Way Behind

It's May already...holy crap. I'm so behind on this blog. Between crazy work, Paige's party, my sister's bridal shower and her wedding, life is just nuts. At least Paige's party is over, so 1 down, 2 to go.

Thank you Meredith for the Happy Birthday to Paige on your blog. I tried to sign in and leave a comment, but blogger was acting funky. Happy belated birthday to Ella!!! And can I just say, you must have the biggest heart of anyone I know. Here you are already busy raising 4 kids of your own and you are willing to open your home to 2 more kids in need. I couldn't do it. Do you need more boys clothes? I can certainly hit some rummage sales for you!

Mike has had tendinitis in his wrist the past month. He's been doing PT 3 times/week and tomorrow is his last one. He's feeling much better thank goodness. He has been quite the crab since it happened. Can't say I blame him.

He was able to put new floor in our living room before the tendinitis developed and it looks so nice in there. We got new lamps too and the living room looks so much nicer. We just need to find an area rug.




Those were taken before the new lamps were up. I should take another one. The new lamps make a world of difference.

We had new neighbors move into the lower part of the duplex next door to us. They are a young boyfriend and girlfriend, mid to late twenties and probably some of the nicest people I've met. The girl has a 3 year old daughter from a previous marriage and her and Paige are best buddies already. It was in the 80's yesterday so I filled up Paige's pool when I got home from work, and Ava (the 3 year old) came over and they splashed around in the pool for at least an hour. Totally wore Paige out so she was crabby the rest of the night. The only thing is is that she has a huge meltdown whenever we have to go inside after playing with Ava...she wants to keep playing!!!!

I had a nice Mother's Day. Mike got me 4 hanging flower pots for outside and they are so pretty. He sort of gave me the day off too...took care of Paige as much as he could so I could sit around and read and be lazy. It was pretty nice. She has a cold and hasn't been sleeping well so she is so cranky and tired. I think we are entering the terrible 3's. She has been downright defiant and just sassy lately. Good times.

She got a 2 wheeler bike with training wheels for her birthday and has been just loving that. We're going to try to go for a bike ride/walk every night. She does pretty good on it!!!

If you get a chance, watch this video today. You might pee your pants!!

Venting

OK OK I know it's been ages since I've blogged...life has been CRAZY! Between updating our house and work...yikes.

Random vent here: The car seat board on BBC drives me absolutely flippin' nuts. The majority of the posters are not techs and must sit their fat asses on the computer all day waiting for a question so they can chime in ASAP, act high and mighty and impress the unknowing OPs with their "vast" knowledge. They all have kids so I wonder what their kids are doing all day while these chicks sit around on the computer ready to pounce on a question. And not only can one person answer the question, a whole group of them have to chime in and repeat themselves so as to show off. ITS SO ANNOYING!!!!!! Especially this chick on my birth board. She kinda popped up out of nowhere on our birth board but is on the car seat one all the time. When someone asked a car seat question, I answered, then she answered and advised the person to ask for more info at the car seat board. WTF? Being a certified tech for 4 years isn't good enough? UGH!!!!!!

OK, I feel better now.

Mike thinks he has tendinitis. His right wrist is just killing him and he basically can't use that hand. He's probably going to the dr. tomorrow and his work will put him on light duty which means working crazy hours. Over nights, etc. Great.

I'm finally getting over this damn cold. I've had it for probably 2 weeks and it's a whopper. Sore throat, runny nose, aches, headache etc. I slept until 8:45am Monday morning. It felt wonderful.

Paige's party is in a month. I can't even believe my baby will be 3. She has been acting so grown up lately.

Got a positive OPK on Sunday and Monday nights so Mike and I did the deed then. Hopefully it works. I'm a late ovulater I guess. We've been BDing at the wrong time all these months. I'd be due in January which isn't ideal, but I'll take a healthy baby no matter when it comes.

My sister's bridal shower is June 2nd and I'm stressing about that. I'm waiting for one of the bridesmaids to finish making the bachelorette party invite and then I'm getting them printed and sending them out. I'm tempted to ask if another bridesmaid can get them printed and sent out. I really do not have the time to stuff and address 20 or so invitations.

My house is a mess. I don't know how in the hell we are going to get it cleaned up by Paige's party on May 12th. Just the basement alone will take one weekend.

OK off to relax a bit and then to bed.

Oh one more random vent...wtf is up with Sanjaya on AI? I just have a bad feeling he's going to win. He's such a pussbag.

Can you tell I forgot to take my Lexapro today?

OK, now I'm off to relax!!!

Really Cool Movie

Check this out if you get a chance. It's beautiful!!!

http://www.spiritheart.org/flash/inspirational/love_is_the_way.html

New Kitchen Pictures

OK, so we painted the cabinets this weekend, spray painted the hinges and put on new knobs from Friday night-Sunday night. We were really hauling ass!








I'm off tomorrow since I had to work on Friday. Thinking about heading down to Green Bay for a meetup with my mom's group but it's at 9am and that's awfully early for us to get going and out of the house. We shall see. Off to workout!

