Its time to put on your big girl panties and get over it!

Time to say goodbye

2010-01-12T15:06:00.002-06:00

I think I am over this blog. I never write here anymore, not sure why but I just don't. We have a family blog, so I think I'm just going to start posting over there.

Come visit: http://thewearfamily.blogspot.com/

18w6d

2009-11-13T14:20:00.003-06:00

So I borrowed this from another pregnant woman blog, but I like it so I might do this every couple of weeks or so.

How Far Along? 18 weeks 6 days
Labor Signs? Nothing
Sleep? I try, but I can not get comfortable and find myself sleeping on my stomach when I shouldn't be
Best moment this week? My sonogram today, got to see lots of arm and leg movements and opening and closing of the mouth, and no "private parts"
Food Cravings? Cereal, although that's starting to wane
What I miss? my regular jeans
What I am looking forward to? my regular jeans
Milestones? One more week and we are half way there!

Passive Aggressive Notes

2009-11-11T12:22:00.002-06:00

Most people have probably seen the blog Passive Aggressive Notes, but I had to post my own note today, because some one keeps stealing my yoplait delights. I have no idea on the culprit, but I'm annoyed. The two times its happened have both been days when I brought my lunch to work but had to leave early for whatever reasons and didn't eat it. Most times our lunch is safe in the fridge overnight (except every other Monday when its cleaned out). Both times I've gone to get my yogurt out to eat the next morning and its gone! They didn't touch my carrots or left over mac n'cheese though. I'm pregnant, isn't there something wrong with stealing from a pregnant woman?

Back to School and other doings.

2009-11-05T10:02:00.003-06:00

I'm really bad about posting. Its not that I don't have time, I guess just don't have a lot to say.
I'm 17 weeks into pregnancy numero dos now. We have a sonogram scheduled for next Friday, but by then I'll be 19 weeks. We aren't going to be finding out the gender this time around, but I'm still excited to see the little buggers face. I'm curious if he/she will be sucking their thumb. I don't remember noticing if Lily did it, but she sure is a big thumb sucker now. We haven't really begun doing a lot of planning for this one, there really isn't a lot to do. I know all about how to fill out my maternity leave paperwork (although we are losing some major benefits next year, not happy about that), my doctors nurse already pre-approved me for our hospital stay, and sometime in late January we'll go to the hospital for pre-registration. The only major thing we need to accomplish is switching bedrooms. Our house is a three bedroom, with 2 rooms on the main level and the 3rd upstairs. There is no bathroom upstairs so its not suitable for everyday living. Instead the kids are going to share a room. We've decided to swap rooms with Lily because her current room has "something" on every wall, either windows or doors, and her room has two exterior walls so its hard to regulate the temperature in there. However currently her room is painted extremely bright, blue, green,yellow and pink and I don't think James and I can live in that room. So we need to paint her room before we move into it. And our room has always needed to be repainted since we moved in, so maybe we'll finally get around to that.

In other news I was accepted into the Paralegal Studies Program at the local community college. I decided earlier this year that I needed a backup in case my current employment were to ever cease; I've survived 5 layoffs in 5 years, don't know if I can keep that streak up. Law has always interested me, so I did some research and looked into various programs. While law school really isn't in the cards for me now, it could be in the future and this seemed like a good stepping stone. I started over the summer, and took an online pre-req class, then this semester I'm taking two additional pre-req's and start the full program next Spring. I think I'm going to stick to taking 2 classes at a time. So far its worked out that I take one online class and one in person class. If I stick with that plan, I will complete the program in Dec 2011. Tomorrow I'm attending the Heartland Association of Legal Assistants annual fall conference, and one of the sessions is on how to find a job, how to get the job, how to keep the job, etc. I'm very interested in finding out what she has to say.

Rivals cooperate on touchdown for player with Down syndrome - Kansas City Star

2009-09-22T15:18:00.001-05:00

Rivals cooperate on touchdown for player with Down syndrome - Kansas City Star

Shared via AddThis

It's been a while

2009-09-14T11:31:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I posted. But I have good reasons. First James started a new job in early July which has him working lots of hours and weekends. So even though I have a laptop I still don't like to fire it up when Lily is around. She wants to play with a push the buttons and occasionally sit on it. Then at the beginning of August I got a really bad stomach virus. It was awful. It started on Saturday night when Lily threw up at the local Dairy Queen. We haven't been back. I didn't have time to be mortified I was too concerned with her well being. But we still haven't gone back. Poor kid. Anyways that night I got sick. I figured I would throw up once like she did. But nope, I was sick for 24 straight hours, and then still not 100% for another 24 after that. My in-laws took Lily for the day on Sunday because James had to work. Thank goodness for them. And she had so much fun. Then Monday night James gets sick. Throws up once. Feels awful and looks like death but doesn't throw up anymore. So what gives? Why did I get sick for 2 straight days but neither of them did? Also turns out my brother in law got it too, but again was only sick once. About three days later I wake up in the wee hours of the morning and realized I was missing something. I thought it was because I had been sick. But I took the test anyways. Turns out I'm pregnant. I don't know why I was surprised. I think my Dr was more surprised than me, because of my past weight loss goals. But I'd told myself I wanted to lose at least 50lbs before the next baby, and while I didn't lose the full 50, I did lose somewhere between 40-50 (it depends on who you ask, WW has me at almost 50 lost, the Dr office closer to 40). Either way I'm a heck of a lot smaller now than I was when I was pregnant with Lily. Most of my maternity cloths are 2 sizes too big, but I'll make do. And I have a co-worker who is going to loan me some of her clothes since we are the same size now.

The Specifics:
Due Date April 10th (however sonogram measured me a week earlier than that, so somewhere between April 3rd and 10th). I'll be 11 weeks tomorrow.

Although I haven't gained weight my belly popped a bit already and some of my pants are uncomfortable now. I guess that happens with 2nd babies.

I have felt a few flutters of movement, since I know what I'm feeling for this time around. But not a whole lot.

We will not be finding out the sex of this baby. We did with Lily, but kept her name a secret from everyone.

The baby's name will most likely start with the Letter M (following our J,K,L scheme). Start submitting your suggestions now. For now, lets call him/her Baby Monkey.

Next time you see Lily ask her if she is a baby. She'll reply "no, I a big sister. I want a brother". Hope she's not disappointed.

In later posts I'll recount the tale of how we told my family.

Week 4 Whip It Up!

2009-07-24T12:34:00.005-05:00

So this weeks theme is Healthy Favorites. I was going to share a great sounding Weight Watcher's Recipe, but its been a crazy week and I never go around to making it. However, I did manage to make the Best.Chocolate.Chip.Cookies.Ever! Not kidding. How's that for not doing the assignment correctly? Tuesday was a cruddy day. It was 68 degrees and overcast, with the occasional drizzle. Not perfect July weather if you ask me. It was more like October. So to cheer everyone up, I made these homemade cookies from a recipe in my Amish Cookbook, Home Aromas with the Habegger's. This cookbook is wonderful! Even my husband says it makes for great reading.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

6 oz. Chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

3 c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy. Add chips and dry ingredients; mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

These cookies were not only super easy to make, but they came out perfectly. I've always had issues with my cookie baking. I can never get my cookies to stay "fluffy" and soft. They usually sink and get crumbly. Not these. The cookies stayed soft for days! I made 30, and still had a good chunk of dough left over, so I wrapped it in plastic wrap and froze it, now I have some handy for the last minute parties at school. My husband used the last 4 cookies to make us some ice cream sandwich's and they were wonderful.

Enjoy!

Guilty Pleasures

2009-07-08T16:47:00.003-05:00

Its week 2 of Whip It Up!

I had the opportunity to try out lots of new recipes this week on my in-laws because we went on our annual 4th of July family trip to Bennett Springs. I was instructed to bring a snack/side dish and dessert. I really wanted to try Peanut Buster Bars, but my MIL doesn't like the combo of peanuts and chocolate (I know! Who doesn't like peanut butter and chocolate?) so I opted to try Miss Daisy's Cherry Salad.

Ingredients:

8 0z container of thawed Cool Whip ( I used light)
1 can of cherry pie filling (I used the 19 oz can)
1 can of pineapple chunks (next time I'm going to use crushed)
3/4 of a can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (I used the whole can, I didn't want to waste it)
1/2 cup of Pecans or Walnuts ( I would suggest crushing the nuts, and I used 2 cups because we like our things nutty, like us)

Chill for at least 1 hour (I made mine the day before we left, and then we didn't even eat it for 2 more days)

Forgive me because I keep forgetting to take pictures of the finished product before its consumed.

But I will tell you that this was delicious! Its an odd color of pink, and the pineapple juice makes it smell funny, but once you get past that it is so scrumptious. I started out eating just a bowl full, but then my MIL brought out an angel food cake and we scooped it over that and it was soo yummy! And very light, not too rich.

Whip it Up 2009

2009-06-30T20:40:00.010-05:00

I decided to participate in the Whip It Up Challenge, 2009. I don't even remember how I found out about it. Blog stalking I guess. I'm probably going to come to regret this. I don't cook that well, or often for that matter. And I am definitely not creative. But with James working late hours now, I'm not going to go out to eat with a 2 year old in tow, so I might as well cook. And as a personal challenge (because I really needed one!) I'm going to be looking for recipes that are Weight Watcher Friendly and LeftOver Friendly. Since James'll be eating everything 2 or more hours after I make it.

Week 1 Recipe:

From my Handy Dandy FREE Jiffy Cookbook

Mexican Corn Bake

1 pkg Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1/4 C. flour
1 egg
1/4 C. milk
2 tbsp Chili Powder (unless you are using something from Penzey's Spices, then only use half)
1 tsp. parsley flakes (didn't have any, oops!)
1 can, 15 oz, Chili (I used a 19oz can instead)
2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, grease 13" x9" pan
Combine muffin mix, flour, egg, milk chili powder and parsley flakes, blending well. on floured surface, knead dough 10-15 times until dough becomes soft and easy to handle. Press dough into bottom of prepared pan. Spread chili over crust and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes. Cut into squares. Let sit 10 minutes and serve.

Makes 9-12 Servings (I made mine into 12)

And in case you were keeping score, that doesn't seem very WW friendly does it? The total dish has 60 points, 5 points per serving. I ate two.

Today

2009-06-09T14:50:00.002-05:00

It rained upside down. How is that possible you ask? I'm not really sure. All I know is my cube neighbor is upset that his shoes are soaked through and his socks are wet. I offered him my women's size 7 gym socks. I don't even think it would cover his toes.
I had a meeting in another building. I was smart enough to grab an umbrella before I left. It didn't help. Because it was raining upside down. Never mind the fact that I walking under an overhang, with an umbrella. I'm still wet. Wearing Capri's and a short sleeve sweater in June seems like a good idea. Unless it rains upside down and is 60 degrees and windy.

30 is the new 20 right?

2009-05-22T13:03:00.002-05:00

Please say yes.

Things I accomplished before I was 30:

1. Graduated from College
2. Bought a house, well kind of. My husband owns it.
3. Got Married
4. Graduated with an MBA
5. Had a baby
6. Lost 40 lbs (that wasn't baby weight)

Things to accomplish before I turn 40:

1. Lose 40 more pounds
2. Have another baby
3. Go to nursing school
4. Sell my current house, buy a newer one with more bathrooms! And a garage. That I can park in.
5. Go on a cruise
6. Become debt free

Long story short...

2009-05-21T16:01:00.004-05:00

May 19th 2009

James, Kristin and Lillian May 21st, 2008

Lillian Kimberly Wear was born at 7:14am on May 21st 2007. She weighed 6 lbs 4.5 oz and was 19 inches long.

She has been the happiest, joyful, exuberant, perfect child anyone could have asked for. Other than a trick elbow and the occasional trip to the ER for dehydration she hasn't given us any trouble. She was slow to learn to walk, 19 months old! But she can talk a blue streak, says perfect sentences, like "Go Away Mommy" and " No Clock Mommy" (that means no alarm, no wake up), is already sleeping in her big girl bed, and can drive. Her pink Barbie Jeep that is.

