Thursday, June 28, 2007

Catching Up

Hello my old friend, Blog! It's been entirely too long! So many things... There is a family of owls that is living in the woods behind our house. Nightly, around 8:00, the four of them (sometimes five) come to roost in the big tree in our neighbor's backyard. The long branches extend out over our yard and so the owls are right there, in plain view! They hang out on the ground in our backyard, jump on the lid of the turtle sandbox, drink the water that has collected in the empty kiddie pool and chirp back and forth to one another as they move from here to there. They sit on the wires that go from the telephone pole to our neighbor's house, in the little Bradford Pear tree on the side of their carport, hop around on the roofs of both of our houses, and generally make themselves perfectly known to anyone who cares to notice them. They're funny to watch, too, because when they see us, they don't immediately fly off - they stick around, twisting their heads in unnatural ways and staring at us with their intense eyes. It's quite a show they put on every night. One of these nights I'll have to see if I can get the digital camera out there (when it has batteries that work) and take some still photos. I've managed to get a shaky video of one of them - Hubby says I must have taken videoing lessons from my younger brother. (He's referring to the shaky video my brother took at our wedding - which we both fondly call "The Blair Witch Wedding Video." Sorry Bro, you know I love you!) Ok...enough about owls. I had a jewelry party the other night. I sent out 40 (plus) invitations, both physical and verbal. I had two people show up. My poor jewelry lady. If I had known it would be that small I would have cancelled it and she could have quietly nursed her sore back alone without having company! I probably should have cancelled it anyway as no one seemed all that interested in the first place. I really dislike it when I'm excited about something (a product, a situation, whatever...) and no one else really cares or wants to hear about it. The entire thing was extremely disappointing. I had close friends and family apologize for not being able to come, and they're the only ones who even called to say they weren't coming! The rest said, "Yeah, I'll try to come..." and that was the last I heard. (I wonder what happened to the concept of an RSVP?) It's OK though. I'm not discouraged. I like this jewelry quite enough to keep bugging people to come to the parties I will continue to have. The car situation hasn't changed too much. I finally got my car back on Friday last week and it seems to be running just fine. Now that we've spent so much $$ fixing my car, we're going to try to replace Hubby's wagon. We'll see how that goes. The house situation hasn't changed too much, either. I don't really want to talk about that right now because I might cry for being so frustrated. The kids are doing well. Kiddo is lately refusing to go to sleep ("Mommy, I can't sleep!" or "Mommy, I don't know how to lie down!") and this always seems to escalate into a screaming fit that I can do nothing to fix except let him cry it out. The frustrating thing is that when he pulls this stunt, he usually winds up waking up Little Bit who is already asleep and then we've got TWO screaming babies. Ugh. Little Bit is growing like a weed. She's already rolling over - front to back is easy, back to front is a bit harder, but she can do it. She's teething, too. She spends most of her time gnawing on her hands or fingers or loudly requesting something else to suck on. She's drooling like a fiend and has been a bit fussier than normal. No fever. No real major issues. Just different. She still really likes her food and I can't wait for her doctor's appointment on July 14th to see how much she weighs. I'm guessing 14 lbs...? Then there's work. We're smack in the middle (well, at the end now) of Wellness Week that my friends in HR (AKP...I mean you!) have spent so much time putting together. I think it's going extremely well and I've heard much positive feedback from the folks on the floor. There's a Walking Club that we designed to get people up and moving. I attended a workshop on how to deal with the stress of change and an initial Weight Watchers meeting (yes, I can do Weight Watchers and breast feed, I just need to do it a bit differently to make sure that Little Bit doesn't miss out on anything.) The Weight Watchers meeting was quite inspiring and made me really want to get started. I am hoping there's enough interest to get them to come to our office and do it there. That would be extremely convenient and make me feel more accountable. Also, I found out that I have high cholesterol, and that my BMI is over what it should be. Again...more reason for Weight Watchers! I was not surprised my cholesterol is high, nor that my BMI is elevated - but having it there in front of me, in black and white, was a little distressing. I want to be around for my kids and so now I've got to start committing to something other than those Boston Cream Pies our cafeteria sells and the Coca Cola's. They've got Earth Fare (health food store) out doing demonstrations on healthy cooking. There have been healthy snacks and water floating around the entire week. We've had a massage therapist on site doing chair massage (and no, they didn't even ASK Hubby if he'd do it!!!). The Rush Fitness Center has been on site doing workshops on healthy living and getting people signed up for memberships. We've had smoking cessation workshops. I'm not going to continue...because the girls in HR have absolutely outdone themselves with this and I think they've done a fabulous job. Anyway - I guess I'm done for now. I'm sure I could go on forever. Hope everyone is doing well! TTFN JMS