Window Treatments

Here is what we are putting up in the living room in merlot:
http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/ProductsHOM.aspx?DeptID=25437&CatID=41761&CatTyp=DEP&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=SIZ&ItemID=114a19f&ProdSeq=1&Cat=cordless&Dep=Window&PCat=Shades&PCatID=28537&RefPage=ProductList&Sale=&ProdCount=9&RecPtr=&ShowMenu=&TTYP=&ShopBy=0&RefPageName=CategoryAll.aspx&RefCatID=28537&RefDeptID=25437&Page=1&CmCatId=25437|28537|41761

This is the scarf hanging in the living room, it's not the exact one, but it's pretty close. Mushroom color:
http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/ProductsHOM.aspx?DeptID=25437&CatID=28619&CatTyp=DEP&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=11046c8&ProdSeq=5&Cat=scarves&Dep=Window&PCat=Top+Treatments&PCatID=28418&RefPage=ProductList&Sale=&ProdCount=17&RecPtr=&ShowMenu=&TTYP=&ShopBy=0&RefPageName=CategoryAll.aspx&RefCatID=28418&RefDeptID=25437&Page=99&CmCatId=25437|28418|28619

I can't find the rod online that we are hanging the scarf from but it's very simple, it's muted dark metal.

So picture those window treatments in this room with a wood floor (instead of those horrible vertical blinds):


We also got 2 new pillows in that red color in the couch because Duke took it upon himself to chew a huge hole in one of our pillows the other night while we were sleeping. WTF?

I also need 2 new floor lamps in there.
Kitchen:
These shades in goldust:
http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/ProductsHOM.aspx?DeptID=25437&CatID=28538&CatTyp=DEP&ItemTyp=G&GrpTyp=SIZ&ItemID=117fbbb&ProdSeq=1&Cat=roman&Dep=Window&PCat=Shades&PCatID=28537&RefPage=ProductList&Sale=&ProdCount=24&RecPtr=&ShowMenu=&TTYP=&ShopBy=0&RefPageName=CategoryAll.aspx&RefCatID=28537&RefDeptID=25437&Page=1&CmCatId=25437|28537|28538

I don't think I'm going to do fabric valances in the kitchen...I want SIMPLE!!!!

YAHOO!!!!!

Painted Kitchen Pictures

It's late and I must get to bed, but here are a few pictures of the finished painted kitchen. Keep in mind, we are going to paint the cabinets off white and put in tan roman shades on the window. I'll also be putting up a few of my apple wall hangings for a little pop of color (do I sound like I should be on Trading Spaces? jeez louise)

When I walk in my back door I see this:


Sink wall:






Paige helping:


Movie of Paige helping:


It was a PROJECT!!!! Painting a kitchen is a huge pain in the ass, but I love it and I'm glad it's done!!!!

Progress

We have paint on the walls! WHO HOO!!!! Most of our kitchen is sage green. Paige and I painted for about 2 hours this afternoon and Mike and I worked in stages tonight. Painting a kitchen is a huge pain in the ass. Mike did most of the taping, the sweet man. He really is a keeper. It looks so different in there now, I can't even believe it! We're going to JCP tomorrow to pick out window treatments. I think we are going with a dark beige roman shade. I was thinking red, but the paint is a little darker than I thought and red would be too much. Hopefully by this weekend, the walls will be finished and the cabinets primed. I can't wait to paint over that cheesy wood grain and get those cool knobs on there!!!!!

Thursday

Again, i know I must post more often but life is just crazy right now!!!!

Mike and I decided to update our house so we dropped $1100 at Menard's last weekend on new living room and hallway floor, kitchen wall and cabinet paint, new cabinet hardware, kitchen ceiling fan, bathroom paint and bathroom floor. We opened up a no interest CC for 1 year so we have that long to pay it off and WE WILL!!!!! We got sage green for the kitchen, off white for the cabinets and really cool simple black muted knobs. We have laminate wood floor in there so I think it will look really cool. I'm going to keep a few of my apple things up in there, I think the red touches will look nice. The bathroom will be light yellow on the walls. The floor is hard to describe, it looks like beige stone, will take lots of pix. The floor in the living room and hallway is laminate that looks like hardwood. Our carpet is so ugly and in such bad shape, plus with a constantly shedding dog it's so hard to keep clean. I'm going to JCP this weekend to pick out new window treatments for the LR and kitchen. I'm thinking roman shades for the kitchen in red maybe, and vertical blinds for the LR. I really don't like vertical blinds, but our window is pretty wide and that's really the only option that I can come up with. This is all so wild but I can't wait to get it done. Our deadline is Paige's bday party on May 12th, so we'll be busy bees. As Paige would say "I'm so exciting!"

Work is nuts and my co workers are so annoying. I could fill up a whole blog on that but I won't. My boss has been mysteriously gone all week which is so annoying and all of us are wasting time gossiping by wondering where she is or what is going on with her. Her personal life is kind of rough. She'll call in in the morning and say she may try to come in the afternoon and then never shows or calls/emails. Grrr..... As a manager, she has a responsibility to us to let us know if/when she'll be back.

Paige is still waking us up at the butt crack of dawn, usually around 5:30am. It's getting old. This AM she peed by herself which was awesome but when she woke us up at 5:30 am to talk about it, it kind of defeats the purpose! I'm hoping she can wake up, pee, then go back to bed, like I do!!!!!!

We are going to start painting the kitchen this weekend, so I'm really excited to see how it turns out. Picking paint colors is kind of stressful. Poor Mike kept showing me some and I kept turning them down, finally he got frustrated and went off to a different part of the store. Paige is excited to paint so we're going to give her a little area to work on.

I got into chat today from work!!! YAHOO!!!!!

