Judith's Journal - Making small changes little by little

Overrated eBay Success

2012-02-17T19:51:00.001-05:00

I may have been too Pollyanna about the success of my eBay sales. Today, I went to Staples and picked up two envelopes, bubble wrap, and some boxes. I spent $18.

Then I packaged my four shipments. I opted to print and pay for shipping labels online. That cost another $18.48. I have now spent $36.48 - without having accounted for eBay listing fees.

My income, with shipping, was $58.50. That leaves a profit of about $22 before eBay fees. Still, that isn't bad for 2 DVDs on potty training I didn't want, a lamp with a chip in it, a ceramic night light, and two board books.

EBay Success!

2012-02-16T21:20:00.001-05:00

I am currently reading a book by Peter Walsh. One quote struck me, "All the stuff in your house is there because you think it holds answers, evokes memories, contains a promise, or serves a purpose."

He has a point. We choose to keep our stuff for whatever reason we think is legitimate. I do not want to be a hoarder like others in my family. This is why I purge.

Shortly after we completed the library purge, I posted five things for sale on eBay. These were things we no longer wanted, but I was loathe to get rid of them because they had perceived value. What to do? Post them on eBay and let others determine the value.

I was surprised by the results, but all five items sold. If the buyers pay, I will ship them on Saturday. And I net $30 (not inclusive of shipping). Not bad for two books, two DVD's (sold as a set), a lamp, and a nightlight. To think - I actually bought two of the items off eBay at one point.

Now I want to go through the house and find other items I hesitate to get rid of (for whatever reason) and see what they will fetch me!

Valentine's Day 2012 Recap

2012-02-15T21:58:00.002-05:00

Everyone who knows me well knows that my favorite holiday is Valentine's Day. It has been for as long as I remember. I speculate that it is due to missing my first Valentine's party in kindergarten due to a case of chickenpox. It was also a holiday that my dad usually worked and could not, therefore, ruin by his moods.

Husband knows that I love the holiday. It is the one time of year he is required to get me flowers. He also knows I was spoiled by a father who worked for many years for a florist. I also work with a group of women and he likes to make them jealous. This year, I received a stunning arrangement that I was finally able to see this morning.

I started the day by taking 36 cupcakes (18 lemon; 18 red velvet) to work in the cupcake carrier my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas. I also put Valentine's cards on my co-workers' desks. They were free from Krispy Kreme when we bought a dozen doughnuts and were each good for a free doughnut. I had some leftover lollipops from the ones we bought for Hannibal for his class party that I shared.

I only worked until noon-ish and was amazingly productive. I left and grabbed lunch from Dairy Queen and talked to a friend on the way home. I ate lunch and sent some emails about Igor's Jump for Heart fundraiser for school. Then I grabbed a booster for the car and headed to Igor's school for the party.

The party consisted of:
1) making a "flower" out of a tootsie pop, foam, tissue paper, and a rubber band. Followed by...
2) eating a ton of sugary snacks, followed by
3) a game where the kids were supposed to go around the room and tell their neighbor kid why they liked them in a "unique" way. This just turned into an elaborate game of telephone.

Then we signed our kids out and could take them home early.

We stopped home, Igor staying in the car and counting his candy, while I grabbed the other car seat. We surprised Hannibal when I picked him up at preschool instead of his uncle. He loved it.
Next, Igor lost an after school candy for stomping his feet at me when I told him to hang his coat on the hook instead of the floor. After his timeout, I took Iago and the boys to dinner at Bob Evans since we would be meeting Husband on campus for swim lessons. The waitress was confused about why I was buying dinner on Valentine's Day until I explained who Iago was. She gave the kids cookies and a card. They colored cards for their dad.

Then we went to swim lessons, followed by pastry and hot chocolate at Panera. Home, kids to bed, then Husband finished his book while I watched Biggest Loser. Not the most exciting, romantic day. Oh, and this morning I got to see the flowers that my husband sent to work that arrived after I left. I was glad a friend enjoyed them in my absence.

Do Fat People Not Interview?

2012-02-10T16:46:00.001-05:00

Today, I had a job interview. How it came about is a whole separate blog post that I may never do. To prepare for the interview, I needed to get clothes that fit. Last night, I went shopping.

First, I went to the Lane Bryant at Easton Town Center. This one usually has a better selection of work clothes. It did, but there were only two traditional suit jackets in the store. Both were pinstriped and didn't come in the size I was. I tried on some black trousers in a size 26, the size I thought I was. I couldn't even button them! I was mortified. The only size 28 petite black pants were "wide leg.". Really? I am wide enough already and you want me to look wider? I looked like I could fly with wings on my legs. I even tried a different style pant and there was so much room in the hip portion that I could have fit a whole person with me! I left buying only a beautiful green tank top to wear under a jacket and five pair of panties.

I had a meltdown in the car as I drove toward Catherine's at Polaris, but didn't stop and get Starbucks to make myself feel better. At Catherine's, there were only two suit jackets in the whole store! One was a size 30/32. I tried it on anyway and was pleased to see it was way too big. The other was cropped at the waist and highlighted my least desirable body part - my stomach. My sister calls while I am in the store. I complain about the lack of selection. There are jackets, but they are not appropriate for an interview! They are silky, or crocheted, or patterned with big floral patterns. Do fat people not interview?

I find pants that fit - in a size 28 - and make my legs look thinner. I also found a pretty olive ruffled shirt that I bought merely because I wanted to feel better.

Next was Lane Bryant at Polaris. They typically have more youthful looks. They have two suits. One is gray/purple stripe. It would be fine if I had the job, but not for the interview. The other was a blue pinstripe. The jacket came in my size. The pants, however, did not. But there was a skirt. I tried on the set, along with an ivory camisole. I put the skirt on. It fits. Then I try to sit. It is tight. I hear a pop. Luckily, it was just the zipper coming down. Between that and the fact that I don't own navy shoes, I opted to leave without a purchase. I cried once I left the store.

Next I went to Kohl's since the jacket I was wearing yesterday came from there. Nothing suit-like in my size. I did buy a gray tank and a black purse.

By the time I reached Fashion Bug, there were only five minutes before closing time. I just need a jacket. I find a black pinstripe. I buy it and a white camisole. I am a mess. I feel fat. I am upset that I don't have a matching suit. I am tired and hungry and thirsty. And depressed. Do fat people not interview? Clearly people who sell our clothes don't think we care what we look like when we do.

I get home at 8:15 to find Husband and the kids playing Lego Pirates of the Caribbean on the Xbox. It is way past their bedtime, but they wanted to see me before bed. However, they didn't come over to see me and kept playing their game. Husband told me my plate of food was in the fridge (Iago cooks on Thursday nights). I open the fridge, pull out a plate with a heaping of roast pork, two boiled red potatoes, and a "garnish" of green beans. Husband says, "oh, and there's pie."

He takes the kids up to shower them and put them to bed. I finish eating and go upstairs to show husband my options. I try on the black pants, white camisole, and pinstriped jacket. Husband tells me he thinks it doesn't look right and that he is accustomed to matching suits, "but I don't know women's fashion.". I freak out because it is all I have to wear. Trying to salvage the situation, he tells me it might be fine if I wore an off white shirt underneath, rather than the stark white camisole. Well, I don't have one. I went into the closet and cried. While in there, I found a black jacket and it matched the pants. We then tried the green tank, but settled on a wine colored satin tank and a green necklace.

Then I went down and ate the chocolate silk pie.

(Today, I found that my wine colored silk shirt had spots on it from when I used my hair mousse this morning. So, I wore a purple/black print sleeveless turtleneck instead.)

Reading is Fundamental

2012-02-08T19:53:00.000-05:00

As you can see from my recent posts, our household contains voracious readers. Right now, my oldest is doing his homework and the youngest is "reading" a book. Husband is playing Xbox, but only because he has finished all his current books.

As a cost saving measure (and a clutter-saving measure), we have begun going to the library. The kids love it because each of them has an age-appropriate computer there that they are usually allowed to play for about half an hour before we tell them it's time to go home. The added bonus is letting them pick out a book. (Have I mentioned my oldest is reading through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series while I'm on the treadmill?) Husband and I have mastered the ability to find books online, have them sent to the library we prefer, and held until we pick them up. Lately, I have had to stop at the library after work to get books that Husband ordered that would be re-shelved if he hadn't picked them up.

To help us in our book choices, we both have added an app to our phones - and subscribed online - to Goodreads. For me, this is helpful because I often feel like I've read a book before and now I will be able to check before I check out. The site also has reviews and trivia. You can join with other people and then you get messages when they rated a book or put it in their "to read" selections.

My choices lately have been one fiction and at least one nonfiction book. The nonfiction is killing me. I can finish a novel in a weekend at home. However, the nonfiction makes me glad for the four weeks the library gives us to finish them! Right now, for example, I am currently reading the following books:

Edible Landscaping by Rosalind Creasy: I have wanted to plant some things in our yard that bear edible results. However, my herb experiments are typically a failure. This is a book on building edible plants into your standard landscaping - a must when you have a homeowner's association that won't let you have a vegetable garden. It is making me think of trying yet another herb experiment. However, I get a little annoyed with all the over-the-top "hippie" talk. Plus, it's more like a textbook, so I'm having a hard time getting through it.
The HR Value Proposition by Dave Ulrich: This is considered one of the premier HR books. It is oft-quoted. I work in Human Resources. So I should read this book. I won the book at an Association luncheon. I am trying to make myself read the book.
Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh: I loved Peter Walsh when he was on Clean Sweep. I saw those rooms getting de-cluttered and he was my hero. I remember the months of trying to get my mother to give up the moldy expensive set of books she bought for us kids when we were little because they were "so expensive." Yes, but they were moldy and I never really liked them as a kid. They were books that were to be seen in a home library, but not really read by children. Not my kind of books. Anyway. . . when I heard Walsh wrote a book about the clutter-fat connection, I had to read it. After all, I'm typing this in an office where there is little empty space to put a pencil on the desk. However, I found the book was about weight loss approaches more than anything, so it is now sitting on a shelf while I work through Walsh's original book. . .
It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh: So far - one chapter in - I am thinking I need to buy a whole bunch of these books and hand them out at my family reunion as party favors. Walsh clearly has a way for you to visualize how you want to live. Now, let's see if that can translate into action for me. I am a little offended at first by his suggestion that all the self-help books can be thrown away after you read his - that one approach will solve financial, marital, and parenting issues. We shall see as I read on.

In addition to the library, I have begun watching a few blogs. I don't have time to read them every day, and some of them aren't published every day. My favorite lately is The Simple Dollar, which is about reducing your debt, living simply, and still enjoying life. I really enjoy the author's frank writing style. Today, as I logged into my "Blogger Dashboard" I saw one of his posts was Ten Personal Finance and Career Books You Should Read. I diligently added them to my GoodReads list. This will let me reserve them from the library and start reading them. I suppose that my current interest is trying to find ways to pinch pennies (an earlier read was 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget). Buying these two new cars, unexpected dental work, and a nice Christmas for the family has stretched us. I am holding my breath until my bonus check comes hoping I don't have to carry a balance on my credit card! I am a little stressed and I am hoping to find the magic solution in a book; however, I know that it really just means I need to settle back into the belt-tightening ways of my youth.

Speaking of, I have packed up all of the books we purged over the weekend. Two boxes went to Husband to mail (and they are still in his trunk!) to the bookseller and my friend in Virginia. There are 5 boxes that will wait until I drag them to an Association luncheon and transfer them to a friend's car. That's 7 boxes of books leaving my house!!! One win.

Library Purge - Update

2012-02-04T21:30:00.001-05:00

So, spent time scanning (using my phone) the ISBNs from the 50 or so books we are getting rid of. Tried out two sites: www.cash4books.net and www.sellbackyourbooks.com. The first one would only take 5 books and would have given us $15.50, but $8+ was for a book that they wouldn't accept because it was a textbook of mine with lots of underlining in it. So, I tried the second site and they were willing to take 13 books and will send me a check for $15.49. Now all I have to do is print out the shipping label, package up the books and mail them within the next 10 days. Pretty good deal for stuff we don't want, huh?

Library Purge

2012-02-04T19:09:00.001-05:00

Our "library" is the one room in the house the kids cannot go without an adult and where the cat is forbidden because it is the winter home for my plants. The room has become the repository of things without a home. The grandfather clock is bolted to the wall and a lone bookshelf is against another wall. That bookshelf is double-loaded with books and DVDs. A round table in a corner holds the philodendron. Another corner is stacked with all my cake and candymaking supplies. A picture of a girl reading in front of a grandfather clock hangs between the two windows. Underneath one of the windows is a pile of items to post on eBay or freecycle. The middle of the floor has a large pile of kids' books strewn about.

Today, since Husband is sick, I planned on cleaning out my closet. However, he wanted to go through the DVDs. We have decided to donate our old DVDs to the military troops and he already had a box set aside. What started as a simple task turned into a full blown purge of books, too. I now have stacks of books that we have moved to the dining room. They include science fiction, cookbooks, comic books (Far Side, Fox Trot, Dilbert, etc.), romances, old textbooks, reference books, poetry, and more. Our home is full of voracious readers.

Now, what to do with them? I found a place online that you can scan the book and see if they will take it. However, they typically only take books from 2009 or later. I have yet to scan the books, but doubt they will take many of ours.

Then, Serendipity arrives. A friend mentions she needs children's books for her classroom in an impoverished area. I will gladly ship her the kids' books. Another friend tells me she has a fundraiser at her kids' school where they are collecting books and she can pick up whatever we have. Now I am happy that we did this today - and that I posted on Facebook about the purge. We get rid of unwanted stuff to others with a need. It makes me feel so charitable!

Swimsuits with Skirts

2012-02-03T19:44:00.003-05:00

Since we have begun swimming on Saturdays again, I find myself in need of a swimsuit. I actually have three: (1) a suit with solid coverage, but at least a size too small, (2) an ugly suit with a skirt that my sister's friend passed on to her, and (3) another suit passed down from my sister's friend that shows altogether too much cleavage.

Today after work, I stopped at Catherine's and Fashion Bug hoping to find a suit that fit. All they had were suits with skirts. I hate swimsuits with skirts.

I do not understand why the fashion houses think plus size woman want skirts. So it is a little extra fabric to cover our large thighs. But it isn't as if you can hide the rest of your legs that are the size of tree trunks. We don't fool anyone.

Clearly, they do not think plus size women swim. I wore one to the pool and all it did was float up, expose the ugly nude netting underneath, and get in my way while I was actually trying to swim. Swimsuits with skirts are simply not functional.

I don't think anyone thinks they make us look good. They are like water muumuus. Water body blankets. Tents.

I will wait to buy a functional suit and continue to go to the pool and show just a lot too much cleavage. It isn't like they will be watching me when there are college girls in suits all around them. Of course, I will enjoy scenery like this when I go to watch swim lessons.

Lack of Stamina

2012-01-28T19:55:00.001-05:00

I am embarrassed these days about my lack of stamina. No doubt it is due to the large amount of extra pounds I carry, the lack of consistent sleep, getting older, and the myriad of stressors in my life. However, nothing demonstrates it more to me than today.

Our plan was simple: get up when the kids do, eat breakfast, grab showers, go to Target for some items for the kids, go swimming at RPAC, have lunch, hit the library, head home and have the kids read while one of us goes to the grocery and have dinner at home.

The reality was so much more exhausting.

We were awakened by sounds from downstairs of boys happily engaging in balloon swordplay with treasures gained at last night's PTO Family Pizza Night. It was 8:30. I was tired, but we started moving. The kids had blueberry bagels, Husband had yogurt, and I ate my Fiber One cereal. Yes, I have gotten old enough to now require a steady intake of fiber-y foods.

I grabbed a shower while Husband wrangled the kids dressed and had them make their beds. A shower was a necessity if I had to endure the already embarrassing ordeal of a bathing suit in public. We left the house at 10:00. Husband was already grumbling about the kids' behavior, his aches, etc. He was in a foul mood.

Our first stop is Target, where we picked up most of what we needed. We found two pair of size 10 slim jeans for Igor. He is growing like a weed. We picked up size small swim trunks for Hannibal whose waist is two thick for the extra small trunks he wore to his lessons Tuesday. We also found a t-shirt on clearance for Igor, and a pair of Batman pajamas for Hannibal. We looked for Crocs for Igor, but it is not yet the season. We picked out Valentine treats for the 45 kids in the eldest's class, something else for the 6 in the youngest's, and special treats for the teachers. Then some moisturizer for me and a hair clip I have been looking to try for some time.

My plan was to give the kids a snack of dried fruit and raisins in the car on the way to the pool. But the entire family was hungry. So we went to lunch instead. Husband was emotional and craved Five Guys Burgers. A conversation about healthy choices ensued and we went there anyway. We plan to have a healthy dinner.

After lunch of burgers/hot dogs and fries, we go to the pool at RPAC. I have a small breakdown about being seen among these lithe college students in my bathing suit. The scenery on campus is fabulous, but I stick out. We play for a while in the recreation pool. Husband even gets to sit in the hot tub for 20 minutes while the kids and I race (me on my arms since were in the shallow end) across the pool. It was quite a workout. Hannibal is getting better about letting his face get wet, but did have a harrowing moment when he foundered and couldn't get his legs beneath him. Good thing Husband was in the hot tub and missed it!

We used the family changing rooms to shower the kids and turn back into humans. That was when I felt exhausted first - and we still had more to do. I chalked it up to the chlorine and powered on. Husband did go get the car, but that was due to the cold, harsh winds. He met us in a different parking lot we could reach without leaving the building.

The family is hungry again. I think it is time for the dried fruit I brought. Nope, Husband decides we should "feed the monster" and go to Mozart's for "one last treat.". Sure. Emphasize the deprivation of healthy eating. Sheesh.

We get to the bakery and they are having their annual open house. It is crowded. We get the food to go. Husband dropped $50. Seriously? Yes. Two chocolate croissants, one slice of champagne strawberry cake, a chocolate raspberry tart, a chocolate raspberry remoulade, a marzipan peach, and AN ENTIRE TIRAMISU! There goes all the calories we just worked off and then some. But now the dilemma - where to eat it?

We look at the time and realize it is 3:30, we are 1/2 an hour from the library, and it closes at 5:00 p.m. Out comes the dried fruit and we head for the library with the treats waiting for home later. The kids fall asleep in the car.

At the library, we tell the kids no computer time. This is a short trip. Well, that is, until every family member has to take a "potty break" (and some of them, more than one!). I am happy to find three of my books have come in (Husband only has one). Igor picks up another Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and Hannibal picks up the first book he sees.

At this point, we are too tired for the grocery OR movie night. We head home. We eat some of the pastries. Igor works on homework. Hannibal does "art." Husband and I read. We have potatoes baking.

Dinner is a baked potato and steamed vegetables and milk. Husband skips the veggies and the kids don't notice. Then, they watch a half-hour cartoon before we put them to bed. And then I blog while Husband spoons out some tiramisu. Then we plan on reading and bed.

I could go to sleep now. For us, this was a really busy Saturday. Tomorrow will likely be a lazy Sunday at home.

Freezer Cooking

2012-01-21T15:46:00.001-05:00

I finished reading, "10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget.". One of the recommendations was to do something called "once-a-month cooking.". I am not quite sure I could spend an entire weekend cooking meals for a month, but I would like to have some ready-made meals in the freezer so we don't have to eat out as often. Since today was library day, I picked up a book, "the Everything Freezer Meals Cookbook.".

