Snowy Day Pictures

View of the Front Porch
















One of the hills created by the neighbor plowing. The plow guy is supposed to show up here soon, then the hill will get bigger. I tried sliding down it with Isabel earlier - didn't work out so well. The snow was too squishy.















View looking off the front porch


















Just thought this was a nice picture. I had to use the "snow" feature on my camera. I think it worked nicely.













The glider UNDER the carport. If it was outside the carport it would be covered a lot more. We still have a little snow coming down right now at 4:45pm.

What?

Another snow day! Woohoo! Although our snow plow guy never came yesterday. Our neighbor plowed part of our driveway for us. If we had to go somewhere I would be annoyed that the plow guy didn't come, but we didn't. He is actually saving us money because the deal is he can come plow anytime after 2 inches. Since we are around a foot of snow he could have come 6 times already, which would be $150 for us. But, he has not come at all. The other times he plowed it was after the snow was done.

I saw an advertisement in the paper for Seattle Sutton's Healthy Eating, which is just opening in the city north of us. I was hoping it was a new restaurant, but it isn't. It's one of those places where you buy your meals from them, portion-controlled, calorie contolled and fat controlled. You have to buy a week at a time. It's nothing I am interested in, but I thought that since I never heard of it, you might not have either.

I decided to do some searching on Owatonna (city to the South of us) and post some links. Just posting some of the places I have something to say about.

Interested in Curling? Andy & I took lessons from them a few years back. It was neat. Andy was more interested in it than I was and he got on a team through the Owatonna Curling Club, but just for one year.

The Steele County Speedway is located at the Farigrounds. We have not gone there to see a race, but our neighbor used to race there before he retired from racing. Now he just works with his some on racing; he does go-kart racing. I guess he is really good at it.

We go to the Owatonna Library quite often (or at least I do, and sometimes I bring along Isabel). They called yesterday to say I won a drawing they have. I just happened to sign up on Wednesday as I was waiting to get checked out. I am not sure what I won. I am sure it was a book or something. But a free book is cool.

Andy took Infant/Child CPR class this fall through the Steele County Chapter of the American Red Cross. I am hoping to take it soon too.

My co-worker coaches a teach for Owatonna Youth Hockey.

We have no connection to the Owatonna Diving Club, except that the Natural Foods Co-op in Owatonna sharea a space with it and I will occasionally shop there. Mainly to buy local organic eggs. It's a very small place. They mainly sell stuff in bulk, but do have some prepackaged things, but they tend to cost more than if you shopped the natural food section of Cashwise. It looks like ODC had offered a free Scuba class earlier this month. It might be worth checking out some other time.

Here is Turtle Creek Nursery in Owatonna. This location has changed hands many times in the 5.5 years we have lived here. I have not checked it out since it becamse Turtle Creek, maybe this spring.

We have not been to the Famous Dave's near our house since it was built. I used to do secret shops at the in the Cities, but I got out of secret shopping several years ago. Anyways, I found this link to them that included a takeout menu with prices. I like that it includes prices, then I can call in an order and know exactly what I should expect to pay. Maybe we will get some food from them in the near future.

We have been to the Orphanage Museum. It's sad. It's pretty small. In fact - our house used to be the headmaster's house for the oprphange. Our house was sold and moved out of Owatonna to the current location in 1981. Several former orphans have written books about their stories. I have 3 of the books, but I guess there are a few more than were recently written. I read the last 3 on the list (I own them in case anyone wants to borrow them.) I think many are writing their story now because they elderly. Anyways, it was an orphanage for many years (until 1945) and then it because a state school for many years (until 1970) after that. I have seen the documentary several times and it is sad. It is all very interesting. Over the years we have met many people who told us stories about the orphanage and our house in particular. At the museum we have seen our house in a few pictures.

I actaully searched through many, many, many, many (you get the picture) pages on google to come across these links.

Things.....

When you get up at 6am and find out there is a snow day and you have the day off from work, it's hard to keep thoughts from spinning in your head and fall back asleep (especially when you know at any moment a baby could wake up.) So, if I can remember all the things I was thinking about I will try to type them.

So, I watch a lot of What Not To Wear and occasionally a few things sink in. I've gone out and bought new pants that fit my body rather than looking like a stuffed sausage in my old ones (maybe someday - pregnancy left me with a squishy pouch of a belly and pants don't fit right there anymore, they fit fine through the hips, just not the stomach.) I started using light /white shadows to highlight my eyes. I'ev been buying tailored jackets, which really do look better and work well with my nuring tanks. But my newest thing, which to some may seem like "duh!", is to apply my face powder with a brush rather than the sponge or pad that comes with it. It covers nicely and I feel so light. I never realized how heavy on my makeup felt. I also tried using a dark shadow to line my lashes. I noticed it blends better than using a pencil.

I got this email to get a $2 coupon of Johnson & Johnson Soothing Naturals. I have not tried it before. We have been having really good luck with Aveeno Baby lotion. I buy the unscented kind and her dry skin is no more.

I am happy we have a snow day. It's always nice to have a day off. Lots of staff (I think even more than the kids) were wishing and hoping we would have a snow day today (& tomorrow, let's cross our fingers.) We haven't actually gotten any real snow yesterday or toady, just a dusting. But I guess it's coming soon and we are supposed to get a lot of sleet and freezing rain in our part of the state rather than a bulk of snow. Although now that I check the weather it looks like we could hit with a foot of snow. Last time we were supposed to and we only got about 6 inches, but Winona got over 30 inches and the in-laws got 12 inches. You can check local school closings here.

Currently, I am reading Chew On This by Eric Schlosser. Last time I read a book by him, Fast Food Nation, I didn't eat at a McDonald's for 3 years. This is his newest book and it seems like a lot of stuff I read in the last book so fatr. Hopefully there is some new knowledge in there somewhere. I used to own FFN, but when I went to visit Jeni we were tlking about it and she wanted to read it, so I gave it to her and mailed her a package with it. No sense holding onto a book I will probably never read or erference again. I picked up COT at the library. Although, I do plan on pre-ordering the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, from Amazon. It doesn't come out until July 21st, so I have time. I am just waiting to order more diapers or anything else I need to buy so that I get my order over $25 for free shipping.

Baby crying - gotta go.

Bummer.

The gas station I have been filling up at lately has gotten rid of their 79 cent coffee/coffe type product for any size. Now each size has their own price. It's still almost $3 cheaper than that same size at Starbucks (which is too rich for my taste). I don't get coffee drinks often, but a couple times a month as a treat.

Neighbor is Moving

We just found out that one of our neighbors (the chiroractor) is moving to a new house with his new wife in our town. When I first heard the news I felt these hurt feelings, like, how could he leave our little cul-de-sac neighborhood. But I quickly acknowledged that these were selfish feelings and that is good for them to move because he built and lived in that house with his old wife. Besides, it's not like we spent a lot of time with them. It was just predictable and comfortable. It's the change that what I need to deal with. We don't really know who is moving in. Apparently the person who our neighbor bought his new bigger house from is the same person who bought his. A kind of flip-flop thing. But we are not sure whether or not this guy intends to live in our little neighborly driveway. From what we heard from another neighbor is that he did this flip-flop thing so he could sell his big expensive house and hopefully have an easier time trying to unload the smaller less-expensive house. Guess we'll see.

Weird.

So, two nights ago I had this dream that I wanted to remember to tell Andy about - but forgot. Until last night when I was up with Isabel and I was thinking about the dream that she just woke me up from.

The dream I was having was about me being pregnant (with another child) and having all these contractions and going to the hospital to give birth, but the whole time in the dream I was thinking I was supposed to have given birth the day before. Then it hit me (as I thought about the dream), I dreamt the previous night that I was giving birth and hated all the contractions and was afraid of all the crotch pain afterwards. But I never did give birth in either dream.

