New Year's Eve

It's hard to believe that there are less than 8 hours left in 2008 (Central time anyway). It has been both a wonderful and sad year. Our little girl arrived healthy and happy in March, but we also lost several loved ones this year.
My hope is that everyone has safe and happy celebrations tonight to welcome in 2009. We wish everyone a joyous new year.

Wii Fit

One of my Christmas presents was a Wii Fit and I love it! I have used it 4 days in a row so far and I'm sore!!! I really like the hoola hoop games in the aerobics section. I'm hoping that I will be able to use the Wii everyday, for at least 15 minutes, to help support my weight loss efforts.

Back to the routine

We are back to our normal routine, for at least the next few days. It was really nice to have hubby home all last week, but it's also nice to have things back to normal for a little while.

White Christmas.......melting

I had my first White Christmas this week, but now after a thunderstorm of all things, the snow is melting.
Overall it was a good holiday, but I really missed my family. It didn't help that we started things off with a scare and trip to the ER for the little one. Every thing was fine, but it's not how you want to start a two day period that will already be full of stress.

Da Bears

The Chicago Bears played the Packers last night on Monday night football and squeaked out a win in overtime, for the second week in a row. People seem to be getting excited because in the Bears win on Sunday and the Vikings lose, then the Bears will make the playoffs. But, I don't think the bears deserve to be a playoff team.
If they play well in the first part of the game, they stink in the second half and lose. If they play poorly the first half or 3/4 of the game, they rely on a few good plays and luck to squeeze out a win. That's not a play off bound team in my book. A playoff team puts together 4 quarters of good football.

This week

I really think this is going to be a good week! Hubby is on vacation all week, a much needed break for him, and I think it's great. This will also be little girl's first Christmas and I'm really hoping it's a good one.
It's also going to be my first WHITE Christmas! The only downside is how incredibly cold it is this week.

Jet Dry

I never really thought that Jet Dry did much when you put it in the dishwasher, I really thought that it was just an "extra" that didn't do much except make money for who ever sells it. Well, the Jet Dry dispenser in my dishwasher was empty and I kept neglecting to refill it - and the dishes were looking icky after coming out clean. Everything has spots on it!
So, I refilled the jet dry dispenser and have been amazed at the change. The dishes actually seem drier and look cleaner when they come out. I'm SO glad, especially for the baby's bottles. I don't feel like have to wash them by hand after they've come out of the dishwasher anymore!

Snow and Commuting

Yesterday morning, the weather people started talking about a large snow storm that was headed toward Chicago. They said it would be here around 3 PM yesterday, so I got out ran all my errands to get home with the baby before the storm got here. 3 PM came and went with no storm and the weather people said it would be here at 7 PM. Again, 7 came and went with no snow. Just before 11 PM, we heard the sleet start. At some point during the night the sleet turned into snow.
I've been listening to the news this morning and they are talking about all of the troubles on the roads and with the mass transit system because of the ice and snow. All kinds of school districts are closed. When the weather is like this, should companies REALLY expect people to make it into the office?

Snow and more Snow

It feels like it has been cold here forever! It started snowing on Nov 30 and has been really cold since. It did warm up for a little bit over the weekend and we saw our grass for the first time in 2 weeks, but the snow is BACK and more is on the way.
It looks like we might have a white Christmas.

Bread Baking

Yesterday we spent the day over at my sister-in-laws house making Lemon Poppy Seed bread. To be honest, I was less than excited about going, but it turned out really well. Everyone got along, SIL was nice, and she even complimented me on having a good idea.
I still don't know what caused the attitude adjustment, but I'm glad things seem to be getting better.

In laws

Yesterday we had a birthday party for my Father-in-law and sister-in-law. And it was one of the first times that SIL actually treated me like a person!! I know that's a sad statement to make, but I finally feel like we are making progress on the relationships with my husband's family.

Haircuts

I've been going to the same hair salon since I moved to the Chicago area in 2001. I even stayed at the same salon when the stylist I was going to left, but now the second stylist I've been going to is about to start maternity leave. She'll be coming back in March, but with my hair, I can't wait three months for a haircut. I think I'm going to use this opportunity to check out a couple of places closer to home. I could afford to play a little bit more for a haircut (another $5 or so) if I didn't have to drive so far to get my hair done.

Scandal Part 2

The scandal surrounding our governor continues to ripple out and capture other people. The latest victim is Jesse Jackson Jr who, while not under investigation, is believed to be listed as a candidate in the governor's captured conversations.
So, whether or not Mr. Jackson participated in the governor's plots or not, there is now a cloud around him. Mr. Jackson's heated denials just make the cloud of suspicion worse.
Mr. Jackson may have been a good candidate for the empty Illinois Senate seat, but I don't think the people could trust him now if he were appointed. Really, any of the previously named potential candidates are tainted by Tuesday's arrest.

Illinois Govenor

I received a shock yesterday morning when looking at the news online, our esteemed governor had been arrested. I never have been real impressed with Blagojevich; it's hard to be impressed with a governor who refuses to spend time in the state capital and has horrible relationships with almost every other elected official and the state legislature.
The kicker is what made the US Attorney go ahead with the arrest before the indictment... WIRE TAPS of the governor's home show that he was trying to sell an appointment to the vacant Illinois senate seat. Blagojevich felt entitled to compensation for appointing someone to fill the President Elects former seat. It's completely unbelievable that someone would try to use an appointment to Congress to fill their own pockets.

Baby Toys

When we went to my parent's house in Houston, they had all kinds of toys for our little one to play with. It made me realize that she is way past playing with the toys we have for her here. I'm wondering if the fact that she's bored is why she goes on so many adventures in our family room. If we weren't so close to Christmas, I would have to go get her more toys! I'm afraid we're going to have this problem every year... Little Girl's birthday is in March, so we are going to have to find excuses to get a few new toys in the summer and early fall to keep her from getting bored.

Cotton Bowl

After a very exciting season, it looks like my Red Raiders will be playing in the Cotton Bowl on January 2, 2009 against Ole Miss. It should be a very exciting game!!!