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Sister Hannah (Originally posted June 13, 2007)

TRANSFERRED FROM IVILLAGE Most of you know, having read my blog for quite some time, that I usually don't use people's real names...I use initials or I make something up. This is one of those rare occasions when I'm going to use someone's real name - and I DARE her to give me a hard time about it! :) My sister, Hannah, lives in Florida - a state to which I have never been. She is getting married on July 27th to her long-time boyfriend, Kyle. I have never met Kyle, but from everything I've heard, he treats her like gold and absolutely adores her, which is good enough for me. I've spoken to him on the phone many times, but never actually met him. I think Kyle knows how close Hannah and I are, even though we haven't seen one another since I was married in '00, and he knows that if he treats her wrong, he and I will have words. Though they've been together as long as I've been married (just about) and I think they would have had problems by now, if they were going to have them at all. Hannah recently sent me a long e-mail telling me that she doesn't want to be 40 years old the next time we see one another, and said that she feels like we're drifting apart. I responded by telling her that we're not drifting apart - that we live in two different states, with many states in between, and neither one of us has the means to visit the other right now. I know she loves me and she knows I love her and that's enough. Life happens, you know? You get a job that you have to go to every day, and have bills that need to be paid and can't be paid if you don't go to your job. It's a vicious circle, but that's just the way things are. Also, pets are hard to pawn off on someone while you take a trip. .oO(I wonder what they'll do with their animals while they're on their honeymoon?) She shouldn't worry about us, though I think she thinks she doesn't really know me anymore. I have also encouraged her to start gift registries. I remember when I got married I was uncomfortable with the whole "registry" thing because I felt like I was asking people to buy stuff for me...and I was pretty sure she felt the same way. I explained that having a registry of things you REALLY like was better than people not knowing what to get you and getting you something you don't like. She took my word on it and started her registries. They're small, but they're a start and I think she has FABULOUS taste, if I do say so myself! Hannah - I just wanted to let you know how much I love and respect you. You've grown up to be an extremely beautiful person, inside and out and I am SO proud of you!!! Congratulations, sweetie! TTFN JMS PS: I just felt I had to share all that - sorry if it was a bit sappy and uninteresting, but it was important to me.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Bits-n-Pieces (Originally posted June 12, 2007)