(Her 1st B-day May 21st, 2008, picture courtesy of Peters Photography)

Happy 2nd Birthday Lily Belle! Mommy and Daddy love you to pieces! Here is to many more years of kisses and hugs and you crawling in our bed at 3am to sleep.

Lily and her birthday Rose Bush- planted May 12th, 2007

On Tuesday we had Lily's 2nd b-day pictures taken by Rebecca Peters of Peters Photograhy. The top picture is a sneak peak!

Tomorrow is my 30th Birthday. I am mourning the loss of my 20's as we speak. Thank goodness for good work friends who come bearing Connie's Cookies!

2 years ago today

2009-05-20T10:01:00.002-05:00

My water broke. I honestly thought I peed my pants. I was an uncomfortable 9 months and 3 weeks pregnant and my due date was in 4 days. When we left to go to the hospital I figured they'd send us right back home. We stopped at Panera on the way for a little breakfast. It was a lazy Sunday morning. I think our only plans had been to go to church that day. Not spend all day in the hospital in labor.
But when we got there the litmus paper turned pink and they said "yep, water broke, lets get you all hooked up". And there we were. May 20th. I thought that's fun, her birthday will be 2 days before mine instead of 2 days after. What I didn't know was that it was going to be 22 more hours before she was born.
I hadn't really had any contractions at this point. Maybe one or two that weren't uncomfortable and for the most part I didn't notice. We called my aunt that lives here in KC, then my parents and sister so they could start their 4 hour drive in from St. Louis, and my in-laws who are also here in KC. By 1pm I still wasn't having contractions and they ordered pitocin. Side note to all who are pregnant with their first child- run for the hills when they mention pitocin. Awful stuff. And I know I am not the only one that feels that way.
By 3pm I had watched how to lose a guy in 10 days, was part way through a baseball game and my contractions were so bad and one on top of the other with no breaks that I was begging, begging for anything. They gave me stadol and the nurse decreased the level of pitocin so I was a bit relieved, even though I could now see two of everything. By the time my parents arrived I was coming down off my high and getting ready to get the blessed epidural. Did you know those things have a self medicating button? I had everyone counting down the minutes until my next dose.
But at midnight the clocked rolled over to the 21st and no baby. I had now been in labor for 15 hours in a hospital bed the whole time. And I could still feel every bit of those contractions. At one point James says to me "you're doing great honey, you hang in there" and through gritted teeth I replied "where else am I going to go?"
to be continued...

The Newlywed No-More Game

2009-04-24T21:36:00.003-05:00

The Couples Quiz. Mawwiage...Stoolen from another blogger, who stole it from Dooce.

What are your middle names?
Mine is Bailey, my mother’s Maiden Name. James’ is Myrl, his father’s name. Almost everyone in our two families has a “family” middle name. Our daughter’s is Kimberly, after my sister Kimberly and so on and so on…I’m hard pressed to come up with anyone in our families who’s middle name wasn’t someone else’s name first.

How long have you been together?
First Date was March 26th 2004, we were married 1 year and 1 week later on April 2nd, 2005.

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Almost two years I think; we worked together.

Who asked whom out?
Technically he called me to ask me out to dinner and a movie, but he was talked into it by our good friend Zach over the phone, while I was standing right next to him (Zach). So I knew it was coming.

How old are each of you?
He is 32 and I will be 30 next month.

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Both his brothers live with in a 30 mile radius of our home. My sister is a 5 hour drive away *sniff*

Which situation is hardest on you as a couple?
Hmmm, probably finances and career decisions. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, he does but it’s hard to get your own photography business off the ground.

Did you go to the same school?
Nope, not even close. But I fully support the Jayhawks.

Are you from the same home towns?
Nope, he moved to Kansas from Ohio when he was 15, I moved to Missouri from Virginia when I was 15.

Who is smarter?
He is for sure. He still knows 10th grade trigonometry. But I have the longer attention span.

Who is the most sensitive?
Definitely me. I’m a cry baby.

Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Mexican, anywhere chips and salsa is served. Chick Fil-A is a close second.

Where is the furthest the two of you have traveled as a couple?
Cozumel Mexico

Who has the craziest exes?
Who has the only exes...

Who has the worst temper?
Again me, see above for most sensitive. It makes for an interesting combination. He is one kool kat.

Who does the cooking?
We share that duty. He’s the better cook, but I’m the picky eater.

Who is the neat freak?
Mostly me, I like the house to always be picked up. But my definition of picked up and his are vastly different. I just think it needs to look neat on the surface. Closets and under the bed are optional. When he does finally decide he can’t live with crap everywhere he goes OCD on me. Everything has its place. One in one out. Nothing must be out of place. Notice no mention of actually "cleaning". We pay someone to do that crap.

Who is more stubborn?
Again, me. I’m always right and don’t tell me otherwise.

Who hogs the bed?
He does. Unless Lily is in bed with us, in which case, she is all arms and legs. It’s normal for one of us to get whacked in the face with a stray foot.

Who wakes up earlier?
James, when it’s photography season at Lifetouch. Otherwise, Lily likes to wake us up. Who needs an alarm when you have a 2 year old?

Where was your first date?
Dinner at Macaroni Grill and a movie, Anchorman!

Who is more jealous?
I don’t think either of us is. But I am the nosy one.

How long did it take to get serious?
We were engaged after 4 months.

Who eats more?He does.
He just ate a piece of cake and is now in the kitchen getting ice cream.

Who does the laundry?
We both do. I fell down the basement stairs last winter. He does most of the switching and hauling up and down the stairs, I put things away.

Who's better with the computer?
He is. But I rule the cell phones!

Who drives when you are together?
Me, because I complain too much about his driving. I just don’t understand how someone who drives like a grandpa the majority of the time, still has more speeding tickets than me?

Never Judge a Book

2009-04-16T21:31:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

By its cover.
So there.

Once Bitten

2009-04-08T15:33:00.003-05:00

So I said I wasn't going to do it. I told myself I was too old. I'm almost 30 for crying out loud. Then the frenzy started picking up. The Today Show started covering it, doing special interviews and pieces. I couldn't pick up a People Magazine with out seeing something about it. Then the other Mommies started talking about it. "Are we too old?" they would say. But dangit, even after a year of telling myself I wasn't going to cave, and even enduring the movie release and all that frenzy, I did it. That's right folks, I bought a $4.44 copy of Twilight at Sams Club the other day. Actually it was like a month ago. And then I stashed it under my night stand until I was done with the book I was currently reading. Which I took my sweet time reading. I don't think I was totally convinced I was going to read it yet. Then I did. And Oh.My.God. Now I get it. Now I know what all the fuss is about. Now I know why my friend at work was somewhat chagrined when he called his wife one day last week at home and asked her what she had done that day and she defensively said "well I at least got off the couch and brushed my teeth!" (she was in the middle of the 3rd book). I don't really know how long it took me to read that first book. I know I started it sometime last week and finished it by Sunday night. I know that Sunday afternoon, in anticipation of finishing the 1st book I purchased the 2nd. So I finished it Sunday night, watched the movie Monday night, and finished the 2nd book yesterday. Tuesday. 580 pages, read in 2 nights. And now? I'm plotting my trip home to include a stop at Sam's to pick up book number 3. Probably I should just pick up book 4 while I am at it. And this is after telling myself that I would at least wait until Friday to buy it. I can certainly go 2 whole nights with out my Edward fix can't I? (For anyone that has read it, that's why I read New Moon so fast, I needed to find Edward. For the rest of you, I don't want to spoil it, so that's all I am going to say). Seriously. What.Is.Wrong.With.Me? Am I going to have a gaping hole when I finish the 4th book? What will I do to bide my time until New Moon comes out? And I refuse to go to the theater with all the teenagers to see it. I'll just get it on Blu Ray a couple of months later. That I can hold out for.

CVS and Walgreens Deals 03/29

2009-03-30T12:18:00.004-05:00

**This is what my kitchen table looks like when I am plotting**

So the hubs and I had a discussion about budgeting and finances (We are big fans of Dave Ramsey and are small group facilitators for our 3rd session of FPU) and I proposed that I get $20 and only $20 a week for my drug store addiction. That way he can't accuse me of spending too much and I can't spend too much. See its a win-win.

We stopped by CVS on our way to FPU last night and I had James go in with me. I was going to attempt my first multiple transactions-transaction and I wanted his help. Here is what I got:

Softsoap Ensembles, 1 kit $7.99 and 1 refill $3.99, used $2/1 and $1/1 coupons; paid with ECB's and OOP $0.75, earned $4.00 ECB's
Paas Easter Egg dye kits(2), $1.99 ea.; earned $1.99 ECB's and
Glade Sense and Spray $5.99, used $4/1 and earned $1 ECB
Used $4 ECB from first transaction, paid $2.42 OOP

Ponds Towelettes $3.99, used $1/1

Ponds Cream $6.99, used $1.25/1

Used $1 and $3.98 ECB's from above, paid $3.70 OOP earned $5 ECB's from $10 worth of Ponds

So total OOP I spent was $6.87 and I have $5 ECB's left over

James seemed please with our transactions! For anyone that plays poker he likened it to raking in the pot after putting the bad beat on someone. You feel like you got away with something, but at the same time you can't help but smile.

Next we went to Walgreens after FPU. They are having a sale on printer cartridge refills, $7.50 and then there is a rebate for $7.50 in this months Easy Saver. We dropped those off and will get them later today.

Edge Shave Gel (hiding behind the Skintimate) on clearance for $2.39, paid $2.57 OOP, earned $3 RR

Quaker Granola Bars 2/$5 used 75 cent coupon and the $3 RR from above, paid $1.63 OOP and earned a $2 RR

Chapstick Naturals $1.99

Dawn $0.99 each

Skintimate Shave Gel $2.99

used $2 RR from above, paid $5.48 OOP earned $2 and $3 RR

Total Paid OOP $9.68 and I have $5 in RR

This transaction didn't go exactly as I had originally planned. I didn't know about the Edge being eligible for the RR, so we threw that in at the last minute. Then I forgot about doing the Skintimate separately and thought I had messed up and spent more money, but when I went home and did the math I actually did spend eighteen cents more, but I ended up with $3 more RR than I would have otherwise. So it all worked out. And I may have created a monster. I think James plans on going back and looking for more "free" shave gel!

My limited cooking skills

2009-03-28T18:53:00.005-05:00

So for a week we've had crazy weather. Sunday it was 75 degrees, Monday we had tornado warnings and thunderstorms, yesterday it was cold and rainy and today its snowing. A lot. I had gone to bed thinking we'd wake up and it would be a blizzard and instead after the *sniff* upsetting KU loss, I woke up and was elated to see it was only raining. So I went to WW as normal, then came home and we all snuggled down on the couch to watch Fantasia 2000, then met up with some friends at Imo's for lunch and it was while we were at Imo's that the rain/slush mix turned to full on snow. By the time we made it home (after a pit stop at the grocery store) it was full on blowing snow. That pretty much sealed the deal that we wouldn't be going anywhere for the rest of the day. I decided to make a Easy-Cheesy Hamburger Quiche that my MIL gave me the recipe for (that's why the pit stop at the store, I needed more cheese...see Steph? You can never have too much cheese!).

It turned out fabulous and delicious and was perfect for this "snowy spring" day. Enjoy!

Easy-Cheesy Hamburger Quiche:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 C. mayonnaise

1/2 C. Milk (optional, but I used it)

3 eggs

1/2 t. salt

dash of pepper

2 1/2 to 3 C. grated, sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 C. chopped onion (eww gross this did NOT go in)

10" pie shell

Brown meat and drain. Blend mayonnaise, milk, eggs and seasonings. Add meat, cheese and (yick) onions. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Easy on the Budget~

**I would have a taken a picture of the final/cooked product except that my foil stuck to my crust like it always does and parts of it fell apart. And if I don't use the foil I burn the crust instead. So it was not picture worthy. I think I am going to start making home-made pie crust instead of using store bought, maybe that will help?