Knock me over with a feather

You could have knocked me over with a feather yesterday afternoon when our phone rang and it was my sister-in-law. She had a list of things she wanted to talk to me about, mostly related to Christmas. It's sad that I am surprised she called, but SHE never calls here. We normally end up communicating with her through my Mother-in-law.

I'm hoping we may be on track for improving relationships with MIL and SIL.

Texas Tech and Mike Leach

Dear Texas Tech,

Please do not let Mike Leach leave and go to another school!! We really like our coach and love what he's done for the football program. Please do what you can to keep our coach!

How to keep the baby girl warm

It has been really cold around our house lately and I have a concern about keeping our little girl warm in her crib. At 8 months, she is too big for most of the wearable sleep blankets, but she won't stay under her regular blanket. She didn't sleep very well last night and I wonder if it wasn't because she was cold. Does anyone have ideas about how to keep her warm at night???

Baby or little girl?

My daughter is 8 months old and has been doing so many new things lately.... When I look at her, it's hard to see the baby we brought home in March. She's starting to look and act more like a little girl. Just over the week we were gone for Thanksgiving, she started doing new things. There are times when I miss the baby, but it's fun to celebrate the little victories with her.

Back from Vacation

We spent the last week visiting in Houston for Thanksgiving. It was a really great trip and it was really nice to see everyone. The only problem with being gone that long is that it seems to take forever to get caught back up!

Colds

Why is it that something seems to happen RIGHT before a vacation. I came down with a cold early this week and seem to be on the mend, but an still really stuffy. AND I have to get on a plane to Houston tomorrow. To make things worse, Hubby has now come down with a cold too. he feels bad enough that he is actually staying home from work today. He has to get well enough to fly on Tuesday. I have my fingers crossed that little girl doesn't get sick too!

I did it!!!!!

It took me 8 months, but I finally got my weight down to 170. That's still really heavy for my height and I have a LONG way to go until my goal weight, but I am really excited that I finally made it to my first milestone. I decided a long time ago that my reward for my first milestone would be a massage, but I'm not going to make my appointment until after Thanksgiving. I want to see if I can keep the weight off while on vacation for a week.
Milestone #2 is to get down to 160 pounds. I really hope that doesn't take another 8 months!! Ideally, I'd like to get down to 160 by the end of January, but it's going to take a lot of hard work to get there. I need to find some kind of exercise to replace my weekly walks that had to get canceled because of the weather turning cold.

So Frustrating

Last week, my sister-in-law sent out a list with ideas for her birthday and Christmas. Hubby and I talked about it and decided what to get her. I e-mailed MIL and BIL to let them know what we talked about and to make sure we weren't duplicating gifts. Friday morning, I ordered the gift and Friday afternoon I got an e-mail from MIL saying that SIL had gone out and bought the same gift for herself.
So, now I have to go to Kohls and return a perfectly good coffeemaker!

Stuff I never thought I'd do

When we bought our house, there were jobs that I never thought I'd do. Things like mowing the lawn, taking the trash out for trash day, going into the crawl space. Growing up, those were "Dad" jobs, so I just figured that they would be my husband's jobs. And that was pretty much true the first year we lived in our house, but that has changed since our daughter was born in March.
The first thing I started doing that I never had before was mowing the lawn. It was really nice during the summer, because I could get out at night after Hubby got home. He would take baby duty and I could tune out to my IPOD and just go. It was good exercise and a nice break to not worry about baby stuff.
The next thing to change was taking out the trash. My husband has had to work a lot of long hours lately, so I started taking the trash out so it could get done before dark and to give him a break.
The latest change was the crawl space.... I've actually been in there TWICE this week. The first time was to look in a box that I knew was inside the door. The second time was because I wanted a few things out of the crawl space and knew my husband didn't have time, so in I went. Not only did I get the stuff I needed, I found something that had been missing ever since we moved.
I really feel like I've grown a lot since I started staying home with my daughter. I'm a lot more capable than I realized.

Christmas Discussion Continues

Hubby and I finally figured out our plan for Christmas and we sent an e-mail to MIL and SIL to invite them to have Christmas Eve here and all spend the night, which is their family tradition. Of course, we didn't actually get a response. But, last night when Hubby called his parents to talk about something else, his Mom brought up Christmas. She asked if we really had room for everyone - yes, as long as our 2 nephews bring sleeping bags - and she said that we should "talk" about what to do. SHE suggested that maybe we would all just get together on Christmas Eve, but that everyone would go home to spend the night.
I have to admit that I did a little internal happy dance when I heard that. But, I want to do whatever will cause the LEAST drama and let my little girl have the best holiday possible.

Rough night

Last night was horrible! Little girl was restless from the time we put her down a little after 8 last night. We went to check on her on our way to bed and realized that she'd pooped in her diaper, so we got her up to change her and I really think that was a mistake. From that point on, she didn't sleep well and was up crying and screaming every couple of hours. Hopefully tonight is better.

Did we figure it out?

I think Hubby and I finally figured out the Christmas situation. We will pretty much be doing what his family has always done, but will be taking time early on Christmas Eve for just the three of us and to open presents from my family. This way we won't be creating any waves with his family and can still feel like we aren't shoving my family aside.
It wasn't the compromise we originally talked about, but I finally realized that my job as a parent is to make sure my little girl has the best holiday possible and that she has a good relationship with her grandparents - not to make sure I get have the Christmas I grew up with or part of it.

Tech Did it AGAIN

My Red Raiders pulled off another big win by pounding OSU on Saturday. We are still number 2 in the AP and BCS polls. I can't believe it!!

Small Luxuries

Before my daughter was born, I would never have gotten excited about being able to take a shower and get dressed. But, now that she's here I find myself being grateful for a nap long enough to let me do just that.
It's amazing to me how having a baby changes priorities and the definitions of things. Being able to accomplish a task without someone crying or demanding attention is now a luxury. And a toothless (well almost toothless, now) smile is the best reward and makes everything better.

Trivia

My American Spirit Magazine came last week from DAR and it included some fun trivia. Have you ever wondered where some of the phrases common in our language come from? To be honest, I hadn't either, but now I know...

"Mind your own beeswax"
In colonial times men and women would wear beeswax makeup to hid scars from smallpox. But, if they were near a fire or got to hot, the makeup would start to melt, so the phrase meant for people to fix their makeup!

