before you were born, but knew that where we are now, was not the place to put them.  This new place feels like home, even though we aren't living in it.  I cannot wait to personalize your living space, and show you how much we love you!

At this point in your life, we are starting to explore food.  So far, we've just experimented with cereal.  Most of it ends up your nose, so we have to work on that, but you really just want to help, and get in there.  You love to do things with your hands, period.  You love sitting in the bathtub splashing water, you love grabbing toys, you enjoy just making grabbing motions with your hands on various surfaces, and you get a little irritated when we try to help you hold your bottle, because you can do it!  I love your chubby little hands, and all that they are exploring.  You never stay in the same place for long, not even when you’re sleeping.  You are never in the same area we left you in the next morning.  

I love waking up to your face, even at 3 am, because I know that these moments where you need me, and you want me and only me, won’t last forever.  I love being your comfort.  I love the fact that you smile every morning when I come to see you, and most of the time if you are upset, and I come to get you, that makes everything better.  I love everything about you.  I am your world, and you are mine.  Occasionally I share you with dad too… but not too much.  

Love,

Momma

Five Months

Little Quinn.  Well, you are not so little anymore, you are 5 months old!  I can’t believe the time has flown by.  I was going through my emails this morning, looking for your birth announcement because one of my friends said that they never got it.  I never found it, but I was rereading all of our adventures of our first week together.  You really scared momma, and even reading about it put me in tears, even though now, you are as healthy and perfect as perfect can be.  Despite that first large bump in the road, you are growing more and more every day.  Every time I look at your pictures, I want to reach out and hold you.  You are my everything, and I don’t know how I ever survived in this world without you.

This past month, a lot has happened with everyone and everything around us.  It has been rough and fun, and full of adventure, both the good and the bad kind.  I don’t even know where to begin.  First, our housing situation was in jeopardy.  The air conditioning went out, and our landlord basically told us that we were lucky it wasn’t something major, and that it was an easy fix because he couldn’t afford to fix anything for us, and would give us a 30-days to vacate notice should anything else go wrong.  That really freaked me and dad out.  It’s one thing to put us on the street, we can be nomads if need be, but we have you now.  You to care for, you who needs a stable, and comfortable home; you, who needs so many things that moving from place to place, cannot be provided.  I was really scared for the first few days.  Scared and angry.  For once in our lives, daddy and I switched roles.  He was the one freaking out about what the plan was going to be, and telling us we had to move, move, move, and I was the one who wanted to ride it out, and see where life was going to take us.  Don’t expect that to ever happen again.  We are still in the same place, but still keeping our eyes open.  I want to find a good home that we can be in for a few years.  Something not too crowded something I won’t fear for you to walk around in, when the time comes, or even for you to crawl around.  I always told myself I didn’t want to have children while living in an apartment, because an apartment is so temporary, so not homey.  Unfortunately, thanks to our mistakes, we can’t provide you with a home to grow up in now, either.  I guess I should have clarified my future thoughts with “rentals” versus “apartments” because, we may be in a house right now, but it is not ours, and it is definitely not our “home.”  Someday we will have one for you, and hopefully, that will be the only home you remember, one filled with love, and laughter.  The middle of the month also brought about a LOT of changes.  In the same week your dad finally got back to a normal schedule at work, you got back to a normal sleep schedule (rather quickly, I might add), and you started day care.  Your dad learned of his new schedule on a Thursday morning, he went to work that night, stayed up as late as he could Friday, and then spent all weekend with you.  I pretty much only saw you when you were hungry.  It was the first time he actually got to enjoy you in all your glory and you got to enjoy him.  You were both so happy, and I am so excited that this opportunity fell in his lap.  That Monday, he started his new shift, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, like a normal dad, he also started school that day, and that Wednesday, you started day care.  We are starting to shape up like the all-American family.  Day care was really rough on me.  I didn’t want to trust someone else, someone I didn’t even know to take care of you for any extended period of time, much less 10 hours a day, 5 days a week.  Although this is one of the best day cares in the city, we got off to a bit of a rocky start, but I think things are ok now.  You had no problems with them; it was just your crazy parents who did.  You love daycare.  They sent me pictures of your first day there, and you were smiling in both of them.  You are smiling when we drop you off, and smiling when we pick you up.  You get wagon rides, and lots of cuddles, they absolutely adore you, and I’m pretty sure you enjoy it there too.  I cried your first day, and then sat at home for 9 hours wondering what you were doing, and didn’t do much else.  It was my first day without you ever, and I was pretty lost.  It’s still hard to drop you off every day, but I’m doing better.  I come home now and look for jobs, cook, or clean.  I’m still not working, and I really want to have you by my side all the time, but I need to get used to not having you there, and I also need to get things done around the house.  About an hour before I get to pick you up, I get antsy, and can’t wait to see you.  It’s like that last hour before you get to go home from work or school.  It’s so close, but so far.  Someday you will know what I am talking about.