And finally a picture of what the little munchkin was doing while I was cooking:

CVS Savings Trip 2

2009-03-25T16:35:00.002-05:00

This time I remembered to take a picture. James wanted to go to CVS to look at Vitamin C (which was BOGO) and I had some ECB's about to expire so it worked out well. I decided to go for the buy $20 of L'Oreal products get $5 ECB's and I happened to have a several L'Oreal coupons and they were having great sales on their products this week too. So here is the run down:

L'Oreal Preference on sale for $6.99, used $2.00 off
L'Oreal Ever Pure Hair Product $8.99, used $2.00 off
L'Oreal Regenerist Skin (wipes?), $8.99, used $1 off, Earned my $5 ECB's here
Crest Pro Health on sale $3.49, used $.50 off, earned $3.49 in ECB's
Used $9 ECB's

OOP= $12.96

Total Saved= Saved $17.60

Earned= $8.49 in ECB's

So really I'm only paying $4.47 for all of that!

For an 85% savings!

Walgreens Run(s) 03/10

2009-03-11T15:39:00.003-05:00

My new obsession continues. By now everyone with a kid in diapers knows about the Walgreen's diaper deal this week. In fact so many people know that I had to go to THREE Walgreen's to find diapers that would fit Lily. Don't worry they were all within a 3 mile radius of our house so I wasn't wasting gas to get there. Store #1 only had size 5/6 and store #2 was totally out. Store#3 had sizes 3/4 so I grabbed one of each. The only other requirement we had was the $15 rebate on Energizer rechargeable batteries.
At the second store I decided to go ahead and buy some of items on my list in case I got to the third store and they didn't have everything either. I took one picture of all the items together though:

So here is the break down
Store #2:

2 Glade Lasting Scent Fans $7.99 ea.; used 1 BOGO and 1 easy saver.
6 Garnier Fructuis products; on sale for $2.99 with $2.00 easy saver.
2 Coffeemate Creamers; on sale for $2.50 BOGO, used 2 $1.50 coupons from Sunday's ads; made $0.50 off that deal
1 Curling Iron cover; on clearance for $0.50

Total OOP: $12.74

Total Savings: $39.47

3 packs of 4 AA engergizer rechargable batteries (purchased by jameswearphotography.com)

Total OOP: $25

Rebate: $15 (plus 10% for getting a gift card)

Store #3:

2 packs of Huggies Natural Fit Diapers; $10 ea, used 2 $3.00 mfg's
1 184 count pack of Huggies Wipes; $6 ea, used $5.00 on any Huggies product mfg

Total OOP: $16.99

Total Savings: $15.97

Then on my way home from Jazzercise later that night I remember I had 2 $1.0o off for Garnier Fructuis products, so I went back to Walgreen's #1 and got 2 more products free and a curling iron for $5 (its not the best, but it was 7.99 with $2 off the easy saver and I need a cheap curling iron for when the Chi just won't cut it).

So there you have it. I put a few hours worth of research into the Walgreen's run (ok really it was like maybe an hour) but I feel pretty good about our purchases. I didn't buy anything we didn't need or won't use ever and between the CVS and Walgreen's run I have $18 to work with next week to get that "snowball" of savings rolling.

My New Obsession

2009-03-10T16:22:00.003-05:00

The background:
I love stuff. Always have. And I love shopping; doesn't matter what kind. Sometime in college my grandmother started a new tradition. Instead of giving us just money or whatever new trendy (but totally worthless) item we had on our Christmas lists, she would give us a laundry basket or Rubbermaid tote filled to the brim with the essentials. Sometimes you got 6 tubes of toothpaste and 12 toothbrushes, 3 deodorants, toilet paper, paper towels, Glade plug ins, air fresheners,foil, coffee, sandwich bags etc. Just imagine; the best part about the baskets was going through them. Sometimes we traded items with one another, sometimes we "stole" items when the other wasn't looking. It got to the point where we expected these baskets, and if we happened to run out of toothpaste in early December we just started using the samples from the dentist;there was no point in buying a full tube, we knew we'd be getting some. Christmas 2008 was the first Christmas in years that she didn't do the baskets. It had become too much work, cutting the coupons, getting the best deals, driving from store to store, not to mention the fact she had a walk in closet that was just storage for everything she collected over the year. I really missed my basket.

Current State:
I have a new obsession; CVS/Walgreens/Target couponing (is it any wonder?). I discovered some other blogs about how much money you can save when you pay attention to the ads, the easy saver books, using your Extra Care Card, Register Rewards, Manufacturer's coupons and store coupons. I've never had the patience for all of that before. But in this weakening economy I'm starting to think it would be well worth the effort for a few hours/week of research. So I started this week. I've always had the Extra Care Card and I remember getting the coupons but I don't think I ever used one (gasp, I know its a sin to let one go to waste, its pure $$$).

On Sunday I grabbed a paper from the grocery store when I did the banana run. Then I sat down went through all the store ads and coupons (plus I had coupons I had printed online earlier in the week) and I matched up all the best sales with the best coupons. When I was done I had three adds, with items circled in black sharpie and the corresponding coupons clipped to them.

Sunday afternoon I dropped off a new prescription and transferred an old one from WAG (Wal-Greens). CVS gave me a $25 gift card for the prescriptions. Then I used my coupons and the CVS ads to buy the great sale items that also gave me the CVS Extra Care $$. Here is what I got:

4 12 packs of Coke Products $13; earned $3 ECB's
1 box Cheerios, 2 boxes of Nature Valley granola bars $10; earned $5 ECB's
1 Gallon 2% milk (just because we were out)

I spent the $25 gift card, used 2 $.60 off Nature Valley MFG's, $1.00 Cheerios's MFG. My total OOP expense was $1 (tax) and I earned $8 in ECB's!

Sounds like a winner to me. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture before the granola bars and half the Cheerios's had been consumed. We like our cereal and granola in the Wear house.

Mr. Mom

2009-02-13T06:51:00.003-06:00

James current role is Mr. Mom. Because I am sick. With the stomach flu. There is nothing I hate more than puking. Lucky me, I only got morning sickness when I forgot to eat before bed. Two times that I can think of, one was in Las Vegas. We were watching the filming of the final table of the Bellagio Poker Classic, for the World Poker Tour so we had skipped dinner. By the time we ate it was 10pm and I was starving. The next morning I puked in the restroom of the Orleans Hotel. I'm sure every woman in that bathroom thought I was just hungover, and not 5 months pregnant. The other time was just a few weeks later, over Christmas break, I just felt icky and must have forgotten to eat because I found myself again head hanging over the toilet. Then a month after that I ate some cereal I thought might have tasted funny, and turns out the milk was bad. Three hours later when I was still puking and now thinking I was having contractions, we made a trip to the ER and they sent us straight up to the Maternity Floor. Where I proceeded to puke on the nurse that just 4 months later would help deliver Lily. Destiny was a great nurse! She taught me all about the self medicating epidural button.

Anyways, I hate puking. I'd rather do a lot of other things than puke. But ever since I had a baby, I get a tummy bug at least 2x a year. Must be daycare. My first day back at work after Maternity leave, I ended up leaving at lunch because I got sick. Turns out it wasn't jitters from leaving my baby at daycare. So I missed my first two days back at work. And of course Lily's had 3 bouts with the tummy bug. Her last one was last Friday. I thought she drank bad milk. As quick as the puking had come on, it ended. She started at 11pm and was sound asleep and no more puking by 1am. And she was all better the next day.

So when I went to bed Wednesday night I could tell something was wrong. My stomach hurt, like it hurts the day before a big test or interview. I didn't sleep a wink. Tossing and turning all night. James had to leave for work by 6am, because he was heading out towards Topeka. So I had to suck it up, get Lil up and ready for school and drive her there. I made it there and back. Then the sickness came on. I spent all day yesterday in bed, either reading, sleeping or surfing the web. James got Lily from school, picked up my requested chicken noodle soup and roll from Panera (which is still in the fridge because I started getting sick again). Then he fed Lily dinner, got her in her PJ's, helped her write her school Valentine's for today's party, got Lily in bed and asleep with no fussies, took a shower, then went to the store to pick up the frosted sugar cookies I was supposed to make from scratch, but purposely signed up for in case I couldn't because I know the store has great ones!

And they left the house this morning at 630 so he could get her to school by the time they opened at 7am so he could still get to work only a few minutes late. And he did all this while battling either a cold, allergies or a sinus infection. And not once did I hear a complaint out of him. He even said he'd be home early today and would take care of cleaning the kitchen and I shouldn't worry about it.

I love Mr. Mom!

Office Candy Stash

2009-02-11T15:34:00.003-06:00

I think I just had one of those sugar rush-crash and burn-type of things. I started off the day fairly well. Had half a bagel with peanut butter for breakfast. My mid-morning snack was a WW twinkie worth just 1 point. And lunch was home-made chicken enchilada soup, with a few lime tortilla chips for the crunch factor. Then, I ate a cupcake. Two in fact. And I'm not going to lie they were gooood. I don't know if they were 10 points good, but none the less. Now I'm feeling tired, I have no energy. I.Want.More. I want another cupcake, some chocolate milk and M&M's.

And I have none. So I'm being a good girl, going back to my original plan for the day and eating my apple and mini bag of popcorn. But that's because I'm out of M&M's.

For the last 4 years I've had a co-worker who keeps her largest file drawer full to the brim of candy. Turns out she wasn't the one putting the candy there. It was another co-worker that left the company. So no more candy drawer.

And months ago someone at work gave me a 5lb! bag of red and green Peanut M&M's. I locked them in my desk. And they stayed there forgotten about for the most part, until someone had a bad day, then I got out the keys, we all stood around and ate a handful and locked them right back up. We've had this bag since Dec. It's fed more than 12 people in that time span. Then last week I got a wild hair and turned the M&M duties over to someone else. Because I have to start taking my keys home with me now. Because there are un scrupulous characters that like to steal products in development from my floor. But that someone else didn't follow the rules and left the bag out in the open on his desk. And then my co-worker M ate the rest of the bag yesterday. A 1/4 of a 5lb bag of M&M's. Gone. Bye-bye. She's the kind of girl you love to hate. She eats a lot. Bad food too. Deep fried Mexican food. Ice cream every day. Whole (gasp) milk in her latte. And she tips the scales at a big bad 115lbs.

Life's not fair. I've got to Jazzercise my tush off tonight. No low impact for me. Its high impact all the way.

Sometimes I'm just not a nice person, and sometimes I just want to pick a fight.

2009-01-28T21:50:00.003-06:00

When I started this blog the point was that I get annoyed easily and needed an outlet other than my husband, to vent at. But it morphed into just an occasional diary I suppose. Until today. Now I'm gonna let loose and get it all out.

I did something bad today, it was not nice. It started about 6 months ago when a co-workers kid was selling magazines to go to camp or something. I paid $40 for a three year subscription to Parents Magazine. I kept the receipt in my purse all this time. Last month the first issue showed up. Only it wasn't Parents, then sent me Parent and Child, a magazine Scholastic gives my kids daycare for free. That is not what I wanted. And they spelled my name Karistan. Like the rug people. Oh yeah and Weard.... is that even a real name?

Anyway, I kind of forgot about it until today when magazine number 2 showed up. I told myself this time I'm getting that receipt out. I called the number at the bottom.

The girl answers the phone "Data Processing how may I help you"....data processing?? Okay. I told her my problem. She looks it up, we talk about the gross misspelling of my names, she corrects and verifies address. Then tells me Parents magazine went out of business....um hello?? No they didn't. But I let it slide. I politely explain that Parent and Child Magazine is not comparable to what I paid for. She said to get a refund I would need to fax in my receipt. Okay so normally this wouldn't be a problem for me. Except I'm at home, no fax machine there and really I don't think its appropriate to be using company resources to fax personal items, when we have to lay off 8,000 people in the next month.

