October 20th

The day that will live in infamy.  Okay, maybe I'm being a little overly dramatic. But in all honesty I am a bit nervous about that day.

October 20th is the day that I embark on my personal scrapbooking/stamping challenge. As you already know I am very much into crafting of pretty much any kind, a jack of all crafts if you will.  Currently I haven't really dabbled a whole lot in the world of paper crafts: scrapbooking, stamping, card making, etc.  I've done a few scrapbooks, and a little stamping (I made our wedding save the dates). Of all crafts I really admire women who rock paper crafts.  Not only are they creating beautiful pieces, but they are also in many instances preserving memories.

Over the past month or so I have been reading blogs like this one, joining communities like this, and asking advice from ladies like this.  I have been taking notes, researching, printing pictures and gathering supplies to help me complete my challenge. There is so much to learn!

So here it is, my personal challenge.  Beginning October 20th, 2010 I will complete one 'thing' a day. It could be a scrapbook page, a card, a gift tag, etc. Something paperish related. My main focus is the scrapbook though. What spurred this all was the fact that I have hundreds and hundreds of beautiful pictures of G, and they are all just sitting here on my hard drive.  Along with each of those pictures is a memory, which I am sure over time may fade from my memory (it's bad enough I still have placenta brain). I want to be able to look back through the pages and remember. I have a fear of forgetting. Maybe it's because I watched Alzheimer's steal these things from my Baczi (Polish for grandmom). Whatever the reason, I want to preserve these things for myself and G. Who knows, maybe I'll even get so good I'll get some work published, be asked to be on a design team, a girl can dream.

What will happen to my current list of projects to complete? Well, I've been burning the midnight oil to finish them! I should have a few finished by weeks end to be honest, and I'm really excited to share them with you. Especially the tweed afghan I'm currently crocheting.

I'm also open for advice. So any of you masters of the scrapbook, stamp, cards...your advice, suggestions, feedback, critique, recommendations are more than welcome.

Oh, and thank you UPS and FedEx for oh so conveniently delivering my packages before Hubs gets home.

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Page Views

Me: Did you read my blog at all today???

Hubs: No, I've actually never read it. Why?

Me: Well, I had a lot of page views today and I just wanted to make sure it wasn't you.

Hubs: What if it was?

Me: Well, that would suck because I don't care if you read it. I couldn't really count your page views.

Hubs: So, who is reading it?

Me: I don't know. I guess it could just be the same person reading it over and over.

Hubs: That's probably the case.

Me: Thanks for your support.

Hubs: Hey, I forgot my lap top at school, can I use yours to check my Fantasy Football stuff?

Me: Hmmmm, no.

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Simplify my life

Since I became a stay at home mom our life has in many ways simplified without me even trying. With only one real paycheck coming in we obviously have less money. Less money means less spending. Less spending means less 'stuff'.

Let's take for example last summer.  Summer of 2009 I was still working so we had twice as much income.  This meant I could spend somewhat frivolously.  Confession: I have had a cosmetics problem.  Make-up was my thang. I loved trying new eyeliner, bronzer, mascara, face wash, lotion you name it.  It doesn't help that I read this blog, she is was a major enabler.  Needless to say my collection grew, and grew, and grew. Here is (some of) the end result:

Yikes. I have enough mineral eyeshadow to make a mural. Heres the kicker: I ALWAYS go back to my same favorite products. What a waste. I have a really hard time tossing it in the trash though. I think "Well, someday I might need it!". Really? Am I really ever going to need metallic blue eye shadow? Probably not.

Favorites: Clinique, Smashbox, Bobbi Brown, Tarte, Mary Kay, Burt's Bees

So, you can see what having extra money allowed me to do. I also have a thing for bags, but I'll spare you the image of my closet.

Since no longer having a paycheck I can't do this.  Not to say I don't browse Sephora when given the opportunity, but I just refrain from buying.

In addition to less stuff, there is just less craziness and stress in general.  Don't get me wrong, running around with a toddler all day is crazy, but a good crazy.  Pretty much it breaks down into me running the house (cleaning, dinner, laundry etc.), while Hubs handles going to work and the yard (plus cleaning kitty litter and trash duty).  Before when we both worked it was a battle as to who was going to do what because we were both spent from being at work all day, and no one felt like cooking or cleaning.  We have more time to spend together and the weekends aren't filled with handling things that got pushed aside during the week.