  

At your 4-month checkup (which was almost two weeks after you turned 4 months), you weighed 13 lbs. ½ an oz.  You just now fit perfectly into 3-month-old clothing.  I am slowly starting to have to pack away your 0-3 month clothes, which is not as traumatic as I thought it would be, because you have a LOT of clothes.  At your appointment, you got shots, and this time you didn’t crash out, and you were miserable for a few days.  I felt so bad, and you were so cranky.  The doctor said that we could start trying out solid foods starting with cereal if you showed any interest in it.  You already get cereal in your bottles to help you keep it down, but I made up a bowl of cereal for you to eat, and you had no real interest in it.  I will try again next month, but I won’t pressure you at all.  The more food you eat, the less bonding time you and I get, so I’m being selfish with it.  You don’t truly need to start exploring with solid foods anyway until you’re a year old.  The doctor also suggested that we let to start drinking from a cup.  She personally doesn’t like sippy cups, and recommended little bathroom cups.  She showed us how to give you about an ounce of water in one, and you drank it so fast, as if we were starving you.  We didn’t have any bathroom cups at home, so I gave you my old Tommee Tippee Cup to try and you loved it.  You got the hang of it right away, and you could tell how proud of yourself that you were when you first used it.  Daddy, going with doctors’ orders, didn’t want to use a sippee cup, so we went out and bought a bottle with handles and a bottle like nipple that had 3 stages (bottle nipple, a square-ish nipple to transition you to a sippee cup type drinking device, and eventually cup) but I think it was too big, and you weren’t really digging it.

 Developmentally, you can now roll from your tummy to your back, and your back to your tummy, but not back to your original starting position.  Not sure why you do it that way, but you will figure it out.  It turns out tummy time is not as traumatic as you originally thought, and for the last week, when I come in to get you in the morning, you are either fast asleep on your tummy (you sleep in almost the same exact position as your momma!) or you are on your tummy trying to crawl around, and usually making a ruckus.  On your first day of day care, dad saw another baby (who is a few months older than you are) on her back grabbing her feet and rolling back and forth.  He thought it was so cute, and talked to you about grabbing your feet, and doing it too.  In the next few days, you did it, and he was overjoyed.  He loves when you do it every time.  You are a smart little cookie, and I don’t think people give babies enough credit for what they know.  You are at the age that we can start teaching you sign language to communicate better, and while we are eager to do so, we can’t find out little book we got for you.  Chaos is our life, and maybe someday we will get our act together, but probably not.  I think, despite no real effort going into it, you are learning to wave as a greeting.  You often lift up your hand when people enter or leave a room, or when we come to pick you up from day care, and someone says “bye” to you.  You’re somewhat shy about it at first, and you hesitatingly put your hand up, but every now and then, you will shake it at them.

We recently got you a Taggie toy.  It’s simply a sewn triangular piece of fabric with various tags hanging off it.  Simple, but you love it.  We’ve attached it to your car seat, and pretty much, it’s our “go-to” toy of the moment.  You still really enjoy your swing, but I think you like it too much sometimes, and although you are nowhere near the 25-pound weight limit, you get so excited, and so carried away with kicking for joy, you shake it, and it scares me a little.  This weekend we are going to the zoo pending the weather.  I’m excited to see your reaction to all the animals, but I think you will like the monkeys the most, unless they have some underwater animals.  Daddy fully plans to parade you around on his shoulders the entire time.  I think he might have to fight grandpa for it, and I have a feeling that excitement will end the second time you spit up on his head.  I’m giving you a freebie because he will probably be wearing a hat, and won’t mind until you actually make it to his hair.

