25 things about me

So, I'm going on a little bit of a Facebook binge while MM is out of town on retreat. But this is really trying to be economical with my online time: I developed this list for Facebook and am now using it here because I thought someone out there might be a little bit interested. To be honest, I really got the idea from MM, who did exactly the reverse: after losing her first version of "25 things," she copied and pasted parts of her January quick takes from here to create a new list for Facebook. Anyway, here's this:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. [MM] and I are both apparently techno-dolts, as we both managed to lose our 25 things lists ([MM]'s after she thought she had published it, which may have ended her relationship with the notes application.)

2. This should not really be surprising, as we are both (a postal worker and a stay at home mom) walking, talking anachronisms.

3. Two books having to do with the "philosophical underpinnings" of a postal system, both of which I really enjoyed, are David Brin's "The Postman" (although I've never seen the Costner movie) and Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal."

4. No, I'm not going postal. And it's not really that funny, the 800th time it's been asked.

5. Although I can kinda see how it happens: bureaucracy's "irrationality of rationality" and all, a la Max Weber.

6. See? I (sort of) use my Sociology degree in my daily life!

7. I think, if I had it to do over, I might've majored in History. I tend toward that in much of my independent learning and reading now.

8. Not that I didn't enjoy a Soc major and minors in Philosophy and Peace and Justice Studies...but "enjoyed" don't pay the bills. Heh

9. I do think all the critical thinking exercise I received during this course of study helped me kick some serious butt on the LSAT. Too bad I really, really didn't want to be a lawyer, when all was said and done.

10. I'm pretty content now just providing for my family doing whatever will pay the bills in a morally acceptable way.

11. I don't know how it's going to look, but I really like the idea behind what [our alma mater] (I've read) is doing outside the Science Building w/r/t the interconnectedness of "faith" and "reason."

12. During my lifetime, I think I've gone from one extreme to other, thinking they were either/or. Now I think it's a largely false dichotomy, but there still is some creative tension between the two.

13. Maybe that's why I like "Lost" so much. I think it's BOTH sci-fi AND fantasy. Jack and Locke are both right.

14. W/r/t "Lost," though, I do lean more toward "goober" than "scooby." See http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1550612_20245769_20253740,00.html if you care to figure out what that means.

15. While at ew.com, I noticed a story called "29 films you saw too young." It's funny, because I was just thinking about how I had a hard time reading "Lord of the Rings" again when I was really old enough to get more out of it because I had probably read it too early, and how Eva's gotten some really cool toys that were just too old for her but then were trashed by the time she could really get something out of them. I think this is analogous to a lot of experiences (and lifestyle choices). But that's just me, and I probably never would've thought that when I was younger.

16. Going back to the faith and reason thing, we just saw Ben Stein's "Expelled" film. Whatever your feelings on intelligent design, evolution, etc. I can't recommend this documentary highly enough. It's so much better than I expected it to be.

17. I'd better stop rambling and hurry this up before I have to leave for work.

18. I'm paranoid about losing all this again and have been periodically copying the whole thing just in case.

19. I'm glad to have moved back out to the boondocks, although there are times I miss being able to go to lectures on a whim, etc. I think I actually miss the city more than [MM] does, though it's still not that much.

20. I'd like where we live a little more if I didn't have to drive by the Butte Motel every day. One side of the sign lost the last "e," so it now says Butt Motel. I don't know why that bothers me so much, but it really does.

21. We have a pug named Bubba.

22. We are beginning to suspect that our two-year-old, Charlotte, may be allergic to Bubba. This may become a problem.

23. I love my kids very much. It helps that they're already little dorks like their parents.

24. I'm proud of how [MM] and Eva are doing with the homeschooling so far. I am excited to see the fruits of this develop.

25. My life is totally not what I thought it was going to be ten years ago. Thank God!

And now for something completely different...

Yes, this is stupid. It also has me about to fall out of my chair laughing. You be the judge of whether that's a compliment to the song or an indictment of me!

Quick Takes Friday

1-
We ordered another Spanish program yesterday...Eva will be done with the first Kindergarten Spanish program in two weeks...I'm still looking for the perfect one, so if anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it! So far we have (almost) finished Teach Them Spanish, and have ordered Flip Flop Spanish.

2-
I finally made decent looking hot dog buns (they were a little crumbly, but I think this recipe has definite potential!) from these instructions.

3-
MIL, SIL, the girls and I went to see Matthew Kelly speak this week. He was really good...I just wish I hadn't missed the first part of his talk because of a VERY poopy diaper...(Speaking of poopy diapers...I don't remember for the life of me how we potty trained Eva...any pointers and tips? We are hoping to transition before too long!) Back to Matthew Kelly...we got a bunch of his books (surprise, surprise!) including his DVD set and workbook. MIL and I are hoping that we will be able to get our Women of Grace group back together to work through his study. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe we'll get it together for Lent.

4-
Since giving up diet soda and transitioning to coffee, I have discovered that it is necessary to buy those ginormous coffee containers...and for some reason, I find it a little disturbing to go through as much coffee and we are going through!

5-
A week or two ago, we got our annual form letter from the church detailing our giving for the year for tax purposes. This week, we got a form letter from Father saying that a form letter was not enough to express his gratitude for our support of the church...so, he apologized for the impersonality of a form letter with...another form letter!