I Know I Know

I must update more often, but I have been so busy at work and really don't have the time to. I could at home, but I'm busy there too! How do people with more than 1 child keep up? I feel like there is ALWAYS something to do at home. We still haven't taken down our Christmas village which is really starting to chap my ass. One of these nights, we're just going to do it. My house looks clean on the surface, but there is always crap and clutter lurking, especially on top of the fridge and under my bed. And don't even get me started on our basement. It's a disaster area. It's just one big room, so you can't even put your crap in a room and shut the door. Drives me nuts.

WHEW!!!

A few shout outs to my peeps:
Meredith: CONGRATS!!!! I can't wait to see baby Zavier!
Koren: I think we're going to get a flower girl dress off of ebay, but thanks for your offer!

Snowstorm Danielle (our weathermen name snowstorms, it's so corny) ripped through here over the weekend. I don't know how much we got, I'd say about 10 inches. We took Paige out to play in it yesterday and she had a ball. I hate watching the weather when we are expecting a snowstorm or some other bad weather. The weathermen are downright giddy and full of glee. I swear they are popping a woody underneath their suits.

Paige keeps growing like a weed. We took her to the doctor for an earache last week and she weighed in at a whopping 38.6 pounds and 41 inches!!!! YIKES!!! She has outgrown most of her 4T tops and 3T bottoms and is moving into 5T tops and dresses. I made a haul at TCP over the weekend for spring, their clothes are so cute! BTW, she just had fluid in her ears, not an infection.

I'm starting to get a little frustrated with WW. I've gained weight the past 2 weeks even though I've really been sticking with it. I worked out 4 days last week but still gained weight this week. It's not muscle either because I'm only doing cardio workouts. I do feel skinnier though. It's just so frustrating to step on that damn scale.

I'm also frustrated with my body. I bought a BBT for TTC but haven't used it. Just isn't my thing. I've been reading up on fertility and your cervical fluid (TMI warning here) and according to BBC calculator I should have been fertile last weekend, but I wasn't based on my cervical fluid and a negative OPK. But I used the average of my last 3 cycles, 2 were short and 1 was quite long. So I don't know if exercising has made them longer or what, but I know I'm not fertile right now. And Mike, bless his heart, decides that midnight on Saturday night is a good time to bring up the fact that I'm fertile this weekend and we should do something about it. I was too tired to hardly talk, so I told him we'd talk about it the next day. Good thing too because about 5 minutes later Duke puked on our bed. Nice.

The puke was caused by the fact that he chewed our spare bedroom door apart in the hour we went to church on Saturday. He chewed it all to hell, pushed his way in there and then couldn't get back out. Dumbass. At least they are cheap doors and on sale at Menards. Mike is picking one up tonight after work. So after that little incident and the fact that he is eating any food we leave out while we are gone, he's staying in the kennel while we are gone. I can't even trust him in the kitchen because he might chew up the cupboards in there. I felt bad about locking him in his kennel this AM, but he'll survive.

Paige is pretty much night potty trained now too! She wakes up early around (5-6am) to pee and announces "I stayed dry!!!" It's exciting, but not at 5am. Saturday night she woke Mike up at 12:30 am, 2:30 am, 5 and 6 am to pee. I must have been in a coma because I didn't hear any of it. Kinda worries me a little that I sleep so heavily.

We need to get a bed for Paige. She's in her crib with one side rail taken off and has been refusing to sleep in there, and is sleeping on the floor. Not a big deal, but her room is so small, that you can hardly walk in it with all her blankets, pillows and stuffed animals on the floor. We have 2 twin beds in our spare room and are debating if we should just pull one of them into her room, or buy her a double bed. We're thinking about buying a futon for the basement so company can sleep down there. I'd really like to decorate her room something cute and funky, but I don't know how. I like pink and brown together and want something that will last her a while. Any ideas ya yas?

OK, must get back to work. Hugs and kisses!!!!

I'm Grateful List

Inspired by Elisa, here goes:
1. Paige
2. Mike
3. Duke
4. my parents
5. my sister
6. my friends
7. my cozy little house
8. my ya yas
9. Weight Watchers
10. Tax refund
11. Coffee
12. My wonderful daycare provider

Off to pick up #1 from #12!

Four Things

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Fitness Supervisor 2. Health Educator (current) 3. Babysitter 4. Cashier at a store

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. Top Gun
2. Pretty Woman
3. Old School
4. Remember the Titans

C) Four places I have lived:
1. Oconto Falls
2. Hortonville
3. Clintonville
4. Racine

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Desperate Housewives
2. Friends
4. Amazing Race
5. Any MTV "reality" show

E) Four places I have been on vacation
1. Panama City Beach
2. Door County, WI
3. Jamaica
4. Caymen Islands

F) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chocolate
2. Cereal
3. Chocolate
4. Cereal

H) Four places I would like to be right now:
1. Home vegging out
2. Somewhere warm
3. Somewhere with yummy chocolate!
4. Shopping with someone else's Credit Card :)

I) Four friends I think will respond:
My choices have all done it already :)

Monday

So AF came over the weekend which chapped my ass. Almost a week late...grrr. I started charting with fertilityfriend.com on Saturday. I'm using Paige's digital thermometer for the time being, I'll buy a BBT one off of ebay soon.