I love you!

Love,

Momma

I know I don't post enough...

It's just not motivating when I know that only one person reads this... and it's not even my husband (who is supposed to be helping me :( boo.)

Anyway, here is a lovely picture of our new door decoration! :D

Today

I woke up, made banana bread from scratch... and butter. :) Both were delicious.

Jason is home...

Why the move?

Well, a few different reasons. First of all, not being able to host a website from the comfort of your own server can get costly. You also have to pay for domain names, etc. So, since I have been a bad blogger, I figure it can't hurt to host it on a free site, especially one as super as Google. Another nice feature that this new blog will provide is that off to the right, there is a spot where you can put in your email, and when this is updated (which I hope will be more) you will be notified instead of having to check back on a regular basis to see if we have magically lost "the lazy."

On to the move! We made it, well I made it, and Jason went back to Arizona. It's been about a month now since we've seen each other. I still don't have a job, and honestly only one true prospect, which I am kind of losing hope on. Being that Bartlesville isn't the biggest place in the world, there aren't that many jobs out there. I had an interview on Monday that lasted almost 2 hours. Yikes! They told me that they would call me for a second interview, but they still had another person to interview, but they should know by the end of the week. Being that the other interview was Tuesday, and Wednesday went by without a word, I'm not holding my breath. I think I have to bite the bullet, and start to look at retail jobs. It's not that I think retail is below me, but #1 I am just not a big fan of it, and #2 I've been having more and more problems with my foot. I'm not on it much as it is (because I pretty much sit on my ass all day, and do nothing) but when I am on it, even for only an hour or two, it kills me. Being that most retail jobs keep you on your feet the entire time, I'm worried about making it worse, and also, being in pain all day, which would be miserable.

The dogs have adjusted well. They love their backyard, and run in it constantly. They are slowly adapting to all the people that are around, and the fact that they don't want to hurt them. I'm slowly getting them to stop barking at every little thing, which believe me, has been a chore in itself. Landon has always liked Lawrence, but Lucy who is pretty much scared of everyone has really warmed up to him, she even dances when he comes over, so that is a massive improvement for her. The cats are aloof, and Damien is being more of a pain in the ass than he has ever been. I don't know if he's just more noticeable, or he misses Jason or something, but he is driving me crazy! Every time I turn around, he's on the table or the counter, and knocking something off. Every morning I walk into the living room / dinning room and there is a whole new pile of whatever he's knocked off high places from the night before.

In my spare time, I've been knitting, and watching a lot of Netflix. So far I've watched the first 2 seasons of Damages, and 60 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and a slew of bad horror movies. I'm getting really bored, but I am still a home-body. Somethings will never change. :) As for the knitting, I knit a little Android for Jason, and I am currently working on an octopus for a friend's little girl. Knitting the same thing 8 times (the legs) gets pretty tedious.

That's all I have the energy for, for now.

These guys, they crack me up.

Because really, it just can't suck any worse...

This is my passenger side front window.

This is the neighborhood we live in.  Ugh.  The entire day I spent thinking it was a bullet hole, and c'mon, in this neighborhood, it's totally feasible.  Once the police got here tonight, they said it could have also been a key thing, I can't remember the exact name, but basically it spider webs the glass, and they can peel off the window and break into your car.  Slightly, but not really comforting in my case.  Unfortunately, our window insurance deductible was $1000, so we ended up just paying a cash price for it of a whopping $340.  Poop.  There goes the money I was saving for a treadmill.  :(  Seriously, if its not one thing its another.  I just want out of here.  I hate living in fear.  HATE IT.

Things left unnoticed.

I finally, FINALLY, got Jason to agree to instal the new faucet for our kitchen sink (I'm pretty sure we've owned it since before we even moved into the house, hence the excitement.)  I tried to push it for Saturday, but since he worked half a day he promised that he would do it Sunday.  I reluctantly agreed.

3 hours have passed since we've woken up.