Something weird in last nights deram is that they had a new program implemented where doctors observed you via webcam if you came in after hours, so they didn't have to leave your house. And so you never had any real contact with the doctor until you were at the pushing stage. I remember talking with some other mom there who really liked it and I didn't like it at all and I was afraid that I would deliver this baby as fast as I did Isabel and he wouldn't be there in case something bad happened.

But the really weird thing is that Isabel just turned 40 weeks old yesterday, which is the length of a complete full-term pregnancy. Seems like my sub-conscious is working overtime here.

I also remember some other part of the dream where I was talking with a co-worker who was pregnant at the same time (as I was with Isabel and now as the "dream" baby) and she had another baby she was holding (another boy) and I was asking her how Charlie (the older one) was doing with this and she was asking how Isabel was going tio like being a big sister (I said she wasn't looking forward to it.)

But the whole time during both of the dreams I was consumed by fear of the painful contractions and pain after the birth. I don't think I include the birth because it went so fast that the pain from that was such a blur.

Fast Asleep

The other day I told Andy that Isabel was fast asleep and being the smart ass he is he asked, "Shouldn't it be slow asleep?" So I thought I should checkout the origin of fast asleep. Interesting. Makes sense now.

How do you eat your Oreo?

Andy & I were eating Oreos tonight and I realized that I didn't know how he eats his Oreo. So, I asked him and he smiles at me with a whole Oreo in his mouth. I guess that's one way. I eat mine in 3 bites. How do you eat your Oreo?

No Panty Lines?

So, I need some help here. Anyone have a recommendation on what they think is the best pair of underware is that does NOT show panty lines. I don't always like to wear thongs, so I need some decent full-butt ones that don't show lines. I have a Body by Victoria thong that I like and am not sure if the panty will be nice too. So, what are your suggestions?

Miller Restoration

Here is the website for my bother-in-law's relatively new business. It is called Miller Restoration. The website is under construction.

Mark your Calendars for the Whole Living Expo

They are having a Whole Living Expo at the Northfield High School Cafeteria & Auditorium. I put it on my calendar. It will good to learn about things in our area. Here is information about the event. I am sure it's a drop in the bucket compared to the Green Expo in St. Paul.

I heard about the event in an article in the monthly newpaper we get from Just Food Co-op; we are members of the co-op.

They also have a listing of events & classes that they are offering. One of them that I think I am going to go to is Natural Home Cleaning. It sounds interesting. I figure I could learn a thing or two about cleaning and possibly talk to the lady doing the class on whether she is taking new clients. We have been trying to find a new cleaning lady and have not had very good luck. The last person I interviewed wasn't crazy about the idea about using my non0toxic cleaning products, stuff from Seventh Generation. She wanted to use her own stuff, but I really want to keep a limit on the chemical fumes in our house. And she refused to use our new fancy vaccum that actually sucks up animal hair because she says it was too heavy, even though she would never have to vaccum upstairs and the hose on it is long enough to go up the entire stairs. The old cleaning lady we had started doing shotty work so we had to let her go. But we really would like to find a new cleaning lady. I keep the house picked up, but sometimes it's hard to keep up with the sweeping, dusting, & vaccuming (we do have a big house!) Anyways, I am signed up for it.

They also have another class I may attend. That one is called Gardening for Your Kitchen Workshop.

If Larry Were a Bunny....

Andy sent me this link with the above subject and I thought it was funny. Larry is our 18 pound cat.

The picture is from the website.

Now that would make one helluva pot of rabbit stew. J/K

Teachers See Movie for FREE

This is from their website:

In appreciation of teachers across the U.S. and Canada who give endlessly and enrich so many lives, AMC and Paramount Pictures are offering teachers* an exclusive opportunity to see the highly acclaimed film"FREEDOM WRITERS" for FREE.
Dates: January 26 to February 1, 2007

http://www.amctheatres.com/promos/freedomwriters/

Disturbing

This is one of my child's toys. You stack rings on it and the top ring has Piglet popping out.

It looks like Pooh has this huge boner. Very disturbing.

Spring Break Trip is Booked!

WE ARE GOING TO TEXAS!

We fly into Dallas and the resort we are staying at is Silverleaf Resorts in Flint, TX. It's about 100 miles outside of Dallas.

We wanted to go someplace warm within the US. We also wanted the place to be very near water (lake or ocean, didn't matter). It also needed to have a children's pool, as well as adult pool. Also a children' playground was preferred. Can you tell we are bringing Isabel with us???

We got a 2-bedroom unit with a full kitchen.

We are flying American Airlines and rented a car through Budget.

One of the places we'll probably go check out is the Caldwell Zoo. Also the Tyler Rose Garden & Museum. And maybe the Hudnall Planetarium. Here are a bunch of other things in Tyler.

The average temp there at that time is 78 degrees, which isn't too warm, but warmer than Minnesota.

My First Broken Bone

Check out the bruising!

I thought I would spare you actually having to see my toes (which need to be cut and painted - they currently have paint worn & chipped off - not pretty!)

I broke my toe. It's the 4th toe, the one next to the pinky toe.

The urgent care nurse told me I could get one of these fracture shoes, but she said I could just splint my toe to the next biggest toe and try to wear shoes that are sturdy (or buy the fracture shoe) and stay off my foot for the next 24-48 hours. She said if I needed to I should use crutches.

This is supposed to take 8-10 weeks to heal. Bah!

I did RICES right away. Plus I took some Aleve right away to help with the pain & swelling. I love Aleve; it works well for me.

R = rest

I = Ice

C = Compression

E = Elevation

S = Stabalization

Links for Discounts in the Twin Cities

Get the Saint Paul Fun Card. Not sure what kind of discounts I'll get, but I called to get one sent to me. It is supposed to give you a discount at the Science Museum and the Children's Museum of MN and others.

Here are a bunch of coupons for the Bloomington/MOA area. (There are some other areas as well.) The coupons of particular interest are for the Science Museum, MN Zoo, & Underwater World.

Valpak.com - where you put in your zip (or a zip you will be going to) and get coupons for that area.

Twincitiescoupons.com I haven't had much time to check out what is there, but I saw the Cinema Grill in New Hope is on there. I've been to the one in Edina a couple times and that was always a good time. Actually, as I was looking through it there is a coupon for the one in Edina as well. Score! There are not a ton of coupons on there, but hey, even one good coupon is worth checking it out.

Coupons on the Minneapolis Chamber's website. Some of them are the same as the ones on the Bloomington site, but they have even more on here. The ones that might be of interest to me would be the one for a discount on the MOA book (which I believe you can get that same discount if you use your AAA card), MN Zoo, Underwater Adventures, Murphy's Landing, & Stevie Ray's.

So, check them out and have fun.

One Picture, Three Ways

So, here is the original picture I took this evening of Isabel's left hand.














And then I decided to have a little fun playing around with it. This one I just did a spotlight effect on it.











And here I did this fisheye effect on it. I never had a picture that I could actually do it with that didn't make the person look like it was deranged.

Food & Restaurant Links

I found this, Biologique Foods. It's organic & natural food that you can buy online (fresh stuff too!) and have it shipped to you. The catch is that you have to live in the Midwest. They use Spee-dee delivery service and the delivery fee costs $7.95 (at least to my location it does.) They are located in Bloomington, MN. You could pick it up fro free if you wanted.

Also, I saw the Blue Sky Guide at the Living Green Expo in St. Paul last spring. I have not purchased one yet, but I am thinking about it. There isn't much out of the metro, and with the baby we don't get there much yet. But that will probably change as she gets older. Normally, I purchase the Entertainment Book, but I haven't done that yet this year either. Both books start in November. It looks like the Entertainment book increased it's price by $12 this year. Again, I am not sure how much we would actually use it this year, but when she gets a little older we will probably want to go check out soe of the attractions that they have coupons for in the Cities.

There is also Restaurant.com as well, to save money on going out. They have a lot of resturant certificates for the Cities and other states as well.