6-
The girls get to go stay with Grandma tonight and tomorrow, as I am heading up to a women's retreat with my SIL. Then hubby will pick them up tomorrow evening, and on Sunday, I'll be coming home from the retreat, and MIL and FIL will be leaving for their cruise to Mexico.

7-
Okay, I'll fess up one of the items I was asking for prayers about now...This week I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon, and all is looking like it should work out. They see me as an excellent candidate for Adjustable Gastric Band surgery, and I fit our insurance company's specifications for qualifying. So, at this point, I am working on losing 20 lbs and trying to get my exercise up to 5-7 days per week. I'll have an appointment with the dietitian next month, and my psychological evaluation in March. I'm also waiting for the all clear on the insurance front, and have been told to be "very careful" in terms of not getting pregnant, because they (obviously!) will not do the surgery if I'm pregnant. The doc told me one story of a woman who was there on her surgery day, and had a pregnancy test come back positive...obviously, she wasn't able to have her surgery...so really strict NFP rules, here we come!

More quick takes at Jen's!

I may pay for this later

Since I have apparently figured out how to embed YouTube videos on here, I'll go ahead and post one that MM was on the fence about whether to post or not. Don't get me wrong: it's completely wholesome, but it references a part of pop culture that not everybody appreciates, to say the least.

But MM ain't here today! ;-) And, anyway, it really IS wholesome (and FUNNY!).

"And if you're Catholic, there's even mooore." ROTFL

Matt Maher

Back in September, MM and I saw Matt Maher on EWTN's "Life on the Rock," and he made such an impression on me that I immediately asked for the new album he was promoting for the birthday I had coming up in October. I've really enjoyed it since then, and am a little amazed at the niche he-a very devout Catholic-has carved out in the overwhelmingly Protestant Christian music industry.

Anyway, now that we can actually watch streaming videos on our computer, I thought I'd post an overview of Maher's most recent album from the record label. *crossing my fingers this works!*

Would it be insensitive to say...

that I, on the other hand, am having a pretty good day? At the very least, it kind of reminds me of the old statistic about how getting married massively extends the lifespan of the average man, but somewhat shortens the lifespan of the average woman. At least, I think that's what the old statistic says... I'm a little bit fuzzy on it, now.

To be fair, I just talked to MM on the phone, and she seems to be having a better day. She made my mom listen to Dave Ramsey with her, which I find fairly funny. Still pretty hectic, but better. Hopefully the girls (and my sister and mother) will behave relatively well at the lecture they are attending tonight. Otherwise, the final good/bad tally for the day may be in some question.

I have to say I am enjoying the first uninterrupted and unscheduled time I've had to marvel at our new 256K internet connection. I'm affraid I've misplaced a lot of blame for computer headaches the last couple of years with our PC itself, when it mostly had to do with us just being too cheap to upgrade (admittedly, MM's dad's gift to us of more RAM not too long ago helped a lot, too).

Sadly, though, I can only torment my friends on Facebook so much without getting pretty bored. Same thing goes with watching the tube. So, I have to say that I'm missing MM and the girls pretty badly. A little peace and quiet is nice once in a while, but the chaos is what gives my life purpose, I guess.

Correction: I have since been informed that we actually now have 512K, not 256. As you can see, I was thoroughly involved in the research and planning of this switch. ;-)

Not having a good day...

I couldn't get dressed this morning because I needed to wash and dry a load of laundry (I needed underwear...)

While trying to put some podcasts on our IPod for our last minute whirlwind trip to see Matthew Kelly speak (plus go to a bunch of doctors appointments on Tuesday) it turns out our IPod is corrupted.

Hubby and I thought he was supposed to go back to work at 12:30, but found out that he is actually supposed to be back at noon (we found this out at 11:25 when I was defrosting hamburger for today's lunch...)

AND, I caught one of my oven mitts on fire while cooking...

Hopefully the rest of the day goes better!

Quick Takes Friday- High Speed Edition

1-

I have doubled my productivity since getting our DSL equipment installed yesterday...okay, maybe not PRODUCTIVITY...but at least all of my time wasting on the Internet takes less time now!

2-

I'm much more excited about podcasts now that I was before. We used to download a podcast called "Pray as you go" by the Jesuits, but each week we'd have to leave our dial up connected all night long to get five podcasts for the week, and I doubt that any of them are longer than 10 minutes. I downloaded next week's podcasts yesterday, and it took me a whopping 10-15 minutes to download them all...Even the slowest DSL is amazingly fast for me!

3-

Charlotte is sick again...I'm supposed to take her back into the doc next week to check on her ears...at the last appointment he said that she either was just getting over an ear infection, or just getting one. We didn't do antibiotics since there was a good chance she was getting over one, but now her fever and cough are back (after almost 2 weeks of very few problems). Poor kid!

4-

Yesterday we got done with school before 10:30 am, which is a record as of late...basically, I've been doing well if we start school before nap time. Hopefully today I will follow the same plan and get school done before lunch...then, of course, I have another week of school to plan out.

5-

Besides the faster Internet connection getting me going faster in the morning (I'm sure I'm not the only one that says "just ONE more blog, THEN I'll get ready..." more than once a morning!) I took Danielle Bean's advice about night showering...I never thought it would work for me, with my horrible curly hair, but I've done it twice now (which is more than I usually do in a year...I only have showered at night before if I had to spend the evening around smokers...) and have found that if I braid my hair after my shower and sleep on the braid, my hair actually looks pretty good (for my hair anyway!)