"Crack a smile"
This one is related to the beeswax makeup too. In winter, when individuals wearing the beeswax makeup would smile, the makeup would crack! I wonder if that's why all the paintings of colonial individuals never show them smiling!

I thought these were fun little tidbits....... I hope you enjoyed them too!

History Has Been Made

The United States made history last night; We elected our first African American president. I think our president elect represents a sense that we are ready for change from what has been the status-quo in politics for so long. I really hope that the desire to be involved and participants in the process does not diminish just because the election is over. If we really want change, we can't expect one person to do it all, every single person has to get involved.

Election Day

Today is a big day in our nation's history... The first African American is on the ballot for President. I went to vote this morning on my way home from my weekly walk. I cast my vote, but I am still not sure I voted for the right person. I did all kinds of research and still couldn't really make up my mind. To be honest, what made the decision for me was the vice presidential candidates. It will be very interesting to see what happens tonight as the results come in.

Number 2????

I knew that my Red Raiders would jump in the ranking after beating Texas on Saturday night, but I never dreamed that they would jump all the way to number 2! I was excited when the AP Poll came out with us at number 2, but I was stunned when the BCS results came out and we were number 2 there too!
We just have to keep our fingers crossed that they can win against Oklahoma State next week! It would be SO amazing if we could make it to the BCS championship game.

Tech Wins

Last night I got to watch my Alma mater play the number 1 team in college football. AND WE WON with a last second touchdown.... the final score was 39-33 and it was awesome. The phenomenal Michael Crabtree caught a pass and managed to perform the perfect pivot to stay inbounds and score. It was an amazing game and I can't wait to see the new AP and BCS poll rankings.

Left turn on Green

The law here in Illinois is that you can turn left on a green light (yielding to oncoming traffic, of course) unless there is signage to say you can't. Well, since part of the rule is to yield to oncoming traffic, there is a big piece of judgement used in making these turns.
On my way home from taking my little one to the pediatrician this morning, I ran into this situation. I am a fairly cautious driver when it comes to yield situations and I had a VERY aggressive driver behind me. Twice HE thought I could have gone, so he kept honking at me. When I did turn, he sped up to pass me before the street narrowed to one lane. I wasn't surprised when this fancy red sports car with a middle aged driver passed me. To top it off, he was rude. He wasn't looking at the road and was gesturing, etc. I was relieved when he turned and got out of the way.
He may have been right, maybe I could have turned earlier, but with a baby in the car I would rather not take the chance of trying to go and being wrong.

Time abusers

Why do people find it acceptable to tell you that they are going to do something, then not do it? I talked to MIL yesterday and she mentioned that she wanted to stop by today to drop off a Halloween gift for my little one. She said they would be here early.
So, I delayed things I needed to do around the house today waiting on them. It's after 1 PM and they still aren't here.
I had really wanted to take my daughter for a walk this afternoon and it's starting to get late. If they aren't here by the time she's done with her lunch, we are going anyway.

Doctors

Can anyone tell me why doctors feel it's neccessary to have you come in for an office visit just to tell you that tests results were a little funky and they want you to repeat the test in 4 to 6 weeks?
In June, I went to a family doctor to request a follow up glucose test (to make sure the gestational diabetes went away after my daughter was born) and she ordered the normal test for someone my age as just part of a physical. The thyroid number came back funny, so she said to go back in 3 to 4 months, redo the one test, and we'd discuss the results.
I went for the test on Saturday and the nurse called saying the doctor wanted me to make an appointment. When I put a stink and mentioned that I had a baby and no back up child care, the doctor got on the phone. The thyroid number is still funny, but in the OTHER direction. It's not off by much and she doesn't want to treat it right now because the two tests have been off in opposite directions, but she wants me to redo the test and is mailing me the order. How hard is that?
I understand that doctors can't bill insurance companies for phone calls, but it seriously took less than 5 minutes of her time!!! Why should I waste an hour or more of my time for 5 minutes of news?

So RUDE!

I've written before about how my sister-in-law hates me. I was okay when it was just me that she was being horrible to, but now she's being rude to my husband too. On Saturday morning, HER kids called our house to talk to their uncle. He talked to each of the boys and then they handed the phone to her. Dave was MID sentence when she cut him off saying she had to go. I was always taught that it's rude to interrupt someone mid sentence like that.
If that wasn't bad enough... Last night we were watching a movie when my Mother-in-law called. She wanted to know if it was okay if we invited my brother-in-law's parents to my HUSBAND's birthday party because BIL's Mom's birthday is the day after hubby's and SIL and BIL are just too busy to do two get togethers. This rubs me the wrong way on multiple fronts: 1) They are hijacking my husband's birthday party to meet their own needs. 2) SIL didn't even have the nerve to call us herself, she "made" MIL do it. 3) We are now obligated to get a gift for a woman we see maybe 4 or 5 times a year.
I fumed about this last night as I laid in bed and tried to go to sleep. But, when I woke up this morning I was determined to make BIL's Mom feel welcome and like this was her party too. That was before MIL started e-mailing today. First she questioned the kind of cake I am getting. Then it was not knowing if BIL wanted his Mom to have her own cake or if they would be okay with putting both names on one cake. Now, I am going to have to make an extra trip to the grocery store this week to get the cake ordered because I probably won't be able to do it when I am there today.
I a so sick of bending over backwards to make these people happy then having it blow up in our faces!

So many milestones

It seems like just yesterday that we brought this tiny baby home and all she did was eat and sleep. Now, she's just over 7 months old and she's sitting up, rolling, crawling, and babbling. It seems like she's grown up so fast. I can only imagine what it's going be like on her 5th birthday or her 16th...... I bet we are going to look back and wonder where the time went and when she grew up from our sleepy, tiny baby.
Thinking about how much she has changed in the last 7 months, makes me really glad that I've been able to stay home with her and see how much she has changed.