Here is information about the Three Rivers Wine Trail of Minnesota. I think this is a more comprehensive list of a bunch of wineries in MN. We have been to Alexis Bailey, Cannon River, Carlos Creek, Morgan Creek, & Northern Vineyards. If you click on the Iowa list, we have been to all of them in the Amana (Colonies, including South Amana & Homestead.)

Andy recently bought a case of Porter made by the Falls Brewing Company when we were in Wisconsin a few days ago. Oconto Falls is nearby my hometown. They have their Brewery set up in an old Hardees building.

Andy sent me this link for French Toast Waffles. I think he wants me to make this some day for breakfast.

Coloring Page

This one I had fun with. I took a picture of our Christmas tree last night, then made it into a coloring page, then made it Sepia, and finally gave it a spotlight effect.

The photo editing software that came with the camera is very limited, although it has been fun to mess around with it so far.

I have started looking at reviews of photo editing software and so far it sounds like Adobe Photshop Elements is the way to go for the amateur, Adobe Photoshop CS2 for the professionals (VERY BIG price difference between the two.)

I mihght try this one out in the meantime, it's Freeware. It's called Irfanview. And there is another one called GIMP. And then there is Picasa, which I have used before and it doesn't have any more features than the software from Kodak. I think I may try the GIMP, as it seems like the only one that can do other things I can't do already.

Some Other Pictures (playing with my new toy)

Pictures of Isabel

Cropped, B&W, & background shadowing

Background Shadowing & Cartoon Effect

Cropped, background shadowing, portrait coloring

A New Bed for Larry

We got some new towels for Christmas and they were in this box and Larry decided to make it his home for the entire day. I think he went in there are 9am and didn't leave (not that we saw) until 7pm.

Silly cat.

New Stuff in the Area

Monte's Steakhouse is opening in April 2007. This looks like it should be a pretty upscale restaurant, which we are lacking here. They will have valet parking too. It will be nice to have something more upscale in the area and not have to drive to the Cities for that.

Also, Cashwise grocery store now delivers. It costs $7 to deliver to our area. It's not like the grocery delivery service we had in the Cities where we had to have a contract and you ordered delivery on a schedule. For Cashwise you could order groceries once or on a regular basis. Plus, I could place an order tonight and get it tomorrow, or even place it tomorrow and still get it tomorrow if their are slots available.

Christmas at the In-Laws

Well, today was Christmas at my in-laws. I receieved some nice gifts that included a new purse & wallet, a tea box (a wooden box with compartments that you put different tea bags in), a bracelet my MIL made with beads in the colors of all three of our birthstones (mine, Andy's, & Isabel's) - looks pretty, a necklace, some earrings from Spain (you can obviosuly figure out who those are from) and some bath salts.

Plus, we opened out Christmas pajamas (something we started as our own family tradition) and Andy picked out a nice set for me. Funny thing though - the bottoms he picked out for me are men's (which is totally fine) but they are the same bottoms I bought for him. I had opened mine before him and when I saw them I said, "Didn't I buy you those?" thinking I had bought for him previously and he already had them, not that they were sitting there for him to open. Total brain fart moment.

We do appetizers after gift opening with them. There was lots of meats and sweets, not that I'm complaining - I'm just saying.

Tomorrow is Christmas for the three of us and sharing gifts we bought for each other (& the cats & dog, they each get a new toy too!) Then Christmas Day is presents from Santa and he fills each of our stockings and just Isabel gets a big present and we also get a family present from Santa too.

What an Insurance Agent....

Here's the story.....

Last late fall, Andy & I were having dinner at a friends house and for dessert they served this White Chocolate Cheesecake that they bought at a cake auction that was made by our insurance agent. Well, over the last year I meant to call him and ask for the recipe, as it was awesome (he made it!) But I kept forgetting. But finally I had a reason to call - we sold the truck and needed to take insurance off it it. So, I asked him for the recipe and he said he would do one better and make one for me. So, last night he arrived with a huge Christmas tin with this amazing white chocolate cheesecake inside it. I am going to get so fat this week!

Mentally Ill Peanuts

Andy says I have ruined A Charlie Brown Christmas for him because as we watched it the other day I was diagnosing all of the characters. I thought he had heard that Chares Schultz had based his characters on the mentally ill and trying to help reduce the stigmatism of mental illness.

This person blogged about it as well.

Read his post – it’s very interesting. But I think I have some other comments to add……

Snoopy who thinks he’s a WWII Fighter Pilot – if that isn’t delusional…..
Charlie Brown, who continually plays the victim
The Red-haired girl, ok, you might think she seems normal, but she’s the one hiding her issues, she the perfect one that Charlie wants to date, but I suspect she could be suffering silently from an eating disorder
Then there is Linus who is obviously stuck in the oral stage….
And Peppermint Patty is definitely going to struggle as she comes to term with her homosexuality that she has been covering up with her obsession with Charlie Brown
And then there is poor Marcy who lusts after Peppermint Patty and follows after her like a little puppy dog, she has to struggle with feelings of rejection or her own hiding of her sexuality. Now, I have to say that I am not referring to homosexuality as a mental illness, but I am talking about the depression and anxiety that may go along with hiding their sexuality or coming out to others.
Lucy – now, there is a controlling loud girl. I fear as an adult she could be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. If Lucy doesn’t get the attention she wants she gets very upset and appears to feel abandoned by others.
Let’s see….who else?
Sherman – the musician – I fear his lack of social skills are going to increase his anxities and he may distance himself further from his peers and soon become afraid to go out in public and just stay in play his piano.
Pig-Pen – just his name alone is probably going to cause some self-esteem issues, as well as feeling bad about never being able to get himself clean. I wonder if there are some neglect issues in the home, which will later catch up with him.

Here’s a whole list of the Peanuts Characters and their debuts.

Lorenzo's Oil

So, I watched this movie for the first time in college, and then I showed clips of it when I taught a course in Developmental Psychology at the local community college. Now, this time I just used it as Cinematherapy for my kids at work. I was wondering what happened to Lorenzo and could not find anything in the last 2 ½ years, which leads me to believe that he is still living and is still in the same condition. Because if he died, it would probably make the news and be on the internet and if he made any additional progress we would have heard about that as well. It’s a heart wrenching movie. I guess dad is still researching for a cure, but mom passed away quite a while ago from lung cancer.

Interesting Website

It's like eBay for handmade items. It's called Etsy.

My New Baby

Ok - I have to ask -- was my house ever REALLY clean before this fabulous, fabulous vacuum cleaner. It is a Dyson DC07 Animal. It is meant for households with animals because getting up animal hair can be very hard. And this thing is amazing, although it should be for the price of it. I just love it. It is scary how much dirt & hair it has picked up -- scary we've been living with it thinking our house was kinda clean. But those "other" vacuums never really got into the carpet and sucked everything up. It works great everywhere. And the hose is long enough that you can go all the way up our staurs with it and not have to carry the machine with you. Truly amazing.

As for that shower cleaner I bought, it does a good job with water spots, but not such a good job with soap scum & mildew. I am glad I didn't spend a lot of money on it since I had a coupon & got a Target giftcard for purchasing it. I will still use it because it is getting rid of the waterspots on my clear shower curtain. It does get all around the shower and covers nicely anything level with or below the machine.

The Tree is Up!

Woohoo! We got the tree up. We can't wait to show Isabel. She is going to love the lights and the sparkle.

We did it differently this years than most.

This year we put up gold beads rather than garland. And instead of all my homemade & glass ornaments we put up non-breakable ornaments in clear, white, & gold.

When I make my new ornament for this year I will use the same colors.

The lights consist of 3 strands: 1 gold, 1 red, 1 multi-color.

The angel & tree skirt are the same I always use.

Got a lot of present wrapped already. I have a few more to wrap and Andy has his to wrap as well.

And the Stocking Were Hung by the Chimney With Care

This is all 5 stocking. The far one on the L is on a snowman holder and it the dog's. The 3 in the middle are on the letters for JOY and are (from LtoR) mine, Andy's (go figure!), and Isabel. The 2 on the far R are for the cats.