So I ask her if they are going to refund me the cost of the fax at Kinko's. No she says, mail it then. Well are you gonna pay for my stamp. Huh, she says, what's the problem? Its not that hard. Okay now she's ticked me off. I was going to let it go, I was going to just fax the receipt from work like a good little girl, and work 15 minutes of unpaid overtime to cover it ;)

But now I'm arguing on principal. The receipt says to call this number if I'm not satisfied. Well I'm not satisfied, what are you going to do to fix it? She says well if you don't like it you can call the publisher. Fine, give me that number.

"Hello, hot singles are waiting for you" Damn her. She gave me a porn line to call.

I called back and home girl answers again. This time she knows its me and says immediately I don't know what your problem is? Just fax the receipt so we can prove you didn't get what you ordered.

Uhuh, I want to talk to your supervisor. I am the supervisor. Okay girlie, now you've done it. I used to work in a call center, I know the people who answer the phones ARE NOT THE SUPERVISORS. And besides that, just because your a super doesn't mean you don't have a boss. Go ahead now tell me you own this "data processing center".

My boss doesn't come in a lot. Her name is Kimberly. Uh huh. Maybe try back on Friday. Oh what? She doesn't have voicemail or email? I'm not giving you those numbers. Please...I'm not dumb.

Oh, here she is she just walked in. Yeah right, whatever. Like I said, I've done this before. Hand the phone over to your cube mate. Maybe she's more pleasant.

New lady gets on the phone. Sounds about 30 years older and much more pleasant. However she immediately starts asking me why it matters, if they got the correct address?? Huh, what? I'm not complaining about the my address.

Oh my bad, wrong person. Well I've never had anyone refuse to fax their receipt before. She chuckles. Why don't you just donate the magazine if you get two copies? Because I paid for it. My hard earned $40, which at the moment takes me two hours to earn, but by March it may take me 4. The economy sucks, companies are laying off people in the thousands, or haven't you heard. Just give me my money back. Oh yeah, and check your list of publisher's numbers. They're porn sites.

Oh we don't give out numbers, who gave you a number? Mumbles to previous girl ...what number did you give her? You're not supposed to give out numbers.

Well what magazines do you like? I'll give you two subscriptions to whatever magazines you chose.

What? That's an option? Why didn't home girl just say that? Would have saved me a headache and guilty conscience.

So I picked Weight Watchers and Women's Day. Oh yeah, shes not cancelling the Parent and Child, she thinks I would feel good about donating it to a woman's shelter.

When I actually start receiving the magazines, I might call and apologize for calling home girl a PITA. Or maybe I said the process was a PITA. I don't really remember now. Its all so fuzzy.

I was in the mood for a fight apparently. How stupid was that? I really need to learn to pick my battles better. This wasn't worth it.

So homegirl in Escondido California, working your $10/hour data entry job: I'm sorry. You don't get paid enough to put up with people like me.

A quickie...post that is

2009-01-22T17:05:00.003-06:00

Just a quick one because I need to get my tush home. Work has been so busy that I can't keep up. Thus the lack of updating. Because by the time I get home, eat dinner, bathe the little one, go to Jazzercise, I'm too tired to do anything but read a book. And I'm currently hooked on the Matchmaker books (ask me if you want to know about them).

I am thisclose to hitting my 10% WW goal. Only 3 lbs away. Actually by my home scale, I'm there, but the WW scale always says something different come Saturday morning. We'll see. I've done Jazzercise 9 of the last 11 days. Maybe I'm building muscle?

Rethinking my career

2009-01-05T14:06:00.003-06:00

Edited 01/28
Oops. So this was a weird premonition. Layoffs were announced this week. 8,000 employees by March. 36o from my measly department of 1,000. Good chance I'm gonna be on unemployment soon. Good chance I won't be either. So what's the point? The point is that no one knows anything. We've got to work for the next 4 weeks not knowing if we have a job and should be searching the classifieds. This sucks!

So back to work today, yay! No, not really. This sucks. I'm bored. I've got stuff to do, but I don't want to do it. Normally I want to get back to work. I want new stuff to do. That's the problem. I don't have anything NEW to do. Everything is old, and tedious. And boring. Did I mention boring?

On to better things. One of the highlights of my week right now, is going to my Weight Watcher's Meetings. We've moved to a new store front that's all shiny and new. And I love shiny and new. And of course last week there were a ton (no pun intended) of new people, with their New Year's resolutions in their hands. Lose weight, must lose weight. I predict about 75% of the new people will fall off the wagon around Valentine's Day. We'll see.

I've lost 18.6 lbs so far! That's almost an entire toddler. A really small toddler, but MY toddler only weighs 21lbs, so I've almost lost a Lily. Wow! When I hit the 23lb mark then I have to set my WW lifetime goal. It'll be somewhere between 139 and 105 lbs. I don't think I'm going to spilt the difference and being realistic, I'll probably go with 135. We'll see. I also don't expect to hit that 23lbs by next week. That's asking a lot. Maybe in 2 weeks. Wish me luck.

I hate this part

2009-01-04T10:30:00.002-06:00

Well its Sunday, the last day of a 2 week vacation. I have to go back to work tomorrow. I don't know how I feel about that. Truthfully, we ran out of stuff to do at home on Tuesday. We're kind of bored. And when we are bored, we shop. Not good for the wallet. But it's also going to be boring at work. This is the time of year where we aren't too busy; things don't pick up until the Spring. So where would I rather be bored? At home in my sweats, hair unkempt, glasses on playing some Wii or PS3? Or at work in uncomfortable heals? However, I only have to work 2 full weeks and then its MLK day and we are off work again. I love that, we are back at work for 2 weeks and then we get a three day weekend. We don't get presidents day off, we don't get Columbus Day or Veterans Day either. I think they picked MLK day because the powers that be knew we'd need another vacation after being back at work just 10 days. And you know what? They'd be right! I'm also taking this Wednesday off, but that's because I have to go to the dentist and the dr. I might try to squeeze an eye Dr visit in too. Make a day of it.

The problem with the last day of vacation is that you either try to cram so much stuff in that you make yourself crazy, or you don't do anything at all so then you feel lazy. I'm going to go for a combination of both. I'll do laundry, haul the Christmas decor to the basement, maybe work out, but for me that's really doing a whole lot of nothing. If I don't have to get in the car and go somewhere, then it's a lazy day.

Enjoy the last day of vacation, where ever you are! And join me in celebrating "coming of age day" in Japan on Jan 12th. I think we should get a day off for that.

2008 A Year in Review

2009-01-01T19:53:00.002-06:00

Aww who am I kidding, there is no way I'll remember all of 2008. I have a kid now, somehow that also equals forgetting anything and everything that happened more than 24 hours ago, but I'll try because everyone else did (and I'm stealing my recapping skills from Stephanie):

January: Baby gets sick on NYE, with cold. DR says she's fine. Two weeks later we take her to Children's Mercy so she can have her lungs sucked out. 5 weeks later we finally get some sleep, and she's all better.

February: Baby gets first bout of stomach flu. Baby dislocates elbow at daycare only no one notices except BIL who asks if she's left handed because she is only using her right. Dad notices next day she won't suck her right thumb per the norm. Back to Children's Mercy. Discussions with DR and Social Worker. Dr can't fix, wraps her up and sends her home. Next day we start the new daycare search, we will not take her back to the old one. On call Dr at our Dr office practiced in Africa without modern medicine, he fixes elbow in a jiffy. Baby back to normal. Start new daycare. Family comes to visit. My beloved kitties Zeke and Zoey go home to live with my parents. Lily freaked Zeke out. He suffered from stress induced urinary problems.

March: Dressed baby up in Bunny suit and she hated it. Lily starts crab crawling. $600 water bill shows up. Waterline burst in neighbors yard. Find out neighbors are 90 year old cousins. Costs $5,000 to fix water line. Sell Durango to recoup water pipe costs. Buy a $1600 beater for James to drive.

April: celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary with dinner at Pierpont's, see the Body's Revealed Exhibit, hotel room at Harrah's and poker playing.

May: Lily turns 1 on May 21st, I turned 29 on May 22nd. Threw a "Tinkerbelle" party on memorial day weekend.

June: Little sister gets engaged on her 22nd birthday :) wedding planning begins. Lily stands alone at toy for the first time. James' Aunt Barbara passes away from Leukemia. I get promotion and raise. We get stranded in OK after the funeral thanks to the car. Spend extra time with Great Grandma Wear. Eventually make it home.

July: Vacation to Grammy and Papa Dude's in St Louis for a week. Go to STL Zoo. Spend holiday weekend in Bennett Springs. James quits job and becomes stay at home dad. Trying to finish the house so we can list it. Lily takes her first swimming lesson and becomes teachers pet. Lily starts pulling up on stuff, finally. I start driving the beater.

August: Lily starts staying at home with Dad. We get a pool pass so they can go to the pool a lot. Family reunion at Lake Wappapello. Aunt Nai spends lots of time walking Lily up and down the hallway for practice. I win the Washer Toss tournament with cousin Billy. We are not rednecks. Hang plaque on the wall. I stop driving the beater.

September: James gets job with Lifetouch National Studios as school photographer. I start driving the beater again. I stop one week later. We buy a mini van. James starts small business as photographer. Put house on the market. Go to the KC Zoo. Grammy visits, buys Lily some Stride Rite shoes. Lily starts walking the next day.

October: Take house off the market. Decided its a pain, we won't get what we want thanks to the housing crisis, and we really love our cute bungalow. Lily has two Halloween costumes, a lady bug and a pink three eyed monster. Go to Boo at the Zoo. Go to a Bariatric Surgery seminar. Learn I'm not fat enough for lapband or gastric bypass. Make Dr appointment to discuss weight.

November: Start Weightwatchers and Phentermine on November 1st with all the other guilty Halloween eaters. Lose 15 pounds by the end of the month. Go to STL for Thanksgiving. Go wedding dress shopping with sister and mom. Sister makes lots of cookies. Blackfriday shopping trip from Hell. James' work goes on hiatus until mid January. Lily starts staying at home again. James' has lots of business coming in.

December: Bad luck on vacation in Branson. Rent smaller car than we drove down in. Take Lily to Silver Dollar City. Freeze butts off. Host work holiday party at my house. STRESS EATING takes over, don't lose any weight. Decorate house. Buy all new lights AGAIN for outside. Buy our first real Christmas tree. Vacuum up needles. Go shopping every single weekend. Wrap gifts. Vacuum up needles. Make cookies. Get the Flu. Make more cookies. Vacuum up needles. Have the in laws over for pre- Christmas Eve Church gathering. Vacuum up needles. Go to children's Candle light Christmas Eve service. Eat dinner at PF Changs, per tradition. Vacuum up needles. Have Christmas dinner at the in-law's. Open gifts. Trip over all the new toys. Vacuum up needles. Replace big screen TV bulb that burned out three years to the day after we bought it. Pick up parents from train station. Big Midwest storm, 80 MPH winds uproot neighbors tree. No power for 36 hours. Dad buys new gas log for our fireplace. The flu knocks me down. Power comes back on. We watch Tinkerbelle the movie. Go to Fritz's and see the trains at Union Station. Wave bye bye to Grammy and Papa Dude. Sleep in. Go shopping. Buy nothing. Do nothing on NYE except recover from flu and watch episodes of the Office.

Whew there it all is. 2009 is going to be a big year for my family. My baby sister is getting married in October. Planning had been somewhat on hold until she passed her Series 7 exam for stock trading. The location has been reserved, the reception hotel has been reserved, the dress has been bought, photographer reserved. But lots more planning to come. We need bridesmaid dresses and a flower girl dress. And I have weight to lose. I'm also hosting her bridal shower in August. On a personal note, I'm going to take the Kansas Certified Nurse's Assistant Course in March. You have to be a CNA before you can be accepted into a nursing school in KS. I have a degree in Biology and an MBA, but I need a "fall back" option in case I do get laid off. Nursing school will be that fall back (nothing like going back to school for an Associates degree after you have a masters, I'm expecting lots of funny looks) plus its something I've always wanted to do and regret not doing.