Mean Mommy

Lately our little one has been fighting her naps, even when she's very tired. So, I've had to be a mean mommy. I've had to start putting her in her crib and trying to soothe her for a few minutes, but then I just have to leave and let her cry. I absolutely hate doing that because I hate to hear her cry like that, but she has to take her naps when she is tired.
Do other Moms run into this issue, how do you deal with it? Thankfully, today she didn't cry for very long...

Websites

I have a couple of websites that I visit on a regular basis. Some are for fun, some are for information, and some are money makers.
The fun websites are Facebook and Linkedin. Both, especially Facebook, have been a great way to get and stay in touch with old friends.
My favorite informative site is Mamasource.com - even when I have a bad day, there is someout on Mama source having it rougher.
My favorite money making sites are Upromise (saving for my daughter's college education), Bond rewards (online shopping gets US Savings Bonds), Amazon Mechanical Turk (complete small tasks and get paid), and Ebates.com (you shop online and get a check once a quarter).
As a stay at home mom, the money making sites are important to us because every little bit helps.

The Cure for a Cranky Mommy

Yesterday made Day #3 of having a fussy baby and that was making for a cranky Mommy too. Last night I discovered the cure for a cranky mommy. I took a long, hot bubble bath and got a good night's sleep. The bath helped my muscles relax and I think that helped me sleep. My husband took baby duty this morning and let me sleep in a little, so when I woke up this morning I felt rested and refreshed.
This has made dealing with my little nap fighter easier today. :)

Fussy baby

Our 7 month old has been very fussy the last few days. It got started on Saturday when she got off her nap schedule and ended up laying down with her Daddy to get a good nap. Yesterday she screamed for nearly 30 minutes before finally falling asleep.
Today has been a rough day too. Because of work we had done on the house she didn't get to take her morning naps. She did get an almost 2 hour nap in and was fine while we were at the grocery store, but has been very cranky since we got home.

OK State leapfrogs Tech in the AP

Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas Tech are all undefeated so far this season. All three teams easily won games that they should have won... Texas maintained their number 1 ranking in the AP polls, but something strange happened with OK State and Tech. The teams traded places with OK State moving from number 8 to 7 and Tech going from 7 to 8.
I'm not sure I agree with the voting.... I mean OK State played Baylor, the whipping boy of the Big 12 for as long there has been a Big 12 conference.
But, at least Tech is still in the Top 10 heading into a game against Kansas next week. That will probably be a tough game because Kansas just got beaten up on by Oklahoma.

GO TECH!!!!

Our house

Today we got a card in the mail from an investment company saying they wanted to buy 5 houses in our neighborhood with in the next 60 days and that our house was a candidate. For about 30 minutes we were very tempted to call and find out what they would be willing to pay; we’ve known from day 1 that this isn’t a house we will stay in forever and we are already starting to outgrow the space we have here. But, the more we talked about it, we decided that we don’t really want to know what the offer is right now because if they came back with a really good number we’d have to make a choice and neither of us is ready to move yet. We put way to much time, effort, and money into this house during the last 18 months to just pack up and move on; especially since we don’t know what these people want houses in our neighborhood for. They could be developers and we would all really hate to see our cute little house torn down after all the work we put into it.

Oil below $70, but will gas prices fall?

Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel yesterday, the lowest it’s been in a year. But, I’m willing to bet that we don’t see gas prices fall back to the levels they were at this time last year. Because of the rapid increases over the summer, our expectations have changed and we are now accustomed to paying $3/gallon or more for a product that we were paying less than $2/gallon for 12 to 18 months ago. And I expect that the oil companies will milk our adjusted expectations for all they are worth.
Gas prices coming down is one of the best things that could help our economy right now. With house prices falling and so many other prices going up, fuel prices coming down may be the one thing that could save our country from a recession because dropping fuel prices will remove pressure from the average families pocket book and it may mean that prices for other goods may not have to go up as much because the costs to producers are lower.
Let's all keep our fingers crossed that prices at the pump will keep coming down.

What to do....

Dave and I have worked hard to come up with what we think is a potential solution to our Christmas dilemma. We still need to talk to the in laws to get the sign off and we may not get it, but there’s hope.
Part of our solution was to be with Dave’s family every Christmas Eve and Day and go see my family in Texas the day after Christmas. My Mom threw a wrench into our plan when I talked to her today. She reminded me that my sister and her family and my Aunt and Uncle all leave shortly after Christmas to go visit other parts of their families. My Mom thinks that if they all continue to get together on Christmas Day, then everyone isn’t going to want to drop everything to do Christmas all over again just because we’ve come into town.
So, now we are back to the drawing board. I still like the idea of us staying here for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day…. The idea of having to tell Emma that she can’t play with her Christmas gifts on Christmas Day because we have to take them home on the airplane breaks my heart. But, I hate the idea of not getting to see my family every other year.

Poop after pictures

Today little girl and I met my sister-in-law and her two boys at Penny's to take pictures for Grandma's Christmas present. Dealing with a 6 month old and 2 young boys to take pictures isn't fun. Emma of course didn't smile for the pictures and it was hard to get her to sit the way the photographer wanted her to...We still ended up with cute pictures, but then the real confusion and headache began........ trying to decide what everyone wanted. What was for Grandma and what was for us.......
Oh well...... at least that is over for now.

Active Imagination

My Mom has a very active imagination! This morning I was going through my e-mail and had a forward from my Mother-in-law called "prayer." The instructions were to forward it to 12 people and if you sent it to the sender it counted as 2 people. Knowing my Mom had been worrying lately, I sent it to her. She e-mailed me back asking why I counted as 2 and said that it may make people think I was pregnant and she asked if I was. I'm not.... I mean my little girl is only 6 1/2 months old. I really don't understand how her mind works sometimes. She can take the most innocent statements and twist them so that they mean something. If we were expecting again, an e-mail like that is not how I would tell her. Good grief!

Bears Lose

We watched the Chicago Bears play Atlanta yesterday and lose when Atlanta kicked a field goal with one second left. Dave was bummed that the Bears lost, but after watching the game, I'm not sure they didn't deserve too. Atlanta really just played better for the majority of the game. And if the Falcons had taken advantages of the opportunities they had during the first half and scored touchdowns instead of field goals, the game would not have come down to a last second field goal. The Bears just didn't seem to show up until after halftime and even then, they missed a lot of good opportunities.