6-

Eva has recently started to get things off the top of the TV cabinet (I can only assume that she stands on a basket and stretches to reach things) and out of child proofed cabinets (to get things for her sister, of course). Not that I am surprised that she CAN do these things, it just is a little strange that this is the first she HAS done these things...I've had to remind her that when I put toys in a child proofed cabinet, that means that I want to control access to it...the dumb "Froggy book" (LeapPad) that she got out is now confiscated and in my room because the girls were driving me nuts with fighting over it.

7-

Speaking of the LeapPad book...don't you HATE it when well meaning people get your kids toys that are way too old for them? The LeapPad would have been an awesome gift for Eva this year, but she actually got it from my parents when she was 2...not a good age for that sort of thing. Of course, this is not limited to my side of the family...one time the girls went shopping with hubby's parents, and somehow my FIL ended up taking them to pick out toys (because, to grandparents, every time you go shopping is a time for a new toy!) and Charlotte got a Dora doll that said ages 3+ (which was fine, because I do supervise my kids with toys...she might have still been under a year, but at least was significantly under 2), and Eva got a kids ATM that said ages 7+...eventually, we had to smash the dumb thing to get her money out because the stupid thing was too complicated for us once the instruction booklet got lost (sorry MIL, it had to be done!) A few times Eva has asked about it, and we had to give her some story about giving it away (well, the trash guys COULD have taken it out of the trash, how would I know?)

More quick takes over at Jen's, as usual!

Budgeting, email and taxes...oh my!

I am so completely tired of sitting in front of the computer getting these three things done (so naturally, I am sitting in front of the computer blogging about how tired of these I am!)

Hubby's hours have been cut back little by little over the last several months, and we keep thinking that they'll start going back up soon...so we've just been trying to go with the flow. Well, we got his pay stub for this Friday, and were a little sad to see the number. But, it covers all our bills (although we did have to put off contributing to Charlotte's college fund for a month), so we're not complaining. Hubby did, however, apply for a part time second job (evenings and weekends) so we would appreciate any prayers about that situation.

We also have been planning on getting high speed Internet for my 30th birthday in August...so I was researching prices (after being told by the church organist that she had tried to call me for several days because she needed a cantor for a funeral, and that she finally gave up and got her daughter's doctor to allow her off bed rest for preeclampsia for the funeral...) and found out that all of the places that provide high speed Internet out here require a one year contract. Since we are REALLY not sure if we will be here much longer than a year (particularly if hubby's hours keep getting cut) we decided to go ahead and get high speed now...so starting Friday, I'll be able to do all sorts of things on the computer I never have before (I can watch my first YouTube video!) So, I don't know if that was a good or bad decision, but I guess I'm locked into paying for a year...

Of course, with changing ISPs, we also have to change our e-mail address...I didn't actually realize how many places I would need to change our e-mail until I started going through our inbox and trash can in Outlook...I mean, just little things like Seton Home, Blogger, CCL, ITunes, banks, mortgage, investment accounts...and on and on and on...

I also started working on taxes, and decided to try the Turbo Tax free edition (as suggested by Christine R...thanks!) and it is working out great so far (I still need the appropriate documentation from our banks, but other than that I'm all set!) and it is looking like we will be getting back a good chunk of change, and are going to owe the state under $200 (MUCH better than the almost $500 we owed last year!)

Well, I should probably stop procrastinating and get back to everything I am working on! Hopefully I'll get a chunk of it all done before nap time is over!

My girls are goofy...

So, a while back, we were watching something recorded on our DVR because two things were recording. When it finished, the TV went back to the PBS station, where one of the shows recording had just finished...there was some sort of cooking show on, and Eva begged to watch it. I figured that cooking shows are generally pretty safe, so I agreed to let her watch it.

Well, the show (which I really don't have any objections to, other than I find the woman a little overly cheerful) was Katie Brown Workshop...and Eva LOVED it...so, I ended up finding it on the TV and recording the episodes. Now the girls are constantly asking to watch Katie Brown (even Charlotte can say "Kay-ee Bwown!"

Also, on Friday afternoon, I had to take the girls up to the church to meet with the organist because I was a cantor for Mass this weekend. So, when we are leaving I pulled out my new cell phone to check the time. Eva said "Mommy, you have a new phone!" and I of course responded that yes, I do have a new phone. Then she said, "and we have a new car!" (of course, it is a 1995 Olds, but yes, it is new to us) and I said that yes we do have a new car. So, she said "We have A LOT of new things!", and I decided to tease her a little bit. I said "yes, we do have a lot of new things...should we get a new Eva?" and she said "No! Cause I am the Eva that was in your tummy!", so I said "should we get a new Charlotte?" and Eva again shouted "No! Cause Charlotte is the Charlotte that was in your tummy!" (Charlotte is also shouting no at me at this point). So, I said, "Oh, okay...should we get a new daddy?" and Eva responded "Yes!" (Charlotte still voted no)...

We've decided to keep the current daddy after all...