I've come to realize I don't really need a whole lot besides my bazillion craft supplies to get by and be happy. It really amazes me that we can get by quite well with just Hubs income. Who knew?We have a lovely home, with delicious food on the table, and a happy healthy baby. Doesn't get much better than that.  I'm glad our life has taken this path. I've even been sorting, packing, and donating things that have just been sitting around.  It feels good to have less 'stuff', and I'm happy to think its going to someone who has good use for it.

I've even been trying to convince Hubs to get rid of our cable.  Not so sure that will ever happen. God forbid we go a day without Sports Center!

What I did do today was clean out that mess of a make-up drawer. Ta Da!

I know, still more than I really use. Baby steps!

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Bearded baby?

So, as I mentioned before we recently celebrated G's birthday.  Since he loves Mickey Mouse so much the theme was Mickey.  Mickey decorations, Mickey balloons, Mickey cupcakes, Mickey cake.  I love Mickey as much as the next person, but this was Mickey overload.

I made his cupcakes and cake, which required me to dye icing and fondant black.  I probably should have done a test run first, but no no no. I waited mere hours before the party to do it. Lesson learned.  Dying the chocolate icing black was easy peasy. Dying the white buttercream and white fondant, not so much.  A whole container of black food coloring later, and I was pleased. My hands showed the fruits of my labor (aka they were a lovely shade of purple the rest of the day).

As stated in my previous post I am not one for posting pictures of baby G online, but I just had to share this blurry shot with you so you could begin to imagine the repercussions of black icing.

That black blur in the front is his hand.  He pretty much looked like a little bearded pirate. And in case you were wondering, all that black icing made for an interesting diaper the next day.

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Am I the Only One?

If we are friends on Facebook you are well aware that I do not have a single solitary picture of G on there.  Why? I don't really have an exact answer.  It's hard to articulate. I've had friends and family make fun of me for it. Go ahead, call me crazy!

I'm 99% sure I am the only one of my friends that does not share pictures of my child via social networking sites. I'm not saying that there is a problem with doing it, and to be honest I love looking at pictures of their little ones. I just prefer not to do it. I think people share way to much on Facebook away. I don't really need to track your every move every day. I digress. 

After playdates friends often post pictures and tag me, and I typically go and untag myself. G is the cutest baby in the world, and I love showing him off. Just not online. I don't even really talk to half the people I'm friends with on there anyway.


Maybe I'm paranoid.  I know once I post pictures online they are there forever in cyberspace somewhere. There are just so many creepers out there. I've seen one too many episodes of Law and Order: SVU, To Catch a Predator, Oprah, etc. The thought of strangers seeing pictures of my sweet baby boy just isn't my cup of tea. 


What do you think?

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I'm Still Alive

Sorry for the lack of posting last week. I was super busy preparing for a certain person's first birthday party.

Needless to say it was a wonderful weekend full of celebrating. I pretty much spent most of the past few days crying off and on (Hubs thinks I'm nuts). It is so hard to believe that Mr. G is already 1 year old. The past year has truly flown by.  I am sad for how quickly the time has gone, how much he has grown, how independent he is becoming, but I am excited to watch him become his own little person and share in everything he does. I can't wait to make so many more memories.

I'll post a few pictures soon.

Let me just say, dying buttercream icing black is a pain (Mickey Mouse cake), but it sure did make for some great pictures! Post cake clean-up required a bath, but it was so worth it.

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Thank You!

As you may have noticed the design of my blog has changed over the past week.  The background and logo were custom designed by my friend Nick Matarese of Matarese Designs. He has been working with me to create a logo design for the small business I am working on starting.  He is amazing and I can't say enough good things about him.

He probably thought I was crazy when I told him I wanted to integrate Lucy into the design, but he came up with the most perfect representation of her!

I am hoping to have my Etsy shop up and running before Thanksgiving, so I shall keep you posted.

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And I'm Spent

Today was busy, as usual.

We had a play date, which was fun.  It's always nice catching up with my friends, and watching G run around with his little girlfriends.

