Our Happy Life

Less than a week!

2011-02-08T20:45:00.002-06:00

We move into our new house in less than a week! I know there is still a lot of work left as far as moving stuff from our apartment to our house but I am still really excited.

We finally are about done with getting our loan approved so we should be ready to close on time next Monday. We were starting to get worried about the loan because the underwriter kept wanting more and more stuff. I get it - the economy was bad so they are really picky about lending but man, it was getting ridiculous!

It almost doesn't feel real that we are going to be in our new house so soon. I can't wait to get some new furniture and get it decorated the way I want.

My stress level is coming down slowly but surely. We are almost there!

I'm a Municipal Securities Principal - huh?

2011-02-07T11:03:00.001-06:00

I passed my test this morning! I had to take my series 53 test and I actually passed it - a small miracle! I was sure I wouldn't because I have been so busy with other house stuff that I didn't study as much as I wanted to/thought I should.

Anyway, nothing really exciting happens now, just had to have it for my job.

I think my boss will be pleased that I passed!

Yay me!

Study, study, study

2011-02-05T09:55:00.001-06:00

That is all I will be doing this weekend other than showering, eating and sleeping!

I have to take my test for work on Monday morning and I am not yet fully prepared. I am hoping after about 8 hours today and 8 hours tomorrow of studying I will be able to knock it out on Monday but I can only hope.

So without further delay....I better get to it!

Happy weekend!

Random Tuesday thoughts

2011-02-01T10:58:00.006-06:00

I am especially good at being random right now because of how many different things are running through my head these days. There should be a big, huge 'let down' in about 3 weeks. I will be done moving into our new house, done with my test for work and have my baby back here in Denver with me. The commute to work will suck more and we still have to find a daycare but all in all, I would have to say I can't wait for the next few weeks to pass by.

On that note, here are a few other things going on in my head right now.

-What if our house burned down in our new neighborhood? I've never thought of this before, but what kind of a house would they let you re-build? What if the builder didn't exist anymore (went out of business)? The only reason I wonder this is because we have a home owner's association in our new neighborhood and we never had one before back home and they are super strict with everything so it makes me wonder how/what they would let you re-build??!!

-It is FREEZING here in Denver today! Even worse actually since freezing is 32 degrees and it was -9 this morning with a wind chill of -18! My toes were so cold by the time I got to work that I thought they were going to fall off! I can't drink enough warm coffee this morning!

-We went back home to Nebraska this weekend one last time and I didn't even really get to say goodbye to my house or really ponder it. We left without much thought but it is weird that I will probably never step foot in that house again! We got to see the kiddo for a day and a half which was the best part. Just over two more weeks and he will be back here in Denver with us for good! I can't wait!

-I still have a list of things to do a million miles long. I need to find a daycare for my son, call the insurance company to get a quote on our new house and if the price is bad, find a new insurance company, get my care licensed here in Colorado, get a new driver's license, start boxing stuff up in our apartment, finish studying for the test I have next Monday, call our garbage service from back home to cancel, find new internet/phone company out here and set up an appointment for hook up when we move in, find a doctor/dentist for me, find a doctor for my son (since he is 26 months and still hasn't had his 2 year check up), have the POA paperwork signed and notarized for our house closing, etc. etc. etc. It is never ending!

-I have been having bad dreams about our new house, like the rooms are different sizes than I thought, there is ugly colored paint on the walls, the layout of the house is completely different, the house is in terrible shape and a bunch of other nonsense. I think I am dreaming this since I only saw the house once and wonder if that was enough to make a decision on and in the back of my mind I worry I won't like it as much as I thought. The good thing is, my husband saw it a second time and said he still really liked it so I think we are ok.

-I have to take my test for work next Monday and I am pretty nervous. My studying has not been going as well as I hoped due to all of this moving business. I am planning on studying the whole weekend this weekend but still, I don't want to fail the test. I have taken four of these type of tests before and haven't failed one yet. Crossing my fingers!

-I am such a dork, but love watching the Bachelor. I already know what's going to happen this season because I read a website that has spoilers but I love to watch the show anyway. I am not a fan of the Bachelorette as much since it just seems more boring to me. But it is funny to see who in the house is crazy and weird and how the dates unfold, even if I already know the ending. Hopefully, next Monday night when it is on again, I can watch it guilt free because I will have taken my test that morning and hopefully passed and won't have to worry about studying instead of watching!

-It is not looking so good for a tax refund this year. My husband started doing our taxes online last night and normally we get a pretty big refund, but this year, we are either getting a tiny refund or paying in a tiny amount. Booooo. That is terrible news because we were hoping to use some of the money to buy furniture for our new house! This will be the first year since we were married that we haven't gotten a good refund. What a bummer.

-Speaking of furniture, we should still have some money to get some and I am excited to get in our house, pick out furniture and decorate it the way I want! New houses are fun!

-That's all I got. Happy Tuesday!

Stress!

2011-01-28T09:45:00.003-06:00

I know the world goes on with little care for what is going on in my life and how stressed I am but I can't help feeling like I have been and will be stressed forever!

I am trying to breathe deeply but the little things are getting to me, probably because all the little things add up to a huge feeling of being overwhelmed.

I am ready to be done with moving. All I am thinking about these days is what we have to do today as far as paperwork or phone calls or emails to make sure everything goes perfect and we get closed on our new house on time. It seems like so many things could go wrong and a few things already have. I cannot wait until this is over and we are settled once and for all out here!

Right now we are still waiting on the underwriting decision to make sure we actually are approved for our loan. I'm not worried about being denied, but what I am worried about is the time frame. We close on February 14th and they just got our information yesterday and if it takes several days to review and then they come back saying some information is missing and we get any documents or whatever they need and send it back, it can take several more days to review. Going back and forth more than once means we can't close on time which can't happen or we will literally be homeless.

We are also trying to get everything finished up on our home back in Nebraska so that we can close on that house on time. Our new loan won't go through unless we close on our old house first. The list has been never ending on things we have to fix on our old house for Todd's company to buy it from us. We are so sick of that house and though I may have a few feelings of nostalgia seeing it one last time, mostly I just want to rid myself of it. It has been such a burden! Part of the reason is because after having 'owned' it for 5+ years, we are getting nothing out of it and actually are losing a little bit. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about since we have dumped so much money into that house and have nothing to show for it. We are convinced that won't happen to us with our new house. At least we are hoping!

We are going to Nebraska again this weekend to finish up the house stuff, but more importantly, to see our little baby! It has been two weeks and I miss him so much that it hurts! I have gotten really emotional the last few weeks without him, more so than the last time I didn't see him. It sucks not having a daycare here yet and not being settled. Otherwise, he would be here with us. We only get to see him for little more than a day but we are so excited! We are also going to bring some stuff back with us that the movers can't move so we don't have to worry about it later. We won't get back home tonight until about 3 am so we will be exhausted tomorrow but we will get through it.

The good news is, this crazy stress should be short lived. We close on our new house in just over two weeks and once our stuff is delivered to our new house, I am hoping we will be mostly settled and unpacked within another week after that. So all in all, about 4 more weeks of stress, with it tapering off towards three weeks from now. I am ready for a mental break.

Oh yeah, one more thing to add stress. I am studying for my series 53 test right now for my job. I have to pass the test on February 7th or I will have to take it again within a month. I have been trying to study for it but have been so busy and stressed that I haven't been doing a good job. I hope I pass the test. I would hate to have to tell my boss that I failed.

Here's to less stressful days!

