battles

Everyone fights their own battles.

Sometimes I forget that.

Yesterday for example, was particularly rough. The kids were going crazy and they were driving me crazy as a result. I was doing a lame attempt at packing. I am hours upon hours behind on homework, it was cold and rainy and we went for a drive for lack of anything better to do. Miles fell asleep in the car and, as a result, refused to go to bed at bedtime. Lacey was bouncing off the walls until 10.

It was a long day.

But then I visit MckMama's blog and read about Stellan who is sick, sick, sick. And I cry. Why? I cry because my kids are healthy and because I am not sitting in a hospital room on their first birthday hoping, against hope that this will pass. I don't have to live with that. I don't want to live with that. It's still not fair though.

And she is just one, individual example, of someone who is fighting a battle. Some battles are short and easy, some are l-o-n-g and treacherous. But we all fight them.

All of us.

All I can say is keep your head up, stay positive, and do what you can to keep fighting.

And pray. Oh, yes. PRAY.

Safe?

According to Forbes, Minneapolis is the safest place in the U.S. to live.

For the record, the top 5 cities are:

1. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
2. Milwaukee, WI
3. Portland, OR
4. Boston, MA
5. Seattle, WA

And the 3 most dangerous cities, all coming in very close to each other:

1. Detroit, MI
2. Memphis, TN
3. Miami, FL

There's your interesting news for the day.

busy, so busy.

This week:

I work 6 hours today, Mike works 10. We'll be packing any chance we get.

Tuesday: I work 5 hours, Mike works 10. He is training new employees, and has a one on one with his DM for 3 hours which perfectly overlaps when I am supposed to be working. Still haven't figured that one out. Packing any chance we get.

Wednesday: Thankfully, I don't work. Mike works 10 hours, plus it's Wednesday which is his paperwork day, so he will be busy. I will be packing the kids for their 10 day stay with my parents (yes, TEN DAYS).

Thursday: Double doctor appointments in the a.m. I have to take them alone. Rush home, feed lunch, meet mom and dad, exchange kids, study all.freaking.afternoon. Work 4 hours in the evening. Start moving. Mike is working until 9:30 pm.

Friday: I am off, Mike is off. Move everything, clean apartment, check out of apartment.

Saturday: I have class from 8-5, Mike is working 8-4. Going to church at 6 pm. Meet up with friends afterwards.

Sunday: I work 8-1.

TO DO:
Clean AC units
Clean Bathroom
Clean oven
Clean Microwave
Scrub floors
Clean carpets
Vacuum carpets
PACK
Dust trim and furnace vents
Change lightbulbs
Clean cabinets inside and out
Rent U-haul to move everything.
Drop off at Goodwill
Clean mirrors and windows
Clean fridge
Clean sinks
Clean inside of dishwasher
....on and on...

Activity Table

We are looking for an activity table. We want one that can duo as a coffee table since it will be in the living room. Also, since it will be in the living room it cannot be bright, plastic, colorful, etc.

not my style.

So, naturally I am drawn to 2 stores that I think might have something along those lines. Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod. We don't have a Land of Nod in Minneapolis (why the heck not??), so that leaves me to Pottery Barn.

I love me some Pottery Barn, and of course they have exactly what I want (well not exactly, since I want black, but you get the idea). Of course its also going to cost me $349.


So then I decide to look for alternatives. It's not that the $349 is an absolutely unimaginable price to pay, but I could find plenty of other things to buy for that much money.

On a whim I checked out Amazon.com.

Lo and behold...



$99.99

Thank you Amazon.

I am sure its not the same quality but: a) it's going to be destroyed by kids and b) I am going to paint it black anyway and who wants to spend $349 just to paint it. For $349 it should come in black.

I don't know if we'll get it, but so far it's the most promising option.

A real tear-jerker.

Every time I hear this song I tear up. This is not ideal, since I always here this song in the car, on my way somewhere. I get to Target wondering just how red my eyes are...

