Hard to believe

That is has been 3 months since I have posted! In the past 3 months, I have started up a new business selling all natural food products, reapplied for my full time job in hopes of keeping it due to a reorganization, finished up the fall ball season with Bubby's team winning the championship, sailed through Halloween and Thanksgiving, and started preparations for Hanukah and Christmas.

Sudsy is more and more fun and spoiled every day. I should have know the moment these words left my lips that we were doomed...."I would never treat the third child any different than the others so there is now way the baby will grow up to be dependent and spoiled." We most certainly do treat him different and even when we do try to tow the line, one of the big kids will give in to his every demand.

Smoochie has moved up to the next level in gymnastics and still continues to cartwheel, flip and handstand on every flat or not flat surface she can find. We had snowfall for about 4 hours last week and the kids were able to have snowball fights and make snowmen and snow angels. Quite a luxury for us in south Texas.

I can't believe how fast the time is flying. I wish I could bottle it and save it forever.

Through the eyes of a child

I am finally downloading the pics off the new camera and I find that the camera has made it's way into little hands... enjoy the view....

Simplify finances

I'm obsessed with simplifying. After all, every minute saved doing something productive means another minute I can spend doing something unproductive. For the bills, I have everything set up and goes out automatically. I used to maintain a spreadsheet that itemized our cash flow and separated everything into categories so we could easily see where our money went. It took way too much time to maintain, so currently we have a 'rough idea' of where our money goes.

I already use QuickBooks for our businesses, but the banks we use for our personal finances does not support QB and quite frankly, it's much too complicated for our personal finances. I looked into Quicken, but I don't want to have two different gigantic financial software competing for space on my hard drive.

Any suggestions on how to automatic my budget tracking without too much complication, expense or time required?

Updates

Work is crazy busy. I'm on a fast track project that we can't agree on anything and we keep redoing everything so it feels like I'll never finish but we have to finish. To sum it up at work: stressed.

School is now in full swing and baseball season has begun. Coach has decided Bubby is the pick for the required 9 year old pitching and since he just started kid pitch, we have lots of practicing to do. Every evening is baseball and we're still doing the twice a week 2.5 hour gymnastics practice.

One of our rent houses is eating our lunch and hubby has been spending every Tuesday and Thursday (the days Sudsy is in day care) killing himself trying to keep the house from falling down.

That's all.

Feingold

Sometimes I feel like I am stuck between two worlds. In one world, I am an a cynic, an engineer, an immediate disbeliever in anything organized- religion, government, and so on. I need to see and feel something to believe it.

The other world is the mother in me. Bubby has struggled in school (and at home) since he was a young child with listening and following instructions. We tried every intervention possible short of medicine. In desperation, we tried Feingold. The program eliminates artificial colors, dyes, sugars and BH* preservatives from both diet and anything with contact on the skin or inhalation. It did make some sense after seeing the effect of red gatorade on Smoochie. However, the cynic in me wondered how a simple change like this could possibly help.

When it came to the choice between trying Feingold and homeschooling Bubby (as the school was threatening to suspend if we didn't medicate), we chose Feingold as medication was not an option for us. Honestly, I never expected the Feingold program to be the answer we had been searching for. Not only did the program work for us as evidenced by teachers who did not even know about the changes we had made to the fact we no longer had regularly scheduled meetings with his teachers, the principal and the school counselor.

Now I have been introduced into an entirely different world. This is a world that is open to all kinds of ideas that are not proven, not known and are quite controversial. Sometimes it is difficult to bridge the difference between the two but somehow in my mind, I have made peace and sense of it all.

Secret Blog

I've been accused of starting up a secret blog (Sara). I didn't think it was a secret, but apparently it was. So here is the big announcement- I've started up a new blog with two of my friends. We have decided to be each other's back up and support for all things health related- mental, emotional, physical and the blog is a way for us to keep in touch and on track. I've tried to start up a blog dedicated to my health before but I can barely keep up with this one much less another one on my own.