I am reading the book now while the kids play on the computer at the library. My only concern is the "gourmets" I live with. They scoff at freeze meals. Well, Husband does. Iago frequently freezes food in batches and reheats it. Current favorites are bean soup and garlic bread. So I am going to try it and see how it goes. It is by far cheaper than eating out. And we need to start saving money.

Oh, library time is up. Time to head to the hardware store. If you have any good freeze-ahead meals, send me the recipe!

30 day cleaning plan

2012-01-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

So, a friend just posted this article on Facebook and I checked it out.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-schedule-house-cleaning-in-131142

This sounds like a good plan. I hate our "cleaning-a-thons" that we have before people come over. I might incorporate some of this. We have the Aunts coming over for dinner on Sunday and the house is a wreck. Husband is going to be out tomorrow night taking care of transferring his old car to BIL (did I tell you we bought Husband a new 2012 Camry on Saturday?). So that leaves Friday and Saturday to clean house. The fact that the Aunts are not the tidiest means I'm not all that stressed, but I will use this as an excuse to clean house and get back to a "maintenance" state. Seriously, I'm sitting here in the office blogging and I feel cramped because of all the stuff on the desk. Maybe I can spend about 20 minutes cleaning off the desks and filing in here? Okay. . . I'm on it. I'm motivated by this article. . .

First Monday Miss

2012-01-11T19:38:00.000-05:00

Monday, I told Husband I would have to work late. He was prepared to feed the kids and put them to bed. Then, at noon, I found out I didn't need to work late, so I texted Husband. When I was packing up at the end of the day and I hadn't heard back, I texted him again.

We proceed to exchange texts, with the result that he will pick up Subway on the way home.In the midst of those texts comes the, "oops, I forgot it was First Monday."

That was odd since it was actually the 2nd Monday. Apparently, since my father-in-law was planning to be in Florida for First Monday, he had arranged with Husband at Christmas to take the kids the following Monday. However, this never made it on the calendar, nor had Husband shared with Iago or me.

So my poor father-in-law was at our house, but no one was home. Or so it seemed. It turns out that Iago was at home, but on the treadmill and couldn't hear his phone. And he doesn't answer a knock on the door. After much texting and phone calls, the kids were off for a night with their grandpa.

We ate Subway as adults - in the living room in front of the television watching a really horrible rated R movie.

Mall Shopping

2012-01-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

Today, I made the mistake of entering a mall. I have a friend getting married and her wedding shower is next weekend so I had to go buy a gift from her registry. I researched it online and headed in to the exact place it was located, selected it, and waited in line behind 4 people exchanging Christmas presents. What should have been a commando run was a long line and wait. I hate malls.

The last time I was in the mall was right before Christmas to pick up a Hot Topic gift card for my 16-year-old nephew. I hadn't been in a mall since the previous Christmas when I bought him a Hot Topic jacket. I still remember the clerk asking me if I had a "Hot Topic Member Card." Uh, no. Do I look like the Hot Topic demographic? I only have one hole in each ear and not a single tattoo and I've never colored my hair. I'm a married mother of two. (If you are unfamiliar with Hot Topic, check out their website: Hot Topic.) Not really marketed toward me. But my niece and nephew love it. It would be akin to what I remember "Spencer's Gifts" being when I was a teenager. Gosh, I'm old.

However, the mall trip left me realizing that I no longer have the art of window shopping. When I was a teenager, I had no money. I bought much of my own food, clothes, and personal toiletry items while living with my grandmother. That left little room for what most teenagers spent their discretionary income on - and I didn't get an allowance to speak of, I had to work for every dime. On the weekends, I would go with my friends to the mall and we could be there for hours without spending a dime. Now, I only go to stores when I need something specific and I rarely just "look around." I don't really have the time and I feel like if I'm there I should buy something. I do most of my gift buying at the holidays on Amazon because I want to avoid the crowds in the stores and it is easier for me to stick to my budget.

I miss window shopping. It's an art I need to remember. I do most of my window shopping on Amazon now, too. I just add things to my wishlist that I want. It also lets me prioritize what I want and share the list with people for gift giving occasions. But it's not the same as walking into a store and looking around and touching things, without needing to buy anything whatsoever.

Of course, the other part is I would go with my friends and I rarely shop with friends anymore. I haven't found anyone with my style and preferences and budget - all important in a friend who shops with you. Compatibility is important so you're not always shooting down the others preferences. Perhaps I should hunt for a "shopping buddy." Who knows?

Not much to report today

2012-01-05T22:37:00.001-05:00

Fourth day of Diary of a Wimpy Kid read aloud to me while I do a mile on the treadmill. My feet hurt and I haven't seen any luck on the scale (I know, give it time).

Igor lied to me this morning, so I took a piece of his Christmas candy away. He then stomped his foot and I took xbox away for the day. What did he lie about? Saying he had brushed his teeth when he had so clearly not.

A little worried about finances based on the credit card bill from Christmas, but while it will be tight we can make it work. This is why I was worried about getting a new car for Husband before my bonus came. We shall see what BIL does and when.

Really tired. But didn't want to miss a day of blogging here.

A Maury Povich Kind of Day

2012-01-04T21:52:00.001-05:00

Many of you may not be aware, but way back in the late 90's, my older brother appeared on the Maury Povich show, one of the early paternity test episodes. This was before Maury perfected the signature, "You are NOT the father!"

My brother at that point had been dad since day one to my niece and all the show did was confirm what we all saw when she was born: she was clearly my brother's kid. He came home from the trip with new-found legal rights. Before this, her mom (his girlfriend at the time), had used her as a pawn. Now, more than 14 years after the episode aired, my niece primarily lives with my brother.

Today, I feel like I am reminded of that Maury Povich saga. BIL, the brother-in-law not living here, was served with paperwork for a hearing for child support for a child born to his wife in December 2006. Based on the timing, it should not be BIL's. He moved in with us in the summer of 2005 (actually, his wife kicked him out on the anniversary of his mom's death, so we even know the date). He says he has not seen her since then and based on the pit of despair he was in while he lived with us, and the police reports we filed when his wife's boyfriend threatened to hurt BIL, I actually believe him.

The hearing was today. Husband bought his brother clothes for the hearing as a Christmas present. The hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Husband planned to pick BIL up at 7 a.m. When he got there, BIL was still asleep. Husband woke him up. Then BIL'S current girlfriend wanted to go with them and played her usual manipulative games to try and make him late. But she underestimated the powers of my Husband. They arrived 7 minutes early.

The wife never showed. BIL gave his story and they proceeded to swab him for DNA. Now, we wait while they contact the wife to get a swab from the kid to determine the validity of the claim.

The best part is that if BIL hadn't shown - a big possibility if Husband hadn't been involved - they would have automatically awarded a judgment against him, his wages would have been garnished, and he would have suffered a long, uphill battle to fight the child support award.

Welcome to my soap opera life. Oh, and we have added BIL back to our family cell phone plan since his girlfriend's grandma had theirs shut off.

Two Birds with One Stone

2012-01-03T21:23:00.001-05:00

The new year has begun and we have returned to work. We have agreed, Husband & I, to get back on track. We had sort of lost our way. I want to get on the treadmill for about 30 minutes each day.

I am a busy, working mom. Finding that 30 minutes is challenging. Then, at the library yesterday, Igor requested that he be able to read his chapter book to me. He picked up the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw. He wanted to read it aloud to me. Well, his teachers have told us he needs to work on his reading fluency. So I agreed. Now...where to find the time.

An idea was born. Tonight, I walked on the treadmill while listening to the story of a kid creating a time capsule. My son loved being able to read to me and I got my workout in. We'll do it again tomorrow.

Distribution of Work

2012-01-02T19:26:00.000-05:00

I think Husband believes he does more around the house than I do. And that irritates me beyond belief today. Today is the last day before we return to work from the holidays. We picked up stuff to make pierogies for dinner. So it gets to be 6:30 p.m. and I ask him when he was going to start dinner.

"Oh, I didn't realize I had to cook them," he says.

Well, of course he did! I don't cook pierogies - and when I do, I don't cook them with bacon, onions, and sour cream the way he and his brother do. So, yes, I expected him to cook dinner. Then he was all put out.

Yes, I had one more day off than he did so I suppose it is expected that I achieved more than he did this weekend. But I can only think of one chore he accomplished this weekend - carrying the Christmas tree back down to the basement. I had to wrangle the kids and collect all of the Christmas decorations and put them back in the boxes, untrim the tree, remove the Christmas lights from outside, etc. And I did that with the kids home with me all day! He would argue that we don't have to do any of this if I didn't want the house decorated - he wouldn't bother if it was all up to him.

In addition, I did all the laundry - mine, both kids, and the communal linens. He did one load of his own. I even made sure to put it all away. I broke down boxes from all the presents for recycling - he helped me at the end because it was clear I was frustrated. Otherwise, he has happily been sitting in front of the TV for so long today that the TV auto-shut-off has engaged at least twice that I am aware (it takes 3 hours before it turns off).

So I'm irritated. Particularly because I get up from the couch where I have been researching refrigerators and induction ranges and decide to get some work done on the association website while we wait for pizza (yes, pizza - he didn't feel like cooking) and notice that the kids have left the lights on in the dining room, have left out the play dough that he got out for them, that the newspapers I thought the kids had put in the recycling bin are spread out all over the office floor, and that the dishes from the melted cheese & nacho lunch (yes, he thought that was an adequate lunch) are still sitting on the table. I clean up the papers, make the kids clean up the play dough, and clear the dishes. All while he plays Harry Potter on the Xbox and we wait for pizza. Yes, I think I can be irritated. You?

Frugality

2012-01-01T21:05:00.001-05:00

When I was in college, I had frugality covered. It was required. There were days I bawled like a baby in my dorm room trying to figure out where the money would come from to buy toothpaste. I scrimped to pay my sorority dues only to hear about those that were behind on theirs - knowing I had seen them partying the weekend before. I often skipped social engagements because I had no funds. I resented those who had little regard for budgets.

Now, the sad part is, I have become one of those people I resented. My husband and I make a decent living. For 11 years, we lived in a house we bought based on my immediate post-graduate school (and deeply in student loan debt) incomes. My career gratefully advanced and we became comfortable. Then we had extra. Then, two years ago, we bought a bigger house to preserve my sanity.

Which leads to the need to reinstitute frugality. Not the wondering-where-toothpaste-will-come-from frugality, but one that builds an emergency reserve, pays off long-term debt (like those lingering student loan debts), builds a retirement future, and saves for my childrens' college. We are doing some of these on a small scale, but each time we increase our income, it seems an expense pops up to equal the increase.

To help me, I have begun reading a book from the library, 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget by the writers of Wise Bread. There have been a few tips and hints that are ludicrous to me. However, reading it has made me want to go back to the mindful spending of my early 20's where I had to consciously decide where every penny was going. Maybe not to that extreme, but there are days when I don't know where entire paychecks have gone and I know that cannot continue.

One of the articles I read in the book basically said that personal finance comes down to one basic principle: spend less than you earn. Now, to get back to that mentality. I am sure some future blogs will talk about ways I am doing that. (Be aware, this is not a New Year's Resolution - I resolved years ago to never make them - but simply a new guiding principle as I try to regain my contentment.). The unexpected will certainly pop up, but with a new mindfulness, perhaps I won't have the sick chest pain trying to see where the money will come from.

Happy New Year's!

2012-01-01T14:07:00.001-05:00

Husband and I rang in the new year last night drinking a bottle of ice wine and watching Glee on hulu on the xbox. How lame! Then I slept until noon.

Yesterday's shopping for cars was illuminating. Husband is pretty decided on buying a Toyota Corrolla. I thought for sure he would go with the VW Golf TDI. But he is practical and the Corrolla has more positives than the Golf, which is just more fun to drive. Now we wait to decide whether we buy now or later depending upon BIL's intentions.

Husband did have an incident yesterday. The TDI was a stick and while he thought the car was in reverse, it was in 1st. He didn't hit the gas, but was on a hill. He tapped the car in front. No damage to that car, but the car he was driving has a scratch you can't see, but can feel, where the license plate touched the bumper. Now we have to wait until Tuesday to hear what the estimate is for the damage. Personally, I think the dealer is responsible, but need to do our research. Not money I wanted to spend.

New Car Shopping Today

2011-12-31T11:49:00.000-05:00

This is really a story about BIL, the non-residential brother-in-law. BIL lives with a woman I will call M. BIL is still married to T, but hasn't had contact in over 6 years. T is suing BIL for child support for a child born in 2006 that couldn't possibly be his. Isn't my family's life a soap opera? Husband is going with BIL to the hearing next week. So this week, he took BIL shopping for some nice clothes to wear to the hearing. They had time to talk.

The end result is that we have to buy a new car for Husband now so that we can hand down his 2001 Saturn L300 to BIL. We had planned on purchasing Husband's new car in April, following my (hopefully good) bonus check and once we have paid off the dental bills from Iago. At a minimum, I wanted to make it until February. But we need to do it now. Why? Because BIL's lease on the apartment runs out at the end of January. BIL can't leave M because he uses M's car to work - BIL delivers pizza for a living. BIL has been told that he can move back in with the Aunts, which surprises me based on the ichor we have received since he had moved in with them the first time.

Oh, and we will be adding another cell phone to our plan again because BIL uses M's grandma's family plan.

I just had hoped that we would equalize the family bills following the purchase of my new car before we added a second new car. And I need to be sure Husband isn't settling. He has a tendency to forego his long term happiness for short term issues. That is, he'll buy a cheaper car because he thinks he has to and then be miserable for the next 10 years he drives it. I am hoping to make him see reason and see the investment, rather than the "I need a car now" gut reaction.

The only silver lining is that year-end sales are still going on and if we buy by Wednesday, we can get a really good deal.

More Freecycle

2011-10-15T22:20:00.000-04:00

Husband cleaned out the toy box today. The impetus was, well, that the wooden toy box had been broken and he had to screw the hinges back into place. We have a pile of broken toys going into the trash. Then there was the pile going to Freecycle. I hope some people can use the Zhu Zhu pet battle arena, a non-working Tickle Me Cookie Monster, some cat pan liners (didn't work with our clawed cat), kids books with read-along CDs, a Diego wheeled backpack, or a miscellaneous box of kids trucks/trains. Only time will tell.

I really need to get back on my cleaning kick. But health issues lately have been plaguing me. Right now I'm dealing with kidney stones and some IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). I see the doctor on Monday for follow up from my ER visit Thursday night. My hypochondriac self is in full hyper-drive right now. And that only exacerbates the conditions. Oh well. I've lost 13 pounds so far. Husband has lost almost 50. I am so jealous!

Iago's medical bills

2011-07-26T14:09:00.001-04:00

Right now, I am sitting in the lobby of the eye doctor while Matthew has his exam. Once he is done, I will pay for his exam and glasses (whatever is not covered by Husband's insurance -- we are lucky to be able to insure him as a "sponsored dependent"). This will run me around $500.

Yesterday, he saw the dentist for his six month follow up. He needs 2 more crowns and about 9 fillings. Total cost? $3200. He has maxed out his dental benefit for the year and we've already put about $3500 in his mouth so far this year. We don't know if we are going to be able to do anymore this year. So I don't know if we'll be able to let him get this work done.

So much for new furniture in the house for a while. Between husband, Iago, and Igor's teeth, there is little money left over.

"Vacation Day"

2011-07-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

Today is day one of vacation. On the agenda:

Football camp for Igor.
Preschool registration for Hannibal.
Dropping off our two crib mattresses we no longer need to a friend who's becoming a grandma twice over (this was on the agenda, but has since been postponed to later in the week).
Iago dentist appointment
Inara veterinary appointment
Igor Little League game

Whew. I started the morning by sleeping in a half hour. Then I did a step aerobics video. I'm so out of shape and this is a beginner DVD, and I could only do 15 minutes. Ugh. Followed by a shower. Breakfast. A little Facebook, a little blogging. Loaded, then unloaded, the crib mattresses. Now I'm loading paper recycling to drop off on the way to preschool registration. Busy day ahead!

I miss the old days where vacation meant going somewhere nice and curling up to a nice book. Oh well.

Trapped in Elevator

2011-07-25T09:07:00.000-04:00

Last Monday, I was trapped in an elevator at work. Here is my saga:

The morning started out with me giving Igor an apple using the apple slicer and slicing my thumb trying to remove the core. I didn't know it would go downhill from there.

I work in a 5 story building. I should take the stairs. I usually do - going down. But going up, I take the elevator. We are required to swipe our badges in order to get to my floor - the 3rd floor. I have never known the elevators to break down, even though they always sound like they are one inch from stopping.

Last Monday, I walked down the stairs to the deli to grab a quick lunch: a chicken wrap, baked potato chips, and cantaloupe/strawberries. It was 11:30 and I had a 1:00 p.m. meeting with my boss and a vendor. I take the elevator up. It stops on three, makes a "ka-chung" noise, and drops a little. Then the doors don't open. I'm in there by myself, with my cell phone sitting back in my cubicle. Great. Now what do I do? I've never been trapped in an elevator before.

I try the door open button. Nothing. I swipe my badge and press 3. Nothing. I see the "Alarm" button and press it. It sounds like a doorbell. I wait. I can hear people happily chatting in the 3rd floor lobby. I press the alarm button again. I don't have any way to tell time, so I eat my fruit. I press the alarm button again. Nothing.

I am starting to panic a little. I have forgotten I have a 1:00 meeting. Now I'm wondering if my co-workers will even notice I'm missing. They might just think I'm at a meeting. We're very self-directed. I don't want to be stuck in here forever. Finally, I see this little phone box. I open it up and press the "Help" button.

I get a recording. Yes, a recording. Now, I'm really flipping out. "We will be transferring you to our central call center. Please wait. This message will repeat. . . . We will be transferring you to our central call center. . . " Oh, ok. I guess I'll wait. What else can I do? Will the call center be in the U.S.? How long will I have to wait for help?

"Hello. What is your emergency?" says the voice from the call box. Oh, great. I've dialed 911. Well, ok --I'm trapped in an elevator! What else is 911 for?

"Uh, yeah, I'm trapped in the elevator."

"Are you experiencing any medical emergency?" says the friendly female voice on the other line.

"No, just want out of the elevator."

"Great. Have you tried pressing the door open button?" Sure. That's the problem. I feel like I'm on a call with IT asking me if I've tried rebooting my computer.

"Yes, about 5 times."

"Okay, well, sometimes we find pressing and holding it down for 5 seconds resets the elevator. Can you try that now?" I AM on the call with IT, it seems! Ok, I play along. Nothing happens.

Voice on the phone takes my name, again asks if I'm in distress, and then asks what floor I'm stuck on. "Is there anyone in the elevator with you?" No. "We are sending someone to help you. Please be patient. If you experience medical distress, please push the button again. Or, if you just need to find out where things are, please press the button." Ok. I'll just sit here and eat my lunch. So much for a "quick" lunch.

A few minutes later (what felt like eternity), I hear Dave, the property management company's maintenance guy, knock on the elevator door. "This is Dave. Anyone in there?" Yes, Dave, it's me - Judith. Are you letting me the heck out of here? "No, sorry, I have to call the elevator company." What??? I hear him on the phone and then say, "Oh, your truck just pulled in. Did someone call you?" Apparently, pressing the button went straight to the elevator company's main call center and they dispatched a truck.