What I love about this song is that it reminds me as a mom, that my kids are going to grow up, faster than I want. It reminds me to take time to breath. To not worry about the toys all over the floor or the fact that they have messy faces, that Lacey doesn't want to go to bed at night and that Miles wakes up at the crack of dawn. It reminds me that one day they won't need me, and I have to let them go. Right now, I am just gonna hold on as long as I can.

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won't be like this for long

Four years later ‘bout 4:30
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don't you worry
This’ll only last a week or two

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon you'll drop her off
And she won’t even know you're gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It won’t be like this for long

Some day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times he'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the aisle
And he'll raise her veil
But right now she's up and cryin’
And the truth is that he don't mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers

He lays down there beside her
‘Til her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin’ her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on

‘Cause it won’t be like this for long

It won’t be like this for long

Artist: Darius Rucker

and I'm out!

I was paying bills this morning (and by paying bills I mean repeatedly having to sign back in to Wells Fargo dot com, so as to try to get something finished before getting interrupted again). Efficient? no.

anyway.

I'm viewing bill pay and check my Verizon bill. It normally is around $100 a month. What did I see? $274+

I had a heart attack. Then I thought, maybe I forgot to pay it last month, because sometimes I think I pay these things in my mind, but I get interrupted and logged out before I follow through on that actual thought.... So then I looked at the statement. $171+ in "data" fees. "Billable Megabytes" to be exact. I called up mike, since he was the one who used these megabytes and neither of us have a clue as to what they are.

He gives them a call. So here is what happened. Mike borrowed a phone from a friend for a couple of weeks last month to see if he wanted to buy it from him. That phone was a data phone, but Mike didn't have a data plan. So, he is using the phone and one day needed to review some resume's for work and was using the phone to do this. He was on the phone for maybe an hour total---split up over a few different time periods. Here is the real kicker though, both his previous phone and my current phone can connect to the internet, but they give you a warning saying that this will cost you. This new phone didn't give any warning, Mike isn't really the first person who would know that they will charge you for things like this, and I don't blame him since, he normally gets a message telling him what fees will be incurred.

$171 for an hour. Or $14.99 a month unlimited. Take your pick.

Verizon won't wave the fees, and they certainly can't go back and just charge us $14.99 for that one month. This was the most recent in a string of issues we've had with them this year. They have caused us so many headaches.

Mike says we are out. He is going to talk to the Manager at the mall, because they are friends, to see if he can wave our fees (and will probably give him free jamba juice whenever he works...) .

Then we are marching over to AT&T and porting our numbers. To iPhones.

well, I for one couldn't be happier.

Ugh, Monday.

Does anyone like Monday? I used to like Mondays for 2 reasons. First, Mike used to have Sundays and Mondays off. But now, I have class all day Saturday so he doesn't work and works Monday instead. I will admit that it is nice he has a 'regular' weekend, but it doesn't make me like Mondays.

The second reason I used to like Monday was because The Hills was on. But they moved that to Tuesday.

So, what do I enjoy about Mondays?
1) Coffee
2) The fact that The Hills will be on tomorrow.
3) Class is 5 days away.
4) 4:30 pm.

Numbers on the brain.

Literally.

PVIF = 1-1/(1+n)i/i so,

PVa=R(1-1/(1+n)i/i.

Because PVa=R(PFIF)

and this is the type of thing that keeps me up at night, over and over again I will talk these formulas out to myself (I have plenty more).

That and remembering the correct way to journalize receivables with recourse, vs. without recourse, and secured borrowing. Remembering to discount the notes receivable, and then charge back to interest revenue during the appropriate year. Oh, and the difference between % of sales and % of receivables when computing bad debt expense...but that's an easy one.

Of course I am in 2 classes, (although I tend to sometimes forget this because the former class is that much more work).

But I also dream about supply/demand curves, elasticity, governmental price ceilings, price floors, tax burdens-consumer vs. producer, and surplus and shortages.

But I'm setting curves in both classes, and I couldn't be happier about the material I am studying.

I hit the sweet spot. I found out what I love and I am going with it. Are you pursuing your dream?

8 Months!

Today marks 8 months for this little guy.

