Pictures

OK, let's see if this works:

Christmas Spirit

I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I'm sure it has a lot to do with what's going on with my dad and that sucks. Paige is at such a fun age for Christmas, so I just have to start to get in the spirit of things. We've done a couple of fun things and have a few more lined up to make this a fun Christmas.

Yesterday since it was so nice out we went and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was a really cool tree farm that had free hot chocolate and popcorn, a lady that helped the little ones make a free ornament, and horse drawn wagon rides and a bunch of super cheap soy candles and Christmas decorations. The owners and everyone that worked there was so nice. I think we're going to go back again and go for a wagon ride and some hot chocolate. Should be fun.

We brought the tree in the house last night and put the lights up tonight. We'll put up the ornaments tomorrow. We're decorating in phases!

We're taking Paige to Breakfast with Santa at our church this Saturday. We're hoping that goes well. She seems a little friendlier now and not so afraid of new people. Hopefully Santa won't scare her!

We had pictures taken this morning at Sears. We had one of the first appointments which really helped. We had a 9:30am apt. and didn't get out of there until 11am! It took me FOREVER to pick out the sizes and pictures that I wanted. We got family pictures and a few of just Paige in her Christmas dress. They all turned out SO GOOD!!!! We ended up spending $250 on the pictures, but that includes 40 greeting cards too. I'll try to post them here. Paige did so good. She was so well behaved and the lady that took them was good too. She was actually posing Paige and Paige was going with it. She listened so well and actually smiled when she was supposed to! I couldn't believe it! They are so super cute. Then we went to the mall so I could get a gift card to Kohl's and to Bath and Body Works for the 5 for $10 antibacterial stuff. I stocked up on a bunch of soaps...they are good presents. Mike stayed with Paige in the play area while I shopped.

Off for more sewing!

Here's the Original Letter

I'm almost ready to puke:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/APC0601/611100695/1036/APC06

I am THIS CLOSE to writing a letter myself. People are so judgemental and self-righteous. I've dealt with sexual assault center workers before and they are so annoying, I guess the idea that someone is lying their pants off never enters their mind. GRRRRRR........

There Are Good People Out There!

Check out this letter that a friend wrote in support of my dad in their local paper:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/APC0601/611210556/1036

It's about damn time! I guess some chick from a sexual assault center wrote in about how brave crazy bitch was to come forward and how she had to live with the shame at the hands of "Coach Janssen." So a friend of the family wrote this letter in support of my dad. A few people have commented to my parents that it's about time for someone to do this and it's like well why didn't you write or call in? DUH!!!! But it's a positive thing and I guess we'll focus on that after the crappy day I had. Will update about that later. Paige is watching Cars and I need to start cooking supper!

Bye Deer

So how many of you can say that you saw a dead deer in your garage this morning? I DID!!! Mike shot a little one last night and it's in the back of our truck. It was kind of weird, but I'm glad he shot one. As we were leaving, Paige said "Daddy got a deer...bye bye deer!!""

Paige and I went to the Fox Cities Children's Museum in downtown Appleton on Saturday morning. It was supposed to be a meetup with my mom's group, but we all got separated. Paige LOVED it!!!! It is the coolest place, we're definitely going back again.

My sister picked out new bridesmaid dresses, they're Alfred Angelo in style #6128 and the color is butter. I really like them alot, I think they are very flattering. Now the big dilemma is finding a flower girl dress for Paige that Kristin likes and won't make me go broke. Any suggestions, let me know. She's still not sure about the date, either June 30 or July 14th. I really want to be pregnant soon, but don't want to be pregnant at the wedding. I guess I'll just have to suck it up. I was going to be the fat bridesmaid anyway, hopefully I'll have an excuse.

Took a couple of pregnancy tests the past few days and they are negative. I really think we BD'd while I O'd, but it's probably too soon to test. I'm not expecting AF until this weekend sometime.

We're going to my grandma's for Thanksgiving so we're taking a 3 hour car ride on Wednesday afternoon. Mike has to stay here because he has to work the day after Thanksgiving. I feel kinda bad about leaving him alone, but he said he doesn't mind. He's going to cut up the deer, so he'll be busy most of the day. Hopefully the ride will go well with just me and Paige. I bought an extender for the DVD car charger tonight, it wasn't quite long enough and the battery only lasts 2 hours.