30 by 30 revisited

2011-01-22T11:11:00.012-06:00

So, more than a year ago I decided to make a list of 30 things I would like to do by age 30. I said at the time that I reserved the right to change any of these. My sister in law did a 40 by 40 project, but on hers, she just said she wanted to do 40 things that she hadn't done before but she didn't choose them in advance the way I am. I think both ways are fun to do but for me, I feel like it will help me stick to the list more and help me do things I really want to do.

Here are my newest items - 20-30. At the bottom, I will post my previous 19 items and if I have accomplished any of them.

20. Go to a pro football game.

21. Go to a pro basketball game.

22. Go to a pro hockey game.

23. Run a half marathon.

24. Pass my series 53 test.

25. Go back to college (as to when I finish, that is up in the air).

26. Get invisalign (have wanted this for years).

27. Hike a 14er (not to be confused with my general goal of going on a hiking trip).

28. Go to Las Vegas.

29. Have my home fully decorated (so I don't feel like there are any rooms unfinished).

30. Crochet something that looks good.

Here are my previous goals:

1. Get a tattoo.

2. Lose 30 pounds - On my way. I am down about 10 or 11 pounds. I actually did this last year but have gained some back - time to get back to it!

3. Scrapbook my son's first year of life - Doing ok on this, need to catch up though. Still need to finish this!

4. Go on a hiking trip. I think we will do this soon now that we live in Colorado!

5. Get family pictures taken - plan on doing this when Xander turns 1. Booo. I never did this but had scheduled this last fall but then we moved before our appointment. Soon.

6. Start playing piano again. Not yet, but want to buy a piano for our new house.

7. Start swimming again.

8. Do another scrapbook of some sort besides Xander's baby scrapbook - also working on this. I've started a few but need to finish these. I plan to once we move into our house.

9. Visit two states that I haven't been to yet.

10. Be able to run 3 miles without stopping. I got close back in 2009 but haven't gotten back into running for a while.

11. Read at least 25 of these novels.

12. Have my A1C level below 6.5 for 1 straight year.

13. Have our second child if we decide to have another. Probably not going to happen before 30 but who know!

14. Have at least one car that is paid off.

15. Travel overseas, preferably to France/Spain.

16. Have made at least one cake with fondant and be able to say it turned out well.

17. Win a photo hunt contest like this one. Just one picture needs to win for me to be happy!

18. Sew at least one article of clothing from scratch.

19. Have hair longer than my shoulder for once in the last 10 years! Yay!! I did this one - and recently chopped it all off!

A million things.....

2011-01-20T18:38:00.003-06:00

Are going through my head right now. Like....

-My $12,000 plus hospital bill that I am still not sure if the insurance company paid on.

-The perfect storm that is closing on our house in Nebraska and closing on our house here in Colorado. The timing of it is just crazy - We literally have to close on the house back home the Friday before we close on our new house (on Monday). Crazy. Good thing we don't have to be back in Nebraska for the closing there!

-Moving our stuff and the timing of when the moving truck will come back home and when they will drop off here and how many days I will be sleeping on the floor in our new house until the bed is delivered. :) Maybe an air mattress purchase is in my future!

-Finding a daycare for the kiddo. I have looked at some online and will start making calls soon.

- Passing the series 53 for work. I have to take it on Friday, February 4th and I haven't been doing the best at studying it but will hit it soon. I must pass.

-Buying furniture for our new house. We don't need a lot but will need some stuff and don't know where to find good stuff out here.

-Losing weight. I have gained some back and hate it and know part of the gain is due to stress. Must.Do.Something.

-A baby. Todd and I go back and forth about whether we want another kid or not. I am pretty sure right now we are on 'no'. But that could change again.

-A bunch more random stuff that no one cares about.

The house

2011-01-17T10:26:00.004-06:00

Here are the pictures of the house (from the listing). The link from my last post doesn't work anymore because the listing was removed but we got the pictures back! We will take more pictures once we move in but this gives just a taste of what the house looks like. The pictures looks very yellow but the colors are just very neutral so that is good. Here they are!

Is this the one?

2011-01-12T21:39:00.004-06:00

I looked at a house tonight that I thought could be 'the one' here in Denver, but it wasn't because it is a short sale and there is no guarantee of when we could close on the house with a short sale. We have a limited amount of time and need a guarantee.

Anyway, of the ones we haved looked at, we think there is one we really want. This is it, but is it the one for us? Time will tell!

http://www.denverrealestate.com/property/8611434/2636_SOUTH_ENSENADA_WAY_AURORA_CO_80013

A house for Todd and Sarah

2011-01-09T14:32:00.003-06:00

Since we just moved to the Denver area, we are looking for a house! We are living in corporate housing right now (an apartment) and are trying to find a house as soon as possible. We have found several we like but have only seen a few on the inside. We are going to look at more tomorrow night and more the following Monday. We are really hoping to have an offer in on a house within a couple of weeks so we can get our loan going and get moved sometime in February.

This is such a hard choice! We have to choose where it's best to live and how much we want to spend and what features we can't live without. This is tough! We bought our first house over 5 years ago and it was the only house we looked at inside! We fell in love and at that point it was more of a sellers market (versus a buyers market now) so we acted quick and put in an offer right away since we loved the house we saw. We are a lot smarter now than then. I was only 22 - what do you expect?? :)

Needless to say, I think we are a lot smarter now and know what we need and want in a house and won't settle. The super great thing now is, the interest rates are lower than when we last bought and the property taxes are much lower out here so we can get a house that is quite a bit more expensive out here for the same or a similar payment to what we were paying back home. That is awesome!

The biggest thing we are trying to decide right now is whether we want to spend a little more and have a house that is near perfect or spend less and have a lower payment for a house that needs some work (not a lot, just a few things like some paint). I go back and forth because in some ways, I don't want to have to do anything to the house for it to be ready but in some ways, I wouldn't mind having a house that needs a few things done and maybe an unfinished basement that we can personalize and also, once we repair or replace a few things, will have instant equity and have a much lower payment. So many decisions!!! So little time!!! Literally.

Wish us luck as we try to find a great home here in Denver!

January 7th

2011-01-07T10:25:00.005-06:00

So here it is - a new year. I am not sure what to think or what to do. We are so busy with trying to find a new house and dealing with all of things that come along with moving to another state. The house thing (selling ours and buying a new one) is the most stressful part. I actually joked with Todd about letting him decide on a house for us because it is a huge decision that I don't know if I want to deal with.

I had some 'resolutions' in my head but have been disappointed in myself with them so far. I swear I have gained about 10-15 pounds back from the 30 I lost late last year. It sucks because it is hard to lose weight but oh so easy to gain it back. I refuse to gain it all back so I have to start doing something about it and soon!

I also have another test to study for for my job. I need to take it by the end of this month or early next month in case I don't pass it. That gives me enough time to take it again before my deadline is up to have it done. I have until mid-March but I just want to get it over with.

I have decided to be less boring this year and told my husband that we need to do some fun stuff this year, especially now that we live in a state with lots to do! I have a list of things I would like to try this year and it should be a lot of fun! I just have to get organized so we can do some of it!

I better get back to work. It is fun to blog but I have things to do. Until next time.....

New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-03T09:00:00.004-06:00

I know that it is so cliche but I am going to go ahead and make a few. I am going to keep it pretty simple and not go overboard so I can stay realistic.

The two words I am going to focus on are 'blame' and 'commitment'

A famous quote says 'blame renders you powerless'. I need to quit blaming other people or other things when something goes wrong in my life. True, there are plenty of times that something is someone else's fault, but blaming someone else takes away my power to try and fix it. I need to take responsibility where I should and accept things that I can't change without getting so upset.