Close up of our handmade stockings. They don't match and that's ok. Things don't have to all match. I have the biggest one!
















This is Isabels' stocking. I made it. Had to refresh my sewing skills and make it whenever I had time. I had to go back & forth between machine stitching and hand stitching depending upon the steps. I just finished it today.I am pretty happy I go it done and proud of myself. I think it's a good looking stocking. It certainly would have been easier to purchase one, but then it would not have been as special.

Now I just need to make a new ornament this year. I like to make an ornament easch year for the tree and this year I will make one for Isabel.

Happy Thanksgiving

I made hand turkeys out of Isabel's hand. So, this is her hand size for 6 months. I made these cards for daddy, grams & gramps, and grandma and grandpa.

Great Picture of Lucy

Here is a great picture of Lucy that our friend Tim Wingert took. He is such a good photographer.

Last time they were here to visit he took some fantastic outdoor pictures that I put in frames and have hanging in formal living room.

Check out pictures on the baby blog that he took as well.

5 Days Until Black Friday

It's amazing how all the ads get out there. i just found Lowe's here. I still would rather see the ad than read a list, but since this is all you can see right now then I guess that is how it must be. There is a Gamestop by us too. Here are other stores by us:

Ace Hardware
JC Penney
Kohls
Office Depot
Radio Shack
Sears
Target
Wal-Greens
Wal-Mart






I don't know where I will all go, but at least 2-3 places for sure. Harry & David has a extra 25% off coupon (went & picked that up today) and Nike has an extra 20% from 6-11am. We have an Old Navy here, but it's an outlet, so they have different sale items than the regular store. Here's a extra 10% off coupon for Liz Claiborne.

Of course, if I wanted to drive to the Cities I would have many other additional choices. These are just my choices within 10 miles of our home.

It's all about the weiner!

So, you Want to Become An Oscar Meyer Weiner?

Scrubbing Bubbles

It seems that the shower is not something that makes it to the top of my cleaning list. I am more apt to clean the things that people see (although I am sure there are people that snoop in the shower.) Anyways, I bought into the TV ad for Scrubbing Bubbles. I really wanted to buy it. Then I saw it was on sale @ Target this week (still on sale today - Saturday) for $18 for the starter kit, which includes the machine with batteries and 2 containers of cleaning liquid. Plus you get a $5 Target giftcard for buying it. Great! I am at Target all the time, so that will get used.

But there is also a $7 coupon on their website for it as well. An Even better deal! So, now it costs me $11, plus I get the $5 giftcard.

I just installed it (it hangs from the shower head) yesterday. I am supposed to have a sparkling clean shower (without ding anything else other than touching a button) in 14-21 days (each container is supposed to last 21 days if used daily.)

So, I'll have to let you know how it ends up working out.

Black Friday Ads Are Out!

Let Imaginations Sore. What do You Want for Christmas? Go Black Friday Shopping.

Excellent Deal on Organic Food @ Amazon for TODAY ONLY!

In case you are interested, Amazon has some Organic food in their Friday sale, plus they also count towards the $10 off $49 (code: GROCERY3) and have free shipping.

Cascadian Farm Harvest Berry Granola Bars

Cascadian Farms Raisin Bran Cereal

Cascadian Farms Clifford Crunch Cereal

All of the above 3 are on sale for $7 for 6 boxes. That's just over $1 a box. These items usually sell for $3-$4 in the natural foods store/section.

But when they are gone, you can't get them fro that price. And that price is good for TODAY ONLY until they run out.

Fire, Fire.

When I was back in WI a few weeks ago, we had a discussion about the Peshtigo Fire and how no one knows about it really because it occured at the same time as the Chicago Fire, even though the Peshtigo Fire destroyed more acres. Anyways, I started to sing the Old Lady Leary song, but couldn't quite remember all of it -- now I have.

Now you can learn a little bit about both. My hometown is near Peshtigo, so that was how I know about it.

Good Feelings.....

I am sure that like most people, you go along doing your job and doing a good job. Or at least you think it's a good job and hope others think so as well. Most of us are not told very often that we are doing well, so we need to look for those things that let you know you did a good job. I had one of those moments yesterday.

Yesterday, a student I worked with for 2 years came back to visit again. This was actually the third time he came back to visit. He wouldn't do that if he didn't like and respect us. He's doing well and is in college now. This past summer he even offered to volunteer to help out with our summer program, even though he was graduated and there was no requirement to be there. Yesterday, he asked if he could volunteer again next summer. Then some of the current students started talking about how they are coming to our summer program again. No one is required to attend, but they choose too. And that's a pretty great testament to the work we do.

On another note - I don't have a good feeling in my lower lip. I got some kind of infection or zit or something going on. It's right on the end of the bottom of my lower lip and it hurts like a SOB. It is raised right now and I'm not sure if it's a canker sore or a zit. All I know is that it hurts. If it's a canker sore, then that means I am getting sick. As everytime I get a canker sore, I get sick within a couple days. Bah!

Jury Duty Time Expired.

Today was the last day I was on-call for jury duty. I never got a call or anything since that first letter. Whew.

Plant a Row for the Hungry

I saw a commercial for this on HGTV. It is Plant A Row for the Hungry. You donate your extra fruits, veggies, & herbs to a local food shelf or soup kicthen that participates. I don't know if there is one in my area. I have emailed them to find out. My herbs seem to be tolerant to the cold so far and I have some oregano, sage, & mint that I can donate (not sure about the chives.)

I wish I would have seen this earlier as I had TONS of cucumbers (both long green cukes and yellow round ones) and tomatoes & jalepeno peppers I could have donated.

If they don't have a committee in my area, I don't think I have the time or energy to start one. I read about it on the website and it sounds like more time & energy than I have to give. I would rather spend the time with Isabel. But if someone else already has one going, I wouldn't mind helping out a little bit or donating.

My School Picture

Here is my school picture. I took the liberty of drawing in the devil accessories to see what I could look like in a year book. Actually, I work will only about 25 kids at a time, but they are coming and going. So, I may work with 40 kids total a year, out of a student body of over 1600. And my kids like me, so I don't really think I will get the devil outfit. But I did want to see what I would look like with it. I get a free package, because I am staff, and what do you do with all those free pictures? Well, I gave some wallets to my siblings, parents, husband, & baby. But then I still have 2 5x7's....Hmmmm...one of those gets marked up. Fun!

Actually, this is the first one since I have been working in the school that I think I look halfway decent, even if I am wearing my hair in a ponytail and look like I have no hair.

NEW THINGS

Newly Sealed Driveway: Finally! Completed this week. In the past we have done it with our neighbors. This time we paid a lot of money to have someone else do it. It is supposed to last longer 50-100% longer than if we would have done it ourselves. It better.










New Sidewalk (part of): Now that the city finally changed the layout of the street to the North of our house, our neighbor can finally put in the rest of his lawn, his driveway and extend the sidewalk from our house to the curb. He’s doing all the work and we don’t have to pay a cent. A rather long story why everything has worked out the way it did, so I won’t bore you with it.








New TV: AhhhhH! Plasma! HDTV! 42 Inches!

Project Restoration

BEFORE: Dingy, yucky and torn.

















MIDDLE: Here I was decoupaging (is that a word?) the top with crumpled pieces of brown paper bag. This is the top of the trunk. Then you stain it your preferred color and it will have a letter look to it. And finally you give it several coats of poly to seal it all in and make it water proof. And then you enjoy.

I saw this on Design ReMix.







DONE: The finished product. This is the top finished.











The Whole She-bang. Finished. It is acting as a side table/toybox for the sunroom/playroom, a room with dual purposes, where everything has dual purposes.

Pronunciation?

So, everytime I take the back roads from the North, my eyes catch a glimpse of a name on a mailbox in big, bold letters that says DUHME.

Now, I think to myself, how is this pronounced? Could it be pronounced “dummy”, or possibly “do me”, or maybe even “doom”, or lastly “dumb”. Any ideas?