Still number 7

My beloved Read Raiders squeaked by yesterday and pulled off a win against Nebraska in OT. From looking at the stats in the game, Tech really didn't deserve to win. Nebraska beat them EVERYWHERE except on the scoreboard and if OT in college football was a full quarter of football, I'm sure they would have won there too.
Thankfully, teams ranked above us in the AP poll (LSU and Mizzou) lost yesterday, so we got to hang on to our #7 ranking even though I'm not sure we deserve it.
Next week we face A&M in College station and that is always a tough game. After that we face 4 Top 25 teams in a row... If we have any hopes of winning those games, our defense is going to have to step it up and play better than the did in the 4th quarter yesterday.

Christmas

Dave and I have been married for 2 years and we have yet to figure out a way to really blend our family traditions around Christmas. I come from a blended family and most of our Christmas activities were on Christmas day. Dave comes from a very close knit family that does most of their Christmas on Christmas Eve, everyone spends the night in one house, then goes to see the extended family on Christmas Day.
We have come up with a compromise that we think will work and honor the traditions of both families. We would spend Christmas Eve with his family, do the gifts, dinner, church, etc. Then we would come home and stay in our own house. Christmas morning, our daughter would get gifts from Santa, we would open stocking stuff, then rejoin his family to go see the extended family then Christmas night we would open gifts from my family.
Our problem is that we need to present the compromise to Dave's family and we aren't sure how they will accept us not doing EVERYTHING they way they do. It seems like because my family is so far away they have a hard time accepting my need to honor my families traditions.

Home Improvements

It seems like we have been working on our house ever since we moved in last spring. First it was the kitchen, new windows, and new siding done by a contractor. Then, it was work on the two bathrooms and now it's work on the garage to make it more user friendly and increase storage.
Last weekend, Dave and his Dad got rid of all the old wooden cabinets and jerry rigged shelving. One of the things we decided to do is add electrical outlets to the garage to make it easier to use power tools, etc. We submitted a request for quotes on line and the first of the electricians called us back this morning. I felt kind of bad because I couldn't answer on of the guy's questions and had to tell him to call Dave at work.
All the work on the house is to make it nicer for us, but to also increase our potential resale value. I have o admit, I'll be really glad when all the work is done and we can just enjoy living here, but I wonder if we'll ever get to that point!!

AIG

It was recently on the news that the executives at AIG, one of the companies "bailed out" by the government, went on a retreat that cost $440,000. With decision making and spending like that, it's no wonder the company had to be bailed out.
These are the highest paid people in the company and the ones who helped get the company into trouble in the first place. Do they really need the taxpayers to foot the bill for their luxury spa experience? I don't think so!! The excuse for going on the trip post bailout was that it had been planned well ahead of time. That's fine, but why couldn't they pay for it out of their own pockets instead out of yours and mine? I honestly think that they should be made to pay back all of the money spent on the retreat and then they should all be fired. When an insurance company makes so many bad decisions that the federal government has to bail them out, you have to wonder if the executives have been doing their jobs. But, when they are stupid enough to go on an expensive retreat, you know they don't care about fulfilling their responsibilities to their stakeholders - which now includes every American taxpayer.

Presidental debate

We watched the Presidential debate last night and walked away from it more confused than ever. I'm really going to have a hard time deciding who to vote for. One thing I wish both candidates would do, is get rid of the political speak. It's hard to keep track of what they are really try to say about what they will do because they wrap everything up in insults to each other and key words like taxes.
I don't want the candidates telling me the differences between themselves. I really wish that they would publish a list of the things they want to do AND what steps would have to happen to achieve their goals and then let the people compare them to decide what is better. That's probably naive though.....

Cheap insurance Companies

I was sitting in the pediatrician’s office the other day with our little girl when my cell phone rang. I figured that it was either my husband or my Mom. It wasn’t either, it was my allergist. I had requested a refill of my antihistamine on our prescription plan’s website the day before and they had called the doctor to find out if they could change my medication to something cheaper. The problem with that was that the something cheaper doesn’t help control my allergies. So, I told the doctor no…. and he suggested a trip to Sam’s Club to buy their version of Zyrtec, which is what I took before they made it over the counter. I think that when the doctor told the insurance company they went ahead and refilled the prescription. So, when it comes I will take the $70 prescription for the next three months then switch to the Zyrtec we bought for $18.

What's eating my plants?

Early in September, we planted 3 beautiful mums near our front door and in our front planter. One of them is doing okay, the other started to look bad right away, and something keeps trying to dig and/or eat the other one. AND it looks like something is eating the leaves off my roses. I think the local rabbits are eating the leaves of the roses, but I think it is a squirrel digging in the mums.
Dave and I were in the garage yesterday and saw a squirreled digging in our neighbor's grass for something, so it's not a stretch of the imagination to think they'd come over to our planters. i just wish I knew what they were digging for!

Sport Weekend

It was a big sports weekend around our house, especially yesterday.
My beloved Red Raiders faced their first real contest of the season when they played Kansas State and won 58-28. They continue to be ranked number in the AP poll. I'm under no illusions that they will finish the season with that high of a ranking, they have too many tough opponents coming up.
Dave's Chicago teams had mixed results... His Cubs lost to the Dodgers last night. It's the second year in a row that they've been swept in the NLDS by a NL West team. The curse continues...
On the positive side though, the Bears won pretty convincingly against Detroit and now lead their division.

My Sister-in-law hates me

Okay, that's just my opinion. But, in the time since my husband and I got engaged in 2005, there have been lots of little things that add up to that conclusion. None of the little things are big enough that I could call her on them without being accused of overreacting and being over sensitive - meaning that she wouldn't have to admit how she really feels.
Examples of the little things...... Twice in the past week, she has needed to communicate with us about my mother-in-law's birthday. Both times, she called Dave at work to talk to us even though she knows I'm a lot more reachable because I'm a stay at home mom. She could have very easily called me at home, my cell phone, or even sent an instant message.
It's just really frustrating because I had really hoped that she and I could at least be friendly - if not friends - and I'm not sure what I did to make her not like me so much.