Happy 2009~

Whipping up secrets

2008-12-16T19:18:00.004-06:00

It was cold today, try 10 degrees kind of cold. It was also snowing all day, so I worked from home and we kept L home from her half day at daycare. Around 330 when L finally took a nap I decided to try out my new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.

My friend Erica got it for me for Christmas because, apparently my friends do listen when I talk and she knew L was somewhat of a picky eater. She'll only eat peas, carrots, cookies and chicken from Chick-fil-A, and anything that has been smothered in tomato sauce.

First I had to make a butternut squash puree. Just so happened we had a very large butternut squash and nothing planned for it. First I had J cut it in half because I'm a wuss, and then I roasted it, scraped out the insides and blended it all up. It made almost 3 whole cups of puree, which I froze 2 of.

I then used the butternut squash puree to make some awesome chicken and cheese quesadilla's that also contained a navy bean and sour cream mixture. We'll be eating this one a lot.

The second recipe I made was for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, but the "secret" ingredient was a whole can of garbanzo beans. I was skeptical but you really can't taste them at all and L and J both ate two with no complaints. I may trick some other people into eating them, as the batch made 3 dozen. You'll notice from the picture I am not using my new Kitchen Aide mixer yet. I promised my mom that I wouldn't open it until Christmas, so it sits under the tree with a big bow on it.

Its back to work again tomorrow, but then probably going to have some rain/sleet/ice mixture move through tomorrow night, so I may be stuck at home again Thursday meaning L will miss her other day of daycare also, which sucks. She's getting bored. I'm looking forward to Christmas and new toys. Here she is getting into my desk drawer out of sheer boredom.

Nothing to do and loving it

2008-12-14T20:24:00.002-06:00

It's Sunday at 8pm and the weekend is coming to a close. I've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time; why? Because I had a whole lotta nothing to do. I had one thing to do all weekend, and it was also something I look forward to every year (more about that later).

I was excited because I didn't have major plans, nothing that HAD to be done. We could move at our own pace. Friday night we went out to dinner to Chili's, L behaved herself and it was a nice evening. Saturday I had my WW meeting in the morning, 15 lbs and counting! And the only other plans I had were to maybe go to the mall and take a nap. Good thing too because when I woke up I felt horrible. At first I thought it was because L woke us up at 3am coughing and spent the rest of the night with us. So I thought I just didn't get enough sleep. But I felt sick to my stomach and kind of achy. I went to my WW meeting, and drank a large bottle of water and felt somewhat better. I decided to go ahead and go to the mall early so in case I didn't feel good in the afternoon I could laze around. We got to the mall, got done what we needed, made a much needed stop at the grocery and were home by 2. L and I both took naps from 230 to 5 and when I woke up I was not nauseous anymore, but my whole body ached and I was shivering. I skipped dinner, stayed on the couch and we watched Kung Fu Panda. I ended up dozing on the couch until midnight while J played video games.

Sunday I was feeling much better. I spent the morning playing with L and doing laundry and started cleaning out my closet, much overdue. The afternoon was spent with my best college girlfriends. Every year since we've graduated we've gotten together and opened gifts and had lunch either right before Christmas or one year it was New Year's Day. I look forward to it every year, and I hope that we'll keep doing it until we're cranky old ladies! This was either our 5th or 6th year doing it, so its already become a tradition.

The rest of today was spent cleaning out the closet, playing with L, and watching the ice, then snow fall.

I need to seriously update my winter wardrobe. I have 3x as many spring/summer clothes, but am lacking on the warmer, cozier clothing. Must have had something to do with having a baby in the spring, so I was really pregnant in the winter, so I didn't buy any new clothes.

Now I am underneath the electric blanket, with laptop on lap, ready to catch up on some reading and TV shows. Happy Monday!

Gripe

2008-12-12T10:36:00.003-06:00

I just feel like whining today. And I'm going to do it in a list.

I'm really tired of coughing, and blowing my nose
I wore sneakers to work today, with some really comfy ankle socks, but every time I walk the right one slips down and is now under my foot.
I forgot to go to the post office 1 mile from my house this morning, so I had to go to the one 3 miles from work, thus making me really late (I was already late as it was)
L woke up this morning and cried for dadda instead of momma, *sniff* I guess I know who's the most important right now
13 days until Christmas and I don't know what to buy the brothers. I already bought one a swearter, but J says we have to buy both the same gift, so we're probably taking the nice sweater back to the Gap, and doing something in the video game genre, which I know nothing about.
The economy, that is all.
This new VoIP that we have to start using at work because they are taking our desk phones away. I'm all about taking my desk phone away, I hate the outdated thing and for crying out loud we're a telecommunications company so we all have cell phones (that the company pays for thankyouverymuch). So it makes sense, but instead of us all using our cell phones, we are going to use this Microsoft VoIP thing thats driven through our instant messangers. Parts it are cool, as long as your computer is with you, your "office number" is available, but if the computer is off, then what? Training on Monday, we'll see how that goes. We are all like kids on Christmas morning, making calls to each other, and giggling. My cube wall-mate had a good point though, what happens if you accidentally call someone and you're talking badly about said person? But I guess that could happen with any phone right?

Things I'm thankful for:

Still having a job
My husband
My daughter
My family
My friends
Cats that snuggle
Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate from SBux
Cell phones
Mini Van's
Acrylic Nails
Fresh Christmas trees
Twitter

Forget me nots, and WW 3.0 Update

2008-12-04T20:45:00.002-06:00

Short post, before I stop procrastinating and get some work done. We were out of town all last week for Thanksgiving with the Watson's in St Louis, and this weekend we'll be with the Wear's in Branson. Its gonna be cold. But Christmasy.

Anyways, first things first the WW 3.0 update. I don't think I posted after I was worried about the week with all the mexican and yummo cookies. That week I managed to lose almost 4 lbs even after all that! Then that same day our leader, Sam, discussed what is an acceptable amount of weight to lose each week and she said that if you lose 3-4 lbs consistently each week after your first month, then some thing is not right and you aren't eating enough or exercising too much. Oops. That was my third week at 3+ lbs, so I thought I better be careful, or they'll find out about the magic pill my DR prescribed. Haha, not to worry, when I went back 4 days later (because we would be out of town on Saturday, my normal weigh in date) I had gained! 2.2 lbs. Ouch. To be fair it was only 4 days later, and it was evening, and it was the dreaded time of bloated-ness. So then I wasn't too shocked to learn today that I had lost back that 2.2lbs even with Thanksgiving and my sisters 6 dozen cookies! No, I did not eat 72 cookies, but I could have. So at the 1 month mark I've lost 10.6 lbs. Pretty good.

Now on to the forget me nots. Lets talk about the scatterbrains that J and I are. Really, lets just talk about him. He knows this was coming. I told him this evening after my embarrassing admission at the library that it was all his fault and he would get a post dedicated to him. Lets start with Tuesday. I dropped L off at school and noticed that another little girl had her school pictures in her cubby, I checked L's and no pics. I didn't have time to ask Miss Brittany where they were. My fault. J picked her up that day. Fast forward to Thursday morning, when I dropped L off I noticed a sign on the door that said "return all proofs by Monday". Hmmm I thought, I don't have any proof and L only goes to school Tues/Thursday. So then I figured the pictures were so horrible we didn't even get any proofs. As I was leaving, Miss CJ stopped me to ask if I had L's pictures. Nope, don't have them. She said they handed them out last Wed, and we weren't there. But she couldn't find them on the desk. She said she'd have Miss Susie look that afternoon. About 2pm I got a voicemail, Miss Susie, laughing saying she gave the pictures to J on Tuesday afternoon, and she remembered so well because L helped her get them. So I do what any good wife does. I call J at home, ask him if he has L's school pictures, and he goes "yeeessss" very slowly as it started to sink in that he forgot to give them to me. He's a professional photographer for crissakes. So I'm thinking one of two things. Either he thinks the pictures are bad and he could do better (which is true) or he doesn't want me to spend money on yet another set of L pictures (also true). Anyways, I just laughed, said make sure you bring them in the house, and I'll drop them off tomorrow. As I hang up I hear my cube farm neighbor snort and tell me that I'm mean. Why? Because I knew perfectly damn well that he had the pictures but I asked anyways to be snarky. Yep its true, snarky is the best adjective to describe me. She laughed though, all in good fun, because shes the same way as me. And yes I did apologize to J for being snarky.
But then the good part. After feeling bad and apologizing I have to go return some books to the library. As I'm leaving J reminds me the library called last Tuesday about a missing CD, they had the case and no CD. We searched the cars and computers on Wed, didn't find anything, left to go to St Louis, forgetting all about it. So I got to the library, pay the $7 of fines on J's account (from other stuff) and then talk to the head librarian. I did not get snarky with her. I knew it wasn't her fault, but I was worried the CD had fallen out and was stuck in some book about 1980's hair bands that no one would check out until the next GNR CD was released. She said she'd talk to her boss in the morning about it and call me, but to replace the CD was $17 ( I know I could totally get it cheaper from itunes). I get back out to the car, take one more cursory glance under the floor mats and seats, start the car and then notice the CD light is lit up on the player. Hmmm, I don't listen to CD's very often so its likely that its one from like 6 months ago, but I'll push the eject button and check. You've got to be effing kidding me. Out pops a CD I don't recognize. So I sheepishly go back in the building, again braving the 25 degree temps. Tell the librarian, don't ask, I'll pay the late fees next week and leave. I was seriously considering dropping it in the return box and running. But that would be dishonest.

When I got home J asked what the library said.
"Seventeen dollars to replace the CD" I told him.
"What, they aren't going to discount or anything? I know we returned it",
"Nope" I reply "no discounts, especially after I found it in my CD player".

Snarky? yes or no?

BTW he said that he didn't remember putting it in, but its possible that he was listening to it on the way home the day he checked it out. Which means it sat there for 3 weeks. Oh and he proceeds to tell me it wasn't any good. And that when we checked the cars, he checked *his* car's CD player. I had to remind him it didn't have a CD player.

We are smrt. Love you honey!

Christmas Lights, Turkey Day and Black Friday...All in One Update

2008-12-01T10:57:00.003-06:00

I haven't posted in a while, and its been a long two weeks. Rather than post 3 different posts, I'll give you the Readers Digest, not-so-condensed version

Christmas Lights
This is our 5th Holiday in our home. We love putting up lights, and discovered the neighbors come to expect it. One year I was buying a new china cabinet and when I was giving the lady at the store our address she got all excited because its the cute house with the candy cane trees. And she knew which decor was new this year vs. last years lights. She must drive by my house a lot. Anyway, as far as Christmas lights go we are always replacing them every year. The first year we used my mom and dad's hand me down icicle lights, and those suckers lasted for 3 Christmas's. Then last year they went caput, so we hot footed it over to Target with a teething 5 month old and purchased all new icicle lights, in multi colors rather than white. We also purchased a few extra net lights (not cheap) and then some red to double up on our candy cane trees. The house looked rather lovely and we really enjoyed the lights. We even got compliments from the Limo driver that took us out for my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. He said it made it much easier to find our house since it was lit up like the house in Christmas Vacation.
So this year, I didn't plan ahead very well and volunteered my home for the work Holiday Party, not realizing we would be out of town for the 2 weekend prior to the party. And I refuse to let J up on a ladder if I'm not home, should he fall and no one is there to throw their hands up in the air and call 911. So the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we are scrambling at 3pm, in the cold, to get our lights up. So, 75% of our lights were out and not fixable. 1 strand of the icicles was fine, the 2nd strand was out in 3 places and I managed to fix one, but not the other 2. And those are a lost cause. Then we started checking the net lights. Out of 6 sets, 1 set was fully functioning, the rest were out in various places. Again, if you've ever messed with multi colored net lights, you understand its nearly impossible to tell where the light is burned out. And then out of the 15 strands of red and whites that we use for our porch columns and the candy cane trees, 3 were fully functioning. I probably could have fixed them, but they are so inexpensive for the 100 strands that we decided to buy new again, and try to fix the rest later. Or sell them. Craigs List is awesome! Again, we were in a time crunch to get them done. So we headed over to Target and Walmart (shudder) and figured out Target had the best lights and the best prices, and we decided on the fly to change the color scheme from multi-colored to blue and white. So we bought all new lights (except for the nets, too expensive, we'll skip them this year and get them on clearance after Christmas) and they are up. Only half are on though, because with out the nets to connect the porch to the trees, we have an extension cord issue. We also invested in twinkle lights for the porch and they are lovely. It snowed here over the weekend, so if it doesn't melt today, we'll take pictures to post.
So yes I was upset that every year we buy new lights, and every year we have to buy more. But we've decided to standardize on Phillips Lights, and hopefully we can get a couple more years out of them.