I almost want to stop at their house & ask them.....But I don't, and won't.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

I'm talking about business coming to the area.

Let's start with losing, because that isn't much. We are losing the Bread Store. It closed rather suddenly. I guess they are tearing it down and putting a strip mall there. We (even though it's the neighboring town, I still say we, our little town has nothing, so basically we do everything there.) I don't know what is going in that strip mall.

But the strip mall by Cabela's has 3 out of 5 tenants. They are Subway, Sbarro Pizza, & Caribou Coffee. Subway just opened on Tuesday, and it's one that also serves breakfast. Caribou looks like it is ready to open anyday. Everything is ready inside & the drive-through is ready too and the signs are all up. Sbarro's looks like it should probably be open sometime next month. I don't know what is going in the other two.

And there is sometype of other strip/block mall that is going up by Lowe's. Speaking of by Lowe's, Kohls & Office Depot are both now open.

Hmmmmm.....anything else? Oh yes, next summer they start construction on the outdoor waterpark, so that won't be open until 2008, which is perfect for us. All we need is a kiddie pool next summer and we have one of those in our town. No sense paying for all the frills when they aren't going to be used. Our local pool (which is 2 outdoor pools, a regular pool & a kiddie pool) only costs $65 a summer for a membership for the whole family. Not a bad deal. Since I don't work during the summer I am sure we'll be going there quite often.

Post Pregnancy Woes

The squishy belly is annoying. Those last few pounds are just not coming off. I was couting WW points and adding in extra points because I am breastfeeding, but I feel like my milk supply has dimished some. Now, I don't know if it's because of the WW or if it's because I went back to work at the same time and started pumping a couple times of the day or if she is just drinking more and it feels like the supply has diminished. Being able to brastfeed is important to me and I want her to have all the benefits that accompany breastmilk, and I am not vain enough that I will compromise that to lose a few pounds (just as long as I don't gain more.)

Also, pumping sucks. I shouldn't complain because some people spend a long time to just waiting for their let down to kick in. I go to my office, set up the horns & bottles & pump and get going, put the milk in containers to bring to daycare and get my stuff all cleaned up.....all within 10minutes, 15 minutes tops. I know some people spend 10-15 minutes just waiting for letdown and then another 10-15 minutes pumping. Like I said, providing her breastmilk is important to me, so I will continue to pump. But it's not that fun to have your nipples artificially sucked.

The other thing people don't tell you about (& don't talk about) is that sex after delivery (even 4 months later) can and does hurt. I think how Andy said it the other day sums it up best. He said, "It's like putting on a glove that is one size too small." That's great for him, not so great for the glove. One person told me it took a year after birth for it to stop huting. It just sucks, that's all. It just means I need to be on top so that I can control it all, Andy just has to sit back and let me do my thing.

I checked out the book Spilled Milk from the library. I am almost done reading it, 1 chapter left. I wish I would have checked it out earlier, like when she was only a couple weeks old. But it is still very useful. I think anyone who is breastfeeding should definitly read it. It helps you realize that everything you are going through is alright and normal.

Stupid Bugs

This first one is a a Asian Lady Beetle. They are so annoying. They bite and when you kill them they stink.

We put 6 new windows in the house in the last year and guess what - they are not in those rooms. Which means, not in the kitchen, our bedroom, or the baby's room. We are replacing 7 more windows here in the next month (the window guy is coming Wednesday to do meaurements), and he can't get here soon enough.



This is a Box Elder Bug. There are a few in the house, but mainly they are covering the outside of the house & garage. I have not seen such a bad infestation of these, ever. They are all over the ENTIRE town. Its gross.

Fall is my favorite season, but fall also brings along these bugs. And when it gets warm like it is this week, it's just awful.

Even right now there is one of those stupid asian beetle crawling across the computer screen.

I had planned ahead for them (the bugs, well, the Asian beetles) and I bought a canopy (pictured below in a picture from the catalog) to put over Isabel's crib so they wouldn't drop on her. But it looks like since she got new windows they won't be bothering her. So, maybe I'll just save the canopy for when she gets a little older and wants to have a bed like a princess (or like mom & dad since we have one over our bed.)

Bye Bye Cleaning Lady

We said So long, see ya, bub-bye to the cleaning lady. We had become increasingly unhappy with her performance. She only came twice a month, but it WAS nice. Lately it didn't seem like she cleaned much more than what it looked like before we left that day.

She had been with us for just over a year. And things started out good (at least I think it was good), but then there was a couple times I came home early (when she should still have been cleaning) and she was gone, but the little card she left for me said she was still there (I pay by the hour, so it's kinda annoying.) So, that got to me. Then she changed the time to when I would never be there unless I was home sick.

But then I had a baby and of the 8 times she was scheduled to be there while I was on maternity leave, she called and rescheuled 6 of them. And then there was a coupe times she was running behind schedule, so she cut our cleaning time short (which also meant she cleaned less), but we only got charged for her actual time since I was there to see her come & go. But I was annoyed that she was cleaning less for us when she had agreed to clean for so long. It would be one thing if she finished cleaning everything she is supposed to clean in a shorter amount of time (but still nice & clean), but to not clean some things and cut out some of our time. I just felt like she was taking advantage of my good nature.

I've actaully been able to find a little more time now that I am back to work to clean -- isn't is amazing that when you get busier how you get more done, but when you are relaxed you tend to put things off and not get things done as quickly. Anyways, with the baby I just found that if I have a couple minutes I better clean or do laundry or cook while I have the time otherwise that time might go away and I will have missed my opportunity and yo udon't know when it will come again. So, anyways, I am getting more cleaned myself.

But the last few times I noticed that the house doesn't look all that cleaner than how I left it. And she wasn't vacuuming giving an excuse that the vacuum wasn't working, but she knows we have more than one vacuum, because she has gone to the basement to retrieve another one before. So, it was annoying.

See, wehave hard wood floors throughout pretty much most of the house and areas rugs in every room. She was completly ignoring the floors, no sweeping (except the kitchen & bathrooms) because "the vacuum wasn't working". She didn't even dust to take up the extra time she was supposed to do. I had previously told her she can always dust if she has extra time and gave her a list of small projects she can get to if she ever has time. But what does she do? She marks down she was here less than scheduled (at least she was honest there), but I wanted a clean house. And with 2 cats & a dog I need the floors done.

So, she's gone. I talked to a couple other neighbors who have cleaning ladies. One likes their's, but she isn't taking anymore clients, and the other is kinda unsatisfied with theirs too. I don't want just anyone coming into our house, especially since it will occurwhile we are both at work. So, I want to find a cleaning lady that someone I know uses and go from there, but until then. I have to do all the cleaning myself (well, with Andy's help too!). And right now as I type I am missing an opportunity to clean some toilets or something.

Turtles Humping....

Andy sent me this link to a video of turtles doing it.

His comments were: "Words cannot express the joy I get from watching this video. I picked up a few good moves. Be sure to watch the whole thing. There are some strange... noises... towards the end. Check out dude's facial expression, too. "

5 Year Anniversary

My 5-year wedding anniversary with Andy is coming up here soon. He asked some people what they did for their 5 year and he was hearing a re-occuring theme - they took a trip some place nice. Well, needless to say, none of those people had a 4 month old at home. I told him what I wanted was a meal out (just the two of us) and maybe drinks in the evening. To me - that is as good as a spontaneous trip to Boston.

The school I work in has an early dismissal on the day of our anniversary and since my lunch is the last lunch, I will be out at lunch time. So, he's planning on working from home in the AM and then at lunch we are going to go out to our favorite place, El Tequila. The baby will still be at daycare. And depending upon what time we get done with lunch - we were thinking of coming home and getting an hour nap in before I need to go pick up the baby.

And then in the evening, I have already arranged to have a friend come babysit and then we are going out for drinks and some appetizers @ Applebee's. They have $1 taps and half-price appetizers after 9pm.

It would have been nice to fit in a movie together, but we only have so much time. Lunch, a nap, & drinks and appetizers will be it. Who knew that was going to become the luxury for my 5-year anniversary.