I ended up emailing my mom's group organizer the other night expressing my concerns, and she emailed back right away. She was very nice about it and agreed that it is a group for all moms and that the question was not meant to single out SAHM. So they changed it to some question about why did you choose the path you did (working, staying home, etc.) I was the only one that responded, but oh well! I did what I thought was best.

We had a really fun weekend. 2 of the movie theatres in Green Bay have kids movies playing every Saturday morning from mid-January to mid-March for only $2.50 per person so we met some friends there who have a dd 6 weeks younger than Paige to see Open Season. Paige LOVED it! It was her first time in a movie theatre and she was glued to the screen! She didn't fuss or squirm at all, she laughed and giggled the whole time, it was so cute. So we are definitely going back! This weekend is Flushed Away. I'm going to try to find a preview of it online to see if it's appropriate for a 2 year old.

On Sunday there was a free day at the Building for Kids in Appleton, about an hour away from me, but close to my parent's house. We met them for church and lunch, then to the museum. We got there right during Paige's normal nap time so she was kinda cranky at first, but then ended up having a great time. It was an absolute nuthouse there though since it was a free day. She ended up crashing about 30 seconds after we strapped her in the car. We stopped at Walmart on the way home; I ran in and Mike stayed in the car with her. Then we ate at her favorite restaurant on the way home. Got home in time for bath and bedtime and we watched Desperate Housewives. That show has gotten a little strange for me. Not a fan of the Zack Young story line, we just want Gabby and Carlos to get back together!

As I was walking out of Walmart I ran into my old college roomate, her hubby and Ds. I hadn't seen her in probably 9 or 10 years, it was CRAZY!!!! They live in Green Bay and their DS is only a month older than Paige and she's preggo with #2. We exchanged email addresses, so hopefully we'll get together soon so Paige can have another playmate.

I want to be pregnant so bad! We were at a potluck dinner with my mom's group on Thursday night and Paige was just loving on one of the mom's 8 month old baby girl, Ava. It made me ache watching her. I want to give her a sibling so much and I'm just kicking myself wondering why we didn't start sooner. I almost cried looking at her baby pictures this weekend with her.

Well I better get some work done here. I slept in until 9am, so I got in very late and haven't done a thing yet!

My Mom's Group

I'm seriously pissed right now and tempted to email our organizer about this.

So on the message board there is a thread that has a question of the week. This week's question is why did you decide to be a SAHM? WTF???? I thought this was a group for all moms, not just SAHMs. Basically the responses range from I couldn't imagine leaving them with someone else, I love being there for every milestone that I couldn't see if I worked FT, I couldn't imagine leaving my kids with someone else all day, etc. But this one takes the cake: I think MOST people respect me for staying home with my kids, and SOME people are jealous, because they send their children to day care.

I LOVE my daycare provider and feel blessed that we were able to find her, she takes such good care of Paige. I trust her completely.

Would you be mad? Any advice ya yas? This is supposed to be a group for all moms, even though the majority are SAHMs. Should I post that not all of us are SAHMs? I just think this is almost a slap in the face. There is NOTHING wrong with being a proud working mama and sending my daughter to daycare! I could just cry right now.

Hormones aren't helping. AF was due on Sunday, and every HPT I've taken has been BFN, and there have been a lot, and a few taken right away in the morning. It's like come on already, shit or get off the pot. I don't feel pregnant, but I don't have ANY AF symptoms.

I'm tired. Off to bed.

Recent Pictures

My baby is getting so grown up looking! I got a wild hair up my ass this weekend to start taking some pictures as I realized we've been slacking in that department lately. So here goes....

Her favorite purple outfit ($5 clearance at Walmart!)





Paige and Mama:




Playing Dress Up at a Friend's House:



Paige and Daddy before church on Sunday:


"Hugging" Duke:






My family:


CHEEEEESE!:


Dancing with Daddy:


Wearing her Halloween costume YESTERDAY:

Brrrrr

We headed for a major cold spell here. Highs around 0-5 for the next week. Damn I hate this cold weather. We have some snow so I'd love to take Paige out to play in it, but not when it's 0 degrees.

Weight Watchers is going pretty well. I've lost 9 pounds since I started back up in late November. I've been eating the Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine meals for lunch and still having my fruit smoothies for breakfast. Trying to find the energy to exercise at night is the hard part. I will not exercise in the morning, that's just not me.

Paige has been waking up around 5:45 am this week which is starting to get old. Luckily I can still sleep until around 6:20 am or so while Mike gets ready and Paige watches cartoons. Then I dress her, put her hair up and Mike takes her to the sitter's. It's WONDERFUL getting ready in a quiet house! She's starting to eat a little better. She'll actually try the food I make for supper now, it takes ALOT of prodding, but she'll at least try it. Most of the time she actually likes it and eats more of it.

Work is very busy, I'm spread so thin throughout so many different programs I'm wondering how I'm going to actually accomplish anything. Job security, like Mike says.

Random bitch here: on my mom's group message board there is a thread asking what our husbands or significant others do for a living. Most of them are SAHMs and have responded about how hard their husbands work so that they can stay home. That has really rubbed me the wrong way because Mike works SO HARD at his job, but it just doesn't pay enough for me to SAH, not that I'd really want to anyway. I mean, how many of those guys bust their butts in freezing cold weather and horrible snowstorms, and then 90 degree heat to make deliveries? Not many. If he worked for UPS I could stay home, but he makes about half of what an UPS guy makes. Just because I work outside of the home doesn't mean my husband isn't a good provider or hard worker; I'm making the choice to work to benefit my entire family. OK, will get off of my soapbox.