Dave tells me he's going downstairs to get the elevator people. I'm out about 5-10 minutes later. Turns out I was in there about 45 minutes to an hour. They all ask if I'm ok. I don't want to admit I'm as panicked as I was. Then I have to explain what happened so they can try to figure out what went wrong. Then I got to my desk and had just a few minutes before my meeting. Good thing I ate in the elevator.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur. I didn't get much done. That night, I took Igor to a Columbus Clippers game. It had a 2 hour rain delay. We left. I felt like I had an Eyeore kind of day! I was so glad when it was over.

Belled No More

2011-07-16T21:16:00.000-04:00

When we acquired the new cat, Inara, she came with a pink paper collar wrapped around her neck with her former name ("Asia") written on it. We left this on her until a suitable replacement was found. I stopped at Pet People after my visit to the eye doctor and bought her a pretty green plaid cat safety collar (it comes apart if it gets stuck on something and doesn't choke the cat). The collar had a bell.

The bell has come in handy. We know where she is venturing. It is how I knew she was hiding behind the dryer, how I knew she had finally ventured down the stairs to the first floor, and how I know about her nighttime explorations to the first floor. It has provided us bountiful information about her comings and goings.

Yesterday, Iago (the residential brother-in-law and babysitter) came downstairs early. This is unusual. He was also grumpier than usual for a Friday (Mondays are the worst mornings for him, by Fridays he's typically at least responsive in the mornings). I asked him if he was feeling well.

"No, tired."
"I didn't wake you up early, did I?" I asked him.
"No. It was the cat."
"How did the cat wake you up?" I asked. After all, this is the same brother that has slept through the smoke alarms in the house going off, who has to have us pound on his bedroom door when he oversleeps and has even gone back to sleep after saying he was awake.
"It's the bell," he says.
"Really? I've sort of gotten accustomed to it." It's true. I have. Though, at night as we're drifting off, she has a tendency to knock the metallic bell against her stainless steel water dish and it makes enough of a sound to wake Husband.

I waited until I was in the car to laugh. Seriously? This little tiny bell wakes him up. It was too much to keep to myself, so I called Husband. Of course, Husband was sympathetic to the brother. "Well, you know, it wakes me up, too." So did the trains when we first moved in, but now you're accustomed to them. Sheesh. Of course, any time he feels I'm not being "fair" to his brother he takes his brother's side.

Later that day, at work, I get a text message from Husband. "Iago sent me an email asking if we would think about removing the bell from the cat's collar because he hasn't been sleeping. FWIW, it wakes me up too."

Seriously? I messaged back that we'd talk at dinner. We didn't, but I just gave in. Now we will not know where she is. But I removed the bell from her collar. With pliers. It wasn't easy. And I didn't even get to give the good news to Iago - the kids went over and told him.

As I was going downstairs, I said something towards his bedroom. Iago started to come out, saying, "Well, thanks, because I really wasn't sleeping. . . and the bell was keeping me up. . . "

At this point, I'm frustrated. "I just don't care. I did it." How much fuss do we have to make about a stupid cat bell anyway?

For the rest of the night, I paid for that remark. Husband didn't appreciate me telling his dear brother that I "didn't care." Well, clearly, I did because I took the damn bell off. But I just am tired of hearing the excuses / reasons why he's so special and we have to do things to accommodate him. Isn't it enough that I acquiesced? Do I also have to be willing to listen to him talk about it ad nauseam? There's only so much I could take. But Husband was mad at me for the rest of the night.

The end result: Cat has no bell. We don't know where she is or what she's doing. And the brother-in-law is the only one happy. Pretty much par for the course around here.

Making progress

2011-07-06T21:21:00.001-04:00

We are making progress in many areas. My ticker today says I have lost 5 pounds. Husband is doing the same app, which helps. Though, admittedly, his gripes and moans about the tool or his perceived deprivations make this process more challenging.

The new cat is getting more accustomed to us. She stayed out during "family petting time" for a longer period, didn't run under the bed but stayed on top cleaning herself while we did bedtime stories and songs, and then went onto her new perch while we left to tuck the kids in bed.

Today, husband is working on his resume for a job he isn't sure he wants, but that he thinks he should at least be interviewed. I am blogging and reading some magazines destined for recycling. This is helping clear more clutter from the living room.

I would say this is a good day.

Inara - cautious explorer

2011-07-06T08:01:00.000-04:00

After the fiasco with Husband, Inara cowered under the bed for a couple of days. We couldn't coax her out and didn't want to pull her out because it would make things worse. Husband mistakenly left a shirt on the floor next to the bed and in the middle of the night, the cat pooped on it. "Take that," she said (or so I imagine). Of course, this meant that I had to reassure Husband that we didn't gain a defective cat with elimination issues. Husband was afraid we would go through the same thing we did with our previous cats that we had to give up when Igor was a toddler due to their excessive elimination habits.

After a few days, Inara started coming to the edge of the bed and letting us pet her and finally came all the way out. However, she was cautious. And she hadn't been eating much.

We went to the pet store and bought her another toy, another mat for the litter box downstairs, and a cat tower to put in our bedroom. She is showing minor interest in it when we're around, but I've found her sleeping in it in the middle of the night.

We started leaving our bedroom door open. Monday night, she decided, after we went to sleep, to explore the house. Based on the tinkling of the bell on her collar and her meowing, she went everywhere - including downstairs. I heard her scratching in the litter box downstairs (success!) even if we found later that she just marked it. She did become afraid of the beeping dishwasher, so I went downstairs at 2 a.m. and turned it off. I got no sleep on Monday.

Tuesday morning we found her under the utility tub in the laundry room. Iago scared her when he dropped his laundry baskets loudly to the floor. He does laundry on Mondays, after all (and Monday was a holiday, so this was his "Monday"). He hadn't heard me tell him - 3 times - that she was there, so the darting cat whisking past him and running back up the stairs caught him by surprise.

So, she's starting to come around, but hasn't quite figured out what to do. We had a great family petting session last night before bed. She's more friendly with Husband and I in the morning before the kids wake up and in the evening after they go to bed. She's smart to be afraid of the kids!

Husband and the Cat

2011-06-29T21:39:00.001-04:00

We acquired a pet finally. Hannibal is potty-trained and we had promised. We found a beautiful, one year old, tiger/siamese mix that is now named Inara (shelter name was Asia).

We filled out an application on Sunday, but the earliest we would be able to get her is Monday. We spent Sunday night cleaning our bedroom since we decided that would be the best place to ease her into the house. It took forever. I have a lot of clothes and they were piled in front of my dresser. I felt like a true hoarder as I had difficulty letting go of things. It was sad. But I did toss several stained pieces of clothing and hung or put away everything.

Monday night we picked her up. The kids were overjoyed and super-excited. We had dinner before we went to get her and that's when it started: Husband handed out "The Rules."

"Boys, when we get the cat, you'll have to... "

I forgot all of them. I can only imagine how much of it was retained by the 3 year old! Seriously, the cat has claws and will let them know when they have done something wrong. It's a hard lesson, but they will remember it.

Once home, there were more rules: don't move too fast, don't talk too loud, don't chase her under the bed...you'd think we were giving the kids the keys to the nuclear kingdom instead of a cat.

Inara has done extremely well notwithstanding -- that is, until tonight. The kids cleaned the bonus room and, since she had done so well, we were going to let her roam the second floor. I assumed my husband, who grew up around cats knew what he was doing and I let him do the honors. I was wrong.

Instead of just opening the door and letting her come out to explore on her own terms, he picked her up and carried her to Igor's room. He didn't notice the heavy shedding. He continued to Hannibal's room. In the hallway, she scratched him. He put her down. She ran and hid in Iago's bathroom which was open with him brushing his teeth in it. Husband went in and got her and took her back to our room. We left the door open for an hour and a half, but she has been cowering under our bed ever since. We'll try again tomorrow.

However, tonight's bedtime story to the boys was about the lessons on how to pay attention to the cat's nonverbals. With some more rules thrown in. I really think my kids will eventually have therapy journals (read this as the word "blogs") of their own some day.

Package Arrived!

2011-06-21T19:46:00.000-04:00

Today, my Amazon order arrived. In it:

The Wilton "Animal Crackers" pan that I need to make a Giraffe cake for my friends' daughter's baby shower on Saturday.
Shapely Girl's Let's Get Stepping DVD - it's a step aerobics video for beginners, particularly plus-size beginners; and, my personal favorite
Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?: a book by Peter Walsh (the guy from Clean Sweep who I remember providing very clear instructions on how to let go of stuff you don't really need just because it reminds you of someone).

I'm excited. However, tonight my knees hurt since I haven't gotten a bunch of sleep the last two days due to the pain in my neck (literal, not the kids). So I focused on making the fondant backdrop for the baby shower cake instead. I also have to find time to make 24 cupcakes for "Cupcake Wars" for charity at work on Friday. Busy week. But I'm glad the book came - I can't wait to start reading it!

Weight loss app

2011-06-10T22:25:00.002-04:00

Today, the thing I did to move forward is loaded a weight loss app onto my phone. I had initially done the Weight Watchers one, but found it rather cumbersome. Also, I haven't really gotten on board with the new "Point Plus" program.
I chose instead MyFitnessPal. I have logged my weight and entered my food for the day. We'll see how this goes.
(I love the new phone! I am able to multitask. Blogging while watching movie or bathing kid is awesome!)

Pond pumps, filters, and stagnant water

2011-06-09T19:49:00.001-04:00

Several weeks ago, my pond fountain/filter died. We went to Aquarium Adventure. I asked the nice lady there what I needed to buy to replace it. She sold me a nice $80 pump. Then I got busy and my pond stagnated. I am pretty sure we're growing mosquitoes out there. So it was time to do something.

Tonight, while Husband took the oldest to his Little League game, Hannibal and I worked on putting the new pump together. However, it doesn't have a filter and may not be the right kind to attach to a filter (according to my minimal internet search). Ugh.

So I decide to try the dried out old pump -- which now works! What do I do now? I will probably go to the store and buy a filter if I can find one to go with the new pump. The new pump is more powerful, so I'd rather use it than the old one. We shall have to see. In the meantime, I have a lot of maintenance to do.
My plants all need put into soil because they don't seem to be doing well in what they gave me at the store. And that lily was expensive! I am still learning.

Car woes -- Part Two

2011-06-08T12:39:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, we went to pick up Husband's car. Only $940 (thank you, AAA discount!). We went to dinner after paying for it with the intent of driving it home on the way back.

While at dinner, both kids express desire to ride with dad in his car on the way back. We concede. We move the second booster into the car and pack the kids. Iago and I drive away since Husband insisted we need not stay.

Turning into our development, we get the call. The car died not 2 blocks from the shop (which is now closed). We turn around and go rescue. We have to push the car back to the shop. Strike that -- Husband pushed. I was only allowed to steer. Iago eventually got out and helped after about 25 gripes on how his knees hurt.

Husband is upset. So am I.

It doesn't help matters that the last speaker in my car has now shown it is not functioning either. No air; no radio. We both need new cars. If only we could afford it!

Car woes

2011-06-06T22:01:00.001-04:00

We have lately been experiencing some significant car woes. First, Husband's car needed a new oil pan and some new tires. Owning a 10 year old Saturn meant that the part for the oil pan was pricey. We spent $800 to fix it.

The next month, it was my car's turn. I drive a 12 year old Saturn. We set a limit of $1500 for repairs; above that and we would get a new car for me. The bill came to $1300, so we opted to fix mine. Why? We want to pay off the loan on the 2006 Honda Odyssey before we add another car loan. The minivan will be paid off in November.

Then my car had yet another setback. We set the limit at $500. This time, we had to have AAA tow it from the garage to the mechanics. It was my gear shift cable. $160 just to diagnose. We fixed it for $660. Still cheaper than car payments, right? And waiting means I might be able to get a car I like rather than settling.

Now, Friday, Husband's car dies during rush hour. Another AAA tow plus $60 for being beyond the 3 mile allowance. Problem? Fuel pump - $990. To fix or buy new? Well, I am supposed to get the next new car. My car IS the oldest. But Husband hates that his car has no air conditioning and lacks confidence that it will continue to run. I go on my trip to Cleveland knowing we will need to test drive on Sunday.

Sunday, Husband finally test drives the Honda Fit -- the car he's been backing for months. It won't work because there is no place for his knee to rest while driving. He had pinned all his hopes on this to no avail.

Today, he test drove the other choice, a Volkswagon Golf TDI (a diesel). He came home liking it, but acknowledging that no human could sit behind him. However, they are bringing back the Passat in the fall and it will only be $1,000 more than the TDI. So he wants to wait. We authorized the repair of hbis Saturn tonight and we should get it back tomorrow.

We reviewed our finances and we will payoff the minivan with some of the cash left from my bonus check. Then we will put the equivalent of the car payment into savings. We will wait until our cars die before getting a new car (or 2!). However, at this point, we will sink no more money into repairs on either car.

I think I want a Honda CRV, but I have yet to test drive. Plus, it's more expensive than we've budgeted. Boo hoo. Time to think about where I can get more money. . .

Angry Birds

2011-05-28T09:56:00.001-04:00

For my birthday this week, my husband gave me a new mobile phone. My old phone was a pink flip phone that dialed and took fuzzy pictures. That's about it.

My new phone is an HTC EVO Shift. This means we now have a text and data plan added to our phones (I say our because everyone in the family had to get new phones, apparently). I am now discovering how to text (including this blog post!), load apps, check my email and Facebook, and play games.

One that the lady at the store loaded to show us how was the free version of Angry Birds. My kids can't get enough. Igor even turns off the Xbox 360 to come watch. It's addictive. But I have to put it away now so I can study -- my SPHR exam is Tuesday morning!

Plant Sale

2011-05-07T17:09:00.000-04:00

Despite my gastroenteritis (virus caught from older child who had it earlier this week), I insisted on heading down to Ohio State University's Chadwick Arboretum Plant Sale. Husband was not looking forward to it, but I really wanted to go. If, for no other reason, to help identify the plants that we already have at home.

We looked around briefly, Husband ran into someone from work, we scoped out the plant auction for future reference, and ended up buying nothing. However, the end result was what I truly wanted: Husband will help me measure the beds, draw up a diagram, and we can start planning our garden areas. After all, he's an engineer and doesn't like my haphazard style of gardening where I just buy pretty things I like and then try to figure out where to plant it.

As an added bonus, measuring the beds will help us know how much mulch we have to buy. Unbeknown to us, our Homeowner's Association requires us to finish replacing our mulch in the beds by May 31st. So, we'll order it and place it in the beds on Friday when we're taking a vacation day to go look at a preschool for Hannibal.

I'm so excited Husband will be helping me design our beds! I've already decided I want one of the front beds to be more of an herb garden. . . maybe. Depends how Herb Experiment #3 goes.

Iago and the Stove

2011-05-07T17:00:00.000-04:00

For those of you waiting for your next installment of foibles of my brother-in-law who lives with us, I will now regale you with the most recent one.

On Thursday, my Husband was heading home early to meet the Orkin man. We have a service contract for them where they come out every other month and do perimeter defense to keep the flying-stinging-things away. I'm allergic, after all. We have wasps on the second story deck again, so we made a call and scheduled an appointment. The Orkin man was due between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Since Iago won't answer the door for anyone, Husband had to be home to meet him.

As a reminder to Iago, Husband called home to notify him that he was on his way. Turns out, Iago was panicking. Apparently, he had melted metal to my stove. Yes, I said melted metal. He was looking up ways to get it off the stove, but wasn't able and was freaking out that he had ruined our stove. Husband tells him not to fret and that Husband will look at it when he gets home.

The story I get on the phone immediately after is that Iago had been cooking popcorn in the aluminum "Whirly-pop" popcorn pan and had melted it to the stove. When he picked it up, some of it stayed behind. I am now thinking that my credit-card points I've saved for a new stainless fridge will be spent instead on a new stove. And my sister-in-law, who wants our old stove, will be sorely disappointed by the loss.

Later, we are to hear the REAL story. Apparently, Iago was making popcorn. He wanted a warm spoon for the oil he was going to put on the popcorn. So he decided to put FOIL on the electric burner, set the spoon on the foil, and turn on the burner. When he was done, he went to pull up the foil and it stuck to the burner. Surprise. What was he thinking? Ugh.

When Husband got home, he was able to work to remove most of it using a straight razor. We're still able to use the burner. But it looks bad. Husband and I are now discussing fridge vs. stove. Then, if stove, will we do an induction stove, an electric stove, or a gas stove? We'd need to make modifications for a gas stove, but I would much prefer it. Husband does not want gas because of how dirty our old one got because nobody ever wiped down the stove or the burners. My second choice would be the most expensive option: the induction, which would require all new cookware. I hate electric stoves and so does Husband, but they are our cheapest option. The debate continues. . . Good thing my gift card I've earned doesn't have an expiration date!

Herb Experiment #3

2011-04-29T21:35:00.001-04:00

Tonight when I got home, Husband told me that we needed to go to the Hardware Store after dinner. Apparently, Iago had asked him for some duct tape. When Husband asked why, Iago explained that the toilet seat in his bathroom had cracked and he wanted to tape it. Husband explained, "We're not hillbillies, we can buy you a new toilet seat!" So we had a plan for after dinner.

Until the three-year-old intervened. He threw so many tantrums, we didn't dare take him out of the house for dinner. Husband decided to stay home with us, but beckoned me to take Igor and Iago to dinner and the hardware store. We had a nice dinner at Steak 'N Shake and then went to Home Depot which was next door. We bought a nice elongated toilet seat. Hopefully, either Iago or Husband will install it.

While at the hardware store, I picked up some plants. It's that time of year. I picked up some gladioli bulbs to plant in the front flower bed. We had some there last year and I was surprised when they came up. I'd like to have some again that I can cut and bring inside. I also picked up two dalmatian purple foxglove plants (picture from the internet here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fingerlakes/4710780344/). They need part-sun (4-6 hours) and will look nice near the pond. I think the frogs will like them, too.

Then, well, I decided to try Herb Experiment #3. I paid a little bit more attention this time. I bought three plants: Thyme, Sweet Basil, and Rosemary. All call for full sun (I put the flat-leaf parsley back because it is part-sun). This means I can plant them in the same container and put them out back on my patio. They came in biodegradable planters that you can just set in the soil. That's pretty cool. We'll see how this goes. I'll need to remember to water them.

This weekend, I want to go to Aquarium Adventure and look at plants for the pond. I also want to plant the foxglove plants. The Metro Park at Inniswood is also having a plant sale on Sunday. I don't know if we'll have time for that now that we have the Little League schedule for Igor and my study group for my SPHR meets Sunday mornings, but I would like to try. Next weekend is the plant sale on campus and I'm hoping we can go.

This weekend will be busy: haircut tomorrow morning on the other side of town, Little League practice, SPHR study group session, Little League opening night game, plant sale at Inniswood. . . whew.

Thursday Dinner

2011-04-24T21:38:00.000-04:00

As many of you who know us, there is a suspicion that Iago has Asperger's, a high level functioning on the autism spectrum. However, it is only suspicion and we have not confirmed it. One way we see this surfacing is in some of his, what I classify as, "obsessive-compulsive disorder" (OCD) behaviors. Thursday night (which, yes, I'm just thinking to mention now) is a great example of this.