Quick Takes Friday

1-
We finished up the transitions teacher training classes for CCL, so we are now certified to teach the premenopause and postpartum classes...with the number of women in my mom's group at church, you'd think that we would have people waiting on the postpartum class (and maybe a few will want to take it when we do offer it!) but strangely, we've had one woman really needing the premenopause class, so it looks like that may be our first supplemental class. We did have a small problem with the test for the premenopause class...the required score to pass was 100%...and when we got done it told us that we got one question wrong (thankfully, it does tell us what question...) so we took the test no less than 10 times trying to get the right answer (it was a select all that apply question), and finally on time 10, I insisted that we had put in the right answer the first time through, and told hubby that I was putting in that answer again, and if it didn't work, I was going to call someone and give them a piece of my mind. It worked! We had answered the question right the first time, but the computer system screwed something up...actually, this happened on another test with a required 100% score where we had answered correctly and were told we answered incorrectly...of course, that answer only had 4 possible choices, so by time 5 of testing, we managed to pass...but if it is a choose all that apply and there are 5 options....well, that's a lot of different tries!

2-
We both have new cell phones. My MIL offered to put me on their family plan (which hubby has been on forever...he's the oldest, and all of his siblings have moved on and gotten their own cell phone plans...not us though!) the carrier gets way better service in our area than Verizon (No, I can't hear you now on my Verizon phone unless I stand next to the back door and don't move, sit out on the porch, or park in front of the grocery store to make a call...) which is what my parents have (I am still on their family plan, too, for a little bit longer). Hubby talked his mom into unlimited web access, and has been wasting even more time with his phone (he is a cell phone addict) than usual. I haven't done any web yet, but I am pretty enamoured with the voice activated calling on mine....

3-
Of course, we got the new phones up in MILs town, which we went up to on Wednesday. Eva and my MIL and I stayed until the end with the signing of the contract at the cell phone place, but hubby took Charlotte out to MILs house. So, after the contract was signed, we went to the grocery store. At the store up there they have little kids grocery carts. Grandma, of course, let Eva drive the cart. Unfortunately at one point Eva was running with the cart (after I told her not to about a dozen times) and grandma walked in front of her accidentally. Well, the cart rammed into my MIL and cut her heel, but also flew back and gave Eva a bloody fat lip. After a lot of drama, one of the ladies from the deli brought her a bag of ice, and we made it through the store.

4-
Other interesting things that happened on Wednesday...my MIL booked a 5 day cruise for FILs 50th birthday...she's not telling him about it (of course, she told the cell phone store lady, FILs brother, her dad, all her kids, and who knows who else!) and her original plan to get him to the airport was to tell him that hubby's little sister and her husband had a huge fight and that she was on a plane home...hubby's other sister and I both think that was a bad idea. I've suggested buying him a new swimsuit, printing out a cruise itinerary, wrapping it up, and giving it to him as an early birthday present at breakfast the morning they are supposed to leave. It should be interesting, as he doesn't like to be away from home for more than 48 hours...

5-
This just fits my normal luck...it took me forever to figure out a Christmas present for my parents. My mom is in full de-junking mode, and most of the ideas that hubby and I could come up with would probably be thrown out. Finally, we decided on a magazine subscription, but my mom isn't much of a magazine person...however, she has been driving me nuts for the past year or so telling me how very "green" she is...so, I ordered her National Geographic's Green Guide for Christmas...well, it never debited from my account, so I went to find the customer service info, which took me forever to find...it turns out that they stopped publishing the magazine...so, I gave my mom a copy and told her she was getting a year's worth for Christmas, and they stopped publishing the magazine...it just figures!

6-
Have I mentioned how annoyed I am with our e-mail spam filter?!?!? For some reason, about a month ago all of my yahoo groups things started to be put in the spam folder. We have tried about 101 different ways of getting it to go into the INBOX, but have had NO LUCK!!! So, when my Catholic Moms group gets all chatty, I end up having to go into the spam folder in web mail three times a day to keep up, which is quite inconvenient with dial-up Internet.

7-
Yesterday I got to help out with Eva's story time at the library. They were shorthanded (there was a small plane that went down two days ago, and killed several people, and one of the ladies was with her friend who lost her husband) and the kids were supposed to paint hand prints on the wall in the story time room. So, I got to paint the kids hands and tried to help get some of them cleaned up, too...it really was more of a 4 person job, but we got by with 3 adults. The experience reminded me why I don't do more painting crafts around here!

Thanks to Jen for hosting quick takes!

$52.40

Well, we are back from our short vacation/K of C meeting, we picked up our kiddos, and we are back into the swing of normal life (although I am still working on laundry from the weekend!)

Yesterday we took the day off school (I normally plan on Saturday or Sunday for the upcoming week) and one of the urgent matters that needed to be attended to was grocery shopping. We left the fridge in a very sad state (a couple of grapefruits, some margarine, a bunch of condiments, and a tiny little bit of milk that we didn't finish before we left). Our pantry was also looking a little empty as well...so I had $42 in my wallet, and intended to shop with that...well, I wasn't having a very good day yesterday, and by the time I got the items we needed (milk, eggs, bananas, etc) and a few of the specials (79 cent chicken, yogurt, cereal), I had pretty much lost track of my adding. When it was all totaled up, it came to over $57, and I just about cried as I handed over my coupons...I had even passed up a fairly decent deal for toilet paper (which I didn't remember to buy while we were away, but we still have a couple of rolls) because it was $6 or $7...the total came down to $52.40...I admitted defeat and handed over my debit card (silently cursing because we haven't even received our gas bill and I have to pay it out of this paycheck...)