TRANSFERRED FROM IVILLAGE So, speaking of negativity, someone threw a rock through the rear window of Hubby's Volvo Wagon night before last. It was parked on the street in front of our little house and someone thought it was great sport to drive down the street chucking rocks through car windows. We were not the only victims that night, but as my Mom Sandy so graciously put it, "Geez, Jen, you can't catch a break, can you?" (Um...no pun intended.) The busted window is covered by insurance, but we have a $100.00 deductible - so we'll have to pay that, but otherwise, it's covered. This is a good thing, because there is a rear defroster in that window and I can guarantee it would be quite expensive to replace if it weren't covered! Hubby spent about 3 hours working on the wagon last night - taking everything out of the back, vacuuming, taping up the broken window inside and out and generally attempting to put things right. The problem is, that there was glass throughout the entire vehicle and some of the things that he had in the wagon were things that we use frequently: the baby's play gym, Hubby's massage chair, our son's car seat, a bag full of extra diapers (which we tossed out for fear of splinters) and so on... We washed what we could and threw out what we had to. Kiddo was very good during this entire process. He sat in his booster seat, ate his dinner without protest, and watched most of Finding Nemo. I looked over at him right around 9:00 and he was practically falling asleep sitting up! After promising that he could finish watching "Nemo" tomorrow, he agreed to be led off to bed. Little Bit was mostly asleep this entire time. She nursed for a while then fell into a deep sleep about the time that Nemo gets captured and dumped in a tank. I carried her off to her bassinet and didn't hear from her until around 10:30 when she wanted to eat...again. She has a really good appetite, that one. So anyway - now we've got a vehicle with a busted rear window and a vehicle that needs to have the steering column replaced...again...because there's something wrong with the one that they just installed! Good grief, are we ever going to get ahead? But, even though things are still proving difficult in the vehicle world, the rest of the world seems OK today. I'm truly trying to maintain a positive outlook! TTFN JMS

Monday, June 11, 2007

A few of my favorite things... (Originally posted June 11, 2007)

TRANSFERRED FROM IVILLAGE There are quite a lot of negative things happening in my life right now. Upon reviewing my last post, I realized that I need to begin thinking of all the positive things in my life: things I like & things I love. So, without further ado and in no particular order: Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer Arbonne Intelligence Exfoliating Masque w/ Thermal Fusion Half.com Internet Movie Database VistaPrint I always love my son, but most especially when he gets a giggle fit and says, "Mommy, I can't stop laughing!" or when he yells, "Wait! I have to give you just one more hug before you leave!" as I'm walking out the door in the morning. Or those times (now few and far between) when he puts his head on my chest or tummy and simply lies there, listening, with his arms around me. (He did this last night after we read a story together and got a giggle fit because my tummy was making noises.) I always love my daughter, but most especially as she wakes up all warm and sleepy. She stretches herself out and then looks at me - and I can see the recognition in her eyes when she gives me the biggest grin! Or, when I hold her up in a standing position and she jumps up and down on her strong, chubby little legs, grinning and cooing. (Note to self: retrieve the "Johnny Jump Up" from basement and find a suitable doorframe.) I always love my husband, but especially on weekend mornings when I hear him, with our son, in the kitchen cooking breakfast and the sounds of, "Let me stir, Daddy!" followed by, "Don't stir so fast, son, you're slopping it all over the place!" and "Go tell mommy that breakfast is ready!" or when he leaves me a voice mail message at work reminding me that he loves me. Yes - I am definitely blessed by all these favorite things. It makes me realize that for all the negativity, there is so very much that is positive. TTFN JMS

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

We Soldier On (Originally posted June 6, 2007)

TRANSFERRED FROM IVILLAGE I don't know what to write. My sister (not Hannah) is in the hospital recovering from a failed suicide attempt and that has me in an emotional uproar. She's OK, but she's angry and sad. We're all feeling a little confused, and quite a bit hurt. I'm hoping that time and prayer will help her (and us) heal. My car is back in my posession, $600.00 later. I'm grateful to have it back, though, and thank B&TG for allowing us to use their truck. I'm having to borrow from Kiddo's account (he's richer than we are) in order to pay the mechanic. Our landlady hasn't cashed our rent check yet and so we've got to make sure there's money in there for when she does decide to cash it. I guess what I'm saying is that we're working on extremely low fundage these days and it's extremely difficult to function around an almost negative balance. Plus, we're trying to buy that house and after spending $1300.00 on my car in the last month, $350.00 on a home inspection, and a couple hundred dollars on something else I can't remember - we're out. We're done. I'm done. Oh - and we owe the IRS $1000 something!!! Our house is still a mess. I have a headache. What else can I complain about today? I think it's best I quit while I'm behind. TTFN JMS