Iago has been cooking dinner for the family on the Wednesday nights when I don't come home, but go to my 4 hour class instead. I must have made a comment to Husband because they made arrangements for him to make dinner on Thursday for us instead. Igor had the day off school. I came home to homemade pot pie, salad, and pound cake with strawberries for dinner. It was very nice. Iago even did all the dishes (by hand, of course, because he needs us to show him how to use the dishwasher because we haven't yet. . . but that's a whole separate issue). While he was cleaning up dishes, Husband took the kids upstairs to get into their pajamas and brush their teeth. After that, they planned on coming down to watch an episode of Justice League on the Blu-Ray before bed.

Meantime, I decided to go get the mail. The kids hadn't brought it inside because Igor didn't have school. All I did was walk to the mailbox and come back. In the 2 minutes I was gone, Iago locked the front door. I knocked on the door and rang the bell to no avail. I had forgotten the passcode to the garage opener, too. I went back to the front door, pounded on the door and hit the doorbell repeatedly. To our neighbors, walking their dog, I looked like a crazy person.

Well, Iago has a habit of locking the deadbolt whenever he passes the front door as he heads upstairs. Apparently, he'd finished doing the dishes and went upstairs, locking the door as he went. He heard the doorbell and the pounding, but doesn't answer the door. Finally, Husband heard the bell and came down to open the door. I was mad, but Iago didn't even realize he had locked the door on me! He didn't know I had gone outside, either. Egad!

(As an aside, he had also planned on coming with us to his father's for Easter dinner, but bailed out right before we left. Not surprising. Igor had seen him in the morning and said he had his "mad face" on and that "mad face" looks the same as "grumpy." I think the kids woke him up too early when they were playing in the bonus room. Oh well.)

Failed Gardener Meets Resilient Daffodils

2011-04-23T16:59:00.000-04:00

I am not a gardener by any means. My green thumb stops with African violets. Houseplants. Apparently, houseplants that few people can grow. I kill everything else. But African violets I grow easily. I almost killed my husband's philodendron even and people tell me they are a very hard plant to kill. (Note: It has recovered well from the transplant and is thriving with it's new pot and trellis. We'll see what happens when I move it into the sunroom again this year.)

A few examples of my inability to grow things are the "herb experiments" the kids and I have tried. Herb experiment one involved buying a kit with seeds for chives, thyme, basil, oregano, and some other herb. It came with pots, a stand, the seeds, seed starting medium. Those that sprouted (about 2/3 of the herbs) died off soon after. Complete failure. Herb experiment #2 had an initial 50% failure. In this experiment, we bought live plants, planted them in a flower box in the sunroom. Two of the four plants died almost immediately. The other two survived until we moved them inside to the Dining Room in the fall. Only the chives survived and they're hanging by a thread right now.

Another example is the rue my father-in-law has given us. Rue is used in krupnikas, a Lithuanian liqueur that my husband can now make thanks to a recipe from his dad's friend. He's made two batches that I recall. To make it, you need rue. So FIL has given us one plant. Its dead carcass is still sitting in a planter in the sunroom (yes, I need to throw it away, along with the broken planter). The second one is in the Dining Room with just a few hints of green left. I've read up on how to grow them, but whatever I'm doing isn't working.

So, we have this beautiful house with a great yard and I am trying to be a gardener. Husband has always said he will help plant trees, bushes, and perennials; however, he will not plant annuals for me. Last fall, I bought a pack of 45 daffodils in a mesh bag from a home improvement store. I bought bone meal and something else and took them home with the intent of planting so I would have daffodils in the spring. I love daffodils. But things got busy and I never seemed to have a weekend to plant them that was right. They sat in the garage on the floor in the mesh bag the entire winter. They were near the garage door, so a few times water seeped in. I thought they'd be moldy. Imagine my surprise when this week I entered the garage and saw yellow bursting from the bag! The daffodils were growing from the bulbs in the bag, without even having been planted. Today, I dug a trench in the back flower bed by the pond and planted the bulbs, leaving the yellow stalks sticking out. There were some moldy bulbs I threw away (and some I wasn't sure and planted anyway). I now have a row of "almost daffodils" that should flourish now that they have soil!

Other garden notes: I also spent some time pulling the dead detritus out of the pond and putting it on the patio to "dry" before putting it in the landscape bag to go for compost. Husband mowed the lawn. Pretty sure we have a dead tree. We have some grass issues, but we'll ask our lawn care company to look at that. My lilies of the valley still look dead, but I'm hoping they'll surprise me this season. My creeping phlox is in blooming, the red maple trees (we have 2) I thought were dying have buds on them, and our columbine has green leaves. A few hostas survived. I do want to put more plants in the area near the pond to attract some more bugs for the frogs to eat. Maybe we'll be able to go to the plant sale at the arboretum on campus on Mother's Day weekend?

Anyway, the rain came and we all came inside to the sunroom. I tidied up a bit. Now it's off to dinner.

Busy Week

2011-04-17T20:57:00.001-04:00

Planted some lilies of the valley in the backyard last weekend. The kids came outside to "help" but ended up playing light saber duel with plastic baseball bats until I made them go inside. Hurt my knees a little - I need a garden kneeler because the concrete patio was a little rough on the knees. I planted about 36 of the little roots and sprouts in the ground around the patch of green that I think is a daylily. I was a little worried that all the rain this week would be bad for them, but saw a few shoots of green this weekend. I'm hoping they take and fill in thickly. My paternal grandmother had lilies of the valley in the same place - under the waterspout that the hose connected to. Only her water spout was next to the front door off the driveway. Mine happens to be on the back patio. I'm having trouble getting pictures off the camera or I would have posted.

This week was a little busy:

Monday night: the kids went out with grandpa for dinner. I worked late to get some things turned in to a vendor and brought home chicken lettuce wraps from Pei Wei.
Tuesday night: nothing, really. It was my one free night.
Wednesday night: SPHR prep course from 6-10 pm. Home by 10:30, in bed by 11.
Thursday morning: Compensation association breakfast.
Thursday night: HR Association membership committee meeting.
Friday night: movie night with the kids - Legends of the Guardians

In between all of that, I have a busy time at work with the departure of one of my coworkers and many of our vendor deadlines this week and next. Starting Friday, I had some sciatic pain. Had trouble sleeping Friday night. We didn't do much around the house Saturday, but did take the time to go through Hannibal's closet and pull out hand-me-downs from Igor that now fit. We also removed items that don't fit that I'll pass on for her son who's a year younger than Hannibal. We also drove to our Amish furniture store and placed the order for Hannibal's full size bed - a nice one in maple that will be done in about 8 - 10 weeks. Then we stopped at Der Dutchman and picked up pies since we were so close. Husband loves them, I'm not as big a fan. While I peeked at the gift shop, he picked out a chocolate creme pie, a cherry pie (yuck!), an individual apple pie (since he knew I didn't like cherry), and donuts for Sunday morning. We really don't need all this in the house!

Last night, I hurt so much I went downstairs and slept on the couch, then the recliner, then the other couch. I woke up because the dishwasher went off, because Husband's phone beeped for needing to be recharged, and the continued pain in my back. Oh, and then because Igor came down at 7 am to play Xbox. At 7:30, my alarm went off and I hobbled up the stairs, grabbed a shower, and went to meet my study group at Starbucks, eating my donut on the way. Had a chai with the study group. Pain intense as I drive my stick shift home, hurting each time I have to move my left leg.

At home, Husband got me a Vicodin and one of my muscle relaxers the doc gave me last time this happened. Then we packed up the kids and went to Roosters for lunch. We were going to head to the hardware store on the way back, but between my back and husband's intestines we weren't up for it. On the way back, the meds kicked in and I fell asleep. So did Igor. Husband stopped at the hardware store (took Hannibal inside while Igor & I slept), then came back and drove around a bit to let us sleep. At home, I slept some more in the recliner while the kids played on the Wii upstairs and Husband on the computer. Then I read my newspaper, Husband brought us dinner from Thai Orchid, had pie for dessert, and then he put the kids to bed. I'm on the computer now because it's a comfortable chair for my back. He's watching a movie in the living room. But I think I'm going to go study a bit before bed. Bed early, I think, since we meet with some lawyers tomorrow to talk to them about Husband's arm. . .

Of Death & Divorces

2011-04-09T15:22:00.000-04:00

I have discovered that I must now be middle-aged. I don't like it. I'm only going to be 38 next month. But middle-aged, it is. Why?

I'll tell you why: I have hit the part of my life where all my friends' parents are dying. Where I know more people dying than being born. My friends are not in the stage of life where they are buying first homes, getting married, having kids. Nope. They're buying second houses and selling the first, getting divorced, spending more time shuttling kids to and from their activities than to spend time with adults. They're dealing with the issues of aging parents. They're reaching mid-career struggles of trying to keep engaged in the work they once enjoyed.

I'm not sure I like this phase.

Dreams

2011-03-26T21:11:00.000-04:00

I have found a new website, www.meyouhealth.com. The site has a new "Daily Challenge" that is supposed to:

Do one small healthy action every day. Discover how rewarding it is to focus on your well-being.

Since that aligns with my plan to "recapture my life," I have signed up. I haven't been consistent, but I've done some. Examples of the ones I've completed include:

Tap your toes along to a favorite song
Check your bed pillows for cushioning and firmness
Wrap on a pair of sunglasses that block UV light
Replace a sugary snack with fruit
Make an emergency ID card

Today's is about Dreams: Define your dream. In particular, define the dream and then write it down and come up with steps to make it happen. To me, dreams are long-term goals. They gave examples like getting a new job, going to Italy, etc. Mine are a little bigger, I think. I want to be happy again. I've been unhappy for a while and I think that's clearly reflected in my weight gain. My mom has done that all my life: yo-yo weight based on her happiness quotient. Unfortunately, she passed it on. I'd like to break the cycle. I started working toward my goal, my "dream" if you will, with this blog. Doing one small thing a day to move closer to making my house into a home. I've now added the Daily Challenge piece. But here is what I really want:

To travel to Paris. My sister and I will be (hopefully) taking this trip next year. My sister had made an agreement with my niece that if she brought her grades up by the time she was 16, she would take her to Paris. I asked if I could join them. Then my sister and I agreed we would go even if the niece didn't. At this point, it looks like all three of us will be going. To accomplish this goal, I need to (1) start saving money for the trip, (2) brush up on my French, and (3) get a passport. Our plan is to go sometime after April next year.
To reclaim my life. In short, go back to doing what I enjoy and feeling good about myself. Things that are involved in this include:

Getting our financial life in better order by preparing a budget and sticking to it.
Eating at home more to save money and eat healthier
Exercising a couple of times a week at a minimum. May need to move the treadmill from the basement to the bonus room and get it fixed.
Lose weight so I feel better and can do more - the previous two bullets should help.
Journal / blog more often to help ease my stress.
Less television, more action. I want stories of MY life to tell, not vignettes from episodes of TV. Life passing me by. . .
Spend more time with friends. Invite them over more, not caring that the house is a mess.
Clean the house more, including giving the kids chores to help. They're old enough. Igor has started making his bed on his own rather spontaneously. Not great job at it yet, but it takes practice.
Look for a more satisfying job. I like my job, but I think I'm underutilized and that I'm ready for the next level. It's not going to fall in my lap. I need to go out and find it.
Consider reconnecting to my spiritual side by going back to church. I just haven't found one I like here yet. Guess that means I have to start trying them again.

So, those are my goals/dreams for now. We'll need to check back in a little while and see how I'm doing on these.

Where I've been. . .

2011-03-26T20:50:00.000-04:00

Been away for a while. Last weekend was spent in Cleveland bidding farewell to my great-aunt. She was my grandmother's twin sister (grandma has been gone 20 years) and was 89. I will miss her. She is the one who taught me how to swim. I wish I could keep house like she could! She was married to my great uncle for more years than can be remembered and at 90 he is still as feisty as ever.

This week was spent working hard and dealing with sick kids. Now I'm sick. I also took Thursday & Friday of this week as vacation to spend with Igor before he goes back to school on Monday from "Spring Break." Not sure why they call it spring break when it's been cold and there's been snow. But it was a week off.

We spent Thursday going to breakfast at Scrambler Marie's, a visit to Petland, a visit to Trading Places (the furniture consignment shop), and the grocery store. Kids got their first taste of Beanie Weenie (homemade, of course, with baked beans and hot dogs and brown sugar) and refused to try anymore. So they had carrots for lunch. After cleanup, they watched a little Animaniacs on DVD. Then naps, followed by making bread in the bread maker, wrestling in the living room, more Animaniacs, and then cooking dinner. Oh yeah, and Hannibal didn't nap, but broke his Winnie the Pooh bank instead and spent the naptime sorting coins on his floor.

Friday. . . well, Friday I felt awful and we had a slothful day. We all slept in (I got up to change Husband's dressing and then went back to bed). When Hannibal awoke, he used the potty and came into bed to cuddle with me. Igor followed soon after. We went downstairs and had Pop Tarts for breakfast. They watched a Scooby Doo movie while sitting on me on the recliner (I slept some more - it was a really awful Scooby Doo movie!). Then some Animaniacs. Then Macaroni & Cheese with applesauce and orange juice for lunch. Then nap time for the boys, shower for me. Hannibal again didn't nap. So he came down and watched TV with me (HGTV) while I purged the last box in the office. Husband came home early and we all went to Best Buy to look at televisions. Our 8+ year old television has a conversion board issue and needed replaced. Bye Bye bonus check (which doesn't even come until April 11th!). Then to a disappointing dinner at Macaroni Grill. Home, kids to bed, stayed up and watched the Buckeyes lose in the Sweet 16. Bummer.

Today, purchased a new TV. This one will wall mount and be a lot flatter to the wall than the current one. We just have to wait until Saturday for delivery.

And that's where I've been. . .

Desk

2011-03-21T06:52:00.000-04:00

There is a furniture consignment shop next to our grocery store. I love browsing this store. There is a desk that I absolutely love. They reduce the prices on the items at certain date intervals to try to move the product. The last time I was in, the price on this desk was only $250. I should have bought it, but we have been tight on cashflow these days, so I didn't. I did tell the shop owners that I've gushed about it enough that my husband might buy it for me for my birthday coming up.

On Friday, I traveled up to Cleveland for my great-aunt's funeral (more on that later). Husband tried to get to the store while I was gone and made it up Saturday morning. Only to find out that the desk had been sold. On Friday night. When he had tried to get to the store, but wasn't able. He was bummed. Of course, now I find out that he never really liked it, but was going to buy it for me because I liked it. I wanted it as a laptop desk in the "Library" (you know, the room with one bookcase and the grandfather clock). See picture below:

Sunday, Husband took me back to the shop and showed me a circular desk with a leather top. But it costs $500 and I really don't like it nearly as much. This one had character.

I guess Husband had talked to his buddy and was going to leave it in his garage until my birthday in May. What a sweet guy. If only he'd gotten out of work early on Friday and made it in before some woman snatched it up!

Pet Peeves

2011-03-13T21:17:00.001-04:00

Husband has told me that he really doesn't like to cook anymore because he doesn't like (1) having to share the space, (2) not having things where he wants them to be, and (3) not having space to work in. So I am making efforts to keep the space clean. I liked it so much better when he cooked for us.

We have a really nice kitchen. As you know, I picked up a potato bin to move the potatoes and onions off the counter. One of the trouble spots is the kitchen island. It has become the place where everyone dumps their stuff. I'm also the only one who wipes down counters or tables in this house after we eat. So, since I get busy, and the family often eats when I'm not around, the place is filthy. I took an evening and I cleaned the island and all the counters. There was nothing on them. They sparkled.

And then. . . Husband decided to fix the kids' toy box in the Living Room. To do so, he emptied the toy box and put it up on the kitchen table, which I'd cleared. Then he brought up his tools from the basement and set them on the island. I thought, "This is ok. It's temporary. He'll put them away when he's done." Nope. The toy box was fixed last night. The tools have overtaken the island and sit there. So now, other family members have started putting things on the island. That's one of my pet peeves for this evening.

My other pet peeve is recycling. I don't mind recycling and doing my part for the environment. Neither does the family. Just today, I drove 6 paper bags full of my graduate school articles and paperwork to the recycling bin behind Igor's school (they get money for it). What I do mind is that the family just puts their recyclables on the counter instead of walking the 10 extra steps to the garage to put them in one of the recycling bins. Essentially, we give up an entire counter for recycling. I hate that counter. So I've started putting the recycling into the bins before bed each night. I feel like Wendy cleaning up after the Lost Boys. But I grumble when I do it. But it's a new "system" and handles the mess caused by recycling building up on the counter. I've asked them all repeatedly, but it hasn't worked. So I create a new system.

On a positive note:

We got rid of the 6 bags of paper recycling. I now only have one more box to go through in the Office before I start "fine-tuning" my filing system.
The running toilet was fixed in the Powder Room
The kids' toy box was fixed and we purged toys from it. I'm sending a box to my cousin next time someone travels between here and Cleveland.
I loaded Quicken Deluxe 2011 to the computer and have started tracking bills that way. This reduces some receipts and other bills that were cluttering up the place. It also gives me an idea of where we've been spending our money.

I will warn you . . . I'm studying for this certification exam, so I may not be able to write as much. But I am still working toward my goal: one thing a day to move me in a positive direction.

Passive Aggressive Behavior

2011-03-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

I am an HR professional specializing in Compensation for the last 11 years. I have been given feedback that one of the barriers in advancing in my career is my specialization in compensation prevents me from being knowledgeable about the other areas of HR. I feel this is ridiculous. My degree is a Master's in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I studied those "other areas" of HR. Oh well.

To compensate for this, I have signed up to take my SPHR exam during the Spring (May-June) timeframe. I also signed up for a prep course through the local HR Association. The class is from 6-10 pm on Wednesdays for 8 weeks. I obtained approval through work and they're paying for both the exam and the course. Tonight was the first course.

I had validated with Husband that it wouldn't be a problem if I took the course before I signed up. He was verbally supportive. Now the passive aggressive behavior begins. When I call to say I'm on the way home, I ask if the kids were good for him. "Mostly." Ok, not bad.

I get home. He is playing Call of Duty on the Xbox and wants to play a few more games. I say that's fine and that I have to unwind, too. I go to play a few rounds of Zuma Blitz. That apparently knocks his internet connection on the Xbox off. He says not to worry that I can play because I just got home and need to unwind. He's been home alone (kids in bed around 8 - 8:30). So I log in to Facebook and am catching up on status updates (i.e., reading them).

He comes into the office. He starts talking to me about his conversation with an attorney today (I won't get into details, but something's wrong with how they fixed his arm with the surgery and we're exploring our options without wanting to be unnecessarily punitive). Because I can no longer continue reading my status updates, I switch over to the mindless game so I can listen. He blows up, "Fine. Play your game. We'll talk later." I explain that I put it on specifically so I could listen. I get a "Whatever." He continues telling me what he has to tell me and then says, "I'll be upstairs in bed."

I swear. Sometimes I think I'm married to Eyeore from the Winnie the Pooh stories. He tells me it's ok, but then he punishes me for going by essentially blaming me for things that go wrong or picking a fight with me. This is NOT what I wanted to come home to. And apparently, it isn't ok that he has to have the kids on his own every Wednesday night for the next 8 weeks. But I'm committed to this now. . . ugh.