OK, off to my pajama making. I'm hoping to finish the shirt for my mom's jammies tonight. WHO HOO!!!!!!!

Bridesmaid Dresses

Forgot to mention in my previous novel that my sister has picked out a couple of bridemaid dresses and wanted my input. I think she has it narrowed down to one or two, but if you want to take a look at them, go to the Bari Jay website (I just googled it, I'm sure it's barijay.com) and look at styles 244, 305, 306, 310 and 744. I guess she's thinking about the moonglow color. I love the light blue (cloud), but she doesn't want blue. I'm going to look huge in these dresses, especially if I'm preggo.

Bridesmaids dresses have changed so much from when I got married! Mine were navy blue, floor length, A-line and flowy with spaghetti straps, a scarf and a row of rhinestones across the top of the chest. They really were pretty, especially with the white and yellow calla lilies that the girls carried.

She's already having wedding planning drama with her soon to be MIL. MIL wants a fancy schmancy place and my sister and her fiance don't, so they keep going back and forth. I don't envy her at all!!!!

I found a Willow Tree wedding figurine on ebay last night so I think I'm going to give them that as part of their wedding present.

OK, I have to finish checking my email and re-open my pajama sweatshop!!!

This Will Be a Long One!

OK, I have not updated in a while, so here goes!

Friday: it snowed! Went to a mom's club lunch at another member's house. My parents were up for the day so I left Paige with them. It was probably more fun without her there because the LO's were giving their mommies a hard time and I'm sure Paige would have been too! Drove home in the snow, Ma and Pa left and Paige and I played outside in the heavy, wet snow. It's all melted now. Mike's dad and stepmom came up that night. I was downstairs watching Law and Order and didn't go upstairs to greet them until it was over. Rude, yes, but I really didn't care.

Saturday: Mike's SM (stepmom) went to Green Bay to hang out with her two daughters all day leaving me, Mike, his dad and Paige. A recipe for disaster. So I skipped out of there and went fabric shopping. I bought fabric for 5 pairs of jammies. I didn't get home until suppertime and Mike's dad had turned our kitchen into a war zone. He cooked spaghetti and veggies and you'd think he'd never cooked before. He used oil and butter on everything and used every pot and pan in our cupboards. I'm surprised we all didn't croak of clogged arteries after supper. That man drives me bonkers, but more on that.

Sunday: Mike's dad and SM leave around lunchtime and the house is QUIET. It was so nice! We put Paige to bed, watched the Packer game, had a little fun during halftime and watched the rest of the game. Watching football naked in your bed after just having sex while your child is napping...it really doesn't get much better!!!! We were bums the rest of the day.

Mike's dad drives me nuts. He is just SO MUCH!!!!! He stole my recliner from me on Friday night and claimed it for his own the rest of the weekend. Seriously. I got up from the chair Friday night and when I got back in the LR, he was sitting in it. He might as well have peed a circle around it because it was HIS all weekend. Drove me nuts. It's my chair! He kept telling Paige to come up and sit on his lap and she wouldn't. It made me chuckle to myself. I finally said "she doesn't SIT!" and I must have activated my superhuman strength of an invisible voice because no sooner were those words out of my mouth he said it again. GRRRRR.... He's diabetic and all weekend he ate: pancakes, bananas, apples, pretzels and spaghetti. Good food for a diabetic, huh? He laid on MY chair and snored all weekend. And I'm talking snore so loud you can't even be upstairs when he's snoring. He sleeps all day then takes food to bed at night and lays awake and eats all night. Thank god they left when they did.

I kind of put my foot down about not going up to his family's for Christmas this year. It's a 4.5 hour drive and his parents live a half hour apart from each other and it's a pain running back and forth. This is Mike's busy time of the year so he gets home late at night. Last year we didn't leave to go up there until 7:30pm, it was a LONG ride. It's just absolutely insane that they expect us to drive that far with a 2.5 year old when they could much more easily come and see us. Mike's arguement is that his mom works weekends but I could give 2 shits about that. If she wants to put work before seeing her grandchild, there's nothing I can do about it. She's only been here 3 times since Paige was born: for her baptism, last year January foe Christmas and her birthday this year. His dad's been here a few more times but only because his stepdaughter goes to college in Green Bay. I guess I'm refusing to go this year, if Mike wants to go up with Paige he can, but I'm not going. We'll see where this takes us.