A Clean House

When I started staying home, I thought it would be easy to keep our house clean. Boy was I wrong! Keeping up with our baby has been a lot more work than I ever thought it would be. I think I'm finally making progress though. In the past week, I have managed to clean almost every room of the house. I know it sounds silly, but it actually feels like an accomplishment. Now that the house is cleaner, I'd like to keep it this way. I think I need to make myself a list and try to do one chore each day of the week to keep the house fairly clean.
I still would like to have a cleaning person come in before we put up the Christmas decorations and get the house really clean all at one time.

Bailout Sweetners

On last nights news, one of the top stories was that the Senate approved the $700 Billion bailout plan. But, they only approved it after $150 billion in earmarks were added. That's an AVERAGE of over $1 BILLION dollars per senator! These people should be ASHAMED of themselves! They have shamelessly taken advantage of the need to prop up our national economy by propping up the businesses and industries in their states.
I have serious doubts that the house will agree to the senate bill, so I doubt we'll see a bailout plan this week. This is where the President having a line item veto would be very handy.

Oprah

Today's Oprah show was about a mother who left her 2 year old in her car for 8 hours last August while she was at work and the baby died. I started to watch the show, but I didn't even make it 5 minutes into the story. Being the mother of a 6 month old, I have a hard time imagining what that mother is going through. After watching the little bit of the show that I did, I had to go check on my napping little girl.
I have a hard time imagining how a parent could forget that they have a baby in the car, but they say that this type of thing usually happens when you change the routine. And that's what happened to the mother on the Oprah show. She wasn't the parent who normally dropped her daughter off in the morning and the baby was asleep in the back seat. I guess part of the reason I have a hard time imagining it, is that Emma is normally with me. I actually feel weird if I go someplace without her.

Bailout

It's been all over the news.... Congress failed to pass the $700 Billion bailout. Some are saying it's because the Speaker decided to give a partisan lecture about Bush economic policy right before the vote. Others are saying that they voted no because people in their districts are calling and telling them to vote no.
To the Republicans who voted no because of what Nancy Pelosi said... Grow up. You were not elected to congress to represent the Republican party. You were elected to Congress to represent the people of your district. If you have a fundamental reason for voting no, i.e. you really believe that this legislation would hurt the American people more than help, then I can understand your vote. But, to say no because the Speaker is an idiot and insulted the president? That's ridiculous.
The people who voted no because that's what their constituents are telling them.... in a way, I can understand that vote. But, the excuse seems pretty thin. It seems like no one is really talking about what the bailout will do and how it will help Main street. The bailout is always referred to as helping Wall street. What people don't seem to understand is that if the government uses the bailout money to buy troubled assets of banks, the banks then have the capital to loan money to business and consumers for payrolls and purchases. Companies making payroll means the Jones family can pay bills and buy groceries. Banks making loans to consumers means that Bob down the street can buy the car he needs to get to work because the one he has is unreliable, so he can continue paying his bills and buying groceries.
Our economy is built around people being able to go to work, get paid, pay bills, and buy things. Every time you pay a bill or make a purchase, you help fund someone else's paycheck. They in turn go about their daily business and fund someone else's, and the cycle keeps going.
The Bush administration has a big chunk of the blame for letting us get in this mess, but Congress does too. They are supposed to pass the laws that provide over site for these issues and they haven't done it. But, right now, it doesn't matter whose fault it is, we just need a solution.

Texas Tech Ranked number 7?!?!?!?!?

My beloved Red Raiders have achieved something I never thought I’d see… they are ranked #7 in the AP poll. I’m proud to be a Tech Alum and cheer the team on, but they have a pattern. They play weak opponents in their nonconference games and rack up points, stats, confidence, and wins. Once they enter conference play, things tend to change. They continue to win some games, but they don’t dominate like they did in the nonconference play.
Conference play starts for Tech next week at Kansas State. The next three opponents aren’t ranked, but are teams that can be dangerous; after K State they have Nebraska and then have to go to College Station to play Texas A&M. The Tech A&M game is always are hard one, especially when they play in College Station and have to contend with the 12th Man. After A&M the next FOUR opponents are all in the Top 25 before they end the season against Baylor. I’m going to guess that Tech will finish the season 8-4 and will continue their stretch of going to bowl games. Unfortunately, the Big 12 is packed with so many good teams, it may not be a great bowl game.

Daddy's Girl

Our family dynamics are changing a little bit. Up until this week, our daughter was definitely a “Mama’s Girl.” There were times when it seemed like I was the only one who could calm her down when she was upset, etc.
I started to notice the change Thursday night. I was feeding her and her daddy was just outside the kitchen on the phone. Emma was more interested in seeing what Daddy was doing than in eating her oatmeal. The fact that she is becoming a more of a “Daddy’s girl” hit home on Friday night. I had put her to bed a little before 9 PM and an hour later, she woke up screaming. I raced upstairs with Dave right behind me. She stopped crying when I picked her up. After we went through the checklist of what could be wrong and had her calmed down, I put her back in the crib and was trying to get her back to sleep. Dave was standing behind me and everything seemed okay; until he started to walk out of the room. When that happened, the waterworks and screaming started again. Dave took over the soothing while I got ready for bed. A few minutes later, I went back in and he had her snuggled to his chest and she was almost back to sleep. That’s the first time it hasn’t been me who “fixed” whatever was wrong and got her back to sleep.
I know that it’s a good thing she is starting to rely more on Dave and not just me, but I still can’t help but miss being the “special” one to her.

Working from home

Why is it so hard to find legitimate work from home that doesn't involve selling something? I've been looking off and on since I left corporate America in May and can't seem to find anything other than opportunities to sell stuff or pyramid schemes.
I'm not really a "sales person" I just don't think I have the personality for it. Besides, the only way to really build that type of business is to start with family and friends and then work out from there. And to be honest, I think most of my family and friends are "partied" out because we've all been invited to so many of them over the years.
I've tried the "get paid to read e-mails" sites and found one that isn't too bad, but it takes forever to earn enough to get a check unless you sign up for all kinds of stuff and that's just not me. I'm also a member of one of the survey sites. Again, it's not so bad, but I've been on there 18 months or so and have only made $20.
I think the most frustrating thing is that I'm not looking to make A LOT of money. I'd be happy with something that brought in $100-$200/month - just enough to cover some of the "extras" and maybe let us save up a little to put towards vacations.