Hubs had a work function this evening, so we were on our own for after dinner entertainment (running around the backyard), bath(much needed after rolling around outside), story(something with Nemo that he was totally uninterested in), and bed.

I sat down around 7:30pm with the sole intention of sorting and editing pictures on my computer.  I am starting this on-going scrapbooking adventure in a few weeks, I am super excited about it .  I'll fill you in on the details of that in a few days once I get past the big 1 year birthday bash this weekend. So my photo sorting was a success.  I managed to plow through all of G's pictures from birth until now. There were only about 50 bazillion to go through.  It was really fun to look through them all, and just relive some of the memories from his first year. I can't wait to get started on his first scrapbook.

Now all I have to do is get those bad boys printed and I'm ready to get started. I've also come to the conclusion that I need to get a better camera.

Unfortunately, I still have about 2,000 engagement, wedding, and honeymoon pictures to get through.  Yikes. At least most of them are professional photographs, so I shouldn't have to do much editing.

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Dear Kitchen Table Fairy,

Why oh why does this happen to me  every single day!

Seriously I just don't understand it. It's almost as mysterious as my vanishing socks. I guess it's only natural that the kitchen table becomes the dumping ground for all things.

I wish there was a clean table fairy that would just come and put all this stuff away while I slept.  Until that day comes, I'll continue to find places for these homeless items.

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Tough Decisions

I got a phone call the other day from the school I worked at before having G. They were desperately in need of a long-term substitute.

I was really torn over this and, in my usual list-making fashion, mapped out some pros and cons.

Pros                                                Cons
- $$$                                               - Arranging childcare
- Seeing old friends                        - Time working at home (lesson plans, grading, etc)
- Getting dressed up everyday      - Rearranging G's schedule of play dates and classes
- Time out of the house                   - No naps
- Did I say $$$                                - Missing out on the cool things G does during the day
                                                        - Insane schedule coordinating
                                                        - No time for any of my projects
                                                        -  Rescheduling parties (direct sales jewelry parties)

The list seems simple enough, but the thought of arranging childcare for G alone made me nauseous. It wasn't so much the thought of leaving him, but just figuring out the logistics of it. I was truly torn, mostly because we can always use extra money.

It was eating at me all day.  G and I sat down to have dinner.  We have been practicing his body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, etc.) for a little while.  The only one he really has down is his mouth, probably because that's where he puts everything. He must hear, "Not in your mouth", about 100 times a day. While we were sharing a pork chop he was pulling at a piece of his hair.  Instinctively I said "That's your hair". As he continued to play with it I kept saying, "Hair, hair, yes, that's your hair".

As we were finishing up I looked at him, and expecting him to point to the usual spot said, "Where's your hair?".   He grabbed his hair.

I made my decision.

(For the record it wasn't even a fluke, he's been doing it all night)

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Wreath- Check!

I finished this wreath in record time. It seriously took me about 30 minutes and I love it.

I had been eyeing up the wreaths at my various haunts and just couldn't bring myself to spend $40 on one, so I figured I'd try to make one.  I was fearful because I am about as good at arranging flowers as I am at singing, and well, I can't do that at all.

So, $10 and 30 minutes later, this is what I came up with:

1

Multiple Personalities

If you looked at my DVR right this instant you'd probably think at least 3 different people lived here.  Here's what I've got going on:

1. Jersey Shore
2. Jackie Warner: Thintervention
3. Top Chef: Just Desserts
4. Quints by Surprise
5. America The Story of Us
6. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
7. The Soup
8. Real Housewives of DC
9. Teen Mom
10. You've Got Mail


Where do I even begin trying to explain myself? If some any random person looked at that list, they'd probably conclude the following people live in this house:

1. Female teen hooked on reality t.v. (Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, Housewives, Thintervention)
2. A Mom (You've Got Mail, Quints by Surprise, Top Chef)
3. 20-something single male (Always Sunny, The Soup)
4. A nerd (America)

When in reality it is a 20-something married female mother who happens to be a nerd with a sense of humor.  Let's not even mention the fact that I usually crochet while watching these shows, because that's something a 60+ woman would do.

While I'm outing myself, I also love listening to Delilah.