Day of Rest? Not really.

2011-03-06T23:10:00.000-05:00

Today, we went to the hardware store. We bought hooks to hang the magazine file that I bought from The Container Store. We ended up buying screws to fix the toy box in the living room and some Lilies of the Valley plants to plant around the patio. We also bought a pack of picture hangers. We had lunch at Steak N Shake. Then we headed home. Hannibal and I stayed home while Husband took Igor to his Little League Evaluation. I'm hoping he did well enough to get into Coach Pitch.

While home, Hannibal wanted to play the Wii. I told him he couldn't play until we cleaned up the Bonus Room. If he got the room clean (he's the one who messes it up all the time) before Igor came home, he would get to play the Wii. Well, he didn't get to play the Wii, but we did get the room mostly clean. It was a mess. Mega Blocks and train parts and stuffed animals and books strewn about the floor.

Igor and Husband came home with a story. Igor had been hit on the hand during batting practice. Poor kid. It scraped the hand and he was starting to swell. I am proud that he didn't even cry, but kept batting after it happened. We bandaged him up and put ice on it. Then we watched Survivor on the DVR. Then the Ohio State Men's Basketball game vs. Wisconsin, while reading my Sunday paper.

After the game, we went to Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. We came back, gave the kids their showers, put them to bed. When we came down, Husband needed to do something on the computer, so I filed. I was able to complete another box. Only 3 more to go! This box was hard. I came across stuff pertaining to Igor's early hospitalization and follow-up. Rough. I also found his first footprints from the hospital. Awww.

Husband continued to "play" on the computer - he actually bought me a few songs for my iPod and re-loaded my iPod with songs. I can't complain. So I began to tackle Box 1 of the Graduate School bundle. Most is going to paper recycling. But I did go down memory lane for a bit. I might keep some of my take-home exams and papers. But all the other stuff is likely going in the trash. Since I was in a rhythm, Husband finished and hung my magazine file with the kids' coloring books (see pic below). He also hung my bulletin board. A little higher than I wanted, but at least it's on the wall instead of leaning against it.

Now, he's playing a quick game on the Xbox 360 while I blog and then play a round (or two) of Zuma Blitz before bed.

Shopping

2011-03-05T17:53:00.000-05:00

Today is the first Saturday of the month, so Iago took Igor out to lunch (on our dime) and spent time with him afterwards. That meant Hannibal, Husband, & I went out to lunch for Chinese. Afterwards, since my girlfriend wasn't able to go out and play (boo hoo), I went out shopping without kids while Husband stayed home and played with Hannibal.

I shopped with a purpose. I went to two stores: Joann and Staples. At Joann, without any kids, I was able to browse. My intent was to buy the cupcake decorating kit that comes with the 4 tips I require for my cupcake decorating. I also bought:

two beautiful wooden candleholders (see pic below)
6 cute speckled egg candles (also in pic below)
a set of "Lunchbox Love" notes to insert into Igor's lunchbox when we pack his lunch (saves me having to write him a new one each time!)
Shamrock cupcake liners for the cupcakes for the potluck at work later this month, and
a 12 cup cupcake pan.

I then headed to Staples. Where I bought:

a new shredder (our old one jammed and we could never fix it
Quicken Deluxe 2011 (I've been lost since my Microsoft Money expired)
2 4GB USB Flash Drives (1 for my digital photo frame and 1 to handle documents transported to and from work)
small and large paper clips
a set of 6" x 9" catalog envelopes (so I can send consolidated mail to the former owner)
2 more boxes of legal size hanging folders in assorted colors
Avery file folder labels

Then I grabbed a Sweet Tea from McDonald's, stopped at CVS to pick up something that Husband forgot at the grocery store, and headed home. Where I unpacked and put it all away. A successful trip.

Nostalgia

2011-03-04T07:26:00.000-05:00

Went through another box in the Office last night and continued to do "gross filing" as I'm calling it. What this means is that I'm separating out the stuff in the boxes into large categories. I'll winnow these down into smaller files once I have an idea of what smaller categories I need. I have 1 1/2 drawers filled and 4 boxes to go. Three of those boxes, it turns out, are graduate school file boxes which I think I'll be pitching most of the contents.

However, I now know why I have been putting this off. Nostalgia. Going through these boxes brings back all sorts of memories as I come across items such as:

Notes from middle & high school from my first boyfriend who remains a friend.
Letters from my brother's best friend who I dated off & on for several years in high school & college
Letters from my pen pal throughout middle school and high school (after losing touch, we have found each other again on Facebook)
Sympathy cards from when my grandfather died
My father's honorable discharge papers from the Air Force
Paperwork on my Factor V Leiden diagnosis, surrounded by the paperwork from when Igor was in his first year and we had to go to all these doctors appointments because of his seizures
My youth director's funeral program
the "Christian Performer's Manual" that my sister and I put together during our time with Cleveland Praise Ministry, a clown/puppetry/mime/sign language group
all the farewell cards from when I left jobs (I move around a lot)
Igor's first soccer pictures
Igor's preschool papers / pictures
Hannibal's emergency room paperwork from when his older brother cut his finger with scissors the night before Hannibal's first birthday

I understand why people hoard paper. It's hard to let go these memories. And, for the most part, I haven't yet. I did trash some things, but others are still filed as I determine what to do. However, a file cabinet should not become a "paper graveyard" as my organizing book tells me. I'll continue to complete the gross filing and then fine tune my system. As I do that, more of this might go away. The trip through memory lane was bittersweet, though.

Another Box Gone

2011-03-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Husband was working late tonight. I came home and ordered pizza and salad for dinner. Then, I brought the kids into the office. Hannibal was put in the "kids' space" with a puzzle. Igor was happy to play Farkle on my Facebook pages. And I, well, I began to empty a box.

Now that I have the file cabinet, I have 6 boxes whose contents need to be reviewed and either filed or disposed of. Two of the boxes are from graduate school and haven't been touched in years. I anticipate tossing most of the contents. If I need any of it, I can find it online or from a library, I suppose. Just because someone reached out to me regarding my thesis recently doesn't mean I need to hold on to everything.

The remaining boxes represent (1) what came out of the two drawer file cabinet I disposed of via Freecycle or (2) boxes of paperwork from the desk at the old house that we just threw into boxes to make the house look presentable while we were trying to sell it.

Today, using a technique from the organizing book I'm reading, I just spent time on one box separating it into major categories and tossing anything I was sure I ddn't need to keep. I did take a break midway through the process to put the kids to bed and then I went back to it.

Gone are the Christmas cards from friends/family from 2008 (sorry, but I just don't see why we should keep these. . . I love your kids, but I don't need the paper). Gone are some things from Igor's preschool days. Gone are the pay stubs from 2008 (I have the W-2 that shows the earnings, so I don't need the individual stubs). Gone is the dried PlayDoh from the homemade frame that Igor made that fell apart. I know have broad category files of:

Igor memories & records
Hannibal memories & records
Judith memories & records
Benefits - Explanations of Benefits (I'll log these and then toss)
Product Ownership / Manuals
Bank Statements
Mom's Trust Fund stuff
Financial Paperwork (401k statements, college fund stuff, insurance, etc.)
Work stuff (resumes, current benefits plans, bonus letters, etc.)
Weight Watchers stuff
Recipes

That's it. I'll refine the categories and toss more as I go through it. This was just a first pass. But I disposed of one box. However, it wasn't without emotions. I did come across a Father's Day card for Ralph, my youth director, which I never sent before he died. I miss him and he's been gone since shortly after Hannibal was born. I still remember getting the call from his wife while nursing Hannibal. Ah, memories. I hold them dear, but I don't need to hold the paper.

Systems

2011-03-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

So I'm reading this book on organizing by this woman who calls herself the "Zen Organizer" (One Year to an Organized Life by Regina Leeds). I'm not sure I buy into all of it, but one thing that has stuck with me for the last couple of days is her comments regarding systems.

Essentially, it boils down to this: we all have systems. Whether our system involves taking off our clothes and throwing them on the floor or throwing them into a hamper, they're systems. They're routines. What we have to do is replace the systems that are not working with the systems that do work. As in, slowly retrain ourselves so that our natural system is no longer throwing the clothes on the floor, but putting them into the hamper. Or, in a case familiar to this house, not leaving the toilet paper roll empty but replacing it right away. (Yes, this did happen to me. At least, though, I wasn't the one who was peed on this time. . . Husband is the one who stood in the stream of the middle of the night potty training boy. I've learned to stand to the side!)

Similar to what you hear about how to change your eating habits, she recommends small, incremental changes that are livable. In the book, she provides examples about how to implement various systems and strategies but also how you need to adapt them to your lifestyle. I find, in many of the cases, I previously had many of these systems and this is what prevented me from turning hoarder. However, with Husband and children and brothers-in-law, I have slowly lost touch with many of my systems because they are no longer workable. I am still not a Hoarder. But it is much harder these days to fight entropy.

Don't get me wrong. . . my systems weren't GREAT, but they were livable. I still remember the date in college where I had been studying so much for an exam that I didn't have time to clean my room and while I wanted nothing more than to invite the date back to my room, I couldn't because of the embarrassment of what my room looked like. Back then, my system was to throw everything where it landed and then a flurry to pick up when I had to. I slowly grew into new systems that were more orderly.

So, much like I need to work on getting my diet and my exercise back on track, start enjoying the things I enjoyed doing before (cross-stitch, reading novels not magazines, going to the beach, etc), I need to work at developing those systems that helped me create order out of chaos. I'm calling it reclaiming my life, one step at a time. My project is just one aspect of this. I also need to work on those other pieces, just one little step/habit at a time.

For example, I have started going through the mail immediately and either handling it or putting it in an organized manner. But I'm trying to get rid of the paper mess before it grows. (This is made more difficult by the mounds of paperwork Igor brings home from school each day, but we just put most of that in our paper recycling. Unless it's really cute artwork and then it spends time at my work cubicle first.) I have also started lunch each day with soup. By the time I finish it and move on to the rest, I'm mostly full and throw most of the lunch away. . . it's a start. And that's what this is all about, after all, reclaiming my life.

Little Things

2011-02-27T22:49:00.001-05:00

I started this "experiment" where I would do something every day to move the house forward and make it more of a home. I had hoped I would have time to write about it, too. But that seems to have been too lofty a goal. However, know that I am still doing these little things.

Some of the things we have done (and I say "we" because Husband has been doing some things as well):

Replaced the light switches in the Master Bathroom because they had a short in them.
Searched (and found easily, actually) my undergraduate senior comp to help an undergrad at a school in Minnesota for research she is doing
read and recycled 2 magazines; recycled several magazines I'll never buy stuff from
found a tote for Hannibal's outgrown clothes, cleared a space in his closet for it, and deposited a whole bunch of clothes straight from the laundry into the tote. These are usually sent to my cousn for her son who is about a year younger than Hannibal.
began sorting through paperwork to place into the file cabinet
read the chapters in the organizing book related to the Office and realizing I'm just not that bad at organizing, I just need to get back into the rhythm
logged some of the Explanation of Benefits (EOB's) from the past year in the computer and shredded the paper copies. I'm still trying to see how expensive the last year was.
sewed buttons back on my snowmen plush that's in front of the fireplace
bought another houseplant
put up new hooks for the boys' coats & Igor's backpack

Little things, but still progress. I had meant to clean the pantry and the bathrooms this weekend, but that didn't happen. I am still sick, but getting over it. And, well, I'll be honest, the news about Husband's arm (which I haven't shared) still has me somewhat depressed. I had a light at the end of the tunnel and it's gone. We'll work through it. But it's been a hard couple of weeks. Work has been stressful, home has been stressful, and I've been sick. I also start a class in a couple of weeks - 4 hours every Wednesday night after work for 8 weeks. But I'll continue to move forward. It's all we can do.

Potato Bin

2011-02-27T11:14:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the potato bin I picked up from someone based on a Craigslist posting. I paid $30. I have used the same vinegar/water rinse and then lemon oil treatment on it. Luckily, this one didn't come from a smoking home (though they did have a dog). It is a little banged up, but looks nice and will do the job. Which is to say, it will remove the potatoes and onions and bread from our counter space and give us a little more room for working on the counters in the kitchen.

So my accomplishment today was to complete cleaning it so it was ready to use, while Husband took the kids and brought back Starbucks for brunch. Now we're grabbing showers and going to take the kids to get haircuts. Unknown to them, we'll peek at the pet store next door, too. No buying. We get our pets from shelters. But we want to remind the youngest of his potty training goal. Plus, I want to start figuring out how much the future addition to the family is going to cost on an ongoing basis so we can start to budget.

File cabinet moved into place

2011-02-19T18:40:00.000-05:00

Today, I woke up sick. My throat hurts and my nose is running and I am on day three of a migraine. Still, I came downstairs and found Husband cleaning a poopy three year old and the elder child playing Xbox. I proceeded to do some chores:

put away the dishes in the dishwasher
loaded the dishes that had accumulated on the counter throughout the week into the dishwasher and ran it
moved my remaining Valentine's Day flowers into a smaller vase, threw away the box they came in, and emptied the pretty clear glass bowl they came in
emptied the kitchen trash, taking it and the recyclables to the garage

Then, I admit, I needed to sit down. So I played a little Zuma Blitz. Husband came in a little bit later. He had already told me he needed to stay close to home this weekend because of what is going on at work. So we decide to take showers, go to lunch and go to the grocery store.

We ate at Thai Taste and I had a wonderful red peanut curry dish. Afterwards, Husband took the kids next door to the Pepperidge Farm Outlet while I went over and checked out the American Cancer Society Donation store. They had this really pretty old wooden baker's rack that was gorgeous, but (1) I don't have $325 right now and (2) we don't really have anywhere it would go in the house. Then we went to nearby Penzey's spice shop. Husband went in to buy the chili powder while the kids and I ate a cookie apiece in the van.

Next, the grocery store. But we popped into Trading Places to see the new inventory. They had a beautiful brown leather loveseat and ottoman. But again, no money and we thought that maybe when we get a cat that it might not be wise to have leather furniture. . . So, off to the grocery it was. We picked up fixings for Chili for tonight, grilled cheese and tomato soup for tomorrow, and a chicken to roast for tomorrow. The kids were, as usual, abominable. Once home, we put them down for naps.

A little Zuma Blitz and, when I ran out of hearts, it was time to use the furniture polish I picked up on the file cabinet. Once that was done, I eased it into place between our corner desk and Vincent's mom's desk (it serves as a place to hold our peripherals like the digital photo printer). I moved the scanner on top, as well as a 3 wick candle, put the hanging folders and file folders we picked up earlier this week inside and then I tidied the corner desk a bit. Then a picture:

For $80 and a lot of cleaning, I think it will be worth it in the long run. I still have boxes in the office that I'll need to go through and file away (I think I need a LOT more hanging files and folders). But it's a start. I still feel terrible. But I need to go work on the potato bin yet today. . . or maybe tomorrow. I'm tired.

Still working on project, but too busy to post

2011-02-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

It's peak season for me at work and the last couple of weeks have been pretty rough. I'm nearing the end and can see the light at the end of the tunnel (and am pretty sure it's not a train). Most of my days have been going to work, working 12-16 hour days, and then coming home just in time (if I'm lucky) to put the kids to bed, grabbing a bite to eat, maybe watching a sitcom, and then going to bed myself. The the process starts all over again. It's not pleasant, but I know it's a brief period out of the year and necessary for the work that I do.

However, I have not abandoned my project. Last weekend, we picked up a potato bin from Craigslist. I still need to clean it and it's waiting in the garage. However, it comes from a non-smoking home so I will have less trouble than with the file cabinet.

Speaking of the file cabinet, the secret seemed to be a vinegar and water wash. I had tried Murphy's Oil Orange Soap. Then Old English Lemon Oil. After letting the room air out, the cabinet still smelled like smoke. I referred to an article from eHow (How to Remove Cigarette Smell from Wood) and went at the cabinet again. I filled a water bottle with dish soap and water, sprayed down the cabinet, and wiped it down. Next, I mixed vinegar with water and sponged down the file cabinet. In the meantime, I filled each drawer with an entire box of baking soda. A week later, I did the dish soap/water spray, followed by the vinegar/water wash. I vacuumed out the drawers and washed them with the vinegar/water wash.

Husband could still smell smoke in one of the crevices along the top of the file cabinet. So I took an old toothbrush and cleaned inside with the vinegar/water combination. I used the rags I created earlier this week from a ripped sheet, using Murphy's Oil Orange Soap spray and then Old English. The smell is still there if you get close to the crevices, but is mostly dissipated. Next up: We're taking the kids to the movies today and we'll probably stop and pick up some furniture polish. The wood is feeling really dry right now - combination of the vinegar and the cold temperature/dry heat.

I've also been reading up on a gardening book I bought. I'd like to put in some flowers and update my pond (since most of it died along with the fish). I'm also considering putting in peppers in the front flower bed (hopefully that's not against our HOA). Another book I purchased while ordering Vincent's Valentine's present: One Year to an Organized Life. I've read a chapter or so and what I've learned is that I need to assign my kids chores and start making them do them.

Junk Drawer

2011-01-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

I am addicted to this game on Facebook called Zuma Blitz. When you run out of "hearts" or lives, you can buy more (which I refuse to do) or you can wait until they regenerate. While waiting, I either surf Craigslist, Freecycle, Amazon.com, updating this blog, or I force myself to do tidying around the house. Today being Sunday, and chore day, I do things around the house. Today, I tackled the Kitchen Junk Drawer.

Referring back to my earlier post where I said I didn't have much art supply stuff, I was wrong. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right? Yesterday, we bought 3 small totes at Lowe's for under $3. I planned on using one of the totes for the kids' crayons which have gotten out of control in the drawer in the kitchen. Well, I ended up using all three totes and then some.

One tote went to Crayons. It is now full. One tote went to Markers; it still has room. One tote went to Batteries; it is full. All of these went to the office. Markers & Crayons on the kids' table. Batteries on the desk.

I filled a pencil box with, well, pencils. I filled another pencil box with Dry Erase Markers. Now, the Junk Drawer looks mostly empty - a few screwdrivers, a measuring tape, charging cords for cell phones, and loose pens. Not bad for about 15 minutes worth of work. I think I need more totes, though.

Clutter-Free: Day 3

2011-01-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

Even with the long day yesterday, I still found time to do my "one thing": With the help of Igor, I went through and separated all the magazines on the floor under my nightstand into two piles and brought the recycling pile downstairs. I also pulled the pile of magazine clippings and put into the file folder downstairs. I can now see the top of my nightstand. Yippee!

Today's hint from the Family Circle article is:

Pull cleaning supplies from under the kitchen sink and create space for them in the room they're used in, suggests Vozza. Move shower and toilet cleaners to a bathroom cabinet, the stain stick to a shelf in the laundry room and wood polish to a dining room cupboard. The benefits are twofold: You'll have more room in your kitchen cabinet, and cleaning products will be close at hand.

This is a stupid idea if you have small children. First, our cleaning products aren't in the kitchen cabinet. They are in a cabinet above the dryer in the laundry room. Keeping them in the kitchen cabinet would mean they would be accessible to the three year old. This means my stain stick is already there. Shower cleaners are upstairs in the top shelf of the linen closet. This is located in the middle of where both bathrooms with showers are, though used more often by Iago than us. I have sponges in our bedroom closet off the master bath to use when wiping things down in the closet. In the bathrooms, they each have a toilet brush with the refills full of cleaner - less likely for the kid to drink them.