Here is the brand new, secret now no longer a secret blog!!!:

*drumroll please*

Support Sisters

Making some progress

We are doing fairly well with our new plan. Granted, this is week 1, but still. The kids and I laid out all the clothes for the week and this has saved so much time in the mornings. Instead of the usual arguing and stalling, they simply pick up the next outfit in the stack (hah, not really but they do grab something) and get dressed without any lip.

Every night this week (all three of them), DH or myself has prepared the lunches for the next day so we don't have the mad scramble the next morning. Progress has been made on at least one load of laundry every day. Best of all, I have a system for dinners now.

The weekend before, I plan out the meals for the week and try to gather all the ingredients. I write down the list of meals on the white board in the mudroom. I bought a small white board for the kitchen on which I write down the next evenings meal before we go to sleep. I also place any daily activities/things to remember on the little white board. I have a giant white board with the month in the mudroom, but since we don't live in the mudroom like we do the kitchen, it's nice to have the reminders right in front of us.

Today's board reads:
Wednesday
Family Fun Night!
Make your own pizzas
Bike ride and dominos

Family fun night

It seems that when each weekend arrives, I throw myself a mini-pity party. Hubby works weekends do we don't get to do the fun family stuff that I'd like. Instead of feeling sorry for us, I decided to take action. Who says that fun family activities can only happen on weekends? We have declared Wednesday night Family Fun Night. We will probably have to shift the shedule a bit when baseball starts up this fall, but for now, Wednesdays work great.

Last night was our first Family Fun Night. We decided to go bowling. I'm wondering when bowling got so expensive? $45 for a four of us for one game? That seems quite steep. I am now looking for ideas for our weekly adventures, preferably ones that don't cost money.

Here is what we have on the list so far:

- family bike ride
- roller skating
- getting gelato from Whole Foods
- driving range
- rock wall at the gym
- Astros game
- we have tickets in December to see The Sound of Music
- movies

Setting mini-goals

One of my favorite activities is to brainstorm ways to simplify. If I instead spent the time doing instead of thinking, I'd probably get more accomplished but what's the fun in that?

One of the big issues around the house is putting things away. The kids (and us) will leave one or two little things out and before you know it, the house is completely trashed. Once it starts piling up, all effort goes out the window which makes it doubly bad.

How to make life a little simpler? Keep on top of it. We've made a pact to implement a new idea every week.

Here are just a few that we've come up with:

- lay out school clothes for the entire week on Sunday
- pick out meals/recipes for the week on Sunday
- do not go to sleep unless the sink is clean
- run the dishwasher every night
- do a load of laundry a day (side note: only do one family member's clothes at a time to ease the put away stress)
- if you get something out, you put it away

What tips/tricks do you have for making life a bit more simple?

Dinner and laundry

I have issues with both and would like to see them struck from everyone's to do list. In the mean time, I have figured out one way to make dinner less of an issue. My biggest problem is that I don't want to make the same dinner twice. Maybe once or twice a year but certainly not once a week or even once a month. That makes planning and coming up with ideas terribly hard. To make it a bit easier, I've added breakfast for dinner once a week. Last week was blueberry pancakes and sausage, this week was veggie frittata and breakfast tacos for the non-veggie eaters. I've also taken to the meals to go at Whole Foods. I have to grocery shop there once a week anyways, so I make it a week night trip and pick up prepared food.

The laundry problem is still a stinking mountain. I know people that do a load a day and while that is admirable, I just can't bring myself to get into the habit. I am too exhausted during the week to even think about laundry which means I get to waste the wonderful weekend swimming in 8 - 10 loads of clothes.

I think the solution is a personal chef and maid that comes every day. Anyone have advice on how to become independently wealthy so I can hire both?

My List

I have a long list of things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Some may be realistic, some not as much but I've been thinking about my list lately and how I'm not really any closer to any of the items. I need to focus on a couple and do something, otherwise they'll never happen on their own.