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Mom, are you a lesbian?

One of the things I love most about my relationship with my mom is that I can be totally honest.

My parents have been divorced for about 6 years now.  In that period of time my mom has gone on several dates, and had pseudo-relationships with a few guys, or so she says. My sister and I have never met any of these men.  My mom chooses not to have us meet them, I guess in case it doesn't work out. She probably doesn't want us to meet them more out of fear of how critical we would be, so I can respect that.

Over the past few months she has been spending a lot of time with one of her good friend, let's call her Whoopi (I'm currently watching The View).  They go out to dinner, exercise, blah blah, you get the idea.

Well, last Friday Mom and I went to a ballet. She was telling me about plans she had with Whoopi and another friend, Barb,  in the morning.  Somehow through the conversation the fact that Barb is a lesbian comes out.  I see this as the perfect opportunity to ask, "Mom, are you a lesbian?"

*Insert Mom screaming my name here* The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Mom: Why in the world would you ever think that?!

Me: I don't know, you spend a lot of time with Whoopi and Barb so I was just curious.

Mom: We are just friends! I go on dates with men!

Me: I know, I know. It's just that I've seen a lot of women on shows like Oprah, who are married for 20+ years and then figure out they are a lesbian so I was just curious.

Mom: Well, no I am not a lesbian.

Me: Alright alright, but I want you to know it's okay if you are.

Mom: Sighs. Do I look like a lesbian?

Me: No Mom.

*5 minutes of silence*

Mom: So, next weekend I'm going to this other performance my Pilate's instructor is doing.  She is a lesbian, so it's at this lesbian bar.

Me: MOM, seriously?! And you wonder why I asked.

Mom: Well, I'll take Richard with me so people don't get the wrong idea.

0

A Little of This and That

Yesterday we were busy bees.  G and I went for a morning run/walk. Came home, had some snacks, cleaned up, took a nap.

We then proceeded to have lunch, and run some errands.  I dropped off some catalogs, and we popped by A.C. Moore (please forgive me!).  I had a 50% off coupon and needed a skein of yarn to finish one of my projects.  Hubs thinks I am crazy because I will go to the store everyday with one coupon and buy one item.  It does take time, but I always get things on the cheap. You think he'd be more appreciative!

We arrived home to a package on the steps. It was like Christmas! My order from Joanns.com finally came.  I ordered some yarn and other odds and ends.  Behold my treasures:

I know, I know, it's a lot of yarn. But look at how it shines in the sun!

The Home Shopping Network was all about scrap booking today. I managed to contain myself from purchasing anything despite the good deals. I never wanted a Cricket before, but boy those ladies had me seconds away from kissing $499 goodbye.  Thank God the Hubs came home. It's dangerous watching that channel when you're alone.

While playing inside G obtained his first real boo-boo.  He smashed his lip on his little basketball hoop.  Poor baby. As usual, I took it worse than him.

Hubs didn't believe it was as bad as I said, so I saved the evidence

When Hubs got home we had some dinner, and made a Babies R Us run.  I desperately needed to get some overnight diapers because I am really tired of washing his sheets every morning.  Let's hope they work!

I'm off to work on my next project, a wreath for the front door. Got to get a move on seeing as how Fall is officially days away.

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Things That Annoy Me (Today)

Today has been long. I woke up with a headache. NEVER a good way to start your day, avoid this at all costs. Needless to say, I was easily irritated today.  So, here are the things that annoyed me. Several of these would actually annoy me even if I didn't have a super gigantic headache. 

1. No milk

2. G screaming in the car for 20 minutes straight for no reason 

3. Woman smoking on the steps with her kid like 1 inch from the cigarette 

4. Idiot men throwing plastic wrappers out of their window while driving

5. Getting lost on my way to drop something off

6. Having to pick my mom up from work because my sister has the car

7. Hubs not getting home until God knows when

8. People not RSVPing to G's party

9. People RSVPing to my mother in law instead of calling me

10. G not taking a nap, instead screaming at the top of his lungs for 15 minutes

11. I have to touch raw chicken to make dinner (I hate raw meat of any sort)

12. Stupid woman cutting me off and driving like an idiot

13. Sink full of dirty dishes

Sorry for the negativity, but I hope you understand.