I used commitment as my other one because I need to fully commit to things instead of starting and stopping things and I should encourage my husband to do the same. I am pretty bad about starting a project or a workout routine or whatever it might be and not following all the way through. I don't feel I do this at my job because I know I can't, but I do this a lot in my personal life.

Hopefully this will be a great year for me and my family and for everyone else too!

Our 'Crazy' Life

2010-12-18T13:19:00.005-06:00

That is what the new title of my blog should be. I haven't written much because our life has been crazy recently - but that is how it goes when you are relocating to a different city!

I am out in Denver and just got done with my first week at the new job. It is so weird to be in a different city, to be working downtown on the 17th floor of our building and taking the bus to work every day. So different from what I am used to!

My kiddo is not here and though I miss him, the time has gone so fast that I haven't had much time to miss him. He is with Todd's parents and they will bring him out next week for Christmas.

I am ready for the holidays to be over even though normally, this is my favorite time of year by far! It is just so different this year that it has been hard to really get into the spirit. No house to decorate, no home for the holidays, it's just so weird. I still love this time of year but I think next Christmas will be better once we are settled.

Once Christmas is over, we will be closer to buying a new house out here and being settled. Also, hopefully we will have sold our house or we will take the buy out on our house in Nebraska and not have to worry about that anymore.

Also, as weird as it sounds, I am just ready to be up and running at my new job. I just got issued my laptop this week but it doesn't have a power cord yet and I don't even have a log on anyway! It is so different from other places I work since I am not even really in their system yet (even though I already got paid for my first week - rock on!). I don't even have my badge yet! Oh, well!

Anyway, I have a feeling that the next two months will be just as crazy as the last month and a half. Buying and moving into a new house are no small feats. We have been looking at a lot of houses but need to start looking at some soon. After the first of the year, we will have a lot more time I hope!

That's all for now. I plan on blogging more once this whirlwind 3+ months are over. I hope it happens since I like to write. I just haven't had the time!

Merry Christmas in case I don't get back here before then!

I got the job!

2010-12-01T20:35:00.004-06:00

At the risk of making anyone mad who has been looking at jobs forever, I will say I got the one and only job I applied for in Denver! I am so excited and feel so lucky and blessed to have gotten the job!

It is with a company called AXA Equitable! It is similar to what I do now and I will end up getting one more license after I start. I am excited to try something new but also a little nervous to start again in a new company with new people and new products and rules and such. I know I can succeed and know I will be working directly with the guy who interviewed me and that is a good thing. He seems really nice and also very smart.

The best news of all is that I will get to be out in Denver by Christmas time to be with my husband! I was hoping we would be moved out there before Christmas and this job was my only hope of that. I will be there one week before Christmas but that is ok, as long as I am there. The biggest challenge of moving out there will be trying to find daycare on such short notice for Xander. I told Todd he will have to start calling around out there to see what he can find.

The other super great part of this is it is another good pay raise for me! I am excited about that because hopefully our higher income will help us get approved for a new home loan out there - I know the banks are a lot stricter these days!

Anyway, I haven't been writing much and probably won't have a chance to write but once or twice more before the new year. I am hoping things settle down after the first of the year but that may be when we buy a new house and move in so that will be a lot of craziness also!

Let the adventure begin! Oh wait, it has already begun. Let the adventure continue! :)

Life right now

2010-11-14T22:14:00.003-06:00

Life is tough right now. This is the time in life I have to put on my big girl panties and suck it up and deal with everything difficult right now. There is so much going on and I miss my husband so much already (even though he has only been gone a week and a half and I saw him this week and see him again next weekend).

The hardest part of all of this will be pretty much everything up until Xander and I are out in Denver permanently. I have so much to do and so little time and very little help and it is stressing me so much. I am tired and sick and the stress is causing me to break out on my face which makes me feel ugly. I feel like I am so tired but have so much on my mind that I can't fall asleep.

The to do list is endless and I have been working on it for a week and a half already! When will it end? I was hoping to get the house on the market tomorrow but that is clearly not happening. The next Monday will just have to do unless by some miracle I can get the 10,000 things that still need to be done to the house done in the next three days. I still have to get a bunch of cleaning done (though a lot is already done), get the carpets cleaned and the ceiling painted and then get the house staged so it looks as close to perfect as possible. I have been lucky enough to have the help of my parent and my in laws so far and they have helped me a ton!

The next big challenge is actually selling the house. That is why I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get stuff done. I am one of those people that wants my house just perfect before listing it because I am hoping that will help it sell fast and for top dollar. I really want to it to sell in the first 30 days and be done with it! Todd's company buys it from us if it doesn't sell after 60 days, but I don't want to get to that point. I hope we have interest right away and I think we will if the realtor words the listing right. Our house has a lot going for it and I think it will attract a good buyer.

Once the house is on the market, my next huge task is finding a job. I have done some looking but have only applied for one job so far. I haven't had any time to apply! Once the house is listed, I am going to try to spend 2-3 hours every night researching and applying for jobs. I have to find one! We won't be able to buy a house in Denver right away if I don't. A lot of pressure. Luckily, Todd's company pays for a consultant to help me find a job. I'm just hoping something will come out of it. It will be really hard to find a job in another state - I supposed I will have to head out there for a few interviews. That will not be fun.

Then the next task after the above mentioned two is finding a new house in Denver. This is all contingent upon me finding a job like I said. If I don't, we will be renters for a while. I am not looking forward to moving all of our stuff out there to a storage unit and then to a house within a year or so. That would suck! Hopefully everything just falls into place.

I am trying to take it one day at a time and it is hard. Each day goes by so fast and I don't feel like I get as much done as I need to. All I can do is keep trying and hope for the best. I really miss my husband and hate sleeping alone at night and I know Xander misses his dad too! He has been pretty good overall through this process, but he makes more messes than I can keep up with! That is going to be the biggest challenge - keeping up with him and keeping the house in showing condition all the time. You never know when someone will want to see your house so it has to be perfect at all times! I am hoping that it sells fast too because once the papers are signed, I won't be quite as crazy about keeping it clean to show.

Anyway, that is all I have for now. I have to go get the laundry and get to bed - it is going to be another long week of trying to get stuff done!

A few quick details.....

2010-11-03T22:08:00.002-05:00

About Denver.

-Todd is already there. He found out he was going last Tuesday and left this Tuesday. Today was his first day.

-He took the dog with him and I kept the kid. A fair trade right? Haha! But really, it will be easier to keep the house clean to sell without the dog.

-His company buys our house if it doesn't sell in 60 days. We hope to sell quick though because 1. I will get to go out there sooner and 2. We get a bonus if we sell before they buy it. Woot!

-I am looking for a new job. Don't worry, my current employer knows I am moving and looking for a job out there. My current boss said he would write me a letter of recommendation if I wanted - sweet!

-I am exhausted already from all of the stress and work so far and it's only going to get worse. I was just getting over being sick and I think I am getting sick again. Bleh.

-We found our realtor after interviewing two. The company pays for that too so that is nice! We thought the second one was much more prepared and came with comparisons of other homes that had sold in our area. I think he will do good for us.

-The company gives us some money to fix up a few things on our house so we can make it look nicer to sell - awesome!

-And on that note, I might as well say they pay for pretty much everything because they do! I couldn't be more thrilled with their relocation package!

-Todd is in corporate housing for right now. They pay and he was lucky enough to get 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom which is what our house is! Nice for when we come visit.

-They provide me with help finding a job which rocks since the economy isn't great.

-I think we will probably end up renting for a short time once Xander and I move out there for good unless the timing is exactly right with buying a house. It is hard right now to buy a house and we want to make sure it is what we want and not something we feel pressured to buy quickly.