Personally, I like the central location. That way, the men of the house can find them. Or so I thought. But the night I wasn't home because I was at a Board dinner and Hannibal decorated his bedroom walls with feces, my husband could only find toilet bowl (blue, I might add) to use to clean it off the cream walls. He could text me to tell me it was a bad night, but couldn't text me to ask where the cleaning products were. Now, we have a slightly blue tinge to Hannibal's cream walls. I'll paint his room eventually. We just need to get a better idea of what he likes before we decorate.

Shopping while Potty Training

2011-01-30T10:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we finally got moving and left the house to to out to lunch around 1:30 pm. We didn't get home until around 7 pm. Why? We started with lunch at Rooster's (Hannibal's pick). That is a 1/2 hour drive each way. He only had to try to use the bathroom about 4 times while we were there. Igor had to poop while there - which is another 1/2 hour.

Then we went to Target with the objective of picking up Despicable Me on Blu-Ray for movie night and some legal size hanging folders for the new file cabinet. No luck on the file folders. While there, we picked up some gloves for the kids, a chore chart for the Dining Room (which might get re-labeled, "Activity Room" once it's decorated as such), toothpaste, and some more hand towels for the downstairs bathroom. We still didn't spend our usual $100, but they let us leave anyway.

After Target, we went next door to Lowe's. Hannibal kept asking (loudly), "Are we at Home Depot?" We needed to pick up some trim for the garage to replace the piece that Husband knocked off when he exited the 3rd bay. While there, we picked up some inserts for our paint trim cup and our roller pan, a squeegee for the bathroom, and a book on gardening for me that shows what to do month-by-month in Ohio. Hannibal only had to "try" to go to the bathroom twice at Lowe's.

After Lowe's, we were headed home. The children have not been well-behaved. We then go to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner and the next day. Hannibal has to go to the bathroom 3 times while we're there. (You do realize that, of all these times we've taken him to the bathroom so far, he's only actually gone twice, right? He doesn't have some sort of bladder problem.) On one of the occasions, we walked in on someone in a "on-er" who hadn't locked the door. Luckily, she was washing her hands at the time!

We picked up sausages and buns for dinner. Doughnuts (Husband's idea while I was in the bathroom with Hannibal) for breakfast. Husband is trying to make a crab Alfredo tonight with the crab meat I found on sale. By the time we got home, it was 7:00 (half an hour until bedtime) and the kids had lost the movie night privilege due to their poor behavior. We had dinner, we put them to bed, then Husband and I had our own movie night and watched Inception. Then we went to bed. Long day.

Family Pizza Night

2011-01-28T21:57:00.000-05:00

Tonight was Family Pizza Night at Igor's school. For anyone without kids, this would be pure, unadulterated hell. For those of us with kids, there aren't enough cute moments to make it little more than tolerable. Family Pizza Night is a fundraiser by the PTO. It includes the following (all for purchase):

Pizza
Water Bottles
Drumstick ice cream (new this year)
Kid's cake walk (2 raffle tickets - limited to kids only this year which made the lines much more tolerable)
Stuff & Fluff (you had to pre-order these stuffed animal skins that you then stuff yourself standing next to a too small table; Igor has a floppy-eared puppy and Hannibal has a tabby kitten)
Lollipop pull - if your lollipop is marked on the bottom, you win a grab bag full of useless choking hazards
Balloon animal artist (new this year) - including minimum half hour wait to get a balloon sword and scabbard that your boys will then fight with (Hannibal opted for an elephant)
Raffle tickets for baskets designed by the teachers, such as a scrapbooking basket, an Ohio State basket, Pet basket, book basket, toy basket, etc. (Igor only wanted to put the raffle tickets into the "money tree" basket which was nothing more than $40.)
Bingo in the library
karaoke somewhere (thank goodness we didn't have interest in that!)
tables where you can spend your tickets on face painting, fingernail painting, making a card for Ronald McDonald house, temporary tattoos, etc. (we skipped all of these. whew.)
a whole lot of kids running around unattended

Yes, we went. I even left work early so I could go. Last year, I had to go by myself with Igor because Husband had broken his arm just a week or two prior. It was more tolerable this time with Hannibal and Husband there. Hannibal dribbled chocolate down his face from the Drumstick. Igor taught him how to do the Cake Walk and we watched in amusement as Hannibal insisted on stepping on each number.

But the best moments were watching Igor grow into a social animal. My boy is trying to be social, but is still somewhat shy. He wanted to go say hello to "Ethan" (one of the kids in his class) and he wanted to go by himself. I think people thought there was something wrong with my kid. He went over about 4 times, got within 20 feet of the table where Ethan was sitting and would say, quietly, "Hey, Ethan." Ethan, amid the din emanating in the gymnasium from all the booths and running and screaming, didn't hear him. So Igor would come back sad that Ethan didn't say "hi" back. This same exercise was repeated with several members of Igor's friend base. Though, I will admit, he got much closer to the girls and they acknowledged his presence much faster. My boy is a ladies man. Oh my.

We ran into a college friend of Husband's - not unexpected, they live two streets over. Husband says, "I don't think he needs help, he's already better at it than I am." I'm glad my boys take after the social side of me.

Clutter-Free: Day 2

2011-01-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

The second suggestion from the article is:

Sort craft supplies into piles of like items - glue and tape together, ribbons and bows - then stash it all in clear plastic bins, says Stephanie Vozza, author of Five Minute Mom's Club (Franklin Green). Stack bins, whether on the top shelf of a linen closet or on an office bookcase. The next time you need a pair of scissors, you'll be able to locate them in seconds. If your boxes aren't clear, label them.

Well, if I had craft supplies, I might do this. But, I don't think I have a lot of "craft supplies." What I do have is decently organized. My cross-stitch is housed in two Longaberger baskets that I obtained while I worked for the corporate office (yes, I worked in the big basket building for about four years). My cake decorating and candy making supplies are housed in totes stored in the "Library." One for candy molds, one for cake pans, one for fondant supplies, one for icing supplies, etc.

As for the scissors, we have one in the knife block in the kitchen and one in the pen basket on the desk. Tape is stored either (1) with the Christmas wrap in the basement OR (2) in the top drawer of the desk. So, I think we're pretty set here. Oh, and the kids art supplies (glue, construction paper, markers) are stored in a bin under their table in the Office. I suppose this means I do have more craft supplies than I thought. . . but I also know where they are and think they are organized pretty well.

Clutter-Free: Day 1

2011-01-27T21:25:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm reading the February 2011 Family Circle magazine and there was an article entitled, "Clutter-Free in 30 Days" by Kimberly Fusaro. Day 1 says:

Clean up the utensil drawer by moving the four or five things you reach for most often to a counter top canister or crock. Take stock of what's left and toss anything superfluous. You'll be pleased when you can slide the drawer open and closed without it jamming.

We've already done this - sort of. When we moved in, we put a crock of spatulas next to the stove. Then we decided which gadgets went in which drawer based on how we would use them. Top drawer holds items we would reach for while cooking: tongs, spatulas, and wooden spoons. The second drawer holds items we use often: measuring cups/spoons, can opener, whisks, thermometers, pastry cutter, and the like. The third drawer holds items we use least often - turkey lifter, garlic peeler (this should really be in the 2nd drawer, I think!), apple corer, twine, egg separator, etc. The fourth drawer holds our kitchen towels. We have a drawer in the island that stores our graters, splatter screens, and zester - things that in the other drawers would cut us when rooting around for them. Since this is the biggest house I will ever own, if the gadgets don't fit in these drawers, we don't need it. I remember that each time I'm invited to a Pampered Chef party!

So, since this one is crossed off the list, I did something else: I cleared my night stand. I brought down my cupcake book and cake decorating book that I've been long done reading. I grabbed the magazine clippings that I'd piled up and put them in the file folder on the desk marked "magazine clippings" (yes, I know, I'm just moving the stuff around. But it's CLOSER to where it needs to be.) I put magazines I was done reading in one of two piles - recycling or pass on to my sister. Not a lot, but I put in a LONG day at work today. The next two will be longer since my boss will be out. I'm sending thoughts & prayers to his family, as his mother-in-law passed away last night.

Freecycle

2011-01-26T20:36:00.001-05:00

I have discovered Freecycle Columbus. This is part of the Freecycle Network, which offers a place for people to post items they would normally throw away for other people who might want them. Its goal is to reduce items going to landfills and "recycle" them to other people. Everything posted has to be free.

I have known about Freecycle for years, but never really looked into it. However, I had a beige metal file cabinet that I needed to discard now that I've bought the wooden four-drawer one from Craigslist. I couldn't sell it - it was dinged up and rusted and grimy. I looked into Freecycle and completed all the "paperwork" to get added to the group so I could post my file cabinet.

On Monday night around 7:30 pm, I finally had all the permissions I needed and posted the file cabinet, including the picture below:

By 10:30 pm, I had two offers to pick it up the next day. Unfortunately, I knew I was going to work late on Tuesday. I made arrangements to have one of them pick it up around 8 pm. I barely got home by 7 pm, unloaded it of the files inside, emptied the hanging folders - which I was throwing in with the cabinet since my new one only takes legal size, and moved it next to the front door. We put the kids to bed. I checked email and had 8 more people asking if the cabinet was still available.

At 8:20 pm, I get a phone call saying the selected recipients are running late. They finally show around 9:15. I'm a little irritated, but it's getting junk out of my house. The woman is going to use it for her daughter's artwork. Her daughter will love the aqua hanging folders. They take it away. And my first success with Freecycle. Now, I'm constantly on the site looking at things they have for free. I mentioned to my boss at work and he's thinking he might post the blinds from his windows - they just replaced all their windows and have to get new blinds but don't know what to do with the old ones since Goodwill won't take them. I'm looking around my house for anything I can post next. I'm wondering who in their right mind would accept "king sheets - old" or "wedding dress - worn twice" from this site. I'm intrigued. And addicted. Between Freecycle, Craigslist, eBay, and the furniture consignment shop nearby (Trading Places). . . and blogging, and Facebook. . . I'm running out of hours in the day! But I'm moving forward.

Tomorrow is the day Volunteers of America will be on our street and the box in the garage marked "Donate" will be put out for them to pick up. I could probably Freecycle the items, but it's too much work to coordinate pickup for items this small (even though I see other people posting "craft supplies", "bag of yarn," "tote full of junk"). This way, I get rid of an old iron, a non-working sprinkler, and some other miscellaneous household stuff without much hassle. My anti-hoarding campaign continues.

Next up: I was reading an issue of Family Circle and they had an article, "Clutter-Free in 30 Days" by Kimberly Fusaro. My thought is to review one of these items a day. I have read the whole article and find I've already done some of them. Others, I'm not sure I agree with, but might share and then pick something else to do that day to move my house forward.

(Note: I'm in peak season, so my posts won't be as frequent, but I'll try.)

Busy

2011-01-23T20:34:00.000-05:00

Been away for the last few days. Long hours at work. Still doing something small each day, just not remembering what it was.

Hannibal is mostly potty-trained. We even went out to a restaurant and were pleased that he pooped while away. Now, having to take him 6 times during dinner wasn't fun. My back was aching from picking him up to the non-friendly vanity counters at the restaurant to wash his hands.

Today I cleared 4 boxes from the garage to make room for the lawn tractor that has not yet been returned. I also put baking soda inside the file cabinet to help remove some of the smoke odor. I bought some Murphy's Oil Soap because I didn't have any like I thought.

I also posted two items on Craigslist - two Kwikset locks that we bought for the old house and never installed. They don't match the rest of the house here. I'm hoping to make a few bucks.

Well, that's it. I'm going to go order some items online, do some laundry, and go to bed I think.

Anniversaries

2011-01-19T20:21:00.000-05:00

Oh, and today is the anniversary of Husband's falling on the ice and breaking his arm. He's still recovering with the skin surgery. But I laughed at how the weather decided to repeat - it was an ice skating rink out there today. He continues to improve and maybe soon he'll stop acting like Eyeore.

Trash Day

2011-01-19T20:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, before work, I took out the trash. It was an icy day and Husband didn't want to because he was afraid of slipping on the ice. Plus he was staying home sick. So I took it out. My contribution to my experiment? I took another bundle of cardboard box recycling to the curb.

I then went to work and worked from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., arriving home around 8:30 p.m. The trash cans and recycling bins were still on the curb. Someone in the house left it to walk to the mailbox to get mail, but didn't think to bring back any of the empty bins. It had been raining all day, so now they're full of water that I had to dump out. Nobody in the house had to work or go to school. And the person working a 12.5 hour day had to be the one to bring in the trash cans. OK. That makes sense. I was a bit livid.

Today was more manageable. Handed off the kids to the sitter at 7:30, was at work by 8:15 and left around 5:45 p.m. I was able to read the kids their stories and sing them their songs and tuck them in - which is nice since I'll be out with girlfriends tomorrow night and will get home long after they are in bed.

Today's contribution? I don't know. I'm running a load of laundry so I have pants to wear (I'm down to only 3 pair of black dress pants that fit me right now). I'll try to hang up some more clothes in the bedroom before bed. No promises, though.

Dealing with Sick Husband

2011-01-17T22:38:00.000-05:00

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. day. A holiday. No school for the oldest - nor tomorrow because they piggyback a teacher workday to give families a long weekend. No work for my husband. I am the only sad sap that had to get up, shower, and go to work bright and early. Husband was sick and running a fever yesterday, so everyone was getting to sleep in today. I got to work, after stopping for a Venti Non-fat Toffee Nut Chai from Starbucks, around 7:15 a.m. I don't usually leave the house until 7:30 a.m. most mornings after handing off the kids to Iago.

I'm currently in "peak season" at work. I have a project launching on Wednesday and it takes a while to get ready. I had told Husband I would need to work late. In the midst of a stressful day, I get a text from Husband asking me to pick up orange juice, acetamenophin, and Sudafed on the way home. This means he hasn't left the house, isn't going to the grocery store, and has most likely scrounged from the meager cupboards to find something to feed the kids for lunch (turns out, it was chips & salsa for lunch). My guess from the text is that he needs me to bring dinner home. Even though I told him I had to work late.

I work until 6:15/6:30. I'm tired. I have not accomplished as much as I would like / need to. But I know I have to go home to take the family dinner. Because he won't think to have his brother go out and bring back food. He's in such a delirious stupor from his fever. Have I mentioned that this is the same fever that we all had last week, same cough, same nasal drip - and I went to work the whole week AND took care of the kids over the weekend while I had it? Iago was even sick and still handled the kids - including Igor home from school. Not my Husband. Nope. The world is ending. He is the only one to have experienced a fever like this. His abdomen hurts from coughing so much.

I go to CVS and sign my life away to get the real sudafed. I'm not a drug dealer. . .or manufacturer, for that matter. I pick up what he wants. I bring home McDonald's for the family. We eat. Kids play with happy meals. We put them to bed. Husband showers. I change his dressing. We come down and watch How I Met Your Mother, followed by Mike & Molly (because HIMYM was too sad) on the DVR. Now, I'm blogging briefly before going to sleep. Husband is already attempting sleep on the couch.

No movement toward the goal - except that I put yesterday's laundry away and took Iago's hand weight back up to the bonus room from the laundry room where Husband had left it when he was using it for his arm strength therapy. I'm tired. Husband is staying home from work tomorrow. I have to go in. It will be another day like today. Ugh.

Sunday Chores

2011-01-16T19:06:00.001-05:00

Husband has a fever today. So we didn't leave the house. When I got up, I made the kids raisin bread English muffins for breakfast. I started laundry. It's a day long process. It's almost 7 p.m. and my last load is in the dryer.

Since Husband was sick, we didn't clean the garage. I spent the time cleaning the laundry room instead. In the midst of letting the kids play with Play-Doh and coloring, and other miscellaneous activities they could do "quietly" in the Office while he tried to grab some rest in the recliner in the Living Room, I cleaned out the laundry room.

I hauled paint supplies out of the utility sink and put them in the basement, including tarps, paint rollers, paint buckets, brushes, etc. I hung up the plastic bags on the hook I hung earlier. I emptied the trash can of lint. I don't think it's been emptied in the year and a half we've lived in the house. Igor recognized it as the one from his old bedroom. I asked if he wanted it back and he did. It's now in his room. We'll have to walk into the kitchen to throw lint away, but it's better than this giant lint ball growing in my house. I found the iron we couldn't find before (Husband has already bought a new one) hidden behind the dryer, so I put it in the donate box. I moved the mops, brooms, dustpans, ironing board, and vacuum cleaner to where the trash can formerly was. Now I have a clear path to the utility tub! I picked up the paper bags we keep for paper recycling and made a nice pile between the washing machine and the utility tub. I cleared off the top of the dryer - clothes we hadn't put away, the washed liner for the car seat skeleton that's sitting in the office from when someone puked in the car, quarters, and old stuffed animal that had been washed and left there to air dry. I took the Thanksgiving decoration bin and carried it to the basement finally.

I continued to do laundry throughout the day, sorting and folding and putting away. I fed the children. And I did a little cross-stitch on the butterfly design destined for the Powder Room. I did not, however, go outside to bring in my Sunday newspaper. I hope it's still there in the morning when I have to go to work and everyone else gets to sleep in. It's a holiday for them (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), but not for my workplace. I think I might need to stop at Starbucks on the way in?

Husband slept in my bed!

2011-01-15T18:11:00.000-05:00

OK, this is how it should be, right? Husband & wife sleeping in the same bed. But with his surgeries, Husband has spent more time out of my bed than in it. I've been cold at night, using two blankets to replace his warmth and nesting a little by positioning pillows where he normally would sleep. Sad, I know. But I missed his presence. Mostly, I missed our talking before sleep.

After his first surgery and through rehab, he had started sleeping in our bedroom more often. Just before his second surgery, the one to combat the hidradenitis suppurativa, he had been able to make it all the way through the night in the bed at least a couple times a week. However, he'd spent most of his time in the recliner in the Living Room.

Then he had the skin surgery. All sleep in the bedroom ceased. He's finally feeling good enough to try sleeping in the bed. His wound is now only 15cm by 6 cm. Quite a reduction. He still has a long way to go. He made it four hours last night. It was wonderful! We're going to keep trying. . . and he'll keep healing. I just have to make sure his side of the bed doesn't get cluttered!

Towels & File Cabinet

2011-01-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's contribution: I folded the towel pile on the bedroom floor and put them away. Kitchen towels to the drawer in the kitchen. Bath towels to the linen closet in the upstairs hallway. Not big, but still progress. Maybe this weekend, I'll tackle the big pile of socks?

This morning, I went on Craigslist and decided to look to see if I could find a 4 drawer wood file cabinet for our office. I've looked a couple of times in the past and they've only turned up this warehouse that has a whole bunch of office furniture at "low, low prices." But the furniture looks cheap. This morning, however, someone had just posted at 9 a.m. that they were selling a four drawer solid oak file cabinet for only $75. The two drawer ugly one at the consignment shop was $250. A new one at the Amish store is about $450. This was a deal.

I sent them an email because it said it held legal folders only and I really wanted one that could do both legal and letter. No response. We got showers and prepared to go out to lunch and the warehouse store. I sent them another note saying we were leaving the house and they could call my husband's cell. We were barely on the road when they called. It only holds legal. But it could work. We went and looked at it. Nice shape. Worth it for what I was paying and for what it will be used for. Plus all the drawers lock. Nice feature.