Miles is working on pulling up and crawling.
He gets on all 4's from his stomach and from a sit.
He can also get to a sitting position from his tummy.
His tummy is still his favorite place to be, he's a tummy sleeper.
He army crawls.
When he's too lazy to army crawl, he rolls to his destination.
We have to keep the floors clean.
He'll eat anything he can find.
But his favorite thing to eat is gerber puffs.
He gets all giddy when he sees the yellow container.
He gets giddy when he sees Lacey too.
It's the best when she makes him laugh his little face off.
Which is all. the. time.
I am SO happy they are close in age.
So happy.
So, so, happy.
No teeth. But I think I can see them coming!

Snow and Birthdays.

We woke up this morning to SNOW! Pretty exciting, but I was too lazy to bundle up Lacey just to go out and touch it. We will have plenty of opportunities to play in the snow. April is 6 months away, so that means we have at least 6 months of opportunities.

I've got to post pictures of her birthday, but time has got away from me. We are going to pick pumpkins tomorrow, so we'll just do one big collaborative post.

As long as it's not snowing.

Park

I found a big ball at the park.

We were all pretty thrilled.

I pushed it up hills...

and down hills.

I ran after it.

I pushed it around the park.

I showed my brother.

He wanted to eat it.

He wanted to eat grass too.

I even pushed the ball down the slide.

Then found it again.

When I got to the bottom.

I found an orange leaf.

and I tried to push Miles off the monkey bars.

It was a good day.

crybabies

My Sister in Law said to me yesterday:

"You're kids always seem so happy, do they EVER cry?"

Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Thanks for the compliment though!

Potty Training

We've had a lot of success with Lacey and the potty. We haven't used diapers while we are home for the past week. I still put her in a diaper for naps, bedtime, and errands though. I'm not sure how to transition out of that.

Here's what we did.

I got some candy (smarties for us), and put them in their own container. I printed off a clip art picture of a potty and taped it on. In our house, this is known as "potty candy."

I grabbed a bunch of things from Target's dollar section, and put those in a visable, see through, rubbermaind container. These are "special toys." They are for when we go poo poo on the potty.

I took Lacey to Target to pick out panties (I hate that word, but that's the word we use, so bear with me). Lacey has a new found appreciation for Dora the Explorer, so imagine her delight when she found Dora panties! I didn't have any plans to start potty training right then. In fact I was debating if I should wait until November, after we move. Either way my plans rapidly changed.

We literally got home from Target and she asked to put on her new Dora panties. I didn't really want to open them yet, because I wanted them to be a special surprise for when training really started. However, she persisted and I obliged. I told her that she needed to keep them dry. I started giving her juice and set the timer on the microwave at 15 to 20 minute intervals. I constantly asked her if she had to go pee pee. When her juice ran out, I re-filled it. When the timer was up, I set her on her potty to see if she had to go. She initially wet her panties, but apparently once was almost enough for that girl. She's had 1 accident since then (and it wasn't even on my watch).

By day 2 she was telling me when she had to pee. To be honest, since it is a lot of work, I wanted to get lazy and just put a diaper on. But I didn't.

So now, here we are a week later. She has received 3 special toys in the last 2 days! She has been dressed and ready for bed and then had me take off her diaper to go pee! Those are the kind of progress reports I need. I am starting to trust her potty skills more and more. She asks for panties the moment she wakes up in the morning. I don't really have to ask her if she needs to go pee, she just tells me. She's terrible at pulling down her underwear though, so we are working on that.

Now, I just need to figure out how to take her out in public without a diaper and trust her while she naps and in the carseat. Really I need to get to Babies R Us and buy some water proof items.



Here are some other things that helped:

1) ONCE UPON A POTTY- the DVD. My sister in law recommended this dvd to me and it has helped so much. That is really when Lacey "got it." We sing the potty song from the movie all the time.

2) Explaining to Miles that he is too little for the potty. He is too little for panties. He is too little for potty candy, etc.

3) Talking about other people who use the potty...Daddy uses a potty, mommy uses a potty, Elias uses the potty, etc.