"So... are you sure you're going to be able to get to the sink?"
"...I told you I would..." *video game grunts*
"...well just kind of wondering... it's getting later in the day and you said it may take you a while..."
"...I said I'd get to it... I'll get to it..."

So it's almost 1 pm.  He's cleaned out underneath the sink, and then tells me, "If I install this today, we lose water for the entire house."

Just the fact that I've started one of many loads of laundry, this doesn't sound so pleasing to me, so I venture to ask why, which I really should have learned that I should NEVER do when it comes to anything related to this house.  Thus, I bring you these lovelies:

These are the pipes under the sink.  Do you notice anything?

...Here, let me get closer for you...

Oh, look at that.  The entire thing is corroded, and the knob has fallen off. Like... gone fallen off, like, it's been a while since it's fallen off, type of fallen off.

I.Hate.This.House. (And the home inspection guy that couldn't find a defect in this house if it stabbed him in the face, which is what I want to be doing right about now.)

Reasons why I loathe thee.

Basically, it isn't any new fact that Jason and I hate our house, and everything around it, including our neighbors, here is why:

I will start you off with this lovely diagram.  Each square represents a house and a front/back yard.  Our houses are not literally wall-to-wall on all sides.  We have a back yard, which backs up to our back-neighbors back yard, and a side yard that is next to another neighbor and so on.

8	7	6	5
1	2	3	4

1)  We hate you, because recently, despite the lovely No Trespassing sign that we had posted (until it "mysteriously" broke) your wretched children-beasts come on to our property.  Not only that, which already upsets our dogs enough to make them go crazy... you then start waving things, such as sticks, in front of their angry little faces.  When we open the door to find out why there is such a ruckus, you run off, because obviously, you know you've done something wrong.  Last time, we caught you, you little bastards.  Jason was kind enough to hop our fence, and walk over to your house STEAMING mad.  I'm pretty sure if cartoons got the idea of an angry person blowing steam out of their ears, it was from Jason, at that point in time.  (Yes, I am saying that cartoonists traveled forward in time to figure out that's what a REALLY mad person looks like.)  He spoke to your parents, who were probably the same level of pissed off as our dogs, but nowhere near Jason.  I don't think it has resolved the issue completely, but it has lessened it a bit.

2)  Ah, the neighbors directly to the west of us.  Thanks for owning a dog.  A dog that never goes inside.  Not in 120° heat, and not in the rain.  I really do feel bad for your dog, and it really is no wonder he barks at every gust of wind.  I just wish you would get rid of him.  It make us feel like assholes if we should happen to get home late, or want to do something in our yard early in the morning when its cooler, because YOUR dog won't shut his yap because YOU won't let him in the house.  Also, thanks for providing him with that kiddie pool in the backyard that it is clear he never uses, and is also a lovely breeding ground for your other pets, mosquitoes, they sure do love that green, algae ridden standing water.  They also love us, and imagine how joyfully surprised we were when we found out the source of them.

3) That's us.  We just hate the house.  We can't really hate ourselves, although we do kick ourselves every now and then for buying this dump.

4) Ah, the overly loud obnoxious neighbor to the east of us.  Did you know that her father's birthday was on our wedding date, and that means that he not only approves of our marriage, but also that we are living in his house?  SO GREAT TO HEAR!  Ugh.  Not only that, she really is LOUD and OBNOXIOUS.  Like, to the point where we are in our house, and if she is talking to someone outside, we can clearly hear her... and so can the rest of the neighborhood.  We avoid her at all costs, but sometimes resistance is futile... because the nervous glance in her direction and then away... just won't work.

5) I don't think we have a problem with you... you just happened to get grouped in with the rest, just like poor ol' #8.

6) You know, when we discussed paying HALF to get our fence fixed because your 3-90 pound dogs continually jumped on it, we were serious?  We didn't mean for you to fix your front yard, put your dogs there, and then buy five 6-month old puppies and put them in the back instead.  We still can't use our backyard, because the new dogs also jump on the fence, pushing it more and more over.  I'm glad you got your front yard fixed though.  I'm also glad that before you moved your bigger dogs, one actually climbed OVER our fence, destroyed my above ground garden, you walked into our yard, got your dog, and didn't even bother to tell us until we confronted you about it.  Oh yeah, and thanks for all the dead birds you keep throwing in our yard too.  That's always nice to walk into.