They needed some time to empty the drawers. We needed some time to make it fit in the minivan. They lived 10 minutes from our house. We got it in the minivan, went to lunch at Max & Erma's (yum, tortilla soup!), and then brought it home. Unfortunately, it was from a smoker's home, so we're letting it air out in the garage for a few days before we bring it inside. I'm so excited! Does this count as my 1 thing for today? I think it does. And we were done before lunchtime!

Sloth

2011-01-13T20:46:00.000-05:00

I hesitate to tell you what my "one thing to make the house better" was some days. I don't know if I want to admit what a complete sloth I am. I am a 300 pound woman (not complaining, I know how I got here) with two kids, an injured husband, and a stressful, but satisfying career. I am tired after handling many of the "must-do" items in the day. I don't want to excuse anything because I've come to terms with what it is. The experiment is a way to combat inertia, to move a little forward. Even an inch forward is better than status quo. Yet, do I explain the extent of what I perceive to be laziness? I acknowledge that I cannot be a "superwoman" and I cannot be perfect. Yet, many other people with similar lifestyles are able to accomplish so much more on a daily basis. I wonder how because I never learned the skills to do so.

I respected my great-aunt, my grandmother's twin sister. She kept a neat, clean house. It was always presentable. I tried to watch and learn, but nothing rubbed off. I'm too similar to my grandmother, who hoarded gallon milk jugs in the basement "in case we need to fill them with water." Or my mom, acting like a Queen and commanding us to fetch and carry for her so she didn't have to move. I envy the side of the family that learned to put things in their places and to clean their bathrooms. My great-aunt's kids and grandkids go over and clean her house for her on a regular basis since she is no longer capable - and they still keep their own homes clean. It makes me feel somewhat less.

It is hard to admit that I lack in an area. I yearn to excel at what I set my mind to. "Keeping house" is something I fail at. I don't handle failure well.

So here I am, trying to decide how to explain the baby steps I'm taking to make the house better. Steps that most people would consider part of their daily routines. Nothing exceptional. While I call them baby steps, they're more like giant leaps into an unknown world - where I'm still wondering if the effort is worth it.

The last couple days have been hard. I have a huge project at work. We haven't been sleeping because the kids (and now the rest of the household) have been sick. I'm feverish. Not contributors to extra activity. But I did it. Here's what I did: I put away laundry.

Yep. That's it. I put my basket of clean clothes either on hangars in the closet or in my dresser drawers. I also began tackling the big pile of clothes in my closet. I have a pile of socks in the middle of my bedroom floor. I have another pile of towels and washcloths now. That's progress. It's better than the big, giant pile of everything that made it too difficult to enter the walk-in closet. How sad is that. But it's progress. And someday, maybe, I'll be the one whose house is envied (and it won't be because I took a day off work to get it ready for whatever party).

Wound Vac Supplies & Taking out the Trash

2011-01-11T19:44:00.002-05:00

Yesterday's contribution was to bring down Husband's extra supplies from his wound vac from our Master Bedroom and put them in the Library. We have several sterile packages that we would happily return. Unfortunately, we're not able to because the cardboard box they came in was opened. Once it's opened, the manufacturer will not allow returns. Insurance paid for them in full because we had met the out of pocket maximum this year. We hate to just throw them away. I did find a site that takes excess supplies from hospitals and nursing homes and I'm writing to them to see if we can send them there. They supply them to countries like Haiti, Peru, etc. The research and the movement of the wound vac materials is all I can claim that I did yesterday.

Today, my main contribution was to take out the trash. For the last two nights, we haven't gotten much sleep. One night, the youngest child woke up every couple of hours with knee pains. I can relate. I had knee pains quite a bit as a child and they were painful and my parents didn't believe me. However, I think a few of the times he just wanted our attention. He also gets confused about whether it's his knee or his foot that hurts.

Last night, Igor woke us up at 3 a.m. with all the signs of croup. We ran the shower and gave him humidity. That helped and he went back to bed. Husband stayed home with him today. I went to work as I'm in the middle of my busiest season and taking a day off is not an option. Also at home today, Hannibal also was sick, throwing up into the "barf bucket" - an old, green plastic Halloween candy bowl that I can no longer in good conscience use to hand out our candy. Dinner was pizza when I got home.

This morning, though, with two sick kids, and slick conditions outside from the snow (we have about 1-3 inches on the ground now), Husband didn't want to take out the trash. So I did. I carried all the bags from the toy packaging from post-Christmas presents. I carried out the diaper/wound dressing trash can. I took out the kitchen trash. I carried two bins of recycling to the curb - including several pieces from the pile of cardboard boxes we broke down in the Garage to make room for my car. Some progress - getting it to the curb. But I'm exhausted and that's all I'm doing. Right now, I'm waiting for the kids and Husband to finish watching Iron Man so I can put them to bed and fall spent into my own bed, hoping to not wake up until morning.

Hooks

2011-01-09T20:40:00.000-05:00

My contribution today was putting up Command Strip Hooks in two places in the house today. One went in the laundry room to hold our "bag of bags" where the grocery bags go to be reused. The other went on a wall by the front closet so Igor can hang up his back pack instead of throwing it on the floor in the living room.

I did put a few more clothes away from the floor in the closet to hangars. And I made the kids clean the living room, threatening to throw away their toys if I found them on the floor.

The kids were terrors today. I think it was the excitement of BIL coming over. He was late and missed eating lunch with us and the kids became understandably anxious. He did show up an hour and a half late and ate his corned beef while my husband fast forwarded through the recording of the Sugar Bowl. I stayed out of the way, putting in some work on the laptop so I'm not working too many late nights this week.

Minor, but progress

2011-01-08T21:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I'll admit it: I did nothing to make the house better. I worked late, I came home, went out to dinner, came home, put the kids to bed, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. Husband woke me and sent me to bed.

Today, I went to have some "me" time and got my hair cut, then shopped at Joann's and Fashion Bug. I bought some candy molds (don't tell Husband!), a cupcake decorating book, hooks to hang on the wall in the laundry room, and a pack of buttons to repair my stuffed snowman's eyes since they went missing (seriously, I hope nobody swallowed them).

When I returned home, Igor was out with his uncle Iago for lunch. Husband, Hannibal, & I went to lunch at bd's Mongolian BBQ. Afterward, we stopped at a store I've been trying to shop in for months. It's a home furnishing consignment shop called Trading Places. Every time I've tried to shop at this store, it's been closed. I had a day off, only to find it was closed on Mondays. I tried to go between Christmas & New Year's and it was closed for the holidays. Today, it was open.

We browsed the shop and saw a few interesting things, signed up for their email alerts, and told them what we were looking for. They had a filing cabinet, but it was only a two-drawer and we don't honestly have the money right now anyway. We left empty-handed, but will probably stop back often.

Once home, I fed my Facebook addiction. Then we went to Toys R Us to buy Hannibal a toy because he FINALLY pooped on the potty yesterday. Oh yeah, he did it willingly again today. Potty training is progressing well. Home again, Husband made "noodles and garbage" - a dish his father "invented" made up of mushrooms, green onions, bacon, and egg noodles. Then we put the kids to bed.

Husband showered and I folded some of the clothes on the floor. I did make some headway in clearing the floor in the Master Bedroom. Done with his shower, I dried him, redressed his wound, cleaned up, and then came downstairs and did the dishes. My reward? Time to blog for a few and a few games on Facebook. Then we'll watch the last episode of season one of The Tudors and go to bed.

Not an exciting life, but filled with lots of busy work. . .

All Three Cars in the Garage!!!

2011-01-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

My momentum is contagious. Tonight, as it took him an hour and a half to drive home in the ice and snow, Husband decided it was time to make room in the garage for my car. He was going to do this on his own, but mentioned it to me and I helped him. For the first time since we moved in, all three of our cars (two Saturns and a minivan) are parked in the garage! Truly a milestone for us.

I'm ashamed to say that we don't have just a three car garage. From the outside, our house looks like a three car garage. But it has a fourth tandem bay. Yet, this is the first time all three of our cars have been parked inside.

This was achievable due to the Lawn Tractor being away for service and winterization (should be back in a couple more days). We also put some effort into it. The bay where my car (the one that was waiting for a space since it's the oldest of the three) would go was occupied by the Lawn Tractor, our trash cans, and a whole lot of cardboard boxes that we wanted to recycle and not throw away. Tonight, we broke them all down and prepared them for Tuesday's trash day when they pick up the recycling. We put some things in the basement (tricycles, tote with my youth group T-shirts, and a few odds and ends). We threw a lot of paper and trash away. Then we moved the minivan over and drove my car into the garage. It fit.

Now, to clean out the tandem bay so we can fit the lawn tractor in there when it comes back. But that's another day. All I know is that I don't have to go outside in the morning to warm up my car and scrape off ice and snow. I'm so excited!!!

This is working!

2011-01-05T20:55:00.000-05:00

My experiment is working. How do I know?

The pure relaxation that entering the office without tripping on coloring books strewn across the floor (they're now in the Kids' Space in the Office).
Seeing our Michael Parkes' print hanging in the Dining Room at last and remembering how beautiful it was.
Forcing myself to start with something small (putting another basket of laundry away today) and continuing by clearing off my dresser in the Master Bedroom.

Inertia is hard to combat, but once you have momentum, anything is possible! Still small steps, but steps nonetheless.

Buckeyes won in the Sugar Bowl last night. We're exhausted from staying up late to watch the nail biter. I plan on finishing my post, playing one game of Zuma Blitz on Facebook, watching the DVR'd episode of "How I Met Your Mother" and then going to bed. . .once I have the load in the washing machine in the dryer so Igor has dry pants to wear to school tomorrow. It never ends, does it? So tired.

Back to Work - Little to Report

2011-01-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

Day 8 of my experiment is going poorly. I did little today. Though, I plan on putting my Thanksgiving decorations bin in the basement finally. After all, the Christmas decorations are already there. I now have to do it since I said I would.

I also actually put my folded clothes away on hangars or in the closet. This is huge. Soon you will see the pile of clothes on the floor and in my master closet and you will see. I hoard clothes, too. This is also an inherited behavior. My mother hoarded clothes and my grandmother hoarded mostly paper. It's no surprise I'm like that, too.

But I better hurry because Ohio State Buckeyes are about to kick off in the Sugar Bowl. . .

Of Potty Training and Creating a Kids' Space in the Office

2011-01-04T20:21:00.000-05:00

I had an extra day off for the holiday since it fell on a Saturday. Igor went back to school. Husband went back to work. Hannibal and I had the day together - to continue potty training. He really likes the new potty seat we bought and put in the Powder Room. He didn't really have any accidents until nap time. I put him down. He immediately fouled his underwear. Luckily, I put a lap pad on the floor when I tried to pry the underwear off him because the part of the poop that wasn't hard (he had gone 2 days without pooping) just plopped out onto the pad. Must have been the applesauce with the PB&J at lunch. Who's idea was that? Anyway, we got it cleaned up and went about our day.

We were mostly tied to the house due to the lawn tractor servicemen coming between 10 and 2 to pick up the John Deere for servicing and winterizing. During his nap, I continued my experiment by creating a small space in the office for the kids to color or do puzzles or read their Highlights Magazine while someone is working on the computer. The Office, as I've mentioned, has become sort of a catchall for pictures we haven't hung yet, kitsch that we haven't found a home for yet, and paperwork/files that haven't found their way into the file cabinet yet. I want a new wood locking file cabinet with 4 drawers instead of this cheap $20 (years ago) metal file cabinet whose drawer bent one day when I tried to open it. Very little filing going on in there.

I mostly moved around the boxes to complete my objective, but it's a start, right? Here is the before:

And here is the after:

You can still see the boxes to the right. Those are my files from graduate school. It's been almost 14 years and I haven't looked at them. I think it's time to purge. Though, should you purge them when you still haven't paid off the graduate student loans? Ah, I do hoard paper. I'm working on it, though. This experiment helps. . .

So on Day 7, our accomplishment included: getting the lawn tractor out of the garage to be winterized and creating a small space in the office for the boys. Hannibal loves the space. I think Iago, who watches him during the day, likes it too.

Day 6 - Recycling

2011-01-02T21:06:00.001-05:00

Ok, so they're REALLY small things. Today, we left the house. So not much around the house got done. We did buy a second training potty for Hannibal, as he seems to enjoy going in the training potty much more than the regular one. I also bought another tote that I could put all my cake pans inside.

We also took all the paper recycling out of the kitchen and drove to Igor's school and put it in the dumpster there. They make money off recycled paper, so we store it and drive it over. Usually once every couple of months when it finally makes me crazy.

Other than that, we had Starbucks for breakfast, got Husband's hair cut, went to Target (bought the potty, some gauze for Husband's wound dressing, the tote, a few Imaginext superhero toys, some ornament hooks on sale). Left Target in a hurry after Hannibal failed at potty training and left a puddle in the aisle. His shoes have gone through the washer and are in the dryer now.

Had lunch at Panda Inn. Went to the grocery store. Dropped off recycling. Played Wii Just Dance and Mario Kart with the boys while Husband played Call of Duty downstairs. Had pasta dinner. Took my car to the shop to drop it off for an oil change and tire rotation. Read a round of Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets to the boys. Put them to bed. Did the dishes. Packed Igor's lunch for school tomorrow in his new Boba Fett lunchbox from Pottery Barn that he got for Christmas. Now blogging before we go watch another episode of The Tudors Season One. Long day.

But tomorrow they come to pick up our John Deere Lawn Tractor for servicing. Which means we'll have to work on cleaning the garage so when it returns there is room for both it and my car in the garage. That means a plan for tomorrow. . .

Experiment Day 5: Putting away the Christmas Decorations

2011-01-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

Today, being the first of the New Year, it was time to put away the Christmas decorations. Not like when I was a kid and we had only just put the decorations up on Christmas Eve and they had to stay up through January. Nope. New year means Christmas is over. Bye bye decorations.

Down came the artificial tree (Husband took it to the basement and reassembled it there). Ornaments all carefully boxed up in one bin, stockings and stuffed animals and stocking hangers in another bin, lights in another bin. Christmas cards and wrapping paper in yet another. Wreath in it's own container. Down to the basement they went.

Then I decided to clean the "Library." It's a room that is intended as the office, though we use a back room on the first floor for the office instead. We have a bookcase in this room, the grandfather clock from my family, and a rocking chair. That's about it. When we were at Christmas dinner at my father-in-law's house, they gave us a table with a black marble top on it. So I decided to create a "reading nook" in the Library. That took some doing. See, we have a lot of books. And only one bookcase. So most of our books are stacked in this room on the floor. As are the DVD's and blu-ray discs we own. This is also the room where I store my cross-stitch paraphernalia. So it's a real cluttered room.

I spent most of the room tidying and putting things away. I put a lamp on the table and my ipod speaker dock. I had music while I created better piles, cleaned up my cross-stitch stuff that was all over the floor, and moved things around. Now I have a neat little nook for reading/listening to music.

Yesterday, I'd continued my cleaning spree and cleared off the desk in the office somewhat. Got rid of a lot of paper clutter. So, to clear out the Office some more, I moved all of my Wilton candy making and cake decorating stuff into a nice corner in the Library -which is really more of a hobby area now.

The Library still has some "decorative" items that we haven't found homes for yet: the pewter collection that was my mother-in-law's, the dragonfly plates that were a gift to me from the Aunts, several Longaberger baskets from when I worked there, and a few other odds and ends. There was also a Michael Parks framed print we bought when we moved into the old house. Husband hung that in the Dining Room for me today. We had planned all along to hang it in there - even picked the red paint under the chair rail to go with the red in the print. Now it's actually there. I feel like I accomplished a lot today - even with enjoying the Rose Bowl game (though Wisconsin lost) with my husband. Now, what to do tomorrow and Monday since I have two days off before I return to work. . . . ?

Experiment Day 4 - Cleaning of the Master Bath

2010-12-31T13:38:00.000-05:00

Today was a big change. While you might think that cleaning the master bath was not a big step forward, you're wrong. Since Husband had his surgery, some things have fallen away. I was never a good housekeeper to begin with, but I work a lot and there are the kids, and well. . . I hate to clean bathrooms. At the old house, we had a maid service that came every other week. I had clean bathrooms during that time. However, the larger mortgage with the new house meant we gave up certain luxuries like a maid service. I miss it.

So, the toilet in the master bath was filthy. We're in the process of trying to potty train the youngest. I couldn't, in good conscience, put him on this filthy toilet. See:

Today, I resigned myself to clean it. I had to really, really, really scrub. I wore gloves. It was nasty. But now I have a gleaming, clean toilet:

Then I moved further and cleared all the toys and clutter off the sinks, cleaned the giant mirror, washed the sinks and counters, and only put back what needed to be put back. I cleaned the shower stall, which still needs a serious dose of Comet cleanser, swept the floor, and mopped it. My bathroom now sparkles. I don't dread going inside. I don't worry that when I put my toothbrush down I will do so in a big glob of toothpaste left behind by the eldest child.

I also cleaned the youngest's "training potty" which had been left unattended apparently since months ago when we last tried potty training. We've been using the big potty with a smaller seat that comes down, but Hannibal really doesn't like it. Shortly after cleaning the training potty and telling him, he's running to the bathroom saying, "Mommy, I go pee myself." And he did, even pulling his underwear down and sitting, and going. He got a sticker for that. Success! It's only early afternoon and I feel accomplished on my day off.

Experiment Day 3 - Minor change

2010-12-31T13:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, all I got done was moving Igor's vintage Star Wars bank upstairs. Since we moved in, it has resided on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen. I don't know why. Probably because Igor didn't have a dresser. Maybe because when you push the button it plays REALLY LOUD Star Wars music, then C3PO talks and then R2-D2 moves forward and pushes the coin into the bank. Regardless, now that my father-in-law gave us a dresser that we put in Hannibal's room, Igor has a dresser in his room. So last night I moved the bank upstairs and put it on Igor's dresser. Today, I've had to hear it played at least 5 times. (Didn't help that I gave each kid a quarter to try it out.) Progress, albeit small.

Experiment Day 2 - Misc Kitchen Duties

2010-12-29T20:44:00.001-05:00

Last night, after feeling somewhat accomplished for (1) announcing my experiment publicly and (2) actually doing a small thing as indicated in yesterday's post, my momentum continued: I took Igor's "College Fund" bank (really an oatmeal box my sister made for my baby shower) upstairs to his bedroom dresser and put a few items of clothing away. Not BIG progress, but we're looking for small things to move us forward, right?

Today's accomplishment? Minor kitchen tasks. Worked late tonight as I'm entering peak season at work and I'm already feeling behind. When I came home, darling Husband was cooking dinner. We enjoyed a fine meal of garlic bread, bowtie pasta with sausage and onions and peppers, and salads with croutons and candied walnuts. Yum! The sausage turned out to be Hot Italian, so Igor and I did not like it, but the rest (including little Hannibal) loved it.

Husband said he would do the dishes. However, I emptied the dishwasher and loaded it. I set the delay to start in the morning. I am leaving him the big pots, though. I emptied the kitchen trash, took it to the garage, and put a new bag in (quite amazing in this house, actually!). Then I took the recycling to the bin in the garage. It had been stacking up on the counter for several days. It drives me crazy that they can't walk an extra 5 feet to put the recycling in the bin in the garage. Instead, they stack it on the corner of the kitchen counter. It makes the counter messy. Usually, it stays until trash mornings (Tuesdays), but I've decided I'll try to take it to the garage each night. The clear, uncluttered counter makes me feel less like my hoarding kin.