Despite all the annoyances there were some positives:

1. G's first Little Gym class

2. I got a great deal on some scrapbook paper from JoAnn's

3. Hubs came home to visit this afternoon for a little

4. I made an awesome pot of coffee

5. Eventually I will get to go to bed!

Off to make dinner. Yippee!

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Have You Seen These Socks?

Hubs just finished folding the laundry last night after I went to bed and I woke up to this

Can someone please tell me where all of my socks go?  If you happened to stumble across a matching pair to any of these loners please send them along my way.

From now on I am only buying all white or all black socks. That way there is less of a chance I'll end up with so many stragglers, or at least I'll be less aware of missing socks.

Also, I have to say I am thoroughly disappointed with my Coach purse.  Back before G when we actually had extra money, Hubs bought me a Coach purse for Christmas, so luxurious!  I reserved use of said purse for special occasions. Over a span of 3 years I probably used it about 3 times, and after each use I would empty it out and place it back in it's special bag and hide it at the top of the closet.   I realized last week this was foolish, mainly because we have a baby now and special adult outings are few and far between.  So, I've been using it as my everyday purse.  Well Coach, just wanted to let you know that your purses are NOT baby proof.  The little hangy zipper strap really came in handy to entertain a squirmy almost one year old.  That was until last night when I was out with my mom I went to zipper it up and the darn thing just ripped off.  So much for quality! I'm going to need some sort of industrial needle to sew this bad boy back together.

In the mean time I'll be switching back to my old standby, Vera. Vera Bradley that is.

0

Good To The Last Drop

I found myself relying on coffee more and more.  It seemed like the less naps G took, the more coffee I consumed. I realized this was probably not a good thing. Especially the fact that I add sugar and delicious creamer (French Vanilla) to every cup.  These things are probably not helping me to achieve my pre-baby weight (5 pounds to go! It's probably 5 lbs of cream and sugar).

I stopped drinking cold turkey and the results were some massive headaches.  So, I decided it would probably be more wise to wean myself slowly.

I'm not sure how it happened, but that process of weaning never really happened.  On a good note I made it until 11:00am today before tapping the pot.

I hear a baby waking from a nap, must refill.

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Balance

My life is a beautiful balancing act.  I thought it was hard when I was in school, working, having a social life.  But this motherhood thing is a whole other beast. Feeding, changing, napping, doctors, working, house work, errands, gym, money, cooking, laundry, friends, husband, mother, the list goes on and on.

Somedays are good, others are more challenging.  It would be very easy to lose myself.  I truly have to make an effort to keep ties to things that make me who I am as an individual.  I have to consciously make time for myself, and I am thankful to have a husband that understands and encourages me to do so.  It's somewhat sad, but I have a schedule for myself that has things like "gym, 20 minute shower, computer time, craft time, Hubs time, 30 minutes of  'you can't ask me for/to do anything' " built it.  The craziness of the schedule keeps me from going crazy. 

There have been a few days where I just go all day and give and give and give and give and never take a single moment for myself and by the end I feel like nothing, nobody. I learned not to do that anymore, it's just not worth it for anyone.  If it means that Hubs eats tater tots for dinner because I needed to watch a rerun of Who's the Boss and zone out, that's what it means.  And he'd probably tell me they were the most delicious tots in the world. 

I guess I'm writing this because I see friends losing themselves and it makes me look at my life and feel really lucky.  It also makes me sad because they are slowly drifting away.

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Oops

Lesson learned, always check your gauge before starting a project.  For those of you who do not knit or crochet, checking your gauge pretty much just means you do a little sample to make sure that your finished project will come out with the right dimensions.  Usually when I crochet I could care less about checking gauge.  I don't care if my afghan is a few inches smaller or larger, or if a stuffed animal is smaller or bigger than anticipated.  Well, gauge does matter when you do something that has to be a certain size, like say booties or a hat.

I wanted to make a cute little beanie for G for Fall (even though he hates wearing hats).  So, away I went.  I finished the whole thing and don't you know it was about 1/2 the size I needed it to be. Ugh.