7) You have the loudest, most yippi-yappiest dog I have ever heard.  You must be related to #2 because you NEVER let your dog inside, and at 2 am, or 11 pm it doesn't really matter the time "yipyipyipyip" is all we ever hear.  I wan't to do a special covert operation over the corner of your fence, and shoot it... and I am not an advocate for killing animals... but yours needs to go.

8) Sorry you got stuck in here with the rest of the idiots.  I like your 2 black dogs.  They are very well behaved, and quiet.  I enjoy driving by them when they are outside every now and then because they always looks like they are in anticipation of you being home and being a super owner who actually gives a shit about their dogs.

I can't wait until we have enough equity to get the hell out of this place, or we win the lottery.  Freedom!

Amazing Things

Earlier this week the site was down because of an application that I was using that was "hogging" up all the server resources.  Since it is a shared server (with God knows how many people) instead of just removing or disabling the program, my host put the kabosh on the entire site.  I was pretty annoyed because that allowed me to do things the backwards / hard way only... as I wasn't allowed access to my actual site, where I could have taken care of the problem in one foul swoop.  So the site was down for a day or so while I went to 2,310 different locations to try and solve the issue.  Let's just say I'll leave it at that, but I am a little annoyed with my host right now for not really being helpful, or timely since they said they would check overall resources in 24 hours... and that 24 hours was up Thursday...  *cough*  That's why the site is only half done, because this all went down right in the middle of me working on it...

Annnnnnnyyyyyway, school for me starts this Thursday, and I already feel overwhelmed.  I ordered my books weeks ago and I have one.  One out of four.  I got an email yesterday saying I had to go to Target to buy one since it was way cheaper than going through the book store.  Thanks teach.  So technically I guess I have two, even though I haven't actually gone to get it yet.  However, I called the bookstore and told them "Hey, this book has been sitting at West Campus for a week and a half... you think you could ship it... and what about this other one that's been pending for a week... what about that one?"  The response I got was less than pleasurable with one book being dropped off by FedEx the day before my classes start, and one book being on backorder, despite the fact that they have 15 in stock for people who are picking up, until after classes start.  I ordered my books on the 3rd, how long do you wait for people to pick up their books... an eternity?  So yeah, totally sucks.  I hate being unprepared.  Jason's school starts on the following Monday, and he's already picked up his books, easy peasy.

A few months ago, I ordered a little device called a FitBit.  It took forever to get here (on backorder... just like everything I ever order) but I finally got it Thursday.  It is amazing to say the least.  It tracks sleep, and calories burned, and has an entire website to track all that and more.  The only thing I am truely disappointed with... is my results: (click it!)



The sleep feature is what really sold me on this little device, and so far this has been my worst night out of three.  My first night I was awoken 12 times, but got about 8 hours of sleep.  My second night I was awoken 23 times (!!!) but got about 7 hours of sleep... last night was obviously the worst because when I was woken up, I stayed up instead of being up for a minute or two.  The website also tracks your caloric intake, and water intake based on the foods you entered in, so it is really interesting to see the total caloric intake of what you eat versus what you burn as well.  So far I am in love with this tiny little helper, but I'm giving it at least a month before I give an absolute recommendation as I've seen a lot of pros as well as cons on their forums.

That's pretty much it for now.  I'm off to force Jason to clean with me... we defrosted/deiced our freezer yesterday (easy to do in this heat) and now its off to organize the kitchen!

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.

In case you haven't heard the news:

We are famous now:
http://www.chapelonthefarm.com/weddingsreceptions.html

We painted a room in our house, goodbye ugly green, hello nice blah bland colors <3!

[caption id="attachment_514" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Looks lovely!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_512" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Looks great with all the brown (yeck)"][/caption]

We finally built the sewing/craft table Jason got me for Christmas:

[caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Spaaaace!"][/caption]

Aaaaaand I now cook fancy schmancy things at home like Chicken with a Reisling-Orange Sauce.  All.  Made.  From.  Scratch.  Check me out:





I also learned today, that dad, no matter how hard he tries, is NO MATCH for momma's comfort in a thunderstorm.  I love our puppies.

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.