-That's all for now. More to come later as more details are known. Oh yeah, one last thing. I hope to have the house on the market by the 15h of this month. That is a TON of work for one girl who works full time and has a kiddo! We will see how it goes!

Denver here we come

2010-10-27T09:45:00.001-05:00

We found out yesterday we are moving to Denver for Todd's job!

Crazy, crazy, crazy! More details to come.

For now all I know is Todd has to be there next week and I am going to be like a single mom for a while until I can move out there with him. This is going to be a crazy adventure!

28 years ago today.....

2010-10-23T10:56:00.004-05:00

My mom got the best gift ever......ME!!!! Haha! :)

No, really though. I was actually a surprise for my parents and am their youngest. I was born at 7:10 pm 28 years ago....and it was also a Saturday (which makes sense since there is 7 days in a week and 7 goes into 28 4 times - although not sure how you account for leap years in there).

My mom actually had to wait for the doctor to get to the hospital to have me because he was at a Nebraska football game. And on that note - there is a Nebraska game today, and after last weeks lost, they better win and give me a good birthday present with a victory! Go Huskers!

It has been a good morning so far. The hubs brought me breakfast home and flowers and a card (how sweet). I am just going to hang out today and not do much because I want to relax.

Oh, and I decided I am 27 and holding. Though I turn 28 today, I refuse to get older or feel older. I want to be young forever - but who doesn't??

Happy Birthday to me! Hehe.

A walk down memory lane

2010-10-17T15:45:00.003-05:00

I can't believe my baby is going to be 2 next month! Time sure flies! It almost makes me a little sad that he is growing up so fast! Here are a few pictures of him from the first 8 months of his life. What a sweetie!

Booooo

2010-10-16T18:26:00.002-05:00

Not for Halloween. For my football team losing!

Man, what a loss.

My Huskers lost today. So depressing.

They were talking Big 12 Champions. Talking even National Champions. Martinez for the Heisman. T-Magic no more. Sad.

Life goes on. Maybe next year will be our year!

Not the best week

2010-10-15T22:15:00.003-05:00

I know no one will give me the answer to these questions, but why do things have to be so hard sometimes? Why do situations have to be so difficult? Why do I have to be so emotional sometimes? Why is losing weight so hard but gaining so easy? Why does life suck? Why are things so unfair sometimes?

It's just been one of those weeks. It's already getting better now that it is Friday. I know next week will be better. I am just frustrated with life. I know there are times I feel like I am on top of the world and times where I feel like I am carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. Everyone has good times and bad. I have been lucky and have some really good times this year already so I guess I should focus on those. I have a lot to be thankful for, but for right now, I am just a little stressed and a little bummed.

That's all for now. It will get better.

Saturday shopping trip!

2010-10-09T15:53:00.007-05:00

I love shopping. I swear I was meant to be super rich because if I was, I would shop every chance I got and I would help get the economy back where it belongs! Haha! :)

That said, I am a sucker for a deal. I found some amazing deals while shopping this morning. I took X with me and we headed to the mall. I went to the Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree and Penneys. I had gift certificates/coupons to all of the places I went, plus I didn't buy anything full price so combining the sale with the gift cards made me stretch my money even further. I am a sucker for bargains, but also went with a purpose. I needed jeans for my little man (I swear he only has two pairs and that doesn't work if diapers leak since I don't do laundry every day). I also was looking for a few new work tops since the weather is changing and some of the stuff I have is now too big or wearing out.

Here are some pics of the stuff I came up with! I personally love all of it!

Ruffle tank from Old Navy. I think it was about $4. I realized I got an extra large and now that I have it home, I am afraid it will be too big! I guess I can always return it - but I love the color and ruffles!

I wear cardigans to work all of the time so when I saw this one on sale plus an extra 40% off I just had to get it! I love the ruffle detail on this too!

So, I don't need socks at all, but I had this gift certificate thing to use at Gap and the lady said I had some more money to spend so they had these cute socks sitting up front for $1 each. On top of the already mega clearance price, they had an extra 40% off too so they were $0.60 each!

I got these cute little cords for X at Gymboree. I had a great coupon there so they ended up being only about $6 (and if you know Gymboree, you know that is super cheap for them!)

This shirt was also from Gymboree. I think this little cowboy/sheriff theme stuff is so cute! These next three shirt all go with the cords. This shirt was about $4!

Another little cowboy themed shirt from Gymboree - same price as the above.

Last little cowboy shirt - so cute! Such cheap prices too!

This was just a cute rugby at Gymboree that was on sale. It ended up being about $7. Super cute and I think we might use this for our family pictures this fall.

Old Navy jammies. We love this style the most of any others and I thought this set was cute (we like the two piece kind, more fitted). This wasn't a great sale, but I had an actual gift card to Old Navy so they were free!

This was on clearance at Gap for little X man. He always looks good in blue.

These two t's are for next summer for X. I couldn't pass them up since they were on a final clearance. They ended up being about $2 each!

This is a cute little thermal type shirt for X. Love the color of blue and also on clearance.

These jeans were the deal of the day (in my book at least)! First of all, I went into there thinking the cheapest jeans they had would be at least $25 to $30. These were $19.50 to start with and they had 30% their jeans so they ended up being $14! Combined with the coupon I had, they were super cheap and he needed jeans plus they are too cute!

Not pictured: tons of other clothes I got for myself at Gap and Penneys. I got 4 short sleeved shirts at Gap for about $1.50 each (man that is cheap) and a few cardigans and layerable shirts at Penneys for work. It was a fun and successful day of shopping!

My brothers wedding in pictures

2010-10-04T19:21:00.006-05:00

My brother got married on our 6th anniversary. It was a great weekend. Here are a few pics.

Rehearsal

My brother - the groom

Ryan again on the wedding day

Me and Todd before the wedding

My mom and Julie

Me and Julie

Todd and two ushers

Aaron and Jen

In the limo

On a pretty bridge

The cute couple

The wedding party

More wedding party

Xander posing

Me and Todd at the reception

Xander dancing - he danced all night!

The Macho Man dance

More dancing

The end!

Lucky Parents

2010-09-26T11:31:00.004-05:00

I could use the title of this post to talk about how lucky my parents are to have a kid like me (haha) but that is not what this is about.

I feel so lucky to have my son. Not only just to have him (since I know there are many people out there who can't have kids or who have lost kids) but also just how he is personality-wise. He is so sweet and we love him so much.

I know most parents love their kids and think their own kids are the cutest, and of course I think my kid is awesome (most of the time) and cute too. Please don't get me wrong - I realize my kid has flaws - many of them. He is bratty at times and has meltdowns like other kids. But overall, we feel really lucky with him.

He is and has been (at least up to this point) an 'easy' kid. He has one of those more easy going personalities and has never given us constant difficulty. He has his moments, but tends towards either a laid back or a happy disposition most of the time. He wakes up in the morning happy and goes down for naps and bedtime with no struggle (yes, literally no struggle).

Part of the reason he has been so good is because we worked really hard when he was born to get him into a routine. For that reason, he has slept through the night since about 8 weeks. He has had times where he has been up at night (when he was sick or teething) but other than that, he sleeps great. We love it and it gets us really good sleep also. I think that makes a huge difference for parents. I can't imagine having a kid who still is up at night even some of the time.

He has been getting closer to the 'terrible twos' as he is 22 months. He defies us a fair amount now but we have been working on it and trying to discipline him so he knows that when we say no we mean no. We are working on consistency and trying to have him understand why he can't do certain things. He is not too bad right now and hopefully he won't get too much worse but we will see.

For now I just consider us lucky. They always say God doesn't give you more than you handle and I think He knew just what He was doing when He gave us Xander!