Turkey Day Fun
This year was Thanksgiving at the Watson's in St. Louis. We were going back and forth on if we wanted to leave Tuesday night when I got off work, or Wednesday morning. We didn't want to drive in the dark, so we opted for Wed morning, but set the strict schedule of being out the door and on I-70 by 9am. We did not want to get stuck in StL rush hour traffic, its worse than anywhere else I've ever been...even LA. Then the next decision dilemma was which car to take. We've always been a one car, one SUV family. Then J got his new photography job, and needed a bigger vehicle so now we are a one mini-van, one SUV family. The van has way more room and we were hauling my sisters very large Christmas gift with us, and decided to take it. Until Wed morning when J realized the van doesn't have a CD player, and we could just use the iPod but he made L a bunch of new CD's and wanted the CD player. So fine, lets take my SUV. We get it all loaded, cats situated, front door locked, L in her car seat, ready to go....and.....it WONT START! The Pacifica is only 4 years old. Never given us any trouble (well only the one time when we got stranded in Oklahoma, but only for 24 hours). I called our insurance company to get the roadside assistance I play $1 extra for each month...side bar...when we were renewing our insurance a few years back USAA started their roadside assistance deal, $1 per vehicle per month. Covers tows, lock outs, gas, tires etc...this little voice in the back of my head kept reminding me what my dad and husband always say "never pay for that kind of service, you'll never us it, like extended warranties, there is no need". I shoved that voice aside and like the girly girl I am, said lets do it. And thank god! We've called them no less than 6 times, its fantastic, and well worth the $1. J even admits it now, and we'll always carry it on our cars, since we don't buy brand new anymore.
Anyways back to the dead car. While I was calling the insurance company J was moving L and all our stuff to the van. He was also trying to charge the battery with his jumper box, but nothing was working. USAA said it would be at least an hour to wait for the tow to the dealer, and when I asked if we had to be there, if they could just take the car for us, the agent asked "well what will you do with the keys"? Well lady, the car wont start, so its not like anyone is going to drive off with it, so I'll just leave them in the ignition. Well she didn't like that so much, so we said nevermind, we'll wait until we get back on Monday. No biggie. By then everything was moved to the van and J proclaims, "wow, we've got a lot more room here", no kidding Sherlock** just teasing you honey, but we bought the van because its bigger than the Pacifica, remember ** So it was a very comfortable ride in the van, and we only missed the CD player a little bit. We got on the road by 10am but still got stuck in the StL rush hour traffic, but made it home (my parents house, but still my home) right before it got dark. And L was a wonderful traveler. She was a doll at Cracker Barrel and stuffed herself full of corn bread muffins.

The rest of the weekend was much better than that first hour. We did a big meal with my parents, grandparents, aunts,sister and future brother in law. L immediately started loving on everyone, not acting all shy like usual. My mom and I did the Black Friday thing (more about that later), got to see the outdoor site where my sisters wedding will be, went to a Holiday Party at my future B-i-L's parents, and went wedding dress shopping with my sister (her dress is so lovely, I didn't cry, but my mom and sister did, I was too busy chasing after L). We also did a mini-Christmas with my Aunt's and Grandparents because we'll be staying in KC for Christmas this year, and they won't be traveling this way. My parents will be coming the day after Christmas.

The ride home wasn't too bad, loads of traffic, couple of accidents, breakdowns etc...and it snowed most of the way back, but didn't stick. L was so happy to be home so kept clapping and cheering and giggling and chasing the cats. She finally crashed at 9pm, and then me an hour later. The house is a mess, but J is ambitious and thinks he can clean it up before I get home.

The Pacifica is currently at the dealership, keeping my fingers crossed its something covered by the warranty (yes I said warranty, I was 5 months pregnant when we bought the Pacifica, and I insisted on the extended warranty, despite J's protests, must have been the hormones and the fact that my previous car was a used BMW and no warranty= $1,000 repairs each time it broke down, which was quite often. Superior car my foot).

Black Friday Mayhem
When I was younger and we were living in Virginia we always went to the convention center for the Black Friday craft fair. It was huge and I remember always loving everything I saw. We don't have anything like that here, so I've started the Black Friday-crack of dawn-shopping tradition. I first started it three years ago when I was pregnant with L, and wanted to get everything done early. I didn't do the early morning shopping though. I went with a friend after all the crazies when home. We still got great deals and all my shopping done that day. Then last year mom and I decided to go at 4am to JCP and then continue to Target, Kohl's and then the Mall. We needed to go early because J had to work at 10am and we didn't want to drag L with us, and we weren't sure how long my dad could stay home with her without having to change a diaper. It went well, JCP wasn't overly crowded although we saw a women bite it on the ice in the parking lot, but she got up and kept going. We got to Target right as they opened, and not too bad either. Got some great deals. Kohl's was a little more crowded, line was forever long, but we were done and home by noon. Christmas shopping done.
This year J and I have been Christmas shopping since October, but we did have a few more things to get, and I asked mom if she wanted to go to Target with me at 6am. She agreed. Then on Thanksgiving we were going through all the ads and I remember my friend S telling me that Wally World (shudder) was going to have a Kitchen Aid 4.5 qt Classic Mixer for $130. My dream mixer, for under $150. I told my mom that's what I wanted for Christmas and she agreed. So we decided to hit up Walmart (shudder) at 5am. Un-beknowst to us, all of Jefferson County decided to converge on the Festus Walmart at the exact same time. I have never in my life seen that many people in one spot. You couldn't move. They had to be breaking firecodes. Not sure if all Walmarts (shudder) were like that, but hearing about that poor man in NY that was trampled leads me to believe they were. No deal is worth being that scared. I grabbed the last mixer off the shelf and we went to electronics to check out. You couldn't even tell where all the lines started or stopped. Well the mixer rang up the wrong price, of course. Then the manager comes over and it turns out, that while its the EXACT SAME MIXER, Kitchen Aid provided Walmart (shudder) with a different SKU's mixer to sell on Friday, and they couldn't give me the SAME EXACT MIXER for that price because of the 1 letter off the SKU was. Needless to say I was livid, and will no longer shop at Walmart (shudder). I'm considering angry letters to both the Kitchen Aid people and Walmart. Now I know it wasn't Walmart's (shudder) fault they were that crowded, its the economy and the crazy shoppers looking for the best bargain, but seriously any other day that manager would have glady discounted the mixer. While all that was going on a friend of my mom's shows up with her brand new baby (commenting about how she is scared someone might steal her, or a fire would break out and we're all trapped, but she's buying that new TV anyways) and mentions she got a KitchenAid mixer for cheaper at Kohl's and we should go there. So we left Walmart (shudder) empty handed and head to Target.
God Bless Target and the Red Bulls Eye. It was so much calmer over there. Sure there were lots of people and long lines, but everything was organized, the employees were polite and all over the place, and the DVD's were cheaper! We got most of the stuff we needed, checked out the mixers, still the same full price, and headed over to Kohl's. I was so pleased with Target, I made sure to collect the few stray carts around our car and put them in the cart buggy for the nice employees in the red polos. Did I say how much I love Target? I might write them a letter telling them how fabulous they were.
When we got to Kohl's I was a little worried, they had been open for 5 hours already and I was afraid the place would be a mess. Other than not having any carts it wasn't too bad. They had 4 different KitchenAid mixers on sale. And I ended up getting the Heavy Duty mixer (normally $379, not $200 like the other one) , for $10 less than the one at Walmart (shudder) when you count the rebate and the $40 Kohl's cash my mom earned. So good deal, go Kohls! Had I had an extra $100 I might have opted for the Artisan mixer in red, but truthfully, I may not always have a red kitchen and I can get the accessories later for the Heavy Duty. Besides that the HD one can make 6lbs of mashed taters!

So thanks Lisa for the heads up, and if anyone needs a great deal on a KitchenAid mixer, head to Kohl's. And Thanks Mom! For enduring an Black Friday nightmare and getting me my dream mixer!

WW 3.0 Update

2008-11-21T11:31:00.002-06:00

Just a quick update. I've been on WW for 3 weeks now, I weigh in tomorrow. My first two weeks went well, I lost 7lbs between the two. I'm not sure how this week is going to go. First, it seemed like the pills were really doing their job. I found I wasn't hungry as often and I wasn't snacking at work all the time. However, lately I have started feeling hungry and that could be for more than one reason (no I'm not pregnant). One is that I ha vent been eating as healthy as I did the first two weeks. I've eaten out Mexican 3x in the last week for various reasons, and J and I had date night and went to the Plaza III last Saturday. I tried not to overindulge, but crab cakes, steak, potatoes and souffle be damned! I've also celebrated a co-workers b-day and cookies were involved, and Stephanie came over for dinner last night and brought the most fabulous cookies, which I proudly only ate 2 of. Had she left the Tupperware of cookies I don't think they would have made it through the night. Even L ate 2! I've been tracking my points all week, and I haven't gone over, but I only have 9 of my weekly flex points left, where as the last 2 weeks I didn't use any of the 35 I am allotted. We'll see what the verdict is tomorrow morning. I won't be upset if I didn't lose, but I'll be very disappointed if I gained any of that 7lbs back the week before Thanksgiving!
The second reason I may be hungrier is that I'm a little bored at work. Things always slow down the week before Thanksgiving and really don't pick up again until February. I've been compiling a list of projects I can create for myself, to keep busy. A lot of my overeating is boredom related, boo!

I'm going to start working out in the middle of the day, rather than the evening, so that will take up a good hour and a half to two hours. That's the great thing about work, we have an on-site fitness center that rivals the Bally's and 24-Hour fitness's in KC. So I don't have to go far. I can even see the track if I look out the window at the end of the hall. So really my point is that I have NO EXCUSE for not going to work out M-F.

So that's my "quick" update. Ha! Wish me luck tomorrow, I hope I am not disappointed, but I know I didn't work all that hard this week, so I deserve what I get. I'm also going to have to weigh in on Wed morning before we leave for St Louis because I'll be gone through Sunday. So that's only going to give me 3 days to catch up!

This is me

2008-11-13T12:19:00.001-06:00

This is how I feel. Great. I guess I am one of the lucky ones.

Weight Watchers 3.0

2008-11-07T10:39:00.007-06:00

So I'm on a diet. I'm overweight. Always have been. In high school and college I was the chubby one, but it was never a problem. I had lots of friends, could get a date when I wanted and was in a popular and well like sorority. When I graduated from college I realized I had gained the freshman 15 and then some. No thanks to fattening beer and sugar laced alcohol. And cafeteria food. I miss taquitos.

That was my first stint with WW, and I lost 20 lbs. Not bad. Then when J and I were dating we made a habit of long walks and going to the gym, so I lost some more weight and then right before our wedding, I was probably at my lowest weight since 2000. But it wasn't for the reasons you think, like trying to squeeze into a dress. My dress fit fine. I was sick.