I'm starting my own pajama making sweatshop!!!!! I'm making jammies for my sister, my mom, my sitter, Mike's mom and stepmom. Picking out fabric for everyone took FOREVER, but I think I made some good choices. I just hope they all turn out and everyone likes them.

I think Mike and I had sex when I was ovulating, so I'm waiting to take a pregnancy test! I don't know what we were thinking, but oh well! The only bad thing is that I'm feeling the same pelvic pain I felt when I had my ovarian cyst almost 2 years ago. I really hope that won't be a problem.

Paige has been so sassy and defiant lately. She bucks everything and every move I make. It's starting to really wear me out. Terri recommended the book 1 2 3 Magic so I'm checking that out on ebay right now. It looks like there is a 1996 and a 2003 version. Terri, what are you using? The 1996 is quite a bit cheaper. LOVE ebay! Just got 2 cute pairs of Arizona jeans for $8, shipped.

Work is SO BORING!!! I'm just killing time right now.

Congrats to Koren who welcomed baby Owen into the world on November 12th!!!! Hope all is well with you guys and looking forward to seeing pix of your new handsome little man!!!

OK, that's enough rambling. Back to killing time for another hour!!!

Car Seats

I wanted to put out some info on car seats that keep kids harnessed beyond 40 pounds so here you go:

(RF=Rear-Facing, FF=Forward-Facing)
1. Cosco Apex 65 FF only 22-65 lbs. harnessed, 40-100 lbs. booster; $139 available at www.amazon.com (titled Alpha Elite Apex Booster Car Seat)
****This seat can only be used in cars that have a high headrest. Once your child (harnessed or not) gets tall enough that his/her tops of ears are level with the top of your vehicle seat’s headrest, you must discontinue using the seat. Cosco has stated that the headrest is merely for the child to rest their head and was not designed to serve as a safety device of any kind.
****Also available at www.walmart.com for $100. May be available in stores.

2. Britax Marathon RF 5-33 lbs., FF 20-65 lbs., $249

3. Britax Boulevard RF 5-33 lbs, FF 20-65 lbs; $299

4. Britax Decathlon RF 5-33 lbs, FF 20-65 lbs; $285

5. Britax Regent FF only 22-80 lbs; $249
***all Britax seats available at www.elitecarseats.com

6. Sunshine Kids Radian RF 5-33 lbs, FF 22-65 lbs. and 49 inches, $199 available at www.go-baby.com

7. Nania Airway FF only 22-50 lbs. harnesses, 20-80 lbs. booster; $119, available at www.familyonboard.com

8. Fisher Price Safe Voyage RF 5-33 lbs., FF up to 55 lbs.; $180, available at www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com, click on “Baby Depot”. Also available at www.elitecarseats.com.

9. SafeGuard Go; combination vest and booster. Harnessed FF vest 30-60 lbs., booster 40-100 lbs.; $179 available at www.safeguardseat.com. (Tether required with harnessed FF use.)

10. Team Tex America Legend FF only 22-65 pounds harnessed, 30-100 lbs. booster; $129 available at www.team-tex.com
****Expected to be available late 2006

If your car is a 1999 or newer and your kids are forward facing, USE THE TETHER STRAP AND ANCHOR!!!! It is so important to use that to help reduce how far forward your child's head will go in a crash. It offers so much head protection.

Anyway, hope some of my ya yas find that helpful! I have to update from the weekend, but I just got into work. I should be productive for a little bit!!!!

Amazing

I LOVE this video. What a great dad!

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

Another Weekend Report

Friday: had a playdate at a Burger King with my mom's group. Most of them have a child Paige's age or younger and then a baby and are SAHMs. Paige had a BALL giving all the baby's hugs and kisses. The play area got a little crazy because a lot of other kids came, but we still had lots of fun. Paige actually got off my lap and played in the play area! WHO HOO!! She's coming out of her shell! I also got her home in time for lunch and a nap. She got out of bed, opened her door and yelled down to the basement for me to come and rock her, but after that one time she stayed in bed and has gotten out since for naps or bedtime.