Happy Saturday

2010-09-25T09:16:00.002-05:00

I love weekends! Of course I do - I don't have to work! I love getting to sleep in and spend time with my kiddo. They always go way to fast as does most of life. Which brings me to my next point.

I have been so busy lately that I haven't been writing much recently. It seems like the last two or three months have gone by faster than any other time in my life. I am hoping things start to slow down here pretty soon but I have a feeling they won't much.

I am trying to enjoy life and my son but on certain days it's really hard to. My job has been so busy recently that it has been stressing me out and making me enjoy each day less. I still like my job but I would say less than I used to. My awesome boss sat down with me this week to go over my tasks and my to do list and he helped me prioritize which was a huge help and helped me feel a little less stressed.

My brothers wedding was last weekend and it turned out great! It was fun but I was tired afterwards. The next big thing on the plate is planning our little vacation. We haven't booked the trip yet but are still planning on going to Vegas in a month or so. That will be fun but I have to get back to my weight loss efforts as I would like to lose a few more pounds before we go.

I am hoping to be around more and to write more but only time will tell if that will happen! I have a lot to do this weekend and we are going to Todd's parents to watch the Husker game tonight - I am excited about that! Nothing better than some football on a Saturday. Go Big Red!

I found it

2010-09-12T13:33:00.003-05:00

I finally found a dress for my brothers wedding! The weird thing is, I had tried on a bunch of dresses before and only found one I liked but they didn't have it in my size. When I went to try on dresses on Saturday, I actually found a few that I really liked! It was weird - I felt like I could have picked one of four or five and been happy but I picked one that was really similar to one I had tried on originally. Anyway, I really like it and think it is flattering so I am happy!

Here is a link to the dress - I got it cheaper than it is listed so I am happy with the price I paid too. I think I am just going to bring along a nice sweater to put over it in case it gets cool. I am not sure what shoes I am wearing with it but I will figure that out soon enough.

Less than a week until the wedding and our sixth anniversary. Crap, I better get something for the hubs too! It's funny how I almost forget it is our anniversary too! I have just been thinking about the wedding. Either way, it will be a fun weekend (with an unfortunate, stressful week at work beforehand).

The Nebraska Game

2010-09-11T11:55:00.009-05:00

We went the season opener game for Nebraska last Saturday and it was also our first time to go to a Husker game together as a couple. We have been married almost 6 years and hadn't made it to a game until last week. It wasn't the best team we played but we sure enjoyed ourselves. The attendance at the game was 85,555 and we still retain the record for the most consecutive sellout games. We have some awesome fans!

*Our Tickets*

*Family Pic Before the Game*

*Pep Band Before the Game*

*The Marching Band Drummers Getting Hyped Up*

*West Stadium With the Sky Boxes*

*East Stadium, Flag Over the Band Section*

*North Stadium*

*Northwest Corner of Stadium, Tunnel Walk Area*

*Marching Bank Before the Game*

*The Awesome Jumbotron Screen in North Stadium*

*Me and the Hubs During the Game*

*Lit Up Stadium During the Evening*

The last two weeks

2010-09-06T10:30:00.003-05:00

....have been a whirlwind to say the least! I know life moves fast ,when you have a kid, but if everything else was the same and I didn't have Xander, I swear life would be moving just as fast now.

So here is a quick breakdown of what we have been up to the last two weeks.

Saturday August 21st, b-day party and dinner with my parents, both in Lincoln.
Wednesday August 25th-Friday August 27th, super busy at work with out of town employees in town for a large company meeting. Dinner Wednesday night right after work, so I wasn't home until after 9 that night. Thursday night was the employee forum and that was over around 7, then I went to a basketball game and didn't get home again until after 9. These were the busiest three days I have had in a long time I swear. Plus during the days, we were in meetings all day! That made me really behind on my regular work tasks.

Sunday August 29th, bridal shower for my soon to be sister in law. Fun but had to drive to Lincoln again.

Monday-Friday August 30th-September 3rd, busy week at work. Normal for the most part as far as hours go but I was so behind from the week before that it was super stressful. I was so tired every night that I only worked out once I think.

Saturday September 4th - Husker game!!!!! We went to Lincoln about 12 so we could put Xander down for a nap at my parents and head downtown about 3:30 since the game started at 6. We got one drink before the game then went to the stadium and got some food and were in our seats about 1/2 hour early. The game got over about 9:30 and we went back to my parents and didn't get home to Omaha until about 12:30.

Sunday September 5th, Todd's 15 year high school reunion in Schuyler. We headed there about 4 and went to his parents house for dinner and then went to the reunion for a just a couple of hours. Todd had to work super early today so he didn't want to stay too late so we were home by about 11.

So it has been a pretty busy last few weeks. I didn't even mention the regular stuff I do on a daily basis. I am hoping the next few weeks will calm down a bit but I know it won't since my brother's wedding is in two weeks as well as our 6 year anniversary! Crazy!

Hopefully I have more time to blog in the near future. I always say that but I love to write and just haven't had much time. Today is a holiday for me so I am hoping to take advantage of the day off and get stuff done so off I go!

Missing memory card and battery charger

2010-08-22T20:45:00.003-05:00

I decided my blog needs more pictures. It's kind of boring. So I decided to snap some of a few things tonight and realized that the memory card that goes in our camera is missing. Are you kidding me? I have no idea where it is and am a little worried about what happened to it. If our house wasn't a perpetual mess then I could probably find it a little easier but no such luck. I shall look for it tonight.

So the alternative to our fairly nice Nikon camera with our new fancy lens and flash is our small Sony point and shoot (still a nice camera, just smaller and we can do a lot less with it). The problem is, since using our new camera more, we don't use our little one as much and when I went to get it out a week or so ago, the battery was dead. The problem with that one is, I have no idea where the battery charger is and neither does Todd. Once again, are you kidding me? Ack! We are so, so, so unorganized! Grrrr! So now I have to find a memory card and a battery charger or we won't take any pictures again for a while!

Wish me luck!

A dose of thankfulness (we are lucky)

2010-08-21T10:50:00.004-05:00

I was sitting at my desk yesterday at work thinking about my job and how lucky I am to have it. It is so easy to complain about your job and why it is so bad. But I was thinking about how many people there are right now without a job, or with a worse job than mine! Not just worse in pay, but worse duties too. I am lucky and I need to remember how blessed I am to have a job that pays well and also is something that I really enjoy doing. In the past, I have had a lot of jobs that I really didn't enjoy doing. But even then, I was still blessed to have a job!

I admit, my attitude in the past was crap about my jobs and I realize it now (hindsight is 20/20). It is hard to be happy and positive when you don't enjoy your job even a little bit. It is hard to see through the frustration to be happy that you even have a job.

I also have to admit that I am very lucky and blessed in other areas of life also. We have an adorable, healthy son who brings joy to our every day! We have a roof over our heads and our house is in good shape and not falling apart. We have two cars that run well (for now - haha). We both have steady jobs that pay the bills. We have our health (for the most part) and our legs to let us walk. We have our brains to help us think. Sorry if this is getting cheesy but it is so true and we all need a reminder that we have so much to be grateful for!

Having my son makes me so happy and thankful that it was easy to conceive him (a surprise actually) and the pregnancy and birth went pretty well. I actually read quite a few blogs about fertility and can't even imagine the heartbreak that comes along with trying to conceive and with miscarriages when you want to have a baby so bad. I almost take it for granted that we have our son and that he is healthy, but I never should!

I am also blessed with an awesome husband and an awesome family. I actually enjoy get togethers with both sides of our family because we all get along so well.

I am encouraging everyone else to think about what you are thankful for and why you are blessed. It should be easy!