I came home depressed...hubby's reaction was SO not helpful (something along the lines of "it's not that big of a deal!"), and a while later I added the transaction to Quicken. When I typed in our local grocery store's name into the "Payee" space, it popped up the last transaction amount to them, which it always does...but the amount was $52.40...I had to go over to the other account and make sure that I hadn't put the transaction in already in the wrong checking account, but sure enough, the last time I used a debit card at that store, my total was EXACTLY the same as it was yesterday...that was back in mid-December...I find it a little creepy...and I'm starting to wonder if I should just start budgeting $52.40 per week...

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
I always love every other Friday, because it is PAYDAY!!! Sometimes I really wish that hubby got a few more hours at work, but with all of the holidays (unpaid) recently I am not going to complain about it. The good news is that we have enough money to pay our bills that are due, and even put a little into our emergency fund. We now have 11% of month 2 funded, and we are aiming for 5 months.

2-
We had dentist appointments this week. Eva LOVES going to the dentist (it's really funny how excited she gets about it). I think this is mostly due to the fact that she seems to have inherited my good teeth, rather than hubby's lousy teeth. Just as an example, I think I've had two fillings in my life (not as good as my mom, who got her first filling after 40) and hubby had two fillings on Tuesday...

3-
Hubby is currently teaching Eva a science lesson...and I'm trying not to listen...I just heard him say "it's like when you fart..." which Eva really thought was funny. Today has something to do with baking soda...

4-
We get a romantic weekend away to Colorado Springs...okay, maybe not really romantic, since it is for a K of C meeting...but it is a getaway, and the kids are going to stay with grandma. So, after we finish class and pack this morning, we are taking them up to grandma's town, taking grandma out to lunch (as a pre-babysitting thank you) and then transferring the dog to her car, driving home, changing cars, then driving down to the Springs. I'm looking forward to a little shopping.

5-
Speaking of shopping, I am a little bummed that the major grocery stores aren't having good sales this week...(well, one of them is, but they don't have any stores in the Springs...just in Denver...) but I am excited about Walgreens. I figured out four transactions for today (or Saturday, but I think we'll be pretty busy then) and two transactions for Sunday. The first day at the end I will have spent $36.11 OOP, and will get $27.48 back in rebates (with another $3 manufacturer's rebate). The second day, I will spend pretty close to $10 even. That includes getting medicine, cereal, dish washing detergent (I have 1 electrasol tab left in the house), soap, generic pull-ups, all the FAR items, oatmeal, valentines (for Eva's story time group), vitamins and soda. Hopefully all goes as planned, but I'm sure I'll have to be flexible.

6-
My MIL has offered to try to potty train Charlotte this weekend...I told her I'd send up panties if she's feeling ambitious, but I'm just not that hopeful...after all this is the kid who when we call her a big girl yells at us saying "NO!!! Baby!!!"

7-
Am I a dork that I can't wait to do our taxes??? I've been contemplating when to buy Turbo Tax, and thought about doing it this pay period, but if I do, I can't put money into savings. Besides, we don't have any of our tax documents (I know, I need therapy!) but I am excited to get it done, because I am estimating that we'll be getting about $900 refund (we paid less than $1 in federal tax this year, but our two little tax credits should get us something back.) Although I have to admit that I am not excited about filing state taxes, because last year we owed over $450 to the state, after years and years of getting a refund (partially due to tax changes in the state, and partially due to the fact that we paid more federal taxes before kids, and therefore paid more into the state tax system.

As usual, there are more quick takes over at Jen's blog!

Just checking in...

Hi to anyone who may be reading this. Thought I'd check in, as it's been approximately three millennia since the last time I wrote anything here. I still don't have anything particularly interesting to say, but I am finally feeling a little perkier. I've had the coughing crud trend that's been sweeping the country and, although I'm still snotty enough to be annoying my co-workers with my snorting and snuffling, at least I don't want to curl up in a ball and cry anymore. At least not about feeling sick, anyway.

Speaking of being annoying, does anyone else besides me have such a serious kid that you sometimes feel the need to purposefully annoy them with silliness? Eva seems to have taken after me in the taking yourself too seriously department, and she hasn't been around long enough for the world to deflate her head as thoroughly as it has mine... so I've been trying to get her to lighten up a little. Yesterday I was dancing and skipping around the house a little bit just to get on her nerves, and I was successful! She glared at me and shouted, "Dad! I said no dancing around in the house for big guys like you!" Remember, this is a four-year-old. This led MM to give Eva a warning about shouting at her dad, and a warning to me about intentionally being irritating.

Actually, the said four-year-old is sitting on my lap as I type (along with her two-year-old sister). This is not especially helpful to my already so-so typing skills, but it is making me more thankful for blogger's spell checker.

I asked Eva what she wanted to say on Mommy's blog and (although I'm not sure she understands the possibilities) here it is, in her chosen color:
"I love you Mommy! Can we play with Play-Dough? And after we clean it up, can we please color with crayons? That's all."

Charlotte, for her part, says:
"Geen. My dink. Sooch E-a."

FYI, Eva interprets this last part as saying, "Dear Mommy, I want to write a letter to Eva's teacher."

Huh.