Physical Therapy

Today is my last physical therapy session for my Bell's Palsy. The first time I went through therapy, I felt like it really helped. I don't really feel that way about this session. The main reason I went back to therapy was because I felt weird movements when I raised my eyebrows. Now, 4 weeks later, the eyebrow thing isn't any better. On top of the issue not be better, I feel like my face is twitching and hurting more than ever. I hope that my time and money haven't been wasted this time around.

Facebook

I have become a Facebook addict! For a long time I kept hearing about Myspace and Facebook and resisted joining, then my sister-in-law joined and sent me the invite. Initially, I thought I would create a profile and see what happens. I ended up finding a lot of people from the Alpha Phi Omega chapter I was in while attending Texas Tech - a lot of people that I had lost contact with. I've discovered that I like hanging out on Facebook. I've found fun games to play and it's been a really neat way to reconnect with old friends.

Rebuilding Galveston

There was an article on Yahoo today stating that the mayor of Galveston was in Washington asking for $2.5 Billion to rebuild the city. They are saying that they want to rebuild "Bigger and Better." Part of me wants to see that, but at the same time is that really smart? This is the second time that the city of Galveston has been basically destroyed by a hurricane. Granted, the first time was in 1900, but that hurricane caused the location of the port to be moved from Galveston to Houston. Galveston Island is a barrier island, it's purpose is to protect the mainland. That means that at some point, it's going to take a direct hit again. Is it really smart to spend tax payer money this way?

Mortgage and Escrow

We received an escrow statement in the mail over the weekend. It's the second time in less than 6 months that Wells Fargo has sent us a statement indicating an escrow shortage. The first time, it was for $200. This time, over $600. We've been talking about taking over the hazard insurance and tax payments ourselves, but the most recent statement clinched the decision.
One of the things I noticed on the statement was the estimate for the 2009 Hazard insurance payment, the bank used the amount we paid in 2007 which was less than what we paid in 2008, so they are setting us up for another shortage.
Between my husband and I, we have an accounting degree, a finance degree, and 2 masters degrees. If we set the money aside with each paycheck, I think we can do as well or better than Wells Fargo in managing our escrow account.

Budget Lady

When we bought our house last April, we had hopes of starting a family and purposely only used his income to get our mortgage. We ended up with a 40 year old house that needed work, so we paid the bills with his paycheck and used mine to pay off the work on the house.
We were lucky and got pregnant pretty quickly. We were pretty sure that I was going to stay home after our daughter was born, so in the months leading up to my maternity leave, we used my paycheck to "save up" for some of our discretionary expenses. While I was on maternity leave, I found out that my employer was offering packages to cut the work force. It was like a flashing neon sign saying that I should stay home. So, I took the package and we used the money to pay a few things off.
Since I took the package, we've had to live on one income and we are making adjustments. I've been very grateful that we invested time 2 years ago to set up a budget spreadsheet. It makes it easy to see where we are at any given time and to see where we might have "extra" money tucked away.

Cubs Win Cubs Win

To the delight of all loyal Cubs fans.... and the people who recently jumped on the bandwagon, the Chicago Cubs clinched the NL Central yesterday by beating the Cardinals. Now, the question is "how far can the go?" Last year the Cubs were swept in the NLDS by the Diamondbacks.
I would love to see the Cubs make it to the World Series, but I think I've become a jaded fan and won't believe it can happen until it does.

Picking Apples

We made a journey today...... from the suburbs of Chicago to the lovely state of Michigan to pick apples. We drove A LOT and our 6 month old did great, especially with the help of her big cousins to keep her entertained in the car. The question now is "what do I do with all of these apples?"

Baby Pictures

I took my little girl to have her 6 month pictures made today. The little stinker smiles all the time at home, but she would NOT smile for the photographer. The lady did manage to get her to smile a few times, but as soon as the camera appeared, she'd be stone faced again.
We still managed to get a few good shots, but I'm becoming less and less impressed with the photographers at JC Penny's. We are members of their portrait club and I think it's a good value while we are wanting to take milestone portraits every couple of months, but I don't see continuing the membership after the two years are up. After our membership with Penny's expires, we will probably only have portraits done once a year - right around our daughter's birthday. We will probably go to a private photographer for those even though they are more expensive.

What to feed a baby?

My daughter will be 6 months old tomorrow and I'm not really sure what I should be feeding her. We worked with our pediatrician and determined that we should try to wait to give her solid food until she was 6 months because I have food allergies...the thought was that giving her time to mature, she'd be less likely to get food allergies.
Well, we didn't make it a full 6 months, but we manage to wait until last week. We started by giving her a tablespoon of rice cereal mixed with several tablespoons of formula at night. A call to the pediatrician said to keep doing that for a week then add the same thing in the morning. We've done that....... Now what???
This week we have started giving her some of her cereal from a spoon so that she can get some practice taking food that way. Everyone says to pay attention to your baby, but how do I know when she's ready for more/thicker servings of cereal?? I've tried to look online, but there really seems to be very little concise information out there.

Bell's Palsy

In today's physical therapy session, I mentioned to the therapist that I've been experiencing "tiredness" and discomfort around my left eye. He wants me to call my neurologist and let them know. I'm a little reluctant to do that because I don't think the doctor really cares and I don't think they can do anything, but I will call.
Part of me is scared to call because I'm afraid that they will tell me that not only can they not do anything, but that there are chances I will always be this way.

Working Moms

I'm lucky, I get to be a stay home Mom. And I honestly don't know how Moms that work full time too do it. On a daily basis I struggle to find the time to do laundry and clean the house while also taking care of a 6 month old. I think I'd go insane if I had to do all of that on top of working 40 hours a week, commuting, and getting a baby to day care. Those ladies must be super Moms!!

99% of the time I enjoy staying home, but when Emma has a bad day, I almost wish I could drop her off somewhere and go back to work. Thankfully, the bad days don't happen very often. And I wouldn't trade the wonderful moments that happen everyday for all the money in the world.

