Monthly Archives: January 2011

Random Thought Wednesday, 2

Posted in Friends and Fun, Miscellaneous, Samson by

Happy Hump Day!

Not much going on today so I thought I’d give updates on a few things and share other random thoughts I have.

For those of you who were wondering (all 2 of you), Samson and Willow are back together. He was at Doggie Day Camp yesterday and the report is that he and Willow played together all day. I guess he forgave her for two-timing him. That or it was a nasty rumor started by Karen just so she could get her poop-eating paws on him. Either way, all seems to be right in the dog world again.

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If anyone has been dying to know how I fared in Fantasy Football, I finished in 3rd place. [gulp] It pained me to lose in the semi’s, but I did. Ironically enough, the first and second place teams going in to the playoffs finished 4th and 3rd, respectively, and the 3rd and 4th place teams finished 1st and 2nd! I’m kind of glad it’s over. It was getting to be too stressful for me. And hey, all that matters is that the Steelers won their division and are headed into the real playoffs.

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On, a more somber note, there was a shooting at Millard South High School today. Apparently the shooter was a student who had been suspended. He shot the principal and assistant principal. Scary stuff. Millard South is where I’d have gone to high school had I not chosen to go the private route and head to an all girl’s catholic school (that’s a whole other post). But all my junior high and grade school friends went there. My parents still live in the neighborhood. 

3 years ago, there was another shooting in Omaha, at the Westroads Mall. That was the first really major incident like that we’d had here and I was in Pittsburgh working at Del Monte. One of my friends sent me an instant message telling me about it. It was very surreal to be in another city and see your local mall on the National news.

Makes me so sad that violence seems to be the first thought these days when one is angry or upset or lonely or whatever. Columbine…Westroads…school board meeting in Florida…Virginia Tech. Can’t people talk things out anymore? It seems cliché to say it but, can’t we all just get along? I mean, I’ve been angry at bosses or co-workers but I would never think to get a gun and start shooting! Makes me sad at the world that I’m raising my daughter in. Prayers go out to both victims and all the families.

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Ended the day having drinks out with some girls from work. It was what I needed – a good old-fashioned bitch session fueled by Mexican food and alcohol. Can’t beat that! Seriously though, I enjoy socializing with co-workers, whether it be a lunch, happy hour or whatever. We spend more time with them than with our families it seems so why not get to know them better? I hope for more of those outings soon!

Came home to spend some time, though not enough, with Isabella before she was off to bed. She started to fuss and I had flashbacks to Sunday night. Fortunately, she calmed herself down after a few minutes so it was all good. Going to sit down and pay bills now, then head to bed, and dream of spreadsheets and budgets.

Happy Hump Day!

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A Day in the Life of TTM…

Posted in Blog Stuff, Photography by

I am totally going to do this. I found this idea on SimplyRebekah.com and it sounds like a fun, interesting thing to do that is right up my alley. Here’s how it works – basically, you pick a day, any day, and take one photo every hour, starting when you wake up and stopping when you go to bed. It is meant to chronicle any random day. I imagine mine will be full of photos of me sitting at my desk since my day job is not all that exciting (visually anyway). But, this will give me a good opportunity to get creative with  my photography skills!

Feel free to join me in this experiment. All you have to do is pick a day and start shooting (photos, not guns. I don’t want to be accused of starting some violent shooting spree…)! I would love to see them if you do decide to join in!

Now to pick a day…for the sake of randomness, I’ll just pick January 12th, which is one week from today. Come back next week to see all the pics of that day!

Obligatory Resolutions Post

Posted in Finances, Goals, Health and Weightloss, House and Home by

I’ve noticed a theme this year when it comes to resolutions. Seems like everyone I’ve talked to (or read) has said the same thing – they don’t normally do resolutions but this year is different. Why is this year so different for everyone? While I can’t speak for humanity as a whole, I can tell you my position. For me, I’m making resolutions because I feel stronger this year than I ever have about setting and hitting certain goals. In previous years I had some vague notions of what I wanted in my life, but nothing specific. This year, I’m getting down to brass tacks and making things happen!

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s just as important to plan out how you are going to meet a goal as it is to define it.

So, here are my resolutions for this year (BTW, it makes it way more fun if I put catchy names to them so, bear with me and my cheesiness):

Project T&T (Tone and Tighten)

What: Lose the 3 pounds I put on over the holidays and then tone up all over. I REALLY want to get rid of this muffin top and I’d love to have more definition in my arms, legs, and abs. I’m already seeing more tone from doing the one hundred push ups program. Hoping to see even more progress as I continue. But the goal here is to maintain my weight loss so that all the work I did last year doesn’t go to waste.