7 Quick Takes Friday - Happy New Year edition

1-
We had a crazy new year's eve party that included someone throwing up into her hair...

2-
Okay, we had our in laws down, rang in the East Coast new year (10 pm here) and Charlotte is the one who threw up in her hair (we've all been sick with a coughing kind of crud).

3-
I'm trying to remember and keep in mind that we are still in the Christmas season...I'm having a hard time though, and just feeling burnt out from all our Christmas travels.

4-
My first ever e-bay sale has 36 minutes left, 6 watchers, and three bids. I am WAY too excited about the whole thing and feeling like a complete dork (it's not like I am selling anything vastly valuable, anyway!)

5-
I think this is going to be my shortest quick takes ever...very to the point so far!

6-
We are working towards making some pretty major decisions this year, and we would appreciate any prayers you can offer for us and our family.

7-
That's it...I'm out of inspiration...and a few days ago I was thinking that I'd have too much stuff to write today! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful new year so far!

More quick takes are up at Jen's blog.

Merry Christmas!

Well, we are home from our whirlwind trip to Denver for Christmas! (Now we just have Christmas gift exchange with hubby's parents and siblings followed by another Christmas gift exchange with my parents and sibling to go...) But I thought I'd write up a few highlights:

1-
Hubby's sister managed to get a plane into the Denver airport after all...apparently when she asked if there was any chance, they told her that if she got to a gate right now, she could get on a plane leaving in 20 minutes...of course, then she got picked for the super terrorist screening which involved some machine that puffed air on her, and all her bags being dumped out and inspected.

2-
We managed to close down several stores. First dumb move, hubby and I decided to stop at Wal Mart on the way up (I had some gift cards, was out of several baking staples, and thought that we might want to bring breakfast for the morning to the hotel)...we didn't close Wal Mart down, but apparently my MIL and SILs did (a different Wal Mart) getting last minute stocking stuffers. We closed down Barnes and Noble (getting a copy of National Geographic's Green Guide to wrap up for my parents, since I got them a subscription to it, and hubby thought they needed something to open) and later hubby and his sister closed down Walgreens getting diapers so that we could go to midnight Mass...

3-
Everything that hubby's family does takes longer than hubby thinks. We got to the hotel first, but hubby figured that they would be there pretty soon...when they did finally get there, they got stuck in this one elevator that was possessed the whole time we were there...then we had to try to figure out where to go to eat on Christmas Eve...we were meeting Brittney's parents and sister, plus the nine of us staying at the hotel...so we had a party of twelve. Hubby was calling around, while MIL and SIL and SILs husband went down to the front desk, because MIL had paid for two rooms on Expedia, but they only found one reservation when they got there, so she paid for another room...eventually they figured out that the second room was under SILs (married) name...eventually we found a restaurant that was open until 10, and could handle a group of 12...

4-
While eating, we decided (all still in our traveling clothes) that instead of getting up early to go to Mass before heading over to the hospital, we might as well go to midnight Mass at the church on the way back to the hotel. That was fine, except Charlotte was in her spare diaper that we brought for dinner and pooped, so that demanded a last minute Walgreens run for more diapers.
Midnight Mass was listed as starting at 10:30...well, we got there at 10 ish, got a pew that would hold the nine of us (Britt's family had already gone to Mass at the church near the hospital), the choir started singing at 10:30 (Charlotte started singing then, too) and Mass started at 11 (Eva was asleep on her aunt at that point...Charlotte didn't fall asleep until about communion). It was a beautiful Mass at a beautiful church.

5-
MIL has a tradition of getting everyone Christmas jammies (which, at this point she is buying 9 pairs per year), so after Mass and back at the hotel, everyone came to our room to get their pajamas...of course hubby and his sister already had the girls in pajamas...they were very happy to change into their new "Hannah Montana" (Eva) and "Disney Princess" (Charlotte) jammies. Then hubby's sister ended up staying in our room (she was originally going to sleep on the sofa bed in her parents room, but Eva wanted her to stay and sleep with her in the sofa bed instead). Charlotte was between us, and fell asleep tugging on my hair...it was past 1 am...so I wasn't going to complain!

6-
The girls woke up at about 7:40...so we took them swimming in the hotel pool from 8 to 9, then from 9 to 10, they watched some horrible version of Heidi made with dressed up dogs on PBS (I am NEVER going to support public television...the dog thing has turned me off for life...) while we all got showered and dressed. Then we exchanged our Christmas presents, then at about 10:30 we did stockings in grandma's room. (I got the dryer balls I have had on my Christmas list for a couple of years now, and Charlotte got the Tinkerbell movie, which the girls are currently watching). Finally, we checked out of the hotel at about 11:30 and headed over to the hospital for a very lovely family dinner with Brittney and her family.

7-
We left Denver at about 3:30, and were able to get home with plenty of time for me to cook a nice dinner...while I was finishing up cooking, hubby called his mom...it turns out they were still an hour away from home and cruising one of the bigger cities to see if anything was open so they could get dinner. Hubby told them to enjoy their 7-11 cheeseburger dogs while we were eating a nice home cooked meal...I told him that it reminded me of "A Christmas Story" where the neighbors dogs eat the turkey, and they end up at a Chinese food restaurant with the proprietors singing "Ringle Rells, Ringle Rells..."

Overall, we had a really good trip! It was great fun to be together as a family.

Deck the Halls...