Monday Night Randoms

2010-08-16T20:37:00.002-05:00

Not much new in our life right now.

I am just really tired since having been sick last week and it is weird because I just feel like I haven't fully recovered. It's weird because ever since I was sick last week I have been getting heart burn every day. Yuck. I don't know where it came from and I just want it to go away.

Xander was sick last week too and it seems like he is just now starting to feel better. I feel so bad when my baby is sick and like to see him happy and normal.

We got two pairs of tickets to two different Nebraska football games this year - Western Kentucky and Kansas. I am so excited because we have wanted to go to a game for a while and we got some pretty cheap tickets for some pretty good seats. I am so excited just to go to a game and experience the crowd!

We just got a new car in April and I am already thinking that I want another new car - not because I want a new car but because I am scared to death of some huge repair coming up on our older car. We just can't afford a huge repair and I am all paranoid about it. I would also like a bigger house but that is a whole other subject for a different day. :)

I am already ready for the weekend. Not a good thing. I just need to get through the week and I am sure I will but I am just so tired.

Wednesday is exactly a month until my brothers wedding and I am going to try to work out almost every day and really good so I can lose some more weight before then. I have already done pretty well but would like to lose a few more. We will see how that goes.

I think I am going to go make some cookies now. Yum!

Stomach Flu, Broken Computers, Busted AC

2010-08-12T22:15:00.003-05:00

As the title suggests, the last few days at our house have not been fun.

Stomach flu hit me and the kiddo and something else hit Todd. He was sick all day Tuesday with us and was better Wednesday while me and X were still both sick Wednesday. Earlier today I was feeling somewhat better but not great. I did feel better as the day went on. I went to work today but so wish I could have stayed home instead.

Both of our laptops decided to go funky on us at once. Originally just one did, then the other. Todd figured out what was wrong and for now they are back in action.

The AC decided to call it quits sometime between midnight Tuesday night and 8 am Wednesday morning. I noticed it was a little warm in our house and saw it was 76 when the temp was set at 72. Not a good sign. Todd tried all of the things he could to fix it but we had to call the repairman. Of course they were backed up since it was a heat index of well over 100 for the last few days and lots of people were having the same problem. It ended up getting to 85 in our house that day - awful! Anyway, it was fixed about 3 that day and got all the way back to 72 within 12 hours. I never realized the depth of my love affair with the ac until it broke.

Needless to say, our bad things came in a set of three like they do so I am hoping tomorrow - Friday the 13th - gives us no grief. We have been through enough this week thankyouverymuch!

Sunday Afternoon Randoms

2010-08-08T13:13:00.003-05:00

I can't get any motivation to start cleaning our house. It is one big mess but it is at the point that it is almost overwhelming which makes it hard to pick a spot to start with. Hopefully by the end of the day it will be a lot cleaner.

My boss's wife was due to have her baby yesterday. I hope for her sake she had it this weekend or that will still have it today. I don't want to see my boss at work tomorrow, but not because I don't like him, only because I feel her pain and don't want her to have to go over her due date!

My workouts have been going pretty well but I missed working out yesterday because I was in Lincoln almost the whole day. I hate missing workouts but still have been fitting in 5-6 a week so that is good. Any time I am around other people who are skinny, it makes me want to be a lot skinnier. I am sick of feeling fat and am going to work even harder at losing weight.

I finally painted my toenails for the second time this summer. It is amazing how girly it makes me feel!

I need to order pictures of Xander big time. I literally have not ordered any pictures of him since Christmas I don't think. I know the main reason I don't is laziness, but I get so sick of how long it takes to upload pics, sort through them and then decide what to order. Plus I hate paying for it. I know that is dumb but it is true. I have a few scrapbooks that have been waiting around for pictures so I am going to order some pics today if it kills me!

I found a dress for my brothers wedding and I hadn't even planned on looking until later this month. I love the style and and am just debating about whether to keep the pink color I got or go with black. I just think I would feel skinnier in the black, even though the pink is adorable. I guess if I lose enough more weight before the wedding then it won't matter what color I choose because I will be skinnier. We will wait and see on that one.

I can't wait to go on a vacation this fall! We are probably going to Vegas but haven't booked the trip yet. We probably will in the next month or so. I think we are planning on going sometime in October. I need to go back and do the research again about the cost and figure out the best time to go for the best price and then we both need to ask for the vacation time before I book it. That is coming fast so I better get on it!

Xander continues to grow and change daily it seems! I love this stage of his life but I swear I will love it a little more when he can really talk. I hate not knowing what he wants sometimes but it is cute to hear him babble. He does say plenty of words though. It is cute because he can't say most of them well but I know what he is saying when he attempts certain words. He most recently has been saying 'shoes' and 'uh-oh' a lot. He loves saying 'shoes' and says it all the time. I can't believe he will be two in just over three months! That is crazy. I thought that life went fast up until his first birthday but between then and now has gone even faster!

I think I need a nap but not sure if I will get one today. Maybe I will just try to get to bed early tonight for once! Happy Sunday!

And the answer is....

2010-08-02T20:20:00.003-05:00

No.

Big fat no.

I didn't get the job.

I am sure my mom is happy - she didn't think it would be good if I had a job where I had to travel. I hope she is happy because I am not.

A couple of positive notes - the manager said to apply for the next opening they have for this same job and I probably won't even have to interview. He said the person they hired had a ton of experience in that job and that is why they hired him. He said I had a great interview and they liked me.

Still doesn't make me feel that much better but I guess hearing that stuff is better than nothing.

Also, had a performance evaluation today at work and I had a great review. My boss likes me and loves how hard I work and how good I am at my job. I guess that is encouraging too.

He also told me that I just happen to have bad luck with this job interview because of the outside person they hired that had a ton of experience. He said any other time I probably would have gotten the job. Still sucks. So now I get to stay in my current job and go nowhere for a while.

I guess it could be worse.

Yes to the Dress

2010-07-31T23:30:00.002-05:00

So I have been watching Say Yes to the Dress - the tv show, on Netflix. It is a fun show to watch but it actually makes me start thinking about my wedding dress (it's been almost 6 years since I wore it) and it makes me almost a little disappointed in my selection. At the time, I hadn't looked a lot and knew I wanted a dress with some pink beads but I should have looked longer and I think I should have found something that flattered my figure more. Anyway, I know that other girls feel this way too - I have talked to more than one girl who thinks they should have picked another dress. But worrying about it is a waste of time. The only time I would ever wear another wedding dress is if we had a party to renew our vows sometime but I would never get a traditional wedding dress again anyway. Ok I am done. Just sayin!

And the waiting begins....

2010-07-27T19:50:00.005-05:00

I interviewed for a new job within my company on Friday (a promotion) and now I have to wait to hear whether or not I got the job. I hate waiting! I probably won't know until next week and it is only Tuesday! The interview went ok but whenever someone asks how it went, I never know what to say because I figure it this way - you never really know how it went until you know whether or not you got the job. You could say the interview went great and then not get the job or you could say it went not very good and end up getting the job. You just don't know until you know!

There were a few normal questions in the interview and they asked some weird questions too. I was prepared for some of the regular questions and they threw a few curve balls and asked some different ones. Oh, well. At this point I figure if I get the job then it is meant to be and if I don't then that is ok too. The reason I feel this way is because the job requires quite a bit of travel. So if I don't get the job then I know I am meant to be home more with my son and if I do get it, then I think it means it will be ok if I travel and my son will be ok without me home some of the time.

The hardest thing about not getting the job will be not getting the $13,000 pay raise that comes with it. Yeah, you read that right. They pay you pretty darn well for having to travel so much. If I got the job, I would make almost twice what I made when I first started with the company less than a year ago. I won't lie and say the raise wouldn't be nice!