So, instead of having it go to waste, I crocheted a little flower, stitched it on, and I'm going to give it to my friend for her little baby girl.  I think it's pretty cute if I do say so myself.

I'm going to attempt this again, but change the yarn and pattern a bit so it hopefully fits G's noggin. I'm hoping to bang it out tonight while watching one of my guilty pleasures, Jersey Shore. Please don't hate me.

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Baby Food

Since G has been eating real food, as opposed to the jar stuff, I have been trying out new recipes for him.  This week we went South of the Border, and I made some rice, beans, vegetables, and a few spices.  He loved it! Here is the 'before', I forgot to take the after. Use your imagination!

Baby Beans and Rice

I'd like to give a big shout out to Wilmington Trust for the free food processor.  When we signed up for a savings account for G last year, they gave us a little food processor for free. It's perfect. I love not having to get out my monster sized one.  I can honestly say I use it almost everyday.

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I Relapsed

Well, I went to A.C. Moore today. I'm sure you can see where this is heading.  I ended up buying things for projects I am not working on, BUT they are for the projects that are on my list.  So, I figure it's not so bad. Plus I had some great coupons. Although I am disappointed that they did not have a particular paint I was looking for.  Michael's didn't have it either so looks like I might need to order online.

We also hit up Kohl's and got some great clothes for G for Fall/Winter. The have this cute brand called Jumping Beans and their items were on sale 2 for $10, plus I had an extra 15% off coupon.  I have become quite the savvy shopper. Sales and coupons are like drugs for me.

We had a very lovely weekend.  The weather was beautiful, just makes me ready for Fall even more.  I'm sad that it's back to the 90's again this week. Boo to that.  I gave G his first little haircut yesterday. It was more like a trim. I saved his hair, which the Hubs just couldn't understand. I'm not quite sure what I am going to do with it yet, I am playing around with a few ideas.

Baby hairs

When we got back and G went down for a nap I finished up a project. I made the mouse a few weeks ago, and wanted to try for a cat. This is what happened. There are all kinds of things wrong with it, mainly that it doesn't look very cat-like. I'll try again at some point. Maybe whiskers next time? I do like the mouse though.

Cat and Mouse

Yesterday G and I met up with an old friend of mine for a walk.  She just had a baby a few weeks ago.  We were the best of friends in grade school, pretty much inseparable. We went to the same high school, but went our own separate ways.  After high school I didn't talk to her at all, but we became friends on Facebook.  She went on to work in a lab doing important scientific stuff, and then joined the Peace Corp with her husband. I went on to get married, have a baby and become a stay at home mom.  I followed their blog of experiences in the Peace Corp, and was secretly a little bit jealous.  Here I was sitting at home with barely brushed hair and baby poop, while she was traveling to new places making a difference in people's lives.  Well, through their blog I found out she was expecting their first child, so I congratulated her via Facebook.  We ended up running into each other earlier this summer at Pathmark and exchanged numbers.  We never did get together, but I ran into her again a few weeks ago while I was out running.  The next day we met for breakfast.  I swear it felt like we just picked up like no time had passed.  I truly believe that some people are just meant to be in your life.  We have a date to go walking again tomorrow.

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Don't Cry Over the Wrong Ink Cartridge

So, a few days ago I talked about how I had this awfully long day with several mishaps.  Well, instead of regaling you with a play by play of that, here are a couple of pictures.  Enjoy!

What you can see in this picture: a portion of the coffee spillage.
What you can't see: coffee that managed to seep in between the buttons on my phone, thus making typing almost impossible.

What you can see in this picture: a mess of paper towels, and the feet of the culprit!
What you can't see: the trail that leads out into the dining room, and the several pieces ingested by the blue-toed culprit.

In addition to those lovely snapshots we also encountered a real creeper at the park, and didn't get to see Hubs until about 7 because of his new coaching position. Big thumbs down to him getting home so late. Thumbs up to the extra money though.

Well, just when I thought it couldn't get worse. We were working our way through the monstrous to-do list. G and I popped into Staples to get our new ink cartridges.  Took me about 23 minutes to find the right ones since there are about 400 to choose from.  After we made our purchase, I decided since it was so nice out we would take a quick stroll around the shopping center.  Bad idea.  There's nothing like getting harassed by unemployed, probably on parole, white trash while pushing a stroller.  It's one thing to hear comments or whistles when I'm out at a bar, but it reaches a new low when I'm rocking the motherhood thing.