Well, we are getting close to our Christmas travels...we just took our dog up to my MILs house for the rest of the week (her dad will be taking care of all the dogs over Christmas) and we are doing our stockings tonight. I've also been a crafty supermom for the last couple of days (not a role I take on very often) and Eva, Charlotte and I have made Christmas ornaments and cards for their Aunts and Uncles. Once the girls get up from their late nap (Charlotte hasn't actually been napping...mostly crying and yelling) we're going to make cards for their grandparents.

A week ago or so, hubby won two gift certificates in our local chamber of commerce's Christmas drawing...$25 to a restaurant, and $25 to the John Deere dealership...well, yesterday I got a call from the grocery store in my MILs town, and found out that I won a gift certificate there...Charlotte really wanted to talk on the phone, so I only could hear about every other word the guy from the store said...so much so that I couldn't figure out what store he was talking about (the grocery store up there doesn't have a traditional grocery store name)...so when we took the dog up today, we decided to pick up (and spend) my gift certificate. I had it in my head that it was probably a $25 certificate (I don't know why I decided that...) but it turned out to be for $50! That was awesome, shopping for staples with $50 certificate! Also, several of the items that we have been flat out of that I have been refusing to buy until they go on sale were on sale there!

I was thrilled that it was $50, as today we got hubby's pay stub for Friday's direct deposit, and I was a little bit bummed by the total (not that it was bad, it just doesn't leave us much wiggle room in the budget...and we'll have to see if we can squeeze a little bit out for our savings.

The kids are going to go nuts for the next couple of days. Here are their gift receiving moments:
Tonight - stockings from us
Tomorrow night - PJs from Grandma
Thursday - stockings from Grandma, gifts from us
Friday - presents from Grandma (yes, all the same grandma up to this point) and probably gifts from aunts and uncles (if they don't get those on Thursday)
Saturday - gifts from other grandparents (mine) and my brother
Sunday - hopefully we will be done with presents by then...but I'm not holding my breath!

Thank goodness we mucked out their toys already...I don't know if we'd be able to get into the house if we hadn't!

Not the day I was expecting...

...that doesn't imply that the day was bad...just different than I had planned (I don't know why I even TRY to plan, being married into the family that I am!)

The plan was for my MIL and I to go pick up hubby's little sister at DIA today, but with the whole plane crash incident and the nasty weather up in the pacific northwest, her flight was cancelled. Of course, we found this out when we were almost to hubby's hometown, where the girls and I were going to meet MIL and head off for last minute Christmas shopping (for MIL, I'm done) and a trip to the airport, while hubby headed out to the farm to keep an eye on his dad and the dog.

So, we spent the day all together instead. It was actually a lot of fun! I wrapped a million Christmas gifts (when my girls started finding their Christmas presents in one of the spare rooms and dragging them out to play with...) and the girls got to do a bunch of Christmas crafts (they made a bunch of gift tags with stickers, glitter and glue.)

The SIL who was supposed to come in today couldn't get another flight until Christmas Eve, which is the day that her hubby is also flying in. Of course, SIL could only get a flight into the Colorado Springs airport, while her husband is still flying into Denver...so, I guess we get to take a slightly longer route to the hotel where we are all staying Christmas Eve to get her at the airport.

Family gatherings can be quite complicated!

Quick Takes Friday - yes, this is all I do anymore!

1. My Knight in wrinkled armor

I've been meaning to post a picture of hubby in his regalia since he participated in his first color guard a couple of months ago...but I forgot our digital camera, then we bought a disposable one, then it took a while to finish it off (because I never remember to take pictures) then it took a while to develop it...of course, then the picture had to be scanned into the computer, but here he is (finally!)

2. Today we will be finishing up our first quarter of Kindergarten! YEAH!!! (Of course, we could be finishing up right now, but I don't know that I have enough caffeine in my system at the moment) After we finish (testing the final two prayers: meal blessings and act of contrition, and the final two pages of math) I get to figure out how to scan everything in to the computer to send electronically (hubby's preference) or bundle it all up in an envelope and mail it in (my preference)! Also, I really should get a few last items into her notebook to show her progression since we started before I do my happy dance and hide the school stuff until the new year.

3. Speaking of the act of contrition...we have our penance service tonight. Father moved the usual 8am mass to 5:30, and the penance service is at 7...so I am debating whether or not to have hubby come home, leave for Mass, come home, eat dinner, bundle everyone back up to head to the penance service, get back home (most likely) late for the girls bedtime, and then collapse...or do some, but not all of it. On a side note, I have had a mental block on the act of contrition my entire adult life (when you are baptised at 18, they don't particularly teach you about confession in RCIA...I didn't even know that it was a normal thing to know a formal act of contrition until I had a priest yell at me for not knowing it at my 2nd or 3rd confession...the first 1 or 2 were with Jesuits, who didn't seem to have a problem with it...) but, after having to help Eva to memorize it, I now know it! I also know a morning offering and the guardian angel prayer from teaching them to Eva.

4. I don't think hubby has gotten to work at his normal time all week...the trucks have been severely delayed (two hours late today) every day except Wednesday, which happened to be his day off. It's getting a little irritating having him get up at his normal time, get ready to go, and then get a call from his boss saying not to come in until he gets another call...I'm sure it has been irritating him...but that means I have to put up with him first thing in the morning (I much prefer he tortures his co-workers with his obnoxious morning person ways!)