Maybe we'll rent a movie and watch it while Isabel nurses to sleep. We've only gone out once & rented a movie since she has been born. It doesn't even seem like we have the time to run & get a movie & return it. But thanks to Tivo, we just tape stuff we haven't seen that is on when we can't watch it and then watch movies at our own convenience.

By the way - the traditional gift for the 5 year anniversary is Wood. Does a new wood subfloor count? We took out the hottub (which wasn't working that great anyways) and installed new floor joists & a sub floor. I say we, but all I did was take care of the baby & make food while Andy & his brothers did it. But the room re-model will cost us some money, but will be well worth it. It's going to be a nice sitting room, but also a place for Isabel's toys. That way when guests come over we can just closse the doors to that room and hide her toys. And then I can watch her play while I am cooking in the kitchen.

Gotta stop blogging now. The baby is up.

Labor Day Weekend

We didn't do really anything on Friday night, just finished cleaning up the plant area in the sauna room.

Saturday we went shopping for a new dryer (& to Macy's as well).

Sunday, Andy picked it up and the other things we needed to install it inthe new location. It was $80 worth of stuff needed to put it in the new location because it needed to be wired & vented -- but it will be so worth it. No more running to the basement to put stuff in the dryer. It will be so much more convenient for us. Plus, it will be better if we ever decide to sell. People could be turned off by having the washer & dryer in 2 different rooms, let alone 2 different floors.

So, Sunday I did some grocery shopping and then stayed home w/ Isabel. Andy picked up the dryer and then installed it. He did it all with relative ease. It was great! He did such a great job. And then he installed the wireless indoor/outdoor themometer on the main level.

Today Andy got some other projects done around the house and then we went to Zollman Zoo. Andy was a machine this weekend.

Unlearning Something....

So, Pluto is not a planet anymore. All those years of having to learn the nine planets and now I have to unlearn one of them. How do you just unlearn something?

Ok - done!

I'm not exactly sad that Pluto is not a planet. It means less complications for this new mom. Because when my child talks about Pluto, I will know she is referring to Mickey's dog. And later when she has to make a solar system for school -- well, that's one less planet we have to make. But I suppose we could go for some extra credit and throw it in there and label it the Trans-Neptunian Object that was formerly Planet Pluto.

Maybe Pluto will make it's debut on email forwards when we start seeing ones that are titled "You Know You're a 90's Child If...."

It will say, "you were taught that Pluto was a planet" right after it says "you wore grunge."

Amazingly Simple Home Remedies

****My mom sent me this forward and I liked it, so I thought I would post it.

1. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
2. Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.
3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.
4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.
5. If you are choking on an ice cube, don't panic! Simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat and presto! The blockage will be almost instantly removed.
6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, after which you'll be afraid to cough.
7. Have a bad toothache? Smash your thumb with a hammer and you will forget all about that toothache.
8. Sometimes, we just need to remember what the rules of life really are: You only need two tools - WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does, use the duct tape.
9. Remember: everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
10. Never pass up an opportunity to go to the bathroom.

Cucumber Beetle?

I think this is what is attacking my garden -- a cucumber beetle. They are UGLY! And annoying. I wasn't in the garden for a few days and when I went out there yesterday I found hundreds of these things. They had pretty much destroyed my zucchini & pumpkins and were working on my yellow squash & acorn squash. Ironalilcally, they were not touchinag the green cucumbers or yellow cucumbers.

I was trying not to use any chemicals, but I don't want to lose everything, so I put on some Bug-B-Gon. But I need more because it was stuff I had leftover and I only had enough to put on the squashes and just a tiny dusting on the cucumbers.

I have a very good cucumber crop and my tomatoes are ripening nicely. Also, my jalepeno peppers look good, but not sure I will have any use for them as I usually make salsa with zucchini (which I have no more of). Maybe I will have to try a new recipe. Or maybe I should try making some hot pickles. Although I am not sure when I will find the time to do any canning this year. I babrely have time to keep up with dishes & laundry.

Fair Food

This week is the SCFF fair. It is the largest county fair in Minnesota. Andy & I took Isabel with us on Tuesday night (first night). We really wanted to go together and try some of the food (that way we can try each others and get to sample more), but we don't like to go on the weekends when it gets super busy and basically impossible to navigate through.

So, Tuesday night we shared some Deep-Fried Oreos and some Nitro Ice Cream. Andy also had a corn dog and this really lame BBQ sandwich. I had a Gyro that you get to add your own toppings too (which is great, because you can pile on what you want). Oh! And we had samples of a SPAM burger.

On Wednesday I had to go for work during the day. So there I had a Greek Shish-kabob and a Cherry Snow Cone.

Not sure if we'll get there again during the rest of the week. It supposed to be rainy today & tomorrow, so maybe not. And we don't care to go on Saturday or Sunday.

Isabel did just fine and slept quite a bit both time I took her. I carried her in the Snugli, which is a smart thing to do, because it's really too busy to be pusing a big stroller around. Next year we'll have the nice big back carrier to carry her around in.

New Place to Shop

Well, Andy found a new place to shop. It is called Steve & Barry's. We both heard about it from other people, but he finally decided to stop there after work one day. Nothing there costs over $7, even jeans and embroidered hoodies and a fall jacket. There is one in the Burnsville Mall. He's pretty proud that he was able to ge so many nice clothes for himself for so cheap. He didn't always used to be that way. When I first met him he was a die-hard Levi's Silvertab fan....and if you ever buy those you know they never get lower than $40/pair. But he's a tall guy and they made pants that fit him and he just stuck with what worked. I think he believed that because he was such a big guy he was just going to have to pay big prices and was not going to have a lot of options or sale/clearance prices. But over the 9 years we have been together he has certainly changed his attitude about clothes shopping. I was so proud of him for his recent purchase (I know he was pretty proud he did such a good job saving money.)

I haven't been there yet. Hopefully I will get there soon.

Jury Duty

I got a summons to be "considered" for jury duty. I had to fill out this survey and also send them a list of vacations plans and doctor appointments for the NEXT 2 MONTHS! So, I did. And I let them also know that I am breastfeeding an infant and she needs to eat every 3-4 hours (& so far it looks like I'll have to come back at lunchtime to feed her when I go back to work -- good thing I work relatively close.) So, maybe she will be my ticket out of jury duty.

It seems like every county does it differently. The way they do it here is that it is a 2-month appointment (if you qualify, hopefully I won't - I really have no desire to do jury duty, but my appoinment would be September - October.) But you don't have to report to the courthouse unless they call you and they will call you 2-3 days in advance.

There isn't any interesting cases coming up that I know of (it's hard not to stay on top of things in this area.) The big things were these chiropractors that did bad things to their clients. Two separate chiropractors working independently. One of those is already in jail (but gets ot daily for work release - last I heard he was managing a massage office in the Cities - who the hell lets someone who lost his chirporactic license & is in jail for the bad things he did manage a massage clinic?) The other one is currently in court. There was a couple of other people who did bad things to kids that happened around the same time as that last chiropractor, but I think they were both in neighboring counties or maybe they admitted their guilt and they didn't need a trial by jury (which if I recall, I think that is what happened.) Historically, ther ehave not been a lot of jury trials in our area. Seems like once people get busted here they plead guilty and just have court, no trial.

So, I guess we'll see what happens for me & jury duty.

Frog @ The Cabin

This frog is on the outside of the window. I have never seen a frog in MN or WI that was on the side of a building.

I just tought it was interesting so I took a picture.

The cabin vacation was nice. Got to do a little swimming, floating on tubes, went to Carlos Creek Winery (you should go there if you are in that area - a very nice & impressive winery, lots of activities), went to the library in Perham (impressive kids section), read some magazines (Gourmet, Marie Claire, Natural Home & Garden, Allure, & Ladies Home Journal), and read a book (Catcher in the Rye).