Here is my list, in no particular order:

- travel by train across a beautiful part of the country (ie Colorado, California coast...)
- learn how to dance hip-hop, salsa, jive, all of it
- go to bartending school
- get good enough at golf where I'm not embarrassed to play with others
- complete a half Ironman (running a marathon pretty much cured me of my desire to do a full Ironman)
- passive cash flow exceed expenses
- learn how to play the drums
- take a year off from our lives and travel the world with the kids visiting off the beaten path places
- play golf at Pebble Beach
- hike the Grand Canyon
- visit all 50 states
- volunteer for the local women's shelter
- be my own boss
- grow vegetables
- have a fruit orchard
- make my own wine
- become fluent in Spanish
- try bananas foster

Brutally honest, so maybe tone deaf?

One of our favorite family television programs is America's Got Talent. It is one of the few programs that we all enjoy. Mythbusters also falls into this category. Whenever a singer is on, the kids turn to me and say I should go on the show. Every time they then as me to sing something just to confirm. Then Bubby sings and he insists he would win. Then Smoochie sings and Bubby says she wouldn't win. Then Daddy sings and we all laugh.

The funny thing is, the kids are brutally honest, although Smoochie is usually able to soften the blow. For example, Bubby telling me that I need to go on Biggest Loser. Smoochie just tells me that I'm not skinny. Back to the singing, I can carry a tune, but I am certainly no rock star. So I find it amusing the kids think I could go on America's Got Talent and not get booed off the stage.

Bunkers?

I am more than a little curious with the level of hysteria that seems to be bubbling right under the surface. Rumors of ammunition shortages from people stocking up. People stating over and over in various conversations "we just don't know what is going to happen". While searching for the Feingold approved dino nuggets on the Costco website, I come across a whole selection of shelf stable, prepackaged foods. A 6 month, 4 person supply for 2 grand and people are buying this?

Is it normal human nature to assume the worst will happen? Are we entering another 'cold war era' where everyone builds underground bunkers and stocks it with supplies? Am I missing something by not buying into all of it?

The princess and the pea

Ahhh, sweet mattress. You are the best of times and the worst of times. Ever since moving into the new house, Hubby has had problems with his back. He went to a chiropractor and a massage therapist with regularity. He insisted his back hurt every morning. I on the other hand woke up rested and peaceful.

Fast forward a few months and I ended up sleeping on his side of the bed and I woke up with a sore back. We switched the bed around and now I'm in such pain I can hardly move. I spent an hour and a half with the massage therapist and now I'm bruised and in pain.

Now we have to decide on a mattress. Anyone have a sleep number bed?

No coherant thoughts

It is so freaking hot!! It has not rained the entire month of June and the heat index is well over 100. We're used to this weather for a bit in August, but at least we usually get a little relief with some rain. Everything is crispy and it will be interesting to see if the fireworks are allowed this 4th of July. Talks of a water ban and we just did our landscaping including a new maple tree. That would not be good.

In other news, I'm saddened by the news from Jon and Kate. I'm not a regular viewer of the show, but I've seen enough to form an opinion. Not only do those poor kids have to live with cameras in there faces for fun family outings, but now they get the break up of their parents marriage and I'm sure all the nightmares to come recorded on film. I can only imagine how difficult it is to raise 8 children but I would have much more respect for them if they chose to save their family instead of their show.

Last night was Bubby's 'birthday party'. We're trying something new this year. Every year, I put together a big party for each kid and then we have a separate party just for family. It is exhausting and expensive, so this year we've dialed it back. Bubby had 4 friends spend the night and we set up sprinklers in the backyard and let them jump on the trampoline until they nearly passed out, fed them pizza and a cupcake and turned on a scary movie. They were all very well behaved and having 5 nine year old boys in the house was much easier than I anticipated.

Smoochie chose to spend the night with a friend rather than tough it out with the boys. Hubby had the boys under control, so I decided to head to bed around 11 since I had to work today. I'm almost asleep and the phone rings and Hubby had to go get Smoochie because she was scared. I was finally able to get back to sleep around midnight after they got back.

By the way, if you plan on taking children other than your own to swim at Lifetime Fitness, you must have waivers filled out for all the children. Oh, and the city pool in our city closes at 6:50 pm during the week. Despite all of that, I think they all had a great time.