When I was 18 my mom found me curled up in the fetal position on the bathroom floor because my stomach hurt. At least I thought it was my stomach, I wasn't really sure. She took me to the ER, they said it was gas and sent me on my way with instructions to drink jello water. Fast forward 7 years and J finds me curled up in a ball on the bed, same thing. Eventually the pain subsides. Several months later, after a Sunday afternoon lunch at his parents, the pain returns. Only this time its so bad I won't let him touch me, so we go to the ER. At first the nurse thought I was having a wedding panic attack, but when I told the Dr it felt like someone was stabbing me between my shoulder blades, he said "gallstones". So a few tests later, it was determined the gallbladder had to come out. But the surgeon was booked for a month, and there was no way to get it done pre-wedding and for me to recover enough to go to Cozumel on our honeymoon. So the nurse and I came up with plan. NO FAT. NONE. TOTALLY FAT FREE. And I could go to Mexico, but I had to take pain pills and antibiotics, and if I woke up one morning and the whites of my eye were yellow, then I had to hop the next plane back home because that meant liver failure. Needless to say I was scared to death of any food that had an ounce of fat in it.

~I came home that day and J had thrown away the entire contents of our fridge and pantry and re-stocked with Kristin appropriate foods.

~I called the nurse three days later to ask if this meant I couldn't eat my wedding cake. "Yes" she said "no cake".

~My mother in law called the rehearsal dinner venue and gave them the heads up so they could prepare me a special meal.

~The reception wasn't a problem because there would be salad, veggies and grilled chicken for me.

~But no cake :( I'm still bitter. I was so looking forward to that cake, and the grooms cake too. It was Kahlua flavored.

Three weeks after we returned from our honeymoon, my new husband and mom took me to the hospital for my outpatient surgery to remove the offending gallbladder.

One week later I was given the all clear. So I went to McDonald's. Big mistake. J believes removing my gallbladder is at least half of my problem if not more. I was better off with the no-fat diet than I was sans gallbladder and eating my way across the Midwest fast food chains. He's probably right. The Dr said there is no way to be sure having my gallbladder removed is the culprit, but she does believe its part of the problem.

When I started gaining weight I realized it, so I went to WW, but failed. Then I tried Slim 4 Life, waste of money. Mostly because I traveled, and it was hard to stick to a diet when your are traveling all over for work and the vendors keep taking you to Brazilian Steakhouses.

I did lose about 15lbs on S4L, but then got pregnant, so I couldn't continue with the program. I didn't gain very much weight with L, but then again, I didn't need to. And my Dr never said anything or seemed concerned about my weight.

18 months after L's birth and I weigh more now that I did at my last pregnancy appointment.

The hubby and I went to an informational seminar at the local hospital on LapBand. Turns out my insurance will pay for 1/2 but only if you've been a certain BMI for 5 years or more. I just now hit that BMI, with in the last 6 months. So I'm not really a candidate. Besides that with LapBand you'll only lose 50% of your excess weight. So if you were 100lbs over your recommended weight range, you'd only lose 50lbs.

I think 50lbs should be achievable through diet and exercise. As long as you can stick to it.

So here I am with my 3rd attempt at Weight Watchers. My doctor has also prescribed Phentermine, and will be monitoring me monthly. Phentermine was an ingredient in Fen-Phen, but not the bad one, that gave you ulcers and caused you to lose it. However it is a controlled substance that can be abused, so no refills are authorized unless you see your DR monthly. And you can only take it for 6 months, then must be off of it for 6 months, as to not get addicted to it.

You can read all about it here: http://www.webmd.com/diet/phentermine-for-obesity

Anyway the point is that I'm trying again. My sister gets married in less than a year and all her bridesmaids are skinny Minni's like her. But that's not the only reason I am doing it. We want to be able to get the maximum amount of life insurance you can get, and insurance companies aren't kind to overweight folks. And I want my feet to stop hurting in high heals, and I want to shop at the cool vintage 2nd hand stores that don't carry plus size clothing. And I want to be healthy, so I can be around a long time to watch my baby grow up. And someday have another baby.

Hold me accountable. Ask me how my diet is going. Ask me what I weigh. Ask me if I worked out. Ask me if I've eaten candy, cookies or cake today. Support is what I need, but I also need discipline, and sometimes that discipline can equal hard love. That is fine, that is what I need.

Obama vs McCain

2008-11-04T14:35:00.003-06:00

I'm going to start with a disclaimer. I know I'm making generalizations. It's all in good fun. No I'm not going to tell you who I voted for and I don't want to know who you voted for. That's your business. What matter's is that you voted.

Over the last 2-3 months, when driving about, I've been forming a list in my head of differences between McCain supporters and Obama supporters. Its not a Republican vs Democrat thing either. There are a lot of Obama supporters that are Republicans, and vice versa (well maybe not so many Democrats supporting McCain) but you get my point.

So here is my list.

Obama supporters drive foreign cars.
McCain supporters drive domestic.

Obama supporters dry clean their clothes.
McCain supporters do it the old fashioned way.

Obama supporters prefer KU over MU, and K-State over KU. You won't really get that reference if you aren't from the Midwest.
McCain supporters just like to watch football.

Obama supporters have bumper stickers that say "I heart my dogs", "PETA", "I'd rather be shopping at Nordstroms"
McCain supporters have bumper stickers that say "PETA, People Eating Tasty Animals", "My kid beat up your honor student", "NRA"

Obama supporters carry pocket dogs, and take them into the mall.
McCain supporters don't have pets.

Obama supporters watch Dave.
McCain supporters watch Jay.

Obama supporters watch GMA.
McCain supporters watch the Today show.

Obama supporters shop at Whole Foods, and buy organic.
McCain supporters shop at Wal-Mart.

Obama supporters honk the horn if you sleep through a red light.
McCain supporters do nothing, smile politely, then give you the finger when you aren't looking.

Obama supporters will tell you when, where, how and why you should vote.
McCain supporters just say vote. And most of the time won' t admit who they voted for, should they get beat up for it. That's okay though because later they can sport stickers that say " I voted for the other guy" when it all gets mucked up. Not that its going to happen.

So that's it. That's my list. Its short. And by no way and means does it reflect my political preferences. According to the online quiz I took before the primaries, I was going to vote for Hilary!

So what differences have you spotted? They can be funny, true, blatant lies. It's your opinion and you are entitled to it. God Bless America.

Recipe for Disaster

2008-10-29T12:08:00.011-05:00

The whole day was bad. It started off good though. J took L to school, so Mommy could get ready in peace. It seems lately that if I step out of L's sight she screams and cries and chokes herself by sucking on her fingers. She follows me to the restroom and tries to get up on the my lap! While I am occupied. She tried to get in the shower with me. She wants to play in my make up- dear god its starting already?? I should have known it was all going to go downhill when I had to drop off my laptop yet again to get worked on. This time they said they'd move me to the front of the pack and it wouldn't be long. So I wondered over to our retail store and went to the back to help out with some receiving stuff. Two hours later, my computer was done. By then it was too late to work out, too late to get anything done, so I went to pick up L. I should have known, when I picked her up Miss C said she'd been fussy since her nap, always crying if she fell down or got bumped. I took her home and she screamed in the car for half the ride, the finally stuck her thumb in her mouth and looked out the window. When we got home she wouldn't budge. I should have known, I unbuckled her belts and she threw herself back in the seat. When I finally got her out, she hit me. Hard. So hard all we could both do is look at each other. I smiled and kissed her on the head, not feeling like disciplining her. She was fine after we got inside. Fine while she ate her dinner, and fine when I cleaned her up. Then daddy walked in the door, and back out the door because he left our sandwiches in the car. She screamed, thinking he wasn't coming back. Then she got better again. Fine through her bath, fine when I put her in bed, fine when Daddy walked out the door to go to wally world for Mommy. Fine when I cracked six eggs and beat them in a bowl, fine when I dumped 3 cups of sugar in a bowl. Not fine when I started melting butter. Not fine when I was trying to mix the 4 cups of mashed sweet potatoes into the clumped up sugar/egg/butter mixture that I neglected when I went to comfort her. Some might ask why I didn't just let her cry it out. See previous post http://relectionsandgripes.blogspot.com/2008/10/blindness-and-baby-puke.html, she likes to make herself sick by crying. Its easier to check on her, give her a hug and kiss, than it is to clean puke out of the crib.

So needless to say my 3 sweet potato pies didn't turn out like the one I made before. Maybe it was my over zealousness and trying to make 3 at once. I would have been better off making one at a time. Then at least I would have only ruined one. I brought one to work anyway for the Harvest Potluck, but I didn't bother to label it as mine. It doesn't look pretty, J said it tastes fine, but I wanted it to be pretty.

Oh but that wasn't the end of the bad night. Why was J running off to wally world for me? Because I clogged up the sink trying to feed the disposal all my sweet potato shavings. We needed Draino. And swiffer wetjet solution to mop my floor. Oh wait, the batteries were dead on the swiffer. When I changed them, it still didn't work. I gave up at that point and went to bed. But wait there was a large pile of laundry, I half heartedly put some away, threw the rest of the dresser, turned out the lights and crawled under the covers. I gave up.

When I got up this morning, the sink was fine. The gross water that had backed up into the dishwasher was gone. Turns out the draino didn't work but the plunger did. And my swiffer is working again.

Thanks honey for being my handy man!

L is still in a foul mood though. I think she's adding to her mouthful of teeth. At least she looks cute trying to figure out what in god's name did her mommy dress her in this morning!

Why we don't wear white after labor day.

2008-10-26T20:47:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderful day at Boo at the Zoo on Saturday. Lots of cute kiddos in cute and not so cute outfits. And as we are leaving this is what I see:

Yes, those are white stretch pants, after labor day. Oh do you want a closer look?

Piece of advice people, if you insist on the white stretch pants, at least wear a shirt that covers your rear! Enough said, the picture speaks volumes.

What to complain about today...

2008-10-24T10:52:00.002-05:00

I'll start with the two guys on the entrance ramp to the interstate who decided they had to race each other down the ramp and onto the interstate during RUSH HOUR! I mean I've got a baby in the car, don't endanger her life because you have to prove who has the bigger youknowwhat.
Then there was the fact I got up numerous times in the middle of the night with L, who really was only thirsty. Man that kid can drink some water. Which also meant several diaper changes. Then we overslept, because we were so tired from all the water drinking and diaper changing. Then in the car on the way to daycare she takes her baggie full of teddy grahams and yogurt bites and dumps them all over herself and my somewhat clean car. But she's so darn cute, its hard to get mad at her. So I got mad at myself for giving her a snack in a baggie. I need some of those no spill snack cups, they can get their little fat fingers in but can't dump the snack out. I think I saw them at Target.
Then I got to work and realized I was really cold, well no kidding I wasn't wearing a coat. I am wearing a turtle neck and tank top, but I'm still cold. I think the air is still on in my building.

Things will improve after lunch....