It was good to read stuff that had nothing to do with babies. I have a whole other post in mind (if I get to it) about Catcher in the Rye.

I hope we'll be able to take a cabin vacation again next year. You can see more pics & comments about the vacation on the baby blog.

My Two Nephews

Andres

This is Andres. He lives in Spain with his parents. His mother is from Spain and his dad got a job in Spain so they moved back there a few years ago.

For a birthday present for my MIL I bought this tote from Red Envelope that you can put 3 pictures in (bought it in red to go with her red hat lady stuff). Anyways, I needed to get pictures of my 2 nephews to put in there as well so that she has pictures of all 3 grandchildren.

Travis

This is Travis. He is the oldest nephew. He will turn 12 next month. He lives here in MN with his dad & step-mom. I took his picture the day of their party and printed it off on the in-laws photo printer, as his dad forgot to bring the picture with him. It all worked out.

My brother-in-laws (Andy is the youngest of 4 boys) are not really into giving out pictures. Actually, I don't think we ever got a picture of either one unless we took the picture. So, now we have some recent pictures of them.

There are no other kids on my side of the family, as I was the first one to have kids (I'm the oldest).....but my youngest siter might be starting soon.

Bat House?

There was a bat in the house this morning. I noticed it when I first got up.

We haven't had a bat for a couple years now, since we remodeled the attic & put up the bat house outside (actually, just outside this window on the outside of the 3-season porch below.)

Why must they use our house as the bat house rather than the one I gave them.

Andy took care of it. I had to feed the baby.

Woohoo! Pizza Delivery!

Yea! Pizza Ranch (which is a fairly new restaurant in our neighboring town) delivers to our little town. None of the other pizza places in either of the bordering towns delivered to our town before, which stunk. But now, some place does. Our little town is sandwiched in between 2 other towns and we are about 7 miles from each town, which you wouldn't think would be a big deal for delivery. But apparently it was until now. Actually, we even got charged a trip charge from plumbers to drive the 7 miles to come here, which sucks because our town has no plumber to call.

So, Roundup ( Beef, Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Onions, Mushrooms, Black Olives) pizza with a skillet crust and a mix od red & white sauces (just the way we like it) for us tonight!

You wouldn't think pizza delivery would be so exciting -- but that was one thing we really missed when we moved from the Cities, having food delivered.

Aaaahhhh! The Farmer's Market.

I love checking out the Farmer's Market, especially this time of year when there are more vendors and more options. I haven't really gotten to the Farmer's Market much this year, once before I had Isabel, another time when she was a week old and now 8 weeks later. And the weather is just BEAUTIFUL! out right now. It felt to good to walk around Central Park and check out everything.

What I brought home was:
* Honey Whole Wheat Bread (this lady makes the best bread and it's high fiber & high protein)
* Whole Wheat & Flax Seed Bread (same lady, a new variety for her) (Had for breakfast - yummy!)
* Raspberries (Had for breakfast - Yummy!)
* Egglplant
* Turnip
* Red Onions (2 HUGE ones!)
* Green Top Carrots
* Cucumbers (got about 6-7 of these, I know I planted these, but mine are just starting and I thought a cucumber salad would be nice tonight with out pork ribs)
* Dozen Farm-fresh Brown Eggs (Had for breakfast - yummy!)
* Cinnamon Rolls (This little old lady makes a bunch of stuff and sells it cheap, haven't tasted them yet.)

I got all that for under $20. That's incredible!

Hair & Nail Growth

So, everyone kept telling me how fast your hair & nails grown while you are pregnant and also how strong & beautiful they will be.

I did notice that they both grew very fast, but I didn't really think the quality of them had changed until now, after birth and during breastfeeding. Could the hormones associated with breastfeeding be improving the quality of my hair & nails? All my nails have never been so long, strong or pretty (now, I type that I will probably break a bunch.)

It's unfortunate that my wash & go style involves throwing my hair in a ponytail, because my hair has probably never been so healthy (at least not since I started dying it over half my lifetime ago.) Even if I did wear it down, it's not practical anymore. Isabel can already grab up and pull my hair. She likes to grab at things with her free hand while she nurses.

Organic Food

So, I was trying to look up information about a particular brand of organic cereal when I came across this article about how big name brand companies have been buying up small organic companies.

I was just doing some research on some food products before I bought some things on Amazon's Grocery (store, a beta store). Right now if you spend $49+ you get $10 off instantly if you enter in the code GROCERY2. The cool thing is that all this stuff qualifies for free shipping (at least everything I have looked at so far.)

Now, if you buy organic food (& we try to quite a bit), you know it can get spendy, especially if your grocery store only has a small section and they aren't buying in bulk. Bulk is the key word here because you are not just buying 1 box of cereal, you are buying a box of 6 boxes (just an example).

And for those of you WW dieters out there that I know, you might want to check it out because organic food tends to be made with whole grains, thus being high(er) in fiber & lower in added sugars, thus lowering your points for an item (or allowing you to eat more.)

I should mention that there are plenty of non-organic food in the Amazon grocery section if you choose to want to buy that.

Things That Suck!

• The "budgeted" gas bill going up by $16/mo.
• 100 degree weather
• The electric bill when I see the total from having the a/c on all the time
• That my baby won't take a bottle & I can't go anywhere w/o her for more than an hour
• My garden is getting weedy
• The smell of a diaper pail full of dirty diapers
• The price of gas hovering around $3/gallon (& probably rising)
• Never being able to get rid of those cottage cheese looking thighs
• That summer is half over already, which means my maternity time is half over too
• Vegtables & fruits going bad before you have a chance to use them
• Lack of Sleep
• Babies outgrowing clothes before you ever have a chance to put them in it
• Those first few minutes in the car before the a/c cools it down when it's 80+ degrees out
• Cat hair all over everything, and no matter how hard you try to keep up with it, there is always more
• Having to pay for car tabs or car insurance
• Offering to give something away for free & then the people not showing
• Burning the toast or popcorn
• Babies who don't want to sleep
• Dead bugs on window sills
• Wasps, bees, or anything with stingers
• Vaccuming & then having the cats fight & leave little tufts of hair all over after you just finished
• Buildings that don't allow cell phone coverage because of how they are contructed
• Buying creamer (or any dairy product) & then noticing after you get home that it is expired
• Craving cereal but discovering you are out of milk
• Thinking you are drinking milk but instead it's a glass of lemonade
• Blogger having problems & losing big long posts you typed

ok- I guess I should end my rant & try to be more positive. I am just tired & cranky.

Garden Progress

I got some radishes out of the garden. Yeah! And I see I have peppers & tomatoes growing on some of my plants. The zucchini has blossoms on it, so hopefully I will have some of those soon as well. Everything else is growing nicely.

Updated Links

Updated my links on the sidebar, both on here & the baby blog.

All Good To Go

I had my 6 weeks post-pregnancy checkup today and I can not be sexually active again. Hubby will be glad for that. I am breast feeding, which is supposed to act as a birth control (but it's not fool-proof), so I got back on Depo. I hope my period doesn't come back. I was on it for 5 years before we decided to have children, at which point I went off of it for 1 1/2 years, and after the first couple month of being on it didn't have my period. I loved not having my period (which is a great thing about being pregnant & breastfeeding - no period! Although, with breastfeeding, it does come back after a while in some women.) So, my appointment went well. I am almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have 6 more pounds to go (gained 30 during pregnancy.) I bet those 6 pounds would already be off if I didn't keep eating so much ice cream & brownies & cake & whatever other sweets you put in front me. The last 6 weeks I have eaten so many desserts that it is not funny. My extra 500 calories a day I am supposed to eat because I am breastfeeding is all coming in the form of desserts. I am creating some bad habits here - but it tastes so goooooood! I think I here a frosted brownie calling my name.