Well, off to watch Episode 3 of Season 1 of The Tudors on Netflix. Then to bed. Again, just miscellaneous stuff, but it's better than status quo, right?

Turning the House Into a Home - Day 1

2010-12-28T22:39:00.001-05:00

In 1998, my husband and I had the worst year ever. We lost my dad & his mom. We both changed jobs. We built a house. We got engaged. It was rough.

Later, we got married and had our reception in the backyard of that house. Our two boys were born in that house. And 11 years after moving in, we finally sold the house and moved out. We did many home improvement projects. Mostly to sell the house. We built a deck and didn't get to enjoy it for long before the house was sold. I loved the house, though we outgrew it. However, we didn't really make it into a home. It was a house.

We moved into this house in August 2009. I love the house. It's twice the size of the last one. There are plenty of projects that it will take to transform the house into the home I know it can be. However, I don't want to wait until we're ready to sell it in 20-30 years before we actually do anything about it. So, I've been thinking that I should do one thing a day in the house to help make it more homey. It doesn't have to be big. It could be as easy as emptying the trash can under my bathroom vanity. Or putting my clothes away instead of leaving them in the basket in front of my dresser.

You see, I'm the child of two hoarders. I have the "gene" on both sides of the family. I lived with a grandmother who had lost a home to fire and felt the need to hoard because she'd lost so much. I know I hoard a little - mostly clothes and paper. I work to purge as I can. But this makes it harder for me to make the house into the beautiful home I know it could be.

I'm also thwarted by the level of testosterone in the house. My 3 year old is in active potty training. My six year old likes toys that come in all sorts of little parts (Legos, action figures, etc.). My husband is recovering from his second surgery this year. My brother-in-law that lives here is a bit OCD to go along with what we think is Asperger's, but that doesn't mean he's clean. (For example, Husband and I made a bet that Iago wouldn't remember that a cup of Coke on the table was his. We were right. He moved it from the table and dumped it, but put it on the counter for us to clean since it CLEARLY wasn't his.)

Anyway, join me on my journey. Today's task? I began logging the bills from the "bill file" into the computer to track them so I could toss some of the paper in the file away. Not a big step, but it's all about baby steps, right? We didn't start to walk by running first.

Husband - Another Surgery & Continued Recovery

2010-12-01T21:07:00.001-05:00

Husband finally completed his PT sessions - after exceeding the regularly scheduled ones, they approved him for an additional 8. He completed those, only to end up needing surgery for hidradenitis suppurativa. In the surgery, they removed a section of skin under his arm (yes, the same arm) that was 15 cm x 13 cm x 3.5cm deep. He spent the night in the hospital and the following day they installed a wound vac. Recovery time? Approximately 8 weeks until he gets the first new layer of skin back. Then, probably another 6 months until he's fully healed. He's stretching so he doesn't get scar tissue that prevents him from stretching his arm all the way up - still painful from the titanium "nail" going through his rotator cuff, but necessary. He is part of a clinic trial of a new wound care product, so he only needs dressings changed every Wednesday and he goes into the doctor's office to have it done. He's healing well (now only about 1.3 cm deep and the wound had gone as deep as 4 cm at one of the initial visits). But we've had to deal with canister changes for the vac, battery failures, mass leaks, and the smell. The smell is awful. I have invested in Febreze and am using it liberally on the recliner where he sleeps. Someone told him to try dryer sheets, but another person told him they only made it worse. So we deal with it. He's allowed to shower on the morning he goes in for a dressing change and we have a fun cling wrap and painters' masking tape adventure on those days. But last week, when he leaked, he had to go in early and unexpectedly so he missed his shower that week. He was happy today when he could shower again. He has found some great ways to get "partial" showers, but they're not nearly as satisfying.

So, this has kept me busy. Plus we hosted Thanksgiving at our house (thank you to my father-in-law who brought the smoked turkeys!) and my mom stayed for a week that week. . . I don't think it will be as long next time.

Lost Teeth

2010-09-09T07:14:00.001-04:00

Igor recently lost his 4th tooth. His first tooth he lost in kindergarten, at school. They couldn't find it. They sent home a wooden tooth fairy box shaped like a tooth and painted white with a hinged top that slides open to put a tooth in. But no tooth. So we wrote the tooth fairy a note. The tooth fairy left a gold dollar and a note under his pillow.

The second tooth was lost at home, while brushing his teeth one night. Another gold dollar under his pillow.

The third tooth was at dinner at home, while biting into something. Another gold dollar under his pillow.

The fourth tooth was lost at school. And he swallowed it. It was a Thursday night and mom and dad were off to the Ohio State game, so we didn't take the time to help him write a note. His uncle Iago watching them that night didn't remember either. Husband thought that the tooth fairy might leave the gold dollar by the toilet (where the tooth might end up. . . ). But in the end, the tooth fairy (whose humor is not quite the same as Husband's) left the gold dollar under his pillow.

In the morning, Igor comes down and says, "No note from the tooth fairy." Mom says, "But did she leave you anything?" "Yes, look! A gold dollar. Can I take it to school?" "No."

Ah, tooth fairies and moms.

Revelations

2010-08-24T06:45:00.001-04:00

"We need to be sure to get the boys to bed on time tonight," says Husband to me. He is in the shower. I am blow drying my hair as we get ready to begin our day.

"Absolutely," I say, a little irritated because I had to turn the hair dryer off to hear him. I have a schedule to keep, after all, with getting to my work training on time and being sure he has everything to take Igor to the doctor for his annual checkup and trash day. . . the list never ends.

However, his pronouncement to him comes as a revelation. Personally, I want the boys in bed on time EVERY day. It allows us some needed couple time and decompression time before we go to bed.

But tonight is important. I knew that. Tomorrow is the first day of school for Igor. First grade. My boy is growing up. We had the elementary open house last night and he met his very pregnant teacher. Then he stopped by his old kindergarten class to say hello to his old teacher. The room seemed so small, like he didn't fit in it anymore. Hannibal wanted to stay and play, but it was time to rush off to flag football practice. (And I will only briefly mention the paper cut on the ear - yes, I said ear - that Igor accidentally gave his little brother. Those kids have a knack for unique injuries.)

Big Spoon, Little Spoon

2010-08-16T06:29:00.001-04:00

I appreciate that Husband unloaded the dishwasher this weekend. However, we've been in the house a year and he still can't distinguish between the teaspoons and the soup spoons. So he mixes them all up in the utensil drawer. Yes, that bothers me. It's not that hard to tell the difference. One is big. One is little. See how they don't nest when you put them in the slot? That's because they're too small or too big!

Then this morning, I go to get out my cereal bowl and he has swapped the cereal bowl location for the soup bowl location. He has to know where these go - he gets them out when he cooks. Maybe he's just messing with me? But I was a little frustrated this morning.

Sleep Study

2010-08-16T06:26:00.001-04:00

Iago has been referred for a sleep study. Cost? $3,700 for the first night. If an additional night is needed, that's an additional $3,900. Now, Iago does have individual insurance. But there's a $1,000 deductible and then 20% coinsurance after that. So we would need to fork over $1,000 at a minimum. We're cancelling the sleep study and seeing if there are other options. We just don't have the cash right now. Ugh.

When it rains, it pours

2010-08-05T07:11:00.001-04:00

Money woes. First, the sticker shock of Iago's required dental bills. I already gave up the grand I'd set aside for my 10th anniversary with Husband to pay for phase I. We're actually going to have to do a 12 month same as cash payment plan - and that's just for phase II. There's still phase III that is waiting until January when we get the next $1200 maximum dental benefit. Ugh.

Then there was my car. Started making a thumping noise whenever I started it. Took it in to find out the strap to the muffler had corroded. Doesn't sound expensive. Until you realize I need a whole muffler just to get the strap and they have to replace the pipe all the way back to the catalytic converter. Shop down here wants to charge almost $400 to do the work. My brother can get it done for $130 for parts + $45 for labor. Worth it for me to drive all the way to Cleveland to get it done (even with gas prices as they are!).

Now, the sunroom walls are leaking. We found a puddle on the floor and looked up to find the paint with bubbles and water dripping down the wall. A quick look around the room and there are several spots where water is streaming down the wall from the recent rains. Great. It's the wall where the addition meets the original house. In the relocation company's report, they had identified this as an issue, but the prior homeowner's had "fixed" the problem. Our inspector seemed to think it was fine - and that water from the deck above would flow off in the right direction. So now we need to see what the damage is here and see if our homeowner's insurance will cover any part of it.

I'm starting to think I need to get a second job. But how do you do that? My current job takes lots of hours already, I have 2 kids and a husband I'd like to see on occasion, and I'm tired all the time already? Life sucks.

Trash

2010-07-20T06:37:00.002-04:00

We are not a stereotypical household in some respects. I live in a house with four males and yet I am typically the one who takes out the trash. This is what makes Husband's arm-breaking accident all the more tragic - he was taking the trash to the curb because I was out of town on my one business trip of the year.

Inside the house, when the trash in the kitchen fills up, it is typically myself or Husband who takes it to the garage. With Husband's current injury, however, he is not able to lift the bag out of the can and so the task has primarily fallen on me. However, Iago, I think is feeling somewhat guilty about the small fortune we will be spending on his teeth. Yesterday, as we were leaving the house, he pointed out the kitchen trash bag that he had emptied and taken to the garage.

"I didn't know where to put this." So he had placed it on the floor in the garage. Next to the empty trash can.

"Um, inside the empty trash can right next to it would be fine."

"Oh. .. I didn't know if that's what that was for and I didn't want to put it there if it wasn't supposed to be there," he says.

It's TRASH. Of course it goes in the empty trash can. I didn't think that needed explaining! But these are the details we have to outline. I will take the positive that he recognized that the trash was full and took it to the garage rather than creating his own trash bag hanging from a chair in the kitchen. That is a step in the right direction.

Dental Work

2010-07-14T07:15:00.002-04:00

After months of nagging from Iago to Husband, I finally took over and scheduled Iago's appointment with the new dentist. It was yesterday. Apparently, Iago has serious dental issues. To the tune of $6,500 AFTER dental insurance (which caps at $1200/year maximum). Today, he's getting one crown and with yesterday's appointment that's $1,000 gone. There goes my 10th anniversary trip with Husband. Oh well.

After today, he'll still need 3 more crowns and 4 more cavities filled. Oh, and did I mention that he has acid reflux that has pretty much eaten away at his top teeth to where he practically has no enamel left. So we have to get him to the doctor to take care of the reflux. He also has a deviated septum with "complete blockage" on one side. Don't know what that means, but they recommended an Ear, Nose, & Throat doc (if his primary care doctor agrees and refers him). And he might have sleep apnea. This is when he chooses to mention that he's been thinking he's been having night terrors for some time. Husband later tells me that he's been asking to see the doc for some time, too, because of the night terrors, but didn't want me to know. But since Husband NEVER schedules the doctor appointments, how the hell does Iago think he's going to get to the doctor???

And part of me is pissed off because he's not my kid, he's my brother-in-law. And now I'm not going to be able to afford an anniversary trip with my husband (which we both need for some reconnecting time) and we're going to be worried about money because we can't afford the $6,500 in dental work, much less the accompanying medical bills that are going to hit. This sucks. I don't have the time/energy/etc. to get a second job. Oh, and I'll have to put off having my car checked out - though I think it needs some serious work, too.

Couch pillows

2010-07-06T21:05:00.001-04:00

Should not be used for sitting on top of because the office chair is uncomfortable. Or squished behind your back when you think you have pulled something. These are my decorative couch pillows. I'm sick of them looking like flattened pancakes! As soon as I get them plump again, I find someone using them in the office chair or the dining room chairs. Then they get covered with food. Yuck! Someday I'll have nice things, right? But I'll be too old and senile to enjoy it.

Fraud alerts

2010-07-06T07:23:00.000-04:00

On July 4th, I received a call to my cell phone from a 1-877 number. I don't answer when I don't know the number. I listened to the voicemail that was left for me and the only bit I could get was ". . . card ending in XXXX. Call us immediately at 1-877-XXX-XXXX." Okay, so the first set of X's was the last four digits of my credit card. With all the scams out there, I NEVER call the number left on my voice mail and call the number on my card instead.

The nice lady at customer service tells me, "No, there's no fraud alert on your card." So I assume scam. After all, who would be calling me on July 4th.

Two hours later, I get another call. This time I pick up. Now they want me to "verify my identity" by giving them my name and zip code. No way. Again I call the credit card company using the number on the back of the card. Good thing we don't do anything special on the 4th except enjoy our air conditioning!

"Ma'am, there's a fraud alert on your card. Let me transfer you to that department." And yes, there was a fraud alert because I used my card for 2 transactions - one for my glasses/contacts and one for Iago's glasses. After I confirm that, yes indeed, I spent $466 and then charged another $130, we had to go through my remaining transactions. Poor woman had to follow my sad life - following my doctor's appointment, we spent:

$6.30 at Starbucks for a Venti Toffee Nut Nonfat Chai
$30+ at Roosters for lunch before we tried to go to the pool only to find it had closed 15 minutes before.
$18.99 at CVS for Bug Spray and Propel to take with us to see the fireworks
$25+ the next day for lunch at City BBQ (Vince brought it home).

I did mention my life was banal? The lady confirmed 3 times, "So these charges are indeed yours?" Sadly, yes. "We have removed the fraud alert from your account." Thank you. "Enjoy the rest of your weekend." I'll try. . .but your quiet commentary leads me to think you're sad for me if this is all there is on a holiday weekend.

Of Pinkeye, Broken Arms, Fevers, & Thunderstorms

2010-06-15T06:34:00.001-04:00

Haven't posted a lot lately. I could use the old excuse that I'm busy and tired, but I'm always busy and tired. I continue to have issues with my eyes. We've now done antibiotics, antihistamines, and now steroid eye drops and artificial tears. My eyes were better until I started wearing contacts again. Now they're red again. Good thing I'm seeing the eye doc for a follow-up tomorrow.

Husband continues to rehabilitate his arm and rotator cuff from his surgery. I can't believe he broke it in January, had surgery in February, and we're still having issues in June. He now has to file an appeal to get more physical therapy sessions approved since he has almost reached the end of the 45 session limit.

Yesterday, Husband came home early because of pain in his arm. Then he ratcheted up to a 101 degree temperature. This morning, he doesn't have a temperature, but he isn't feeling well and is going to PT and then coming home. Oh, and did I mention he's on antibiotics again because of a hole under his arm that the doctor isn't sure what it is? He's had one before and they just cut it out. They'll probably do that again with this one.

Husband is only sporadically sleeping in our bed, preferring instead the recliner. This actually came in handy last night when we experienced torrential downpours and serious thunderstorms. While Hannibal, the youngest, slept soundly through the entire night, Igor ended up sleeping on his dad's side of the bed. With every crack of thunder, he was on my side holding me because he was scared. They woke me up, too, so I can't fault him. Some of them shook the whole house.

All in all, it makes for a tired mom. Oh, and I stayed home Friday for the worst headache I've had in years. It went away (after copious amounts of medication) finally on Saturday. I went back to work on Monday and now it's back. Shhh. . . don't tell anyone. I'm keeping my issues to myself since Husband is such a mess. I'll make it through this week - well, until Thursday when I get my wisdom teeth pulled.

Laundry

2010-05-11T07:21:00.000-04:00

What possesses men to take laundry out of the dryer that is still mostly wet, put it in the basket with the unfolded clean clothes, and leave it there to wrinkle and smell? It would be fine if it were their own clothes - I have given up trying to have any control over what they look like (the adult men in the house; I'm still holding out hope for the little ones). But when it's my clothes that they remove and throw into a basket wet and unfolded and don't tell me, I am not happy about it at all. Now I get to rewash my clothes AND the boys' clothes all over again. They just don't realize how much MORE work it is. Maybe because they're not the ones who do it.

Take this morning - Igor is understandably out of clothes in his closet. It's a good thing I'd done laundry. Husband says when I go upstairs, "I hope you did some pants for him because he doesn't have any for school." Yes, of course I did. I noticed the laundry hamper overflowing and did something about it other than pile it higher!

In over my head - and it's my own fault!

2010-05-05T22:27:00.000-04:00

Husband has a sort of cousin (long-winded familial explanation avoided here) that is getting married May 10th. I like said cousin and want to go to the wedding. I've also made the mistake of volunteering to make favor boxes. I took a couple of Wilton classes last summer and learned to make these fondant boxes. I gave the bride-to-be a sample, with a daisy on top, and she loved them. So now I am working on making 125 of them for her wedding. On May 15th.

How many are done? None, actually, are complete. I have 125 daisy toppers made. I have approximately 18 boxes & tops (to which the daisy toppers will be adhered) made. I don't know how I'll get this done in time. I made 9 tonight.

What's the issue? The colors. I'm having trouble matching the colors. The color blending process takes the longest. And it only makes a batch. Tonight's batch made 9 boxes. And I spent 2 hours. Let's see. . . that will be a while. I'll probably spend all weekend making them. And hope for dry weather - this past weekend was so wet that of the 18 I made, half collapsed into themselves and had to be thrown out. Why did I do agree to do this???

Down a little - 1 pound

2010-05-03T06:44:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm down about a pound. Don't know how with all the fried food this weekend. Two birthday parties. Bought things for lunch this week.

Pinkeye

2010-04-29T06:23:00.001-04:00

For the last couple of weeks, I've started to confirm that I get spring allergies. The pollen count has been high and my eyes have been itchy and watery. On Tuesday, I awoke to the familiar feeling of crusty, puffy eyes. I went to the bathroom mirror and confirmed my suspicion - looking back at me are two red, angry eyes with yellow crusts in the corners and puffy eyelids. I stayed home and called the doctor. At the appointment, I was awarded a prescription for what the doctor referred to as "liquid gold," antibiotic eye drops costing around $22 after insurance. I was also told to start taking an OTC allergy medicine and to come back if that didn't solve my problem.

Now I deal with South Park jokes and grumpily wear my glasses to work for the next 7-10 days. If I had makeup, I would have to throw it out. I already tossed my disposable contacts. Now I need to make an eye doctor appointment sooner rather than later. I have only one more pair of contacts.

And my head hurts from all the screen time at work. So I'll stop blogging now and go rest my eyes before I head that direction.

Not posting weight anymore.

2010-04-26T06:37:00.001-04:00

So I don't think I can go ahead with posting my weight anymore. It's too depressing. This morning I gained another 1.5 pounds. Do the math. I'm not happy about it.

Broken Pedometer

2010-04-21T06:48:00.001-04:00

I finally put a new battery in my pedometer about a month or two ago. And then last night, my pedometer stopped working. The display went blank. Now, the first battery lasted quite a while. I can't believe I need to buy a new battery already. So I think it's the pedometer. I really like this pedometer, too.

I actually hadn't had the pedometer on for a while (because of the dead battery) and had started tracking again. Only to find that I'm moving so much less than this time last year (on average about 2-3,000 steps fewer). That's likely one reason why I have gained so much weight. So I need the pedometer to hold me accountable. Guess I'm doing some online shopping.