I can't believe it's February already! Easter will be here before we know it. I've been searching ebay for an Easter dress but haven't found any I like. I'm being really picky this year. I've gotten her Easter dresses from ebay and they've always been cute, but I don't absolutely LOVE them. Trying to find the perfect one this year.

OK off to work. Have a good day ya yas!!!

I'll Play I'll Play

1. FIRST NAME. Sara

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? A few weekends ago at Ma and Pa's...had a big family discussion. Nothing bad just got some stuff out

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? it's ok

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? turkey

6. KIDS? Princess Paige will be 3 in May

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yea Im a cool cat I think (me too Susan!)

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Just this blog

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? probably too much

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Nope

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Hell no !

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Cinnamon Toast Crunch...YUM, but not WW friendly

13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope, I'm lazy

14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Hell yeah, I survived childbirth!!! Yes, emotionally and physically fairly strong

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Chocolate chocolate and more chocolate

16. SHOE SIZE? 11 (Hey, I'm 5'10"!)

17. RED OR PINK? Depends

18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? my post-baby belly

19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Probably my grandpa, wish he could've been around to see Paige

20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Don't matter I love these no matter what

. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Light tan cords, brown shoes, maroon t-shirt, and chocolate brown hoodie.

22.WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? a Smart Ones meal, yogurt and baked chips

23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My fan cooling me off because it's about 80 degrees in my office

24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Blue or pink

25. What is your FAVORITE SMELL? Coffee, Paige with lotion on right after a bath

26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Someone who made a car seat appointment

27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Height

28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes :)

29. Favorite drink? COFFEE

30. FAVORITE SPORT? College basketball...Go Wisconsin Badgers!!

31. EYE COLOR? Blue

32 DO YOU EMBRACE THE NEW TECHNOLOGY? Sort of

33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes, I'm blind without them

34. FAVORITE FOOD? Junk food

35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy

36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I don't even know..isn't that depressing?

37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Maroon shirt, brown hoodie

38. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer if it's not too hot

39. HUGS OR KISSES? Either

40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Any kind

41. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? All yaya's likely will do this, we're freaks.

42. Least LIKELY TO RESPOND? Susan cause I already read hers.

43. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Just started up with my Catholicism for Dummies again

44. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? a black one with some message about mammography

45. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? part of a rerun of Desperate Housewives...was VERY upset that it was a re-run

46. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Silence

47. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Either

48. THE FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Panama City Beach for Spring Break 10 years ago!!!!

49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Yes, I'm super cool

50. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? 1976 in Appleton Wisconsin

Tuesday Blahs

Ugh, I have a nice shirt on today and I just looked down and realized I spilled coffee on it. A great way to start my Tuesday! Damn cheap travel mug.

Well we are all feeling much better which is great. It took Mike a long time to kick it, but he still went pheasant hunting with some buddies this weekend. I took Paige to my parents and it was a long weekend. My sister was there too and we fought all weekend. It's extremely frustrating that I'm 30 years old, have a successful career, a wonderful husband and child, and my sister makes me feel like I'm a kid again, and we fight like we always did growing up. I love her a lot, but jeez louise that girl drives me nuts.

I escaped Saturday to shop and make a bunch of returns. I had to return stuff to Walmart, Target, Kohls, and Joann Fabrics. Of course I ended up spending money at each place except Joann's. I got Paige a couple of pairs of 4T pants THAT FIT HER!!! I can't believe how fast she keeps growing. I hit the jackpot at Old Navy for Mike. They had a bunch of men's pants on clearance and then 50% off the clearance price, so I got hime 6 pairs of pants! One pair was $5.74 and the rest were $9.99. WHO HOO!!! He needed pants really badly so I hope they all fit him. He seemed to like them all, he just hasn't tried them on yet. I also got him (well and me too) 4 long sleeved t-shirts at this outlet store near my parents house, buy one for $5, and the 2nd is half off. SCORE!! I also got myself this hoodie that I might end up returning: http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=26196&pid=480441
I might exchange it for the dark chocolate brown one. Knowing me, I'll spill food all over the white one and stain it.

I also got the official "mom of a toddler uniform": the velour tracksuit. Here it is: http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=26198&pid=400799
http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=26198&pid=400830

I got them in the bead blue color. I really like the pink one too. And get this, I got them specificially for my mom's group get-togethers! They are so comfortable.

Our other big news is that Paige picked out four packages of big girl underwear on Friday! She had so much fun. I laid out like 8 different packages and told her she could pick 4 and she was so good about it. She got Dora, Little Mermaid, Little Pony and Disney Princesses. We of course had to make a big deal about it and she loved showing them off to my parents and to Mike. She's such a big girl! She is doing so good with the potty. I'm so proud of her!

Alright, time to start getting some work done. Hugs and kisses ya yas!

Videos

Wanted to share a few of these with you girls.

Shoveling (yes that's me talking in the background, and yes I sound nasal-y, that's how Wisconsinites talk!)



Eating chili:


Christmas Eve:


Hope you can view these!

Update on the Yuckies

Thanks to all my ya yas who made my day by posting 6 comments on my yuckie blog. You girls really cheered me up!

Anyway, I'm back at work and just got done meeting with my boss so my to do list is as long as my arm. Not cool.