Hilarious

We just returned from a 10 day vacation in California. We started off in San Diego (thanks to the lovely aspect of standy flying) and drove to LA. We spent the day in Disneyland and then picked up our RV for the week to drive up the coast. All five of us, in a 31 foot trailer. Lots of family time and I will post pictures soon.

We just returned home tonight and our bodies have not adjusted to Central standard time, so we're sitting around the dinner table eating pizza at 10 pm. Somehow we got on the subject of baby names and I would get caught up in the conversation until I realized what we were talking about and would exclaim- HEY! No more babies!!! The kids are emphatic that they want a little brother and sister so after one refusal on my part, Bubby turns to Hubby and says- Hey Daddy! Sneak in there!! We were all in tears.

Later on in the dinner conversation, Hubby tells Smoochie that she needs to get her back pack off the floor. Apparently some of the educational aspects of the trip paid off and she tells him that the floor is her backpack's natural habitat.

It's weird being back to what now feels like our giant sized house. The close quarters definetely brought us closer together.

Advocate

After a recent run in with an assistant coach on Bubby's baseball team, I have been trying to make sense of the lesson I need to learn from it. Our parenting style has always been a little more laid back. We purposefully try not to shield our children from the world, but try to use each instance as a learning opportunity. On the flip side, we don't intentionally expose them either, but our main objective is to raise self reliant children that have confidence in themselves and their abilities and to be thoughtful and kind to those around them.

Back to the baseball saga, one coach in particular would try to adjust Bubby's swing and stance in the middle of his bat. I could see my son getting rattled and could see that most of the time, the coach was telling him opposite of what he should be doing. He's been playing long enough to know where to stand in the box. I asked one of the helper dads to pass the message on to please stop adjusting him while at bat. The coach then proceeded to call me over to the dugout and chew me out. In front of all the players and the parents telling me that he heard the calls I was giving him (all I ever say is to watch the ball and you can do it) and that I was a terrible coach and he sees my son getting all emotional because of me. He continued on and I again repeated my request with no judgement attached. Finally I had enough and just walked off. After the fact I find out that he has quite a reputation and I am not the first that he has attacked or even the first that day.

I've been mulling over the lesson in this for me. I finally realized something that is probably so obvious to all parents, I just must be really slow on the uptake. There are adults in this world that are involved in helping children to serve their own needs and not the needs of the children. My job is step in when those situations arise and be my child's advocate. That is not a life lesson they should learn on their own. Looking back, I wish I had done more to help him with his teacher last year who was down right evil. I wish I had stood up to her and the school to tell them it was not ok in addition to just telling my son that sometimes you get teachers (or bosses) that are not nice and you just have to bear it. I wish I had done more. Finding the right balance will be a challenge, but no one knows Bubby better than his father and I and he needs to know that we are his advocate.

Rumor mills

Gotta love the old rumor mill. My company, Big Oil, decided it was time to trim costs after the drop in crude prices. And the best way to trim costs? Well, tell people to take it packing of course! The big, thoughtful idea was to make the whole process 'transparent'. January of this year the talks began. It is now May and we still have no idea what is really going on. Apparently everyone has been ranked and the rumor is 10% must go, but no one has any idea where they stand or when they will announce. Just rip off the band aid already! We're all tired of worrying about it.

Yes, I know

I'm not doing any better keeping up. We've had a tough few weeks around the Spritzy household. Sudsy had quite a run. First, he came down with a fever. Didn't think too much of it until it hit 104.5 a few days in. Then we started to get concerned. Doctor drew blood and it was most likely due to a virus but he was also showing signs of an ear infection. The day his fever spiked, he had an appointment with the eye doctor to finally do something about his blocked tear duct. The doctor was able to open it up in office (while strapping him down and having two nurses hold him down and puncture the thing with a long needle and me trying to comfort him from a distance!!!) but we are thankful he did not have to undergo an operation with anethesia. Yet, anyways. 90% succcess rate, but he does seem to have a little discharge again so it may have closed up.

So, Susdy was on oral antibiotics for the ear infection and antibiotic eye drops for the tear duct probing. And not sleeping at night for an entire week, of course. Things seem to be looking up until he starts coughing and wheezing and having difficulty breathing. Back to the doctor and after a nebulizer treatment, he shows improvement. Several days of albuterol treatments (round the clock, every 4 hours) and his breathing is back to normal, and the cough is finally starting to disappear.