Birthday Freebies

Here are a couple more I found:

Kids
California Pizza http://www.cpk.com/register/cpkids.aspx
Denny's http://www.dennys.com/en/cms/DZonereg/93.html (must fill out application)
Perkins http://perkins.kidsbirthdayclub.com/
Toys'r'Us http://www5.toysrus.com/bdayrus/brus_ad_gbc.cfm (ages 2 – 10)
Sonic http://wackypack.kidsbirthdayclub.com/index.cfm?TheLogout=1
Ringling Brothers http://www.ringling.com/offers/
Ace Hardware http://www.helpfulhardwareclub.com/kids/kids.asp
JC Penney Portraits https://www.jcpenneyportraits.com/birthdayclub/secure_bday.asp
Cold Stone creamery http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/birthday/
Hollywood Video : Free Rental on your b-day http://www.hollywoodvideo.com/specials/default.aspx
Dairy Queen http://thedqcentral.com/
Pizza Ranch http://www.pizzaranch.com/fun/index.php?id=7


Adults
Crabtree & Evelyn http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/emailexclusives/default.aspx
A bunch of adult ones if you click on the title, which will bring you to an old post of mine.

My Home Town (old postcards)

Way before my time, but interesting nonetheless.

Lucy - The Other Cat....

Lucy sleeps in hiding spots most of the day, so she's never around to take pictures of. But today was different. She decided to sleep on the bottom of their kitty tower in the office. She likes to sleep curled up in a ball, and often covers her face like you see her doing here.

New @ the Outlet Mall

There is another new store over there -- Lane Bryant. Also, not sure if I said that J. Jules (clothing place) is new over there as well (a couple of months ago).

I Don't Understand....

Wha I don't understand is how Larry just loves sleeping in our smelly clothes & shoes. He is really into Andy's stuff and andy can be a pretty smelly guy. His shoes do not smell at all like roses, but Larry loves to dive into them as if he were wearing them and sticks his head in them.

Here he is sleeping on Andy's pajamas, which he has been wearing to bed and sweating in them for a couple days now. There is just something about Andy's smell that this cat just loves, and the stronger the scent the better.

Poor Andy can barely get his pants down to do his #2 business before the cat jumps right in the pants and takes a nap. Strange.

The Poop Report?

So, Andy & I were having a discussion about what a floater means? What I mean by that was do you have a lot of gas in yor diet, or maybe a lot of fiber, or maybe it's something else. So, I did a little search and found the Poop Report. Their slogan is "Your #1 source for your #2 business." Funny. But here is what they have to say on the topic of floaters & sinkers. Apparently you have floaters when you are gassy.

Weird Sleeping Position

Here Larry is half sleeping on the bed (by Andy's head) and half on the night stand. I believe he is there because he likes to be in front of the a/c. Speaking of a/c, I found him sleeping on top of the big a/c n the hallway @ 5:30am. Crazy cat. He's been finding all sorts of weird places to sleep.

He's still been puking and abnormal amount. We'll probably need to take him into the vet on Monday to get him checked out.

I Like Ellen....

I just like watching the Ellen DeGeneres (wow, there are a lot of e's in her name). I normally do not watch talk shows, but hers I like. She's not like some of the others that seem so full of themselves. She's so carefree and presents information in an entertaining way and doesn't beat things over the head. Today is was Ellen the Musical. Very funny.

Brittany on Dateline

So, I Tivo'ed Dateline last night to see the interview with Brittany Spears.

She looked awful! She was falling out of her top, I kept waiting for her boobs to fall out. Her bra was showing on one the entire interview. And her mascara was clumped on her top lashes on one of her eyes, it looked nasty. Her skin tone was all splotchy. It was almost like Dateline was helping foster the image that she is upkept & disorganized. You sould of thought that someone would have told her to tuck her bra in or fixed her makeup. Did they want her to come off bad?

It was pretty annoying that she was so "Poor Me!". She kept dropping names of other stars who had a similar situation and they didn't get harrassed as much as she has. They said she is worth around $100 million, if you are worth that much money and got that by being a public figure, you have to expect that the public is going scrutinize you.

What drives me nuts is that she has contant security around her, doesn't one of them know the carseat is supposed to be rear-facing for the first year and that you don't drive with a baby on your lap? Who are these idiots that she has hired that can't tell her she's f*cking up.

There were so many things she said that could be considered "bad" quotes. I'm not sure that the end result of this interview that she has hoped for will happen.

Poor Larry....

He's just having a bad week. He must have gotten into something, we figure a chewed on a plant he shouldn't have , and has diarrhea & has puked a few times.....This started yesterday. His energy level is just fine.

He has dried poop all over his back side & Andy had to clean him up. It was pretty gross and I don't think either appreciated it.

Anyways, today I had a candle on the counter that he got a little to close too and burned the tip of some of his fur. He didn't get hurt or anything, just scared.

Patch Is Back!

So, Steve "Patch" is back on DOOL. You can read here on the DOOL website all about Steve's history. What I had intended to find out was just how Steve (now calling himself Nick since he doesn't remember his past - funny how that always happens on soap operas) died. It isn't until you get to the last paragraph that you find out how he "died".

This is what it says:
"After learning that Bo was the Riverfront Raider, Steve agreed to help him. Steve spotted a suspicious looking boat and when he investigated, he found a card addressed to Bo from Lawrence Alamain. The boat exploded (an explosion meant for Bo) and Steve was knocked into a coma. He came out of the coma, only to have Lawrence poison his IV. Steve died in Kayla's arms but before he was buried, his coffin was switched with an empty one."

Nursing makes me thirsty

When I nurse Isabel, I get so dehydrated. It's like when she drains me of my milk supply she just sucks all the fluids out of my body. Strange.

Woohoo!

Went for a 2-week post-pregnancy doctor visit (will have another @ 6 weeks) anf hesaid my uterus is almost back to regular size. My BP was good and my weight is 9 lbs. more than my pre-pregnancy weight. I had gained 30 pounds in the pregnancy and I guess normal weightloss from delivery (weight of baby, placenta, amniotic fluid, excess body fluids) is an intial 14 pounds.

So, I am happy that the weight has come off nicely so far. We'll see how long it takes to lose the 9 pounds (since I am not dieting since I am breastfeeding.) I know where that 9 pounds is too -- right on my squishy belly & into my hips, plus some to my breasts as well.

Got the garden planted....

Just planted the garden today. I was hoping to have it done a few days ago already, but oh well, better late than never.

To the left here is my garden layout. All the circles are mounds. I basically left the middle open so that the viney stuff can grow into it.

I bought single pots with 3 plants each of watermelon, green slicing cucumber, & zucchini. The tomatoes I bought plants for to. The rest I just planted seeds. I never planted melons before, so we'll see how it goes. I have had pretty good luck with the rest though.

I actually have green beans that are growing along the chicken wire fence by the canteloupe, & yellow squash. They had re-seeded themselves again. So, I am just going to let them grow in the fencing and I won't have to trellis them.

This year we are doing the lasagna gardening thing. It's work the first year to get it established, but hopefully next year it will be so so simple.

I got some composted alpaca manure (from a woman who picked up stuff we listed on Freecycle). It was nice that she offered to bring some for me. She brought 4 bags (leftover bags from corn feed for the alpacas) for me. So, I put that on the garden as well.

I also have other garden stuff.....in pots by the deck. I have Roma tomatoes (1 plant) & some other smallish type tomato plants (2 plants) and jalepeno peppers (3 plants) in pots. And I have hanging baskets off the deck with green leaf lettuce, turnip green, red leaf lettuce, & spinach (although the spinach has not sprouted - I think the seeds were too old or something, but the other 3 sprouted).

I also have my herb garden. My chives & oregano came back (yeah!) and I planted sage this year (so, hopefully that will come back next year), and I also planted cilantro & purple basil (both annual herbs), and I also have my little strawberry patch. Oh, and we have our 4 apple trees, which had a TON of blossoms on this year and didn't get nipped by a late frost like last year, so hopefully we'll have a lot of apples.

Now, I just have to keep everything watered. It's been pretty hot and we have not been getting any rain. It's only the 1st week in June and already the grass is getting that burnt brown look. Bah!