We leave sleaze central, swing by Acme, and head home.  When we get back I notice I have a voicemail from a number I don't recognize it.  Normally I would just ignore it and check it like 30 hours later.  However something told me maybe I should see what this is about.  Well, it was someone from my banks transaction review department saying there were some charges to my account that were questionable and they wanted to verify before allowing them.  I'm thinking Staples and Acme really aren't that out of the ordinary. I call, the person I speak to names 2 charges, each for over $800 for some no name companies I had never heard of...awesome.  So, to make a long story short, I had some fraudulent charges, and spent the rest of the day on the phone, ripping my hair out, and at the bank.  Hubs was so great and came home for a bit so I could hit up the bank without having to take G with me.  I was so frazzled from the exhautingness (yes, I made that up), of the past 36+ hours I was just ready to drop.  But, I came home and held down the fort until 6:30 when Hubs got home.  I had a million and one things to do, many of which involved using my newly purchased ink cartridges.

I get all my stuff and head into the office to escape for a bit.  I go to put the new ink in the printer, and realize I bought the wrong black ink cartridge. DARN YOU CANON FOR HAVING SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM! M hears me cursing the printer, and makes the mistake of coming to see what's going on.  I start yelling about the ink, and then the tears start to flow.  Poor Hubs wraps me in a hug, "Honey, it's okay I can exchange it for you tomorrow! I can print whatever you need at work just email it to me!".  Little does he know it really has nothing to do with the ink, but his gesture suddenly makes me feel okay.  I realize that even though the past two days have been long and draining, my life isn't too bad.  I've got two amazing men in my life that love me more than anything.

So I abandoned my printing projects, picked up my needles and whipped this up

It's going to be part of a pair, it always feels better to know you're not going it alone.

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Never Ending

Today was the second longest day of my life ever. (The first being the day I was induced, because that whole process felt like an eternity).  I will do a whole post about today with pictures tomorrow, for right now I lack the energy to walk 5 feet across the room to get my USB cord for the camera.  To give you a taste it included such events as getting creeped out by a creeper at the park, spilling coffee all over my Blackberry, and a whole roll of paper towels being draped across my living room floor.  Tomorrow will most likely be more of the same.

Let's discuss for a moment why I am dreading tomorrow. I have 5 errands that I MUST complete tomorrow before the end of business hours. It is quite a feat running errands with a just started walking, not too steady, I want to be independent, never-mind I want to be carried, almost one year old.  The fact that I have so many errands to do all over the map is bad, the fact that I have to drag poor G along to all of them is worse, and don't forget...it all revolves around nap time!  This is something someone should have told me. My entire life schedule is determined by nap time.

Add to all of that, most of the places I need to go aren't really stroller friendly.  Here is my tomorrow in a nutshell:

1. Wake up at 6:30 because now that Hubs is getting up early so does G...bye bye sleeping in til 8:30
2. Do the whole breakfast/get ready routine
3. Get loaded up in the car
4. First stop - non-stroller friendly post office
5. Back in the car
6. Second stop - stroller friendly Staples
7. Back in the car
8. Guess what, gotta head home for nap time
9. Nap
10. Snack
11. Back in the car
12. Bank to get something from safe deposit box (no stroller)
13. Back in the car
14. Organic market (no stroller, and no shopping carts...I'm royally screwed with this one)
15. Back in the car
16. Home for lunch
17. No point in going out, nap time is in less than an hour
18. Nap
19. Back in car
20. Bank (different one, with a drive thru!)
21. Home Sweet Home

I included all of the "getting in and out of the car" nonsense because for any of you that have children you know that this alone is a whole scene.

So tonight, I made myself tater tots and edamame for dinner.  I sat and listened to M for 25 minutes retell his day. I had  chugged half a glass of wine. And now, at a measly 9:20pm I'm going to bed.  If Hubs values his life at all he will do the dishes and take the trash out before he joins me.

A friend of mine posted a quote on Facebook once, and after today(and tomorrow) it couldn't be any more true.

It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it. 

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