How: By doing what I already know works – watching calories (I’ve found that 1400 calories a day works for my body when trying to lose weight) and steady workouts. You may have noticed that a couple of weeks ago I added a section to the right sidebar called “Today’s Workout”. In here, I will record what exercises I’ve done each day. This holds me accountable and call also give you ideas if you’re in a workout rut.

Operation Dream Home

What: Sell our current house and buy our forever home (then I can cross that off the bucket list!). To do that, we have to make sure our house is in tip-top shape so that we can sell it quickly and at our asking price (or close).

How: First off, I’m planning to go through each room and de-clutter. We’ve accumulated too much “stuff” and it needs to go. Once the extra junk is gone, I want to re-organize the remaining items. This will help keep me sane and it will present the house in a neat and tidy way. We also have various things around the house that need fixing or updating: scratched baseboards, repainting the walls, getting new sinks, etc. We have some good friends who are realtors so I want to invite them over and do a walk through of our house as it exists today. They can then tell us what we need to invest time and money into and what we can leave as is.

Here’s one project I’ve already finished – the “catch all” kitchen counter. We have an area to the left of the stove that is where we keep files, stamps, papers to shred, my purse, etc. It is always so messy and I am constantly losing stuff.

Here’s the before:

Notice the files in the back are all crammed in together, there is stuff scattered on the counter, and my purse and lunch bag are eating up a lot of space. So, I put hanging file holders on the wall and labeled them “To Shred” and “To File”. This got rid of one filing system on the counter and freed up some space there.

Here’s the after:

Doesn’t that look so much better? It was a simple fix that went a long way.

Mission Debt Diet

What: To pay off all credit card debt and pay down loans, while also creating a nest egg. To be honest, we really don’t have that bad of credit card debt when compared to the national average. But it’s still more than I’m comfortable with so this year it will be paid off. I also want to pay down as much of our mortgage and car payments as possible so that we’re in a better spot come Spring/Summer when we buy a new house.  

How: Budget, budget, budget! I created a spreadsheet that lays out our fixed expenses (bills) versus variable expenses (shopping, groceries, eating out, etc) and our income. Our bank has a neat feature that shows us our spending report for 2010 (how much we spent in various categories throughout the year). So, I took that and figured out what our monthly spending was in each area.  Then we came up with our new budget goals. Here’s an example:

I then created an expenses worksheet that will help us track our spending. I broke out sections for each area and included our dollar allotment at the top. As we spend, we’ll write it on the worksheet and can then see how close we’re getting to our budgeted goal. We’ll have to use it for a while and make adjustments as we go but I think it will help.

Ihave posted it in the kitchen so we remember to record our expenses:

(inside our pantry door)

(Sidenote – see the wall sconce in the background? That’s the one Isabella’s woobie got lost in way back when. Yeah.)

This one will really challenge us to get creative. We’ll have to shop smart, plan meals, and say “no”. It will definitely be an adjustment but it’s necessary and after a while, we’ll get used to it and it won’t feel so restrictive.

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There you have it!  Those are my 3 resolutions for 2011. I think they are all doable and I’m really gung-ho about them right now. By posting them here, I’m hoping this will help me stay accountable. The competitive side of me will not want to admit public defeat!!

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$#*! my British Friend Says

Posted in $#*! my British Friend Says by

She’s baaa-aack….After being gone for 2 weeks, The Brit is back and we had a lovely time catching up over lunch. Here are a few random snippets from that conversation and throughout the rest of the day:

“My Lord it was bloody Baltic!”

“So I’m stuck in the middle seat and the kid next to me not only obviously has the flu but also Turrets!”

“He had the bloody hat on and was chasing me round the house with his pipe, talking like Morgan Freeman.”

“After all that, I just thought oh sod it!”

“Oh pisser.”

“Get out of my bleedin’ way! {joking} Ok fine I’ll just go to the pisser then.”

“Oh I’m not staying here ’til 6! Bugger off!”

“What should I do stick a broom up me ass and mop the floor with it?”

The Meltdown

Posted in Family, Isabella/Munchkin by

Let me just start off by saying that I am still shell-shocked from last night. Isabella had a meltdown like you wouldn’t believe. Both CJ and my nerves were shot by the time it was over. Here’s the background.

Isabella is apparently a child who needs routine. I suppose all kids are that way  but we definitely learned that if her routine gets thrown off too much, we will all suffer. Our holiday weekend was a busy one. We spent both Saturday/Sunday over at my sister’s house having some quality family time. Both days, we had a pretty normal morning and she got her naps and meals in as usual. But then we’d head to my sister’s house in the afternoon. Munchkin had lots of fun playing with her cousins and all the toys they have. So much fun, that she refused her afternoon naps. Saturday we tried 3 different times. I even had my mom try to work her grandma magic but to no avail. Also, we were eating holiday type food (chips, dip, chili, cheese/crackers, cookies, candy, etc.) with very little fruit and veggies. So her diet was thrown off too. By last night and bedtime, she was very crabby and out of whack.