We are both feeling better. Mike is still not 100%, but I'm just fine now. Stubborn old mule never did take Immodium and he's feeling it. I'm still a little PO'd that he told me he did, but whatever, if he wants to poop every 5 minutes instead of chewing up 2 tablets, it's his problem, not mine.

I have a mom's night out with my playgroup tonight at an Atlanta Bread Company so that should be fun. It's called "Ask Anything Over Coffee" and we're going to write down questions anonymously about any subject and we'll answer them. Should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow is a lunch at one of the mom's houses so I have to figure out something to bring and make it tonight.

Paige is still in full-on drama queen mode but I'm feeling better that we are not alone. Susan, I told Mike that Jenna tells you that you hurt her feelings and we both got a good chuckle out of that, but in a nice way. It was more like thank God Paige doesn't do that!

I'm going to my parent's house for the weekend after the mom's lunch tomorrow. Paige will have to miss her nap, but Grandma and Grandpa should be able to handle her just fine. I'm sure she'll be her usual angelic self at their house; she's a total angel for them and a hellion for me. Drives me nuts. We're going to stop somewhere on the way and let her pick out some of her own big girl underwears as she calls them. I would love it if they made Cars underwear for little girls, but I doubt it.

I ate leftover soup that I made last night and a banana for lunch with a Diet Mountain Dew. Aren't I healthy? I think I've already gotten my fruit intake for the day with my raspberry-banana smoothie and a banana for lunch. The soup had veggies in it too.

Off to tackle my to-do list. An hour and a half and I'm outta here for the weekend. WHO HOO!!!!

Yuckies

So the stomach bug has hit our house yet again. I started with it around 10pm last night. I puked once, and had the runs about 100 times. Luckily the Immodium finally kicked in and I haven't pooped all day. TMI, I know, but tough! I took Paige to the sitters and stayed home from work. I slept most of the day, and am feeling much better. Unfortunately, Mike called around 4:45pm on his way home from work and said he has the same thing I have. Great. I was still feeling pretty weak and out of it when we called so I was wondering how I was going to take care of Paige and bathe her since it's her bath night. But I started to slowly feel better and toughed it out. Poor guy had the poops for a while and then passed out a few hours ago. He has the chills really bad and looks terrible. I hate it when he's sick.

Paige has been very difficult to handle lately. This sounds terrible but she has turned into such a crybaby. Today I grabbed her hat and mittens out of her cubby at the sitter's, turn around to put them on her and she's bawling her head off because she wanted to get them. UGH!!!!! So she cried the whole time I got her jacket and stuff on, the way out to the car and the whole way home. She asks for something, I say no, she asks for it again like she didn't even hear me say no, I say no a little (OK, a lot) more firmly and she busts out crying. It's constant and it's starting to get really really really old.

On a happier note, we finally joined the rest of the world and have high speed internet!!! WHO HOO!!! We got it installed on Friday and are LOVING it! I can actually upload pictures and send them out from home instead of putting them on a CD and sending from work. Ah, the little things.

AF came with a vengence over the weekend which really chapped my ass. Old bitch came like 3-4 days early which is super annoying when we're ttc and my cycles are getting shorter and shorter. AF when not on birth control really sucks the big one.

OK, off to check on my sick hubby and then hit the hay. Hugs and kisses to my ya yas!

TheMany Meanings of PMS

Another good email!

The many meanings of P-M-S:

1. P ass M y Shotgun


2.P sychotic M ood S hift


3.P erpetual M unching S pree


4. P uffy M id- S ection


5.P eople M ake me S ick


6.P rovide M e with S weets


7. P ardon M y S obbing


8 Pimples M ay S urface


9. P ass M y S weatpants


10.P issy M ood S yndrome


11.P lainly; M en S uck


12. P ack M y S tuff


.and my favorite one..




13.

P otential M urder S uspect

And as an example

Q: How many women with PMS does it take to change a light bulb?

A: One!!! ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY?


Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb!



They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!!



They'd sit there in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out!!



And, once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the light bulbs despite the fact they've been in
the SAME CUPBOARD for the past 13 YEARS!



But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find the bulbs 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to
stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!!



AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE STUPID LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!!



BECAUSE NO ONE EVER CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!!!!



IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!!



IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS DAMNED HOUSE!


I'm sorry.



What was your question?

10 Things to Ponder in 2007

Got this in an email and it's hilarious!

TEN THINGS TO PONDER FOR 2007

10.Life is sexually transmitted.

9.Good health is merely the slowest rate at which one can die.

8. Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

7. Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

6. Some people are like a slinky... not really good for anything,but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

5. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital dying of nothing.

4. All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

3. Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars, and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?

2. In the 60's, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.


AND THE NUMBER ONE THOUGHT FOR 2007:

We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America , but we haven't a clue as to where thousands of Illegal immigrants and Terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration.

Pajamas and Potty Training

So I just finished another pair of PJ's for my sister's birthday and sent them out today. They are so cute, I wish I would've made them in my size! I hope she likes them, I think she will.

Paige is off of the pullups now and only wearing cotton training pants! I want to take her shopping sometime to let her pick out her own big girl panties. She's staying dry during her naps, but still wears a diaper to bed. I think nighttime training is going to take a while, but I'm so excited at how well she's doing!

My dad's trial is now delayed until JUNE!!!! UGH!!!! I guess it's ok, because they are combining the two charges into one trial so we only have to go through this crap once. I just can't believe how slowly our legal system works. It will be a year and 3 months after the first charges by the time the trial starts.