5. On Wednesday, we took a trip up to the front range, because my FIL had surgery on Monday but had some complications because of his asthma, and was kept in ICU for several days to monitor his lungs. He doesn't like doctors, or hospitals or anything like that...and he really doesn't like to not be at home or at work. Unfortunately for him, he's not allowed to do much of anything for 6-8 weeks (he won't even be able to eat solid foods at Christmas...he and Charlotte will have to fight over the mashed potatoes)...unfortunately for my MIL, he will be home all the time and cranky about it...He got out of the hospital yesterday and is at home now. Hubby sat with his dad for most of the day, while the girls and I finished my Christmas shopping, and helped my MIL get closer to finishing hers. Then, hubby's little brother and fiancee came down to visit as well, so we all got to have dinner together (minus FIL, who was enjoying jello and chicken broth at the hospital.)

6. I am DONE with all gifts for Christmas. Eva's bean bags (well, they are actually full of corn) are done and wrapped, all the stocking stuffers are bought and wrapped. I even have the candy bought...though I still need to get a few nuts, and our box of fruit we ordered from FFA hasn't come in yet. Each girl is getting one store bought present, one homemade present and some stocking stuffers. I always forget how little their stockings are, so I have WAY more stuff than will fit in them...but in my family, it is a tradition to have an overflowing stocking. But, note to self, next year BUY FEWER STOCKING STUFFERS!

7. I was pretty excited about singing in the choir for midnight Mass, but I have come to my senses. So, instead of being at home on Christmas Eve, attending Mass and getting home at midnight (or later) just to get up at 5 am and drive to Denver for the family Christmas at the hospital, have Christmas and drive back home so that hubby can be at work at 7 am on the 26th...we will be driving up to Denver after hubby gets off work on the 24th (hopefully around 1 or 2pm) staying the night in a hotel with a bunch of the family, and then having Christmas the next day, followed by driving home. In booking the hotel room, there were two varieties of rooms with the same rate. One style was 1 King bed with a sofa bed, the other style was 2 Queen beds. When I put into the dumb website that we had two adults and two kids, it wouldn't allow us to book a King bed room (Charlotte still falls out of bed without a railing, so it makes more sense to have her in bed with the two of us as bed rails) because we exceeded the room capacity. Then I tried with 1 kid, which still apparently exceeds the room capacity. Finally, I told the computer that we just had two adults (which may be true, because it wouldn't surprise me to have the girls ditch us to stay in their grandma or their aunt's rooms) so that we could get a King size bed. I am wondering if lying to a computer constitutes a sin that I should confess tonight.

Of course, there are more quick takes over at Jen's blog!

7 Quick Takes Friday

1-
PAYDAY!!! YEAH!!!

2-
I am tired (today) because we spent too much time awake last night trying to google a painting. Hubby noticed the address label on some one's Christmas card was a Renaissance painting of two naked women, with one pinching the other one's nipple. You don't even want to contemplate the wordings we attempted to find it...in the end we found a couple of very funny posts regarding that painting. One told us that it was at the Louvre, which gave us the ability to find the second (that actually had an image of it!) I kid you not, the explanation in a children's art book was "I am pinching my sisters nipple to show that she and the king are having a baby prince." Hubby giggled more about the painting after finding out more about it...

3-
Eva did the first half of her phonics review for our first quarter of Kindergarten. She did really well, until we got to the part she had to write. She got all the sounds right and said them correctly, but she confused b and d in the first word, and kept looking back at it for every other word. So, by the end every b and d on the page were backwards. I'm trying to keep telling myself that that is perfectly normal for any little kid, and particularly since she is 4, she will learn eventually. Unfortunately, my perfectionism seems to be rubbing off on Eva...must work on that!

4-
Today we have 1/5 of our full funded emergency fund done! I'm pretty excited about that, as it means we are finally getting serious again about our money situation.

5-
I really need to get serious about finishing up Eva's Christmas present. I'm planning on making bean bags for her, but I haven't gotten them sewn (I haven't put away the sewing machine either, though), and I keep forgetting to grab the dry corn or beans from my MILs house to stuff them with. Goal for today's nap time GO SEW!!!

6-
It looks like we will be going up to the Denver area on Christmas day to celebrate with Brittney's family. She is doing pretty well, though I think she is still technically in a coma. They do know that she will be going home in February...of course, we don't know what condition she will be in then, so please say some extra prayers for her and her family. (For anyone just visiting, Brittney is hubby's 20 year old cousin, who was in a very bad car accident a little more than 10 weeks ago who received severe brain injuries, and is now in her third hospital, which is the best brain rehab center in the area.)

7-
Today is my brother's birthday...let me do the math really quickly...he's 33 today. Hubby was lecturing me yesterday about how I NEED to call my brother today to wish him a happy birthday...never mind that we are going to see him and my parents (they are all coming to visit us) on the 27th. Of course, my argument is that the best birthday present he could receive from me is me not forcing him to have an awkward conversation with me. I love my brother...but other than our completely crazy mother and our slightly less crazy father and other various crazy relatives, we have close to NOTHING in common. As a compromise with hubby, I am AT LEAST supposed to have the girls draw him a birthday card and mail it today...

Of course, as usual there are lots more Quick Takes over at Jen's blog!