Anyway, I am sure I will post about what happens either way!

On a sort of related note, I was really scatter brained at work today! It wasn't my fault though. I have some extra projects going on at work right now which is making me a lot busier and I have to jump from one task to the next and did that even more so than usual today. I still got a lot done but the day went fast and I just felt out of sorts. I am happy that I have the extra projects though because I know it means my boss is trusting me to do more work and harder things now. Yay for a job I love! Oh yeah, that is the other reason I won't be so sad if I don't get the job - I love the one I have now! I am a lucky girl!

A little heartwarming

2010-07-22T18:38:00.003-05:00

So when I started my new(est) job a few months back, I had this guy train me on almost everything that I do now. He is a really nice guy and we chat sometimes and I always talked to him the most so I sometimes tell him stories or about things I observe around the office.

Just a couple of days ago, I decided to tell him a quick story cause it was a little heartwarming and also had a good life lesson. I was kind of trying to joke around while telling it to keep it not so serious. So there was this guy I saw in the hallway that day and he has the very menial task of collecting all of the forms throughout the building that people want sent to our permanent imaging system. He pushes this little cart around and collects the paper from all of the centralized locations in the building. The funny thing was (and the lesson) was that he is middle aged (at least 45) and he just had this nice smile on his face when I walked by him. I thought to myself 'if this guy can be happy pushing the cart around collecting paper and scanning in all of the paperwork while not getting paid much to do it, why can't the rest of us be happy in our jobs?' Cheesy I know. But it is true. And as silly as it sounds, you have to remember it could always be worse.

There is always someone with worse luck, with worse health, with a worse job, with worse circumstances in life. We have to be thankful for what we have and what we are able to do! And there you have it. A simple lesson, but a good one.

Sweet little boy

2010-07-18T14:32:00.009-05:00

Here are some pics of my sweet little man. He is the second love of my life (the first being my hubs - without him we wouldn't have X)!

He has changed a lot in the last 6 months I've noticed (as he should have). He has gone from that chunky round little boy who could barely do anything on his own to a slightly less chubby, taller, little walker who wants to play and do everything himself! He is a little daredevil and likes about anything that is risky like climbing on unsteady surfaces, trying to go down the stairs by himself (even though he doesn't know how yet) and hanging upside down (with the help of mom or dad).

I think these pictures are over the last 4 or 5 months so I think I can see a little difference even in these pictures.

I'm pretty biased (as I always admit) but I think he is just too stinkin cute!

Recently...

2010-07-17T18:15:00.008-05:00

Gosh, more time has gone by and I haven't been posting anything. I guess I just feel like nothing is really new or interesting in our life.

Here is what we have been up to the last few weeks.

Two weekends ago was the 4th of July and we went to Lincoln for that. Pictures are at the end of the post.

Last weekend we decided to go down to the Farmer's Market and we got some awesome produce while there (which is all gone now). Todd took me to La Mesa - a Mexican restaurant. I had been craving Mexican for a while so it hit the spot.

This weekend I haven't done much. Just cleaning and hanging out with my two boys.

Xander is so much fun right now. He is babbling all of the time and saying more words. In addition to the normal few words he is saying, he can now say shoes, dog and juice. Ok, I know that is not that exciting but for us it is. He has also learned where his nose, eyes, mouth and ears are. That is fun too.

Work has been pretty busy so that is good. I have recently been debating about applying for another job within the company. The pay would be better but it would require some travel. More on that later.

I suppose that is about it. Here are pics from the 4th!

My brother Ryan playing with a few firecrackers.

Xander holding one of the helicopters

Can I light it mom?

Uncle Aaron showing Xander and cousin Sam how to play with snap pops.

My dad playing with Sam.

Daddy showing Xander a few firecrackers.

More daddy time.

Glow bracelets Aunt Jen got him! He loved them!

Watching fireworks as it got darker.

My twin brothers shooting off roman candles.

A few fountains - sorry for the bad picture quality!

Some more fountains. Looks hazy!

Bleh...

2010-07-13T22:38:00.003-05:00

I have not been doing well with the blogging thing. I have just felt so busy and unmotivated recently. I swear I will be back soon and post some pictures. I have quite a few good ones right now of Xander.

I am actually thinking about applying for yet another job within my company that would require some travel but would pay a crap ton more than I make now. I will talk about it more soon.

Until next time....

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T16:23:00.004-05:00

What a fun holiday!

It's the only time of year you can legally make almost as much noise as you want! I also love this time of year because it reminds me of when I was a kid. I swear I had more fun on the fourth of July than a lot of kids did, but I hope most kids felt that way. It is such a fun holiday and makes you feel like a kid again in some ways!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and stays happy and safe!

Calling my name...

2010-06-29T22:27:00.004-05:00

Man, I love the feeling of working out and how the number on the scale keeps going down. But, every time I go to the basement I see my scrapbooks, unfinished and calling my name. They stare up at me from the 6 foot table they are laying open on. I need to finish them and start some others! I must not be a scrapper at heart because if I was, I would probably find the time. But I look at it this way. Most moms who scrapbook either stay at home full time, have kids that are older, don't work out every night or have a much better schedule than me. Either that or I just don't make the time. But I am going with the other reasons! :)

I want to work on them - I really do! I just have to find the motivation. I swear as Xander gets older it will get easier (unless we have another kid) and also right now we have just had so much going on on the weekends and when life slows down a little more again I will have time. At least I keep telling myself that.

I will do it! I want to do it! Wish me luck in finding some time to finish not one, but two scrapbooks! And did I mention I still have to order pictures to finish them? Hahaha!

Coffee and Paper Towels

2010-06-28T21:48:00.003-05:00

The two things that are annoying me most right now. Why you ask? Let me tell you!

Those are two things at work that everyone uses, but nobody makes or replaces. Ack! So annoying!

I cannot even count the number of times recently when I went into the break room, wanted some coffee and it was all gone. Now keep in mind, there are four, count them, four coffee pots! There is no reason at all that all of them should be empty at once! It pisses me off to no end! People are so rude and lazy and it drives me nuts!!! I always end up making it and wonder why I have to make it every time I go in the break room. It should not be that way. I am so sick of always having to make the coffee. Grrrrr. One pot of coffee is pretty big too. I bet 6-7 people or so can get their oversize mugs filled out of one pot and yet I always make it. That tells me those other 5-6 people NEVER make it!

Same with the paper towels. Every time I go to use them, there is not even a whole one left on the roll - like half a one that is partially ripped is usually left. That makes me so mad too. How long does it take to get a roll - like 30 seconds?? I am so annoyed by my extremely lazy co-workers.

So here is the problem - I have gotten so bitter about it that I have stopped making coffee and replacing the paper towels myself. Does that make my a hypocrite?? Maybe. But at this point, I am not sure I care one bit because of how many times I have to had to replace and refill!!!!

Will it ever change?? Probably not, but until it does, I am on strike!

And some more thoughts in my brain....

2010-06-26T14:27:00.004-05:00

As if what I shared yesterday wasn't long enough, here are some more random thoughts in my head and some things going on in my life right now.

I started the really bad habit of letting my kiddo play with my phone. He doesn't play with it a lot but when he does, he tends to throw it or drop it a lot. Luckily we have Sprint and they changed their policy to where you can get the full discount on a phone once a year instead of once every two years. I got a new phone at the end of last October so I can get another one this year if I want. I would love to get a new one and not let him play with it so I can have an unscratched and messed up phone. Mine has already seen its better days.