Christmas and New Year's were so hectic with all the traveling so we are glad to be home. Christmas involved a lot more travel, on Christmas Eve, we went to 5 or 6 different houses and church. We spent New Year's weekend up north with Mike's family so it wasn't as much running around. Saturday at his moms, Sunday at his dad's and we got home on Monday afternoon. Paige did so well at all the places, she was very well behaved and did so good with the potty training. She didn't make a fuss about going in all these different places and didn't have an accident. She held up better than I did! She got quite a few presents so Mike and I spent last week Tuesday (a day off for both of us) cleaning out the clutter. Paige went to the sitter's so we packed up a bunch of old toys, moved her upstairs toys into the basement and kept her new toys in her room. We also took the changing table out of her room and it looks so much bigger now! We finally set up all that dolly stuff that we got her in the basement and made Paige her own little pretend house area. Her play kitchen, the dolly stuff, a pretend cleaning cart, a Little Tikes mailbox and a table and 2 chairs are all in a corner in the basement. She LOVES it! And I love not having her play kitchen and other toys in the living room! I actually have a toy free living room! It rules!!!! Well except for her art supplies box that we keep on a shelf in the entertainment center, but I can handle that.

I got a + ovulation predictor last week so Mike and I got after it. My boobs have been sore ever since and I have been a real bitch to everyone around me. I also almost puked when Paige pooped one day and normally it doesn't bother me that much. So of course I'm hopeful, but this 2 week wait is KILLING me!! I can't believe I have to wait another week to know. Grrrrr.....

I got a Magic Bullet for Christmas which is something I've been dying for ever since I saw the infomercial for it! I made a strawberry-banana smoothie today for breakfast and it was so yummy. I felt so healthy having 2 kinds of fruit for breakfast. It was a nice morning because Mike took Paige to Sandi's so I could get ready in peace and quiet. I think we might have to make that a permanent thing.

OK, yayas tell me if you're a good driver. Check out this website: http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf

It's a good waste of time!

Hugs and kisses!

Christmas Pictures

Ok, back at work today and trying to catch up from being gone for almost 2 weeks so a Christmas report will have to wait, but I want to post some (ok, alot) of pictures. Here goes:

Breakfast with Santa (a month ago):






Making an ornament at the Breakfast:




My Mom's Group Holiday Party:


The Bike that MIL gave her:


Christmas Eve:


Cars Sleeping Bag, Pillow and Lamp (her favorites!)


Christmas Day:


Shoveling:








More Bike Pix:






Sledding at MIL's:




Opening presents at FIL's:
(I look TERRIBLE, but I didn't feel like fixing myself up)

Playing with cats at FIL's:







FIL's dog:


PHEW!!! It was a very busy Christmas and we went to ALOT of people's houses. Next year, we are staying home. Paige held up very well, probably better than me, but we are relieved to be home!

Busy Busy

I know I'm a huge slacker and I must update this more often so here goes. This will be totally random as the thoughts come to my head.

I'm so sick of making pajamas I want to shove them up someone's ass. I finished a pair for my sitter Sunday night and right away started on my sister's pants. I made good progress on hers until my sewing machine had enough. I started acting funky and after three attempts I said fuck it and went to bed.

I have about 6 presents left to wrap and no room for them under my tree. We wedged the tree in between the couch and loveseat in our tiny living room so there is no room for presents and I don't want to making watering the tree even more difficult by forcing the waterer to move a crapload of presents. The presents are of course all for Paige.

BIL is so rude and cheap. We've exchanged presents with him and SIL and their 2 daughters. Well a couple of years ago we decided to only exchange for our kids and not the adults. Fine by me, less money to spend. So we always go out and buy nice presents that their kids will like and he sends us crap from his cheap gift closet. This year he went over the edge. He told us the 7 year old likes Polly Pockets and the 3 year old likes puzzles. So after one of my moms get togethers I made a point to go to Target (at like 9pm) and spend about 30 minutes trying to pick the best PP and puzzles. I wrapped them, packaged them, and took Paige with me on Friday to mail them. Was Mike involved in any of this?!?!? NO!!!!! AND IT'S HIS GODDAMN FAMILY!!!!! In the meantime, the BIL calls Mike and asks if Paige likes Dora and Mike goes "stop right there BIL I know exactly where you're going with this and no she doesn't need the Dora roller skates or scooter that are on amazon.com for $5 a piece" Mike had seen them on amazon.com and knew BIL did to. So we get a package yesterday for them and Paige insists on opening it and guess what's in there? GODDAMN F'ING DORA ROLLER SKATES!!!!!!!!!! Mike wasn't home yet so I called him up and gave him an earful while Paige whined and yelled for me to open them up. I'm THIS CLOSE to sending them back to BIL and telling him we're not exchanging presents anymore at all. I'm so sick of spending my time and money and putting thought into nice presents that his girls will want and we get crap from them. A few years ago while the adults still exchanged presents we got BIL a $25 GC to Home Depot and SIL a $25 to Target and we got some piece of shit picnic basket that we'll never use. And BIL had the nerve to say he wasn't sure who to give that to but figured we get the most use out of it. I wanted Mike to call BIL yesterday and tell him we're not exchanging for the girls anymore but he's such a puss that he refuses to do that. Christ we got more thoughtful gifts from our friends on Saturday; a Little People movie (Paige LOVES those movies!) and a Little Einsteins sweatshirt with Paige's name embroidered on it because their little 2 y/o likes Little Einsteins. I just want those damn roller skates out of my house. Who sends a 2 1/2 year old roller skates anyway?!?! UGH!!!