Gas Prices Part 2

On last nights news, they mentioned the fact that 14 refineries in Texas have yet to restart production because they are still checking out what damage may have happened and that caused gas prices to go up an average of 6 cents overnight.
I don't blame the operators of the refineries for being extremly careful when restarting. A mistake in the restart could be explosive....literally. And after being in the area when the Phillips plant blew up in the early 90's, I want those operators to be careful.
Personally, I think the gas station operators should be ASHAMED of themselves. They have a monopoly and they are exploiting it by using any available excuse to boost their prices and build profits. It should be illegal for a gas station to increase their prices so fast.

Gas Prices

I've noticed an interesting phenomenon in the last week. Last Monday, I stopped on my way home from physical therapy and got gas at $3.86/gallon. On Wednesday, the SAME gas station was charging $3.99/gallon and on Friday it was up to $4.15/gallon. 28 cents increase in 5 days sure seemed like a lot to me, but that paled to what we saw yesterday.
At 4:45 PM, we saw a Shell station selling unleaded at $4.15/gallon.... Not even 4 HOURS later the same station was selling the same unleaded gasoline at $4.35/gallon. How on Earth do prices go up 20 cents in 4 hours?
I don't believe for one minute that the increases are from cost increases. I think that gas stations are speculating on the effects of Hurricane Ike and the impact the storm has had on the Houston refineries and based on that speculation, these stations are GOUGING consumers. These operators should be ashamed of themselves for taking profits in the face of a natural disaster and from their neighbors, many of whom are already struggling.

Sympathy Rain

Hurricane Ike came ashore during the night and we can breathe a sigh of relief that our family in the area is okay. Thankfully, it appears that most of the damage they have is to trees and yards and that homes are still secure.
I have to say though, the fact that it has been raining for the last couple of days in the Chicago area seems appropriate. It would feel "wrong" if the weather here was beautiful knowing that people we love are dealing with horrible weather.

Weather Channel Drama King

I have great respect for the Weather Channel and the work they do, but they seriously need to put a leash on Jim Contore's mouth. The man is in Galveston, TX as Hurrican Ike approaches and is basically telling the residents of area that 1) if they are still in Galveston they are stupid and 2) there will be massive distruction in the Houston area because of the poorly constucted homes. I'm sure people in the area just loved hearing that.
Having grown up in the area and lived through a couple of hurricanes and hurricane scares, I have a few comments for Mr. Cantore.
1) The people who are choosing to stay in/on Galveston should have had a pretty clear idea of what they were getting into when they moved there. It's called a BARRIER Island for a reason. So, they are either staying because they have confidence in their home or feel the need to protect their property. Or they are complete idiots who like to be where extreme weather is. The extreme weather guys are in the same category as tornado chasers.

2) Many of those "poorly" constructed houses Mr. Contore refers to have survived stronger hurricanes than Ike before.

I understand the philosophy is to try to scare people so they leave, but Houston is not New Orleans and not all hurricanes are Katrinas.

My "Broken" Face

I was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy while I was still in the hospital after my little girl was born. I had great care right away and started a course of steroids and anti viral medication, but the effects were pretty serious and I looked like I had a severe stroke on the left side of my face.
From March - May, the neurologist I was working with seemed interested and was doing lots of follow ups, but I was only getting a little better. In June, my family doctor suggested I try physical therapy. That helped a lot and by the end of the therapy cycle, I was looking a lot more like myself. I still had a few "dead spots" and I still didn't have my smile back, but I had a smile of sorts. That was mid July.....
About a week after the therapy cycle ended, I noticed that my mouth was moving when I raised my eyebrows - definitely not a GOOD thing - and I was having a lot of muscle twitches and discomfort. So, I called my neurologist and requested that we move up my next follow up appointment. She basically told me that the twitches and discomfort were normal because the damaged nerve was healing and she gave me a prescription for Lyrica to quiet the nerve signals at night. But, she didn't really address the fact that my eyebrows were moving my mouth and said nothing about following up again. I gave things a few more weeks and the only change was that when my eyebrows moved my mouth it was noticeable and uncomfortable. So, back to physical therapy.
Tomorrow is the halfway point in the current physical therapy cycle and the therapist has said that if we don't see improvement with the eyebrow/mouth connection he wants me to try a new neurologist. I don't know how I feel about that..... I don't know if I want to see another doctor or try homeopathic treatments.
I'm getting really frustrated with the whole process. Initially, I thought I would get better right away and look like myself again. Now, I'm wondering if I will ever look like myself again. I'm really hoping I can get to a point where muscles aren't twitching all the time and the discomfort goes away, no matter how I look.

15 items or less

We've all seen those people at the grocery store who go through the 15 items or less lane with a cart full of groceries and annoy the people behind them. Today that was me. I had JUST finished emptying my fairly full grocery cart when I noticed the "15 items or less" sign. Thankfully, the cashier heard me say something to my 5 month old about how "Mommy wasn't paying attention" and made it into a joke.
I still felt bad though....... the guy behind me only had 3 things. He seemed to be fairly understanding, he was there when I first saw the sign. The lady who came up behind him didn't seem nearly as amused.
I guess I'll wear my dunce cap for the rest of the afternoon then let myself off the hook for this one.

Politics

Let me start out by saying that I am SO far from knowing who I want to vote for in November that it's not funny, but some of the things being talked about in the media are silly.
At the Republican convention, VP candidate Palin made the joke that "the only difference between a hockey Mom and a pit bull is lipstick." It got laughs because she was talking about herself. Now, the Democratic candidate used the word lipstick saying that if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig when talking about Sen. McCain and change.
You are probably sitting there thinking "so what" or "why are we talking about this?" Well, we are talking about this because it's one of the lead stories on yahoo.com tonight along with the fact that someone is saying that the lipstick and a pig reference is meant to be an insult to Gov. Palin.
GIVE ME A BREAK! Sen. Obama was trying to say that Sen. McCain really isn't an agent of change. No matter how you feel about either candidate, to take the comments out of context and turn them into an insult to another individual is really stretching things.
I really wish both campaigns would STOP nit picking at each other and really talk about the issues that matter to the American people.