Saturday: worked at a car seat check in Green Bay and then to the mall to make a bunch of returns at Old Navy and Kohl's. The mall was swamped. I had to stalk people walking out of a store to their car and wait for them to pull out so I could get a spot. It was like the weekend before Christmas or something! I'm like, WTF?, it's the first weekend of November! But it was crappy out and now that Halloween is over, the Christmas rush is officially on. Bath and Body Works had BOGO free on their Body Butters, but it was asses and elbows in there and the line was super long so I left after about 30 seconds. Came home, then went out for pizza with some friends who have a 2 1/2 year old girl too. Paige was not very well behaved. Kinda whiny and clingy and wouldn't eat. She normally loves pizza, but only ate salt and pepper and a few of the mints. Yep, salt and pepper. She'd shake it onto my plate or hers and lick it off her fingers. Ugh.

Sunday: took Paige to church and was forced to sit in the very front row because church was crowded. It's never like that so I don't know what that was about. Came home and went all Elisa =) on my house. I vaccuumed my house and furniture really good, vaccuumed the corners of my kitchen, the swiffered and mopped them and washed down the outside of my kitchen cupboards, dishwasher, oven, etc. It took an hour and I was sweating. Not fun, but I was sick of my dog hair covered house. That damn hair is EVERYWHERE!!!!! Watched the Packer game and did some laundry and went to Green Bay after Paige's nap to visit some friends who have a 5 week old baby boy. He is so cute and I held him almost the whole time we were there. Well actually, Paige and I fought over holding him. She held him for almost a half hour and just loved it. She would put her head by his, pat him and give him little hugs. It was so darn cute. Came home, gave Paige a bath, put her to bed, ate some cereal for supper, showered, checked email and then finally watched Desperate Housewives that we taped. OMG! That was the most intense episode ever. The writing is so much better this year. They got the writers from Frasier and you can tell the show is just so much better.

Now I'm bored at work and looking forward to leaving in a half hour. Have to stop at the grocery store on my way home and try to figure out what to cook for supper. I hate cooking supper!!!

Update and Correction

OK, I read the news wrong about my dad. There WILL be a 2nd trial for crazy bitch #2, but that's all we know right now. It's still to be determined if the charges will be combined or tried separately. The news released this yesterday so I will too, crazy bitch #1 and #2 are sisters...their family is WACKO. CB (crazy bitch) #2 lied on the stand for 2 hours...she couldn't get her facts straight and kept backing herself into a corner, but the judge still ordered a trial. And get this, the superintendant of the school was at this hearing too! I want his job...he must not have enough to do if he has the time to drive into downtown Appleton from Hortonville (probably 1/2 hour drive) sit in a 2-3 hour hearing and then drive back. This is after Hortonville school has had 3 bomb threats in 6 weeks. Don't ya think he'd be spending his time ensuring that his students and staff are SAFE rather than wasting time at hearings for a FORMER employee who hasn't worked there in almost 8 months? This is a fucked up world, I tell ya.

On a happier note, Paige and I had a playdate this morning and it was lots of fun! I even got her home in time for lunch and a nap. It's her first time napping at home in her big girl bed and she escaped once for more rocking with me, but now it's quiet on the monitor. I hope she takes a good nap. Mama needs some down time!

214

That's my total cholesterol level. Just got a call from my friend whose the nurse of the dr. I saw on Monday and my cholesterol is 214. Ugh. I know they want it below 200 and I knew it was going to be a little high because I've let myself get so fat. Maybe this will be the wake up call I need to lose weight. Heart disease runs in my family so I should do something about it. He wants me to come back sometime and have a fasting lipid panel done to get my good and bad cholesterol levels checked. Maybe my good cholesterol is high? That would be nice! I really don't want to run all the way down there for a fasting lipid panel first thing in the morning. It's WAAAYYY over on the east side of Green Bay. OK, I'm outta here now.

Keeps Getting Worse

A separate trial for the 2nd charges, which is the worst outcome of this:
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061102/APC0101/61102062/1979

I've lost faith in our justice system. This is supposed to be such a good time in our lives with having Paige and my sister's upcoming wedding and all we can think about is the fact that he might not be at her wedding and Paige might grow up with out her grandpa. I just have a bad feeling about this now...I've been fairly optimstic until now but I think the worst is going to happen now and we're going to lose him.