OK that's out of my system...what else? Oh of course PAIGE IS POTTY TRAINING!!!!! On Friday she saw her stickers on the calendar for pooping on the potty and decided she wanted to pee on the potty. I stuck her on and she went!!! She's even gone on public toilets!!!! She's had a few accidents, but that's to be expected. She's been telling us that she has to go, but we ask too. She only wears diapers at night and has been wearing the cotton training pants with the thick crotch during the day. Sometimes pullups during nap or if we're going for a car ride. I'M SO EXCITED AND PROUD OF HER!!! She peed 5 times at her sitter's yesterday and had a good long pee at our house right before we left this morning. My baby is wearing panties!! It's crazy!!!

WW is going OK. I lost 8 pounds the first week, but haven't lost any the past 2 weeks. I'm definitely eating better, but still too many sweets. That damn cookie exchange was bad news. I have way too many sweets in my house. I sent about half of them with Mike to work and I think I'll have to send more. I'm exercising as often as I can and keeping in touch with my mom.

I'm supposed to get AF Thursday or Friday and having been taking HPT's since last week Friday and they are all of course coming back BFN. Sometimes I think I'm PG and then other times not so much.

I have a cold and my nose is so stuffy. I'm blowing it constantly and it's not helping. I'm stealing Paige's humidifier tonight to help me sleep.

Dad's trial is in a month and I have so many mixed emotions. I want it to be done and over with, but then I want to go back in time and spend more time with him because what if he's taken away from us. It's going to be a hard Christmas, we'll all be wondering if it's his last one with us. Of course we all know he's innocent, but will a jury of his peers think so?

Off to meet with a co worker. Hugs and kisses!

Merry Christmas!

A cute "card" for my ya yas!
http://badaboo.free.fr/merryxmas.swf

Been a Long Time

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last blogged. I have good intentions of keeping up, but work and home has been so busy, the time is flying by so fast!!!!

Last Friday I was on my way to a mom's group meetup and ended up in the ditch on the exit ramp about 5 minutes away from the place we were meeting. I've never gone in the ditch before so I was like "uh, now what?" Mike wasn't answering his personal cell, and my parents weren't home. I debated calling 911 but thought I'd sound stupid, so I called Spee Dee Delivery's main office because Mike has a work cell that only Spee Dee can call into. They hooked me up to his phone as he was battling a major snowstorm, bad roads and unplowed parking lots. He thought someone died so he was actually quite relieved when I told him I was in the ditch and a little bit like "what do you want me to do?" But luckily he had a Green Bay phone book with him and gave me a couple of tow truck numbers. The tow truck was there in less than 10 minutes, and as I was waiting for him, a cop shows up. I was like, oh shit, and tried to blow him off and hint that he should leave, not realizing he had to write a report. Duh. So after I'm pulled out, he writes me a warning. Not a big deal. Unfortunately, I looked at the bottom of the exit ramp and I see a mom from my group in her minivan that plowed over a stoplight. Luckily, her and her 2 kids were just fine. Paige and I were both fine too. There's very little damage to the front end of the car; we're not even going to get it repaired. And thank you to the portable DVD player inventor!!! Paige didn't make a peep the whole time because she was so engrossed in Blues Clues! A few times she'd tell me to "go Mama" and then "Mama's stuck in the edge" her word for ditch, but other than that she didn't whine or get cranky and stayed in her car seat the whole time!

On Saturday morning we went to a breakfast with Santa thing at our church. It was so fun! Paige sat in Santa's lap and snuggled right into him for pictures! We snapped only about 100 or so. She wouldn't really talk much, but sat there like such a good girl. Then we made a snowflake ornament and she got her face painted. We also bought some homemade candy and books. It was really fun. We didn't really do much the rest of the day.

Sunday we went to church and then grocery shopping and then home. Watched the Packers suck it up again. Paige woke up from her nap, came out in the hallway and announced "I awake" with rosy cheeks and wild hair. It was so darn cute! After her nap we ran back out to the place where we got our Christmas tree and bought a few more soy candles.

I have been sewing like a madwoman! I finished my mom's jammies and have the shirt done for step MIL, just need to start on her pants. Luckily pants are easy. I'm for sure making one more pair for my sitter and one for my sister. I might wait and give my sister her pair for her birthday in January just to give me more time.

I've been doing WW again the past week. My parents and I had a long talk on Thanksgiving where they told me how concerned they were about my weight and I confessed how out of control my eating was. So I've been tracking my points and trying to exercise almost every day. I email my mom my progress every night to keep me accountable. If she doesn't hear from me for 2 nights, she calls to check on me. I need someone constantly monitoring me. It hit me not too long ago that I've been eating and shopping compulsively to help me deal with this crap with my dad.

So the exercising, sewing, WW points entering, and emails every day have been keeping me busy at night! Plus Paige doesn't go to bed until around 8:30pm, so my time at night is limited. I haven't been getting to bed until around 11pm and then sleeping until 6:30am which has made me late for work for the past few months. Luckily no one has said anything to me about it.

Happy St. Nick's Day everyone! We're not doing it in our house this year, but probably next year.