Sunday, June 03, 2007

A Busy Day

It would be an understatement to say that today was a busy day. It started off a little rough as Kiddo was a bit difficult this morning and Little Bit was somewhat fussy. But, we finally got ourselves together and made it to church. Kiddo was supposed to "Move up" to the next level in Sunday School today, but today was also the first day we decided to leave Little Bit in the Nursery - and since Kiddo is used to the Nursery and used to his sister, he stayed there with her. We'll move him up next week. I was not too terribly worried about leaving her there because I knew the ladies would take great care of her - I mean, Kiddo always comes back OK, right? So with a few instructions and several kisses, I left my two babies in someone else’s care for an hour. I knew things would be fine and was pleasantly surprised to find that Little Bit had eaten her entire bottle and was sleeping peacefully in her car seat upon my return. Yay! Today is Trinity Sunday, and there was much discussion about blessing and the meaning of the word "Blessed." It was a good sermon, as it always is (I like our Pastor). The only problem was that there were several versions of "Amazing Grace" sung, played etc... The organist played it to open the services, there was a bagpiper that played it during prayer & reflection (the bagpipes sent me over the edge into a sobbing puddle of tears...) and it was played and sung again in hymn-form toward the end of the service. Needless-to-say, I was a miserable wreck and I'm sure I looked like I'd just lost my favorite Aunt or something; eyes all puffy & red with tear stains on my face. When church was over, we went home and ate some lunch and then Hubby drove Little Bit & me to our friend AH's house for her baby shower, while Hubby & Kiddo went to our friend GM's house for her son's 5th birthday party. The shower was lovely, and AH looked fabulous - as always. I was introduced to several members of her family and quite a few of her friends and everyone seemed so nice! Hubby and I put together a diaper bag with several necessities (Arbonne Baby Care products, Mylicon Drops, a receiving blanket, a couple burp cloths, some diapers, and some breast feeding necessities). We got her a diaper bag that her husband won't be embarrassed to carry - it's made by Jeep! I was very pleased with the way it came out, and I think it went over quite well. Hubby and Kiddo had a good time at the birthday party. We got Kiddo's little friend a Spiderman Action Figure and I think everyone had a blast running around. Kiddo came home sticky, sweaty and in a great mood - though definitely tired. (Another day with no nap, though. He didn't get one yesterday, either, and was in bed and sound asleep by 7:00. We didn't hear from him until around 7:00 this morning!) Then, Hubby came back to the baby shower, picked me up, and we went to B&TG's house to borrow their truck again so I can get to work tomorrow without Hubby having to play Taxi. We stayed there for about an hour so Kiddo and SG could play for a while. Oh...and something else that happened today. Little Bit rolled over all by herself! She was getting some "tummy time" at the baby shower and just holding her little head up and kicking her feet...having a great ol' time - and the next thing we knew, she was on her back! At first, I thought that one of the ladies there had turned her over, but when she did it again minutes later, it was obvious that Little Bit had done it all by herself! I'm so proud of her! She'll be 3 months old on the 8th (this coming Friday) and she's progressing like such a little champ! She can do baby push-ups and hold herself there, looking around, for so long I'm amazed she doesn't get tired. She was so happy and good this entire day. She was even laughing at something (have yet to figure out exactly what it was that made her laugh, but we think it was probably one of the gift bags at the shower that had lots of really colorful polka dots). Ah...the joys of parenting. Today was definitely busy...but it was a good day. TTFN, JMS

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Ah...the weekend! (Originally posted June 2, 2007)