It's no wonder that 10+ inches of rain and lightning and thundering all night didn't wake us up. Only clue to the events of the evening before was the fact that school was cancelled and the roads were under water. Thankfully Bubby caught the information about school on the radio.

Did I forget to mention the fleas? Not sure how that slipped my mind, but I found out Saturday my HOUSE was INFESTED with FLEAS. Sorry to yell. Pest control companies are closed on the weekend and there was no way I was living like that until Monday. Fortunatly, my parents saved the day. Mom took the kids to her house and Dad and I vaccumed, sprayed, spreaded, bombed and told those fleas what they could do with themselves. Talk about disgusting.

Hello blog!

With my facebook obsession, it's so hard to find the time to blog. I can write some cheap on-liner and be done with it. Here, I have to actually write words to form a coherent sentence to then complete a paragraph.

So, enough excuses. My birthday came and went and hubby bought me a nice cake from Whole Foods. I had to call and ask for the ingredients in the icing to make sure it was Feingold approved and it past the test. Good to know I don't have to make cakes from scratch anymore!

We went to our favorite B&B, the Inn Above Onion Creek, with our business partners for our annual meeting. It was nice and relaxing and we did get our goals for the year hammered out.

The Easter bunny found lots of Feingold approved candy and the kids went crazy as they had not had candy since we started the whole deal.

I should get around to posting pictures soon.

Feingold update and gymnastics

Bubby has had regular notes home from his PE teacher since kindergarten concerning his behavior. We had a different sort of note this week- a positive one!! His PE teacher said his behavior was wonderful, even better than the average child. Talk about astonishing! We have also noticed that he is much more polite and cooperative than usual and we haven't seen a melt down in weeks, whereas we typically see that several times a week. I'm convinced!

In other news, Smoochie has been asked to move to the next class up in gymnastics. She currently goes twice a week for one hour. The next class meets from 4:30 - 7:00 twice a week!! I'm not sure a 2.5 hour lesson is appropriate for a 5 1/2 year old. Not sure how we're going to handle this situation.

Big Boys and Spring Break

Last week was Sudsy's 1st birthday. I had the extended family over for dinner and cake, which I made from scratch. For the first time, ever. I even had to make the dye to get the color blue (boiled purple cabbage and baking soda, in case you're curious). He's running now and more fun every day.






I took off a day and a half off from work to spend a bit of time with the kids during spring break. We took the kids to the rodeo, had some friends over for dinner, and basically spent time together as a family unit, which is rare with hubby and I working opposite shifts. We even managed to squeeze in a date night. Hubby took the kids swimming and to the planetarium and for a picnic at the park. It has been perfect weather. If the weather was always like this, well, we couldn't afford to live here.

Good news on the Feingold front. We are starting to see improvements. Nothing too dramatic, but definite progress. We have all messed things up more than once, so it is still a learning experience.

Feingold, day 2

I am starting to feel a bit more in control. I have lists of meals and snacks that I think the kids will eat. I have baked the birthday cake for Sudsy, bread for sandwiches, pumpkin bread for snacks, made the 'untomato' sauce and ketchup and stocked the pantry and frig full of 'safe foods'. The kids always ask if it is legal before they eat something.

I have started a list that includes the exact foods that are approved and which stores carry it. This is hard earned knowledge. I spent half the weekend grocery shopping, the other half cooking, and the third half cleaning up the mess I made from the first two activities. Yes, I realize that is three halves. It was a long weekend.

Thursday is Sudsy's first birthday!! Last week he decided to take his first steps and it was in the evening and we were all home to witness it and video tape. I can't believe how fast this year has passed. We're having a family party Thursday evening to celebrate. We are so fortunate to have this sweet, fun baby in our lives.

I don't get it

I do not understand our education system. The entire 'health' of the school is placed on one stupid test- TAKS. Bubby's in 3rd grade and this is the grade the kids get tested. For months, they have been talking about the TAKS test, taking practice tests, doing absolutely nothing except teaching to the test. They send home a 4 page instruction sheet on what to do to and what not to do in order to prepare for the test. The entire earth stops it's rotation just so the kids can take the test.