When we got home, Munchkin played with some toys and watched a little bit of The Wiggles. Then it was time to change her diaper and put on her pajamas. That’s when all hell broke loose. As soon as I laid her down on the changing table, she started screaming and crying. She wriggled and tried to get away but I was able to keep her in one spot long enough to do what I needed to do (I’ve discovered that as parents, we come up with all kinds of creative ways to change a diaper when the kid is being less than cooperative). I figured she’d calm down once I picked her up again, because that’s what usually happens.

Um, no.

I picked her up and she kept on wailing. I tried to give her some juice/water/milk and she would have none of it. I offered her a bedtime snack of crackers and she refused. I gave her a woobie and she batted it away. There was no consoling her at this point so I thought, all right, she just needs to go to bed. We went through our usual routine and as I bent over to turn on her CD player, she grabbed my hair and yanked. Hard. I pulled her hand away and firmly said, “No!” She kicked and thrashed. I tried the CD again and she grabbed my hair for a second time. And yanked hard. I was fed up at that point so down in her crib she went. I figured she would carry on for a little longer than tire out and go to sleep.

I figured wrong.

She kept going. And going. After 5 minutes I went back in, with some juice,  and tried to offer it to her again. She pushed it away. I offered a woobie. She threw it at me. Then, she reached out wanting me to pick her up, so I did. She pointed to the hallway and I thought, hey, maybe she’s hungry for something other than crackers. So we headed out to the kitchen and she stopped crying. Oh thank God. I tried applesauce but she didn’t want it. Offered cereal and she refused. When I handed her the juice cup again, she took it but wouldn’t drink. Just  held on to it. CJ came in and we started discussing other options. Then the crying started again. And got louder and louder. I tried to take the juice away and she wouldn’t let go, yet she still wouldn’t drink it. I finally yanked it from her little hands and she freaked. She threw herself back and out came a wail like I have never heard before. I seriously thought she was possessed. I stared waiting for her head to spin around. When it didn’t, I took her to her room, made the sign of the cross over her and left the room. She continued with her meltdown.

That’s when I did the only rational thing any adult woman would do – I called my mommy. I needed more brainpower for this one – and apparently I needed God on my side. Since mon was a nun way back when, I figured she could help on both accounts. She suggested just letting her cry it out. Go in after 5 min to reassure her and then leave. Wait 10 min and go back in. Rinse and repeat until the demonwas exorcised Isabella was asleep. So, after a bit, I went back in. She was still standing up and crying. I told her it was ok and that she needed to lay down and sleep. She kept pointing to the hallway and I had no idea what she wanted. I asked but didn’t get much of an answer other than, “Muahhhuffffsnifffmuuuooooh.” Since I didn’t have my Toddler Speak dictionary on me, I couldn’t translate. I picked her up and felt her tummy, not really sure what I was feeling for but a nurse told me to do that one time so I did. Her tummy was a little distended and hard which I think means constipation. I had no idea how to fix that at 8:00 at night other than to stick my finger up her butt (a guy at work told me to try that). I didn’t find that option at all appealing so I put her back to bed and offered a woobie, figuring the crying was better than poop splatter. She batted away the woobie so I left her alone.

And she screamed.

It was at this point that I raised the white flag and told CJ to take care of it. After waiting for the right amount of time, he went in there. When he came out, all was quiet. I had to clap by my ears a few times to make sure I hadn’t just gone deaf or something. I don’t know what magic/exorcism/ritual he did in there but by golly it worked. He said he just rocked her and gave her a woobie. Gee, why didn’t I think of that.

Apparently, she just wanted some daddy time since they hadn’t had as much time together due to his surgery on Wednesday.

We tiptoed around the house for the rest of the night, deathly afraid to wake the beast. But she was out cold and slept great all night. By the time it was all said and done, she had screamed for about an hour. That’s an hour I don’t ever want to repeat.

I’ve learned a couple of lessons from this:

  1. Isabella needs a set schedule. Missing 2 days of afternoon naps really threw her off and made her super crabby.
  2. A regular diet is important too. She missed out on her normal amounts of fruits and veggies which contributed to the constipation.
  3. You’re never too old to need your mommy.
  4. You find religion real quick when the devil possesses your child.
  5. From now on, CJ is putting her to bed.

I hope and pray that getting back to her normal schedule today will help and bedtime will be much easier tonight. If not, you will find me curled up in a ball under the stairs, rocking back and forth reciting The Lord’s Prayer.

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