TRANSFERRED FROM IVILLAGE 5PM Friday Afternoon could not have come soon enough. I'm fighting a sinus...something...and it's started to move its merry way into my upper chest. That's always great for an asthmatic. I'm able to take Tylenol Cold, which seems to help, but because I'm still breast feeding Little Bit, I can't take it continually - only when I really need it. I'm also able to take Benedryl and nomally, when I take it, it knocks me flat on my you-know-what, but this time (Wednesday night) it made me feel worse and kept me up all night. Thursday passed in a bit of a fog and I felt awful. Oh...and let me tell you what else happened on Thursday! My car broke! I got into it on Thursday AM with both kids, and drove all the way to our sitter's house in Knoxville (approx. 14 miles from home). I pulled into her driveway, parked the car, turned the car off and got everybody and everything out of the car and into the sitter's house. After getting everyone settled, I got back into the car to go to work and nothing happened. The ignition was locked and so the key would not turn at all. The gear shift was stuck. The break was frozen. The wheel wouldn't turn. I knew of one trick that we'd found out years ago when we first got the car, which was supposed to unstick the gear shift - but even that wouldn't work for me. I called Hubby, who gallantly came to my rescue even though he was supposed to be going to work. Eventually, Hubby brought me to work, we had the car towed to our mechanic (14 miles back home), and it turns out that the ignition housing was broken and to fix it, the entire steering column needs to be replaced. Ugh. Now, I'm trying to figure out where the $$ is going to come from to pay for it. Our friends offered us their truck to use while the car is in the shop so I was able to get to and from work on Friday without Hubby having to taxi me back and forth. (Oh...and I love driving that truck - it's big and burly and black, and makes other's think twice about cutting me off!!) Anyway - it's the weekend now, thank God! I still feel lousy, and Hubby has to work today (only 2 massages, though, so he won't be gone all day) and I think I might try to take the kids down to the park for a while. I'll play that one by ear, though. OK...I guess I am done for now. Hope all is well with everyone! TTFN, JMS

Friday, June 01, 2007

New and yet...not (Originally posted June 1, 2007)

TRANSFERRED FROM IVILLAGE Quite a few of you are familiar with my blog at Live Journal. You'll notice that I haven't posted in many, many days due to the fact that I cannot access the Live Journal site from my office anymore (those darn IT guys!) and I do not have time to post anything while I'm at home (those darn kids!). I usually can spend about 15 minutes during my lunch break and post something on a daily basis - when I can access the blog site. That being said, I'm trying to find a place that I can keep up with my journal regularly and I'm hoping that iVillage will be that place. I miss my journal when I can't update it and I have such a difficult time re-entering the "blogging" world after being on hiatus for so long. It's almost as if so much has happened, and I've got so much to say, that I would rather just let it go and not do it at all. How lazy is that? Speaking of lazy, I'm guessing that laziness is the likely culprit for my house looking the way it does. Again, the few of you who are familiar with my writings will know that at my house, the laundry is never finished, the dishes are always dirty, and there is always a wet towel somewhere that it should not be. There are miniature cars & miniature socks under the couch, raisins stuck to the floor, and sippy cups (with half their contents) under my son's bed & in our cars. We keep the diaper companies in business, the trash men on the payroll, the recycle truck running, and I'm sure that Kleenex most definitely appreciate our regular contributions. Our house is chaotic. There's me (Mom), Hubby (Dad), Kiddo (Son, 3 years) and Little Bit (Daughter, 3 months)...oh, and the dog, too. We've managed to fit ourselves, and everything that goes with us, in a 760 sq. ft. house. It's tight, we have no storage, and we're constantly on top of one another which leads to more arguments than are probably necessary - but somehow, we make it work. Our cars are not new, and are in need of constant upkeep, but they're paid for. Basically, we're just a normal family of four (and the dog) trying to make ends meet. I am forever reminding myself that we are blessed. We love one another. We are gainfully employed, though we don't make a lot of money. We have two beautiful children who amaze us and bless us in their own way. We have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and clothes on our backs. In fact, we're very wealthy. So whenever I start to complain about my house being a disaster, my car being broken, my kids acting up, my husband leaving the toilet seat up or putting the TP roll on UNDER instead of OVER, I need to remember that I have a house, and a car, and that my children are healthy and smart and ready to learn, and that my husband actually replaces the TP roll to begin with! If only everyone could be so lucky... TTFN, JMS