Today is the test day. We follow the instructions and send our child to bed early to make sure he gets a full night's rest. We plan to skip the morning run and have a healthy breakfast agreed upon. My alarm goes off this morning and guess who appears right outside my door, fully dressed. He woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep because he was worried about the test today.

Uncle!

I don't know who I was kidding. I can't even manage to update my main blog regularly. So, I am so sorry to announce that I will no longer be maintaining my other blog about my journey back to health. I KNOW you are all so disappointed. Don't worry, that doesn't mean I have given up on dropping the baby weight and getting my body back into peak condition. I just don't plan on blogging about it regularly. That and quite frankly there was not much to post about.

I have vastly revamped my diet and am now exercising 5 days a week. And I have toyed with the same 5 pounds for two months. Quite frustrating. Something has to give though and it will not be me. Do you hear me body??? I refuse to give up!! Yeah, so take that.

On to Plan Q

It appears that the dress-up clothes and morning runs aren't helping Bubby with his impulse control issues at school. We're still getting notes home nearly every day. Last ditch effort is the Feingold diet. Hubby and I need to have a conversation first so that I can make sure he is 100% on board. If he's not, there is no use in even trying. It is labor intensive and it will require 150% commitment from all of us. If it means that we don't have to put our son on stimulants, then I am willing to try. This is the end of the road though. I don't see any other options.

Boys and drugs

Hubby and I had another fun filled day with the principal at Bubby's school. It is actually the first such meeting this year, but if his behavior doesn't change quickly, the punishments will get serious quickly.

His behavior is completely normal, only he does it at innapropriate times. He is a sweet, funny, smart, personable kid but does not have any impulse control. We have had many, many discussions and many years of trial and error on how to help him. In my mind, this is the end of the road. We have already picked the low hanging fruit and none worked. We are throwing everything at him, including changing his diet drastically. If this doesn't work, I just don't know what we'll do. This has to work.

We know many, many of his friends that are on drugs for ADD and I don't in any way judge their decisions. We have chosen not to medicate and are very uncomfortable with the idea. I am just so afraid that if this doesn't work, we will have exhausted all other options. He is capable of so much. We really want him to succeed and he really wants to succeed. This has to work.

Just one of those days

Do you ever have one of those days when you think you just can't do it one more time? Everything at work is irritating me. I am extremely thankful to have a job, but I just can't put up with all the BS that goes around one more day. I'm working from home today, but I desperately need a vacation. Could also have something to do with the fact that I'm on day 3 of South Beach and I am missing my fruit and wine and chocolate and bread....this detox is none too pleasant for me or those around me.

Karma bites

The accident I was involved in recently could have been avoided if either I was giving enough distance between myself and the car in front of me for the given weather conditions and or my vehicle was properly maintained. I learned from it and have been a safer driver since. I had to travel close to down town the other day to apply for my TWIC card. Another government mandate to 'help protect the safety of the American people'. Whatever. I was told I had to do it, so I did it.

On the drive home, I was traveling on a notoriously heavily policed freeway and was sure to mind my manners more than usual. I'm traveling behind a vehicle who is going the posted speed limit. A cop is off to the side, so the vehicle in front slows way down. I wait for the car on my right to pass and then move to the right hand lane. I do want to travel the speed limit. That car sees the cop and slows way down. Cop pulls off side of road and gets behind me and turns on his lights. I start moving over to let the cop pass. He keeps following so I pull off the freeway. I finally figure out he's pulling me over for some reason that I can not comprehend. I stay on the feeder, waiting for a place to pull off the road. He finally comes on the speaker telling me to pull over now. Whatever, was trying to keep this guy from getting killed by people exiting the freeway, but we'll do it his way.

So, the usual asking for license and insurance. He goes back to his car and when he comes back with the ticket asks if I was following the black BMW in front of me. I explain what happened and he cites me for following too closely and not using my blinker. The whole scene would not have happened without him sitting there waiting. I usually use my blinker, but apparently did not (of course how he saw that from his vantage point is another story entirely). My violations were not even on the preprinted top 8 violations and the cop had to right them in. What a total crock!!!!