People we meet...or try to hide from

2008-10-22T22:26:00.002-05:00

So I'm at the car wash the other day, the kind you leave your car at the door, and they drive it through, dry it etc...so I go into pay and there's this guy, he just looks like an a-hole. Bluetooth headset stuck in his ear, he's playing with his Blackberry, shirt, tie, fancy shoes, etc. Anyways, he starts talking to the 70-something clerk that takes your money. And he's being pretty nice and pleasant, discussing the weather, other mundane topics. Then I hear him say "man I gotta lot of money tied up in some hedge funds, see I'm a hedge fund manager, I've got some big clients, so-and-so, blah blah blah". Yeah just when I was starting to think maybe I've misjudged the guy he starts to go all name droppey on me. And whining about the economy. Goodness. So then that led me to my next train of thought which was, I kinda used to be like that, or maybe I still am. Not a hedge fund manager, but rather the name dropper. You see I went to high school with the kid whose grandparents own our MLB team, you see that kind of stuff. Not that the kid would know me from Adam if he saw me on the street. Which then led me to another thought, I hide from people, totally. For a girl who likes to talk, and could talk to a tree, I hide from people that I think I know, or that I do know. Two thoughts will run through my mind if I see someone I've known in the past:
a. crap, I don't know if I went to highschool with them, or college, or just worked with them, or maybe she does my nails, or does her kid go to my kid's daycare?
b. crap, that's so-and-so and the totally won't remember my name.
So. I. Hide.
Like the time the husband and I were in Fazoli's and my highschool boyfriend was standing in line in front of us. I gave my husband my order and about faced and found a seat. All the time praying this kid wouldn't see me. I don't know if I feared that he would only slightly recognize me, but not remember my name or he would remember me all too well. I mean it had been at least 7 years since I last saw or talked to this guy. I also discovered in the last year, that I've been working with a girl that I did go to highschool with, we didnt hang out, but we had a class of only 200, so you would think we would know each other. But we didn't. I finally asked her at lunch one day, where did you go to school. And then we realized it. We had both married and had new last names, so it was understandable we didnt place each other immediately, and now that we've gotten that over with, we're work buddies.
And then there is the issue of sorority sisters. I have so many. With a sorority that had at least 120-140 girls per year, with classes of 40 coming in each fall, I've had plenty of them. 3 that I would call my best friends in the world. And we still stay in touch, and live in the same city, do Christmas, b-day's and weddings together. And then I would say there are about 10 more girls that I would do anything for, but we don't talk that often, if at all. Unless its by email, or at a football game. Then there are the rest. Some I remember, some I don't, some don't remember me. Just a few weeks ago, and my local ice cream place I could swear one of the girls that I hung out with quite a bit was standing in line in front of me, but I did it. I hid. Not really because I had to order our ice cream, but I made a big show of not making eye contact for fear she wouldn't know who I was, or she would and then there would be all the uncomfortable, forced, "oh hi, this is my husband, baby, dog, mother in law, etc", but really would that be so bad??

I should really try harder to keep in contact with friends I like.

Blindness and Baby Puke

2008-10-17T08:38:00.005-05:00

Sounds promising doesn't it? Not really, but I'm going to tell the story anyways. It all starts 29 years ago when I was born into a family with the worst eyesight ever. Seriously. We all wear some form of glasses or contacts, every single member of my clan, except for L, but time will tell.
I've worn glasses since I was 8, and contacts since I was 12. Its probably safe to say my eyesight is the worst. If you wear contacts you'll get this...my right eye is a -8.5 and my left -9.5; my sister is like a -3, my mom -2...so my eyes are terrible. With out my contacts or glasses I can't see anything, my alarm clock has 6 inch high numbers so I can see it at night.
Now you know how bad my eyesight is, on to a little more background info, about a year ago I went to the Lasik Eye surgeon and was told, nope, it wouldn't even help you. Okay, what would? Some new experimental procedure where we basically replace your lens. Oh and it costs about $5 grand per eye. Yeah, I'm gonna do that. So I went to my trusty eye DR, who said the reason why I had been having problems for a year, with eye itchiness and my contacts would constantly float off my eyes was because I was allergic to them. The same damn kind I've worn for like 5 years, I was now allergic to. I have HIVES under my eyelids. Gross.
So he suggests I switch to a daily contact that I can throw away every day and it would help. And he was right. These things have been awesome. Save for the fact I have to keep a stock of 700+ on hand, since I buy for the whole year.
And why not wear my glasses, you ask? Well when your eyes are as bad as mine, it means your glasses are going to be coke bottle thick and you can't get cute little wire frames or glasses like Sarah Palin. Nope, plastic is pretty much your only option. I have managed to find some cool Coach glasses that I adore, but the next problem is that I (or rather my insurance company) spends a bunch of money to sand, grind, whatever to make my lenses appear to be as thin as possible. That means I lose a bit of my perifreal (i know thats wrong, but I dont know how to spell it) vision. I look too far left or right and everything goes blurry. Not very conducive for driving. So I have to wear the contacts. Besides I have good looking eyebrows, I don't want to leave behind some thick nerd glasses.
So now you know that I am blind, now on to the baby puke part of the post.
L has been sick. She has some snot and congestion thing going on and when she starts coughing she eventually gags and makes herself sick. She figured this little trick out a while back, and she knows that if she doesn't want to go to bed she can start crying and coughing and if she starts gagging, we'll come running.
So she goes to bed last night, peacefully, and then J and I start the bedtime routine. I took out my contacts and immediately my eye started to twitch then burn. I thought I had some jalapeno juice or something on my fingers. J was holding the discarded contact ready to throw it in the trash, when I take a look at it and realize a whole chunk of it was missing, which means its still in my eyeball. I've never done that, in the 17 years I've worn contacts that's never happened. So I immediately go to the mirror on the bedroom door and start looking around and rolling my eyeball trying to find that small, slightly blue tinged piece of plastic. I'm alternating between the bedroom and the bathroom. Eventually my eye stops burning so I figure I got it out, even though I can't find it. By then J has gone to sleep and its all dark, so I start rooting around for my glasses. I felt all the bathroom shelves, then the sides of our pedestal sink and nothing. So I go back to the bedroom and root around on the dressers and side tables, and I kept coming back to J's glasses but not mine. So I figure no biggie, I'll go to sleep, when I get up in the morning I'll have time to put in my contacts before L gets up. No such luck.

At about midnight I hear some coughing from her room, then she starts the gagging, then I can practically hear the snot start to gurgle in the back of her throat, so I run in there, not even realizing I can't see squat. Of course J has the ability to sleep through all this, I guess its good we both don't, or she may have choked herself by now.
So I run in there and she's half standing half sitting by what I can tell, and she doesn't have her eyes open but shes gurgling snot everywhere, so I step in some on the floor (I know gross) and I put my hand under her mouth to catch it all, and so she knows I'm there. By then I think I realize I can't see. So I gave up and I yelled for J to get his butt out of bed and help me out. He comes running in all sleepy eyed, but at least he can see. I told him to just find my glasses and he could go back to bed, all the time I've got a fist full of baby snot and spit up. What I really didn't want was for her to full on puke. You see there is a difference between baby spit up and baby puke. Baby spit up is the stuff that never makes it down to their tummy's. It comes up looking very much the same way it did going down. Milk looks like milk, snot looks like snot (TMI , I know) but baby puke is just awful. The first time we got puke after she started eating whole foods I actually gagged, and I'm the same woman who doesn't think twice about sticking my own hands out to catch her puke, but I still gagged.
Anyways I got my glasses, was able to see to get her out of bed, stick her in the tub and get her clean PJ's and back in bed. Then I stood there and played with her for 15 minutes until I was sure she'd go back to sleep and no more coughing and gagging. We were good for the rest of the night.
When I got up the AM, I had my glasses right next to the bed, so "I could see. It's a miracle" ($5 if you can tell me what movie that's from, just kidding on the $5 but you'll have my respect).
Then I go to put in my contacts before leaving the house, and OMG the burning. I figured I still had a piece of the torn contact in my eye. So I take the contact out, attempt to put it back in the little box it came from and then tried to put in my left contact, forgetting that I had already opened in and that's the box I put the right one back into. So now I've got two contacts in the same box and I have no clue which is which. So in the trash they went. Fifty cents wasted. But I got both eyes functioning and working now. So all is good.

Wow! Long and boring story....

Rainy Mondays are the Best

2008-10-13T13:01:00.002-05:00

Am I the only one who likes a dark dreary rainy fall Monday morning? It makes my heart sing when I get up, get ready, leave the house and its all foggy like and the sun is not supposed to shine. I mean don't get me wrong, I love spring and summer as much as the next person. I got married in the spring, had a baby in the late spring/early summer, and my birthday is also at the same time. And I have the cutest sunglasses. But there comes a point in time, when the 90 degree heat and 100% humidity are no longer the days we crave (my hair isnt too fond of them either). Instead I am looking forward to the clouds, the fog, the rain and the leaves whipping around to the ground. Eventually that all gives away to freezing rain, sleet and snow and I'll be back to griping again, but for now I am going to enjoy my dreary fall day. By going to the dentist! What tops the dreary day better than that. I swear mother nature knows when I have a dentist appointment. My last appointment was in early May, and it too was one of those rainy, dreary spring days that I love. And before that? I bet it wasn't sunny then either.

I had a whole bunch of gripes I wanted to post today, but I've gone and forgotten them all. Darn that thing called a job. Oh well, I'll save them for another day.

Grandma's

2008-10-10T21:43:00.003-05:00

So today's post is not going to be about a gripe, I had a good day today. I got to work on time, L was in a good mood (except for the tumble she took into a chair and subsequent cut on her cheek, but more on that later) and I got to fill in for my boss on a big director staff call and it made me feel good that he trusted me with that. J just gave me a big bowl of ice cream, so all is good in the world.

Today's post is about grandma's and why we should all love ours. I have both my grandmothers still with me, and thank god L has both of hers. J on the other hand only has one, and she's technically old enough to be my great grandmother. The sad part is all of our GiGi's live more than 4 hours away, and only one of L's grandma's lives in the area.

Today is my Granny's Birthday. She is 76 years old. She still lives alone, babysits the great grand babies and cooks fabulous meals. She is a mother to 4, grandmother to 10 and great grand mother to 5. And I miss her so much today. Of course I sent a card, but I usually don't call to talk to her, because she has trouble hearing over the phone. But I went to Tar Jay earlier and saw the cutest little old woman walking the aisles just looking at stuff. I had to fight the urge to give her a hug right there. She probably would have smacked me upside the head with her purse, but it would have been worth it. So I called my granny, right there from the laundry soap aisle. And we had a wonderful conversation. She learned about L's spill at school and the scrape on her knee, all just because she is learning to walk. We talked about my sister K and her upcoming big test, and then about the visit my family is making next weekend. But man did I miss her. She was supposed to come visit last weekend with my mom, but she has an inner ear infection that makes her dizzy and didn't think a 4 hour train ride was best. I was so looking forward to spending 2 whole days with her, and none of the other grand kids (sorry guys, but its my turn now). Alas, it didn't happen, but we will see her soon, hopefully at Thanksgiving.

So the moral of my little story is to appreciate your grandmothers. Doesn't matter if they had a small presence, or if they raised you, with out them you wouldn't be here....

Fashion Sense (or lack there of)

2008-10-09T13:40:00.000-05:00

Okay boys and girls, today's topic is fashion, (Topics of reflection come and go, I get easily irritated so lets be honest here, I have a lot to complain about, but this is the last thing I remember seeing that made me pause so that's what we're going to discuss).

When did too tight Capri's that hug ones calf become acceptable "business casual" attire? I mean really? Business casual usually doesn't include blue jeans, and if your company's dress code calls for jeans, let me know because I want to work there. Anyway I digress. I saw a woman today, and I'm not going to say where, but lets just say it was not business appropriate attire for where I spotted her. She was sporting a nice button down top, that I myself might own, but she paired it with tight and I mean tight (I think she was cutting off the circulation to the lower half of her legs) blue jean Capri's and lace up ankle booties. I had lace up ankle booties once. Yeah, I think it was in 1993 along with the purple high top Reebok's. And don't even get my started on the peep toe boot. What is the purpose?

Topics for later fashion conversations are going to include too short skirts, shorts at work, and lacking a bra. And if I happen to be able to sneak a picture of the victim, you bet I'll show it to you!

My first time

2008-10-09T13:29:00.002-05:00

Hey guess what? This is my first blog post. Mind you its not my first blog. I created one with the intention of keeping family and friends up to speed on the happenings of my little one, we'll call her "Sassy Pants", nevermind we'll just call her L, but I never created a single post. And L is 1.5 now. A toddler. Not a baby anymore.
Anywho, I decided to create this blog because according to my husband, J, I have a lot of things to gripe about. We were in the car and I was complaining yet again about something totally trivial and he said "you could write a blog with all your whining" and so now I am. Maybe this will make me less cranky and b**chy at work.
And maybe it'll make me a better parent and wife.

Here's hoping!