All I can figure is this is karma for not getting a ticket for the accident. That and a total racket to raise money for the city.

What a week!

Clients meeting that lasted all day, even through lunch. Evenings spent completing my accounting for the businesses and pulling together all the documents for taxes. Met with the tax advisor. Also had to plan and execute the plan for a Super Bowl party.

I'm glad that week is over!!! Though the party was fun...will post pics soon.

If not a parent, don't read!

One day last week, hubby tells me the story of how he was awakened. I'm sure his alarm had been going off for at least 30 minutes when he started hearing sounds from Sudsy's room from the baby monitor. He also hears Bubby and decides he'd better check out what was going on. Bubby went into Sudsy's room, took him out of the crib, and was proceeding to attempt a poopy diaper change! Both boys were covered in poop and tons of poopy diaper wipes were gathered up around them. Sudsy had poop on his hands, his face, his feet....

My first thought? I hope Sudsy didn't eat poop. My second thought? You didn't take a picture??? I wonder if they have stinky diaper stickers for scrapbooking. That would have made a great page in my album! I'm sick, I know.

Vindicated! Not really.

Finally took the truck to the shop yesterday. Yes, the back brakes were bad and we already knew the tires needed replacing. So I asked hubby if I was now cleared. His answer? No, I know how you drive. Let's see how long this $3888 lesson keeps.

Facebook

They should call it Black Hole. I have heard from more people from my past in the last week than I have in the last fifteen years. It's not just for kids- I can't believe how many 'old' people are on!

Circuit City

Over the past week, I have been searching for a Wii Fit. I called two different Walmarts twice a day. I bookmarked two different websites that tracked the status of Wii Fits in various stores. I didn't want to pay more than retail and I didn't want to buy an expensive bundle. Finally, Circuit City showed up as having the Wii Fit in stock. I quickly jumped over to buy and realized I had to buy two accessories in order to qualify. Frustrated and sick of the routine, I did. Four days later, the ad shows up and the accessories are $5 off each. So, I sent an email and within 24 hours, I received a reply that a credit would be applied to my card. Now that is a good company.

Of course, two days after I ordered, a friend emailed me to tell me they were in stock at Walmart and did I want her to buy it. Hopefully, mine will arrive by Friday.

We're new to all this Wii stuff as Santa brought the kids one for Christmas. So far we have We Cheer, Wii Sports and Guitar Hero only. We had a fun family game night last night where we all calculated our Wii Age for Wii Sports. Smoochie was 80, Bubby was 52, I was 37 (rock on!) and hubby was 78. Sudsy Pumpkin Pie loves to watch. We've been alternating each night with the Wii and dominoes. Unfortunately, this will all end soon as karate starts tonight and the sign-ups for baseball are Thursday.

Happy New Year!

My goodness- 2009??? Seriously? I remember partying like it was 1999 and it feels like just days ago. Of course my memory is so good I can't remember what happened days ago....

I digress- happy new year! This is my year- I can just feel it! I've started another blog to help me figure out why I can not stay on track when it comes to getting and staying healthy. Check it out here: Change the Mind, Change the Body.

In other news, I got myself into a fender bender this morning and ran smack into the back of someone who decided to stop abruptly when the light turned yellow. I've been telling hubby that the brakes felt funny in the truck and we needed to get them looked at and he finally got the message. I'll be completely embarrassed when the repair guys take a look and nothing is wrong except my driving abilities. Yes, I was following too closely and it was raining and I was thinking about the meeting I had to get to in 20 minutes. But whatever, I'm sure it was a mechanical error.

So, back to the new year. Here is why I know it's going to be my year. One of our deadbeat tenants finally moved out and we'll get that place back on track. We plan on paying off two of our real estate related loans and have a concrete plan on how to do that and get our finances back on track. I feel confident that I will stay on track with my healthy lifestyle. Best of all, I have a vision for what I want to do with my life and am putting together a plan to move towards that vision.