Since I have been losing some weight, I am now able to wear my wedding ring every day. I couldn't get it on my finger at all for a while and only wore it here and there and now I wear it pretty much every day (which I love). My ring is pretty (in my opinion) and I also like looking married. I hated not wearing a ring before. There are lots of perks to losing weight!

It's funny how there are a lot of times that you say 'small world' but I had a major one of those experiences recently. I have been in my new department at work for almost three months now and just last week I found out that one of the ladies that I work with (there are only six of us in the department) has a daughter who was a medical assistant at the OBGYN I went to who delivered my baby! I saw her every time I went to my appointment! She was really funny and very nice but it is just weird that I didn't know that for almost two months. Crazy!

It's funny how easy it is to compare ourselves to others. I do it all the time without even realizing it but I know it's not a good thing to do. I know that everyone is different for a reason and it would be boring if everyone was the same. But there are ceratinly things about others that I want or ways I want to be like others. It is hard when there is a girl here or there that I compare myself to and think that everyone else looks at me and looks at her and thinks the other girl is prettier, smarter or better in some way. It is kinda stupid to compare but I think I will always do it whether I really want to or not. I think losing weight and having more confidence will help me out and help me do it less.

I bought Xander a little baby pool but haven't used it yet. I think today might be a good day to take him out since it is hot out! Sunscreen and cold water and we should be good to go! :)

Anything and Everything!

2010-06-26T13:28:00.003-05:00

My life has felt a little nuts lately! I am so busy, I haven't been getting enough sleep, I have been working out a lot, I was studying a lot for tests for work, my husband and kiddo were both sick and I got a little bit sick also and our house is a perpetual mess. Ahhhh! I just feel stressed out and not sure what to do or where to start. While I ponder what to start with, here is the latest in my life.

We are a little relieved because our next door neighbors have moved out. It was a lot of drama all of the time. There were two ambulances there within the last few months and a cop car there once a month for the last several months. The guy was an alcoholic, in and out of rehab, fired from his job and his wife was lazy, refused to get a job, is on welfare, they didn't pay their rent, they aired their drama out on facebook all of the time like 16 years old and they were 40. They finally got kicked out of the house (with police involvement - what fun) and now they are gone. We are pretty happy with that as we just want to live in a normal neighborhood with normal people.

As I mentioned in my last post, I took my series 66 test on Monday and passed. I was sure I was going to fail because I put off studying until the last week and I didn't even get all of the way through the practice tests. I can't believe I passed! This test was actually easier than the last one I took and there was a lot less material to cover but I was a lot less prepared also which is why I feel lucky I passed. Anyway, I took two tests in a row and have been studying one thing or another for the last three months so I am taking a break now. I don't think I will take a test again for at least a few months or most of the summer.

I got to see my sister yesterday who lives in Arkansas. She was in Lincoln with her two kids and her mother in law. It was awesome to see them and we get to see them again in less than three months at my brothers wedding! I love family!

We cancelled our cable last summer to save money and since then we got Netflix so we could still some movies and tv on dvd. Todd just figured out how to stream Netflix through our Wii and now we have been watching a ton of different things through the Wii. We have gotten into the series Weeds and we really like it. I have been being dumb and watching the Hills. We have actually been watching too much tv if you ask me but we are slowly watching less and getting back to a normal amount.

I'm actually more excited to pick out an outfit for Xander than for me for my brothers wedding. I think it will be fun to get him a little suit or a little shirt and tie. I think I am going to try to get outfits for me, Todd and Xander that are all somewhat matching. It will be fun to be a little coordinated family! I'm not going to pick out a dress for me until probably 2-3 weeks before the wedding since hopefully I will be losing weight up until the wedding. I hope that won't be waiting too long and I hope I'm not unable to find something if I wait that long. We shall see.

I just saw the lowest number on the scale a few days ago since before I was pregnant! That is the best feeling and makes me want to keep going and working hard at losing weight. I know I can do it! I just have to keep trying. I have about two and a half months until my brothers wedding and I am hoping to lose about 20 more pounds. If I do that, I will be feeling awesome I know (but I still want to lose about a total of 35-40 more pounds).

Those are a few things on my brain right now. I am sure I will be back to share some more soon!

It's been a while...

2010-06-23T22:44:00.002-05:00

Gosh I haven't written forever! Guess I have been busy!

I took and passed my series 66 on Monday and that is part of why I have been absent. I was studying a lot this last week.

I am a mommy to a busy toddler - what can I say? I spend all night chasing him around and squeezing in workouts and tanning.

I swear I will post more (I say that like someone cares - haha)!

Soon, very soon. :)

Just a quick one

2010-06-14T22:59:00.003-05:00

A few quick updates to my life.

I am studying for my 66 exam which I have to take next Monday and I am not even all the way through the book! I better cram the rest of this week and this weekend!

Which brings me to another point. Father's day is this weekend so if we do something, hopefully it won't be all day so I can study at some point.

Xander has pink eye so he stayed home from daycare today and Todd and I each worked a half day. He has a cough too. Poor little guy.

I didn't work out tonight since it technically was my day off. I just stretched a bit since my whole lower body is so sore that I am walking funny! It hurts! Back to it tomorrow!

I did a terrible thing - I went and bought a tanning package. I know it is so so so bad for you but I hate being so pale all summer since I have to work indoors and just want to feel a little good about myself. Shame, shame I know.

I am very seriously considering getting Invisalign for my teeth since I have wanted to have them fixed for years. I don't mind my smile but my teeth aren't great. They aren't awful either but not great. I am working up ways in my head to be able to afford it since it is not cheap. I would love to get it because it is basically clear on your teeth and my teeth aren't so messed up that I will need full braces I don't think. I bet I would have it for about a year and my teeth would be quite a bit better. I have always disliked my teeth so I am going to go for it for sure at some point....just a matter of when (and figuring out the money like I said).

Off to dreamland....it seems like I am getting less and less sleep these days and I am not sure if that will change anytime soon!

A little sad

2010-06-12T22:48:00.003-05:00

I guess this is a little bit related to my last post. For some reason I have been a little sad lately, going along with the stress (or maybe it came after). I don't know why - things are going pretty darn well - I am down about 15 pounds in the last 2 months, we switched daycare and Xander seems to be doing well, my job is going really well and my workouts are going pretty well also. I am not sure what my deal is but I am just kinda feeling blue recently. It could be a mood swing in my cycle and that would make sense. It just seems worse than usual. Anyway, enough about my mood, here is what is going on with us right now.

Xander got his second haircut today! Maybe I am a bad mom but I didn't take any pictures this time. The whole thing wasn't great for many reasons - I didn't think he really needed a haircut yet anyway because I like his hair a little longer(but the salon auto rebooks you each time and you have to remember to cancel if you don't want the appointment), the time of the cut was stupid (why the heck did I book it right when he is normally taking a nap?), he cried almost the whole time and it was so hot and nasty in the salon. I think X cried because I had to wake him up from his nap to get to the salon on time and he was still tired. It's not like his nap was cut way short but a little short, especially because it seems like he might be sick. Oh yes, lucky us. It appears he might have pink eye! Super!! You take the kid to daycare for four days and he gets pink eye! Oh, and don't get me started on how I was giving him a bath today and noticed a pretty bad mark on his arm and I looked closer and it was a BITE MARK!!!! Oh, I was livid!!! From daycare. Gosh that makes me mad. He didn't seem to notice it or mind and I even lightly touched it. The skin is even scraped away on it. GRRRRRRRRR. Sorry, as a mommy, that just makes me want to slap the kid who did it. Anyway, also occurring with Xander, we had to have him start sleeping in his pack and play a little over a week ago because his crib was recalled (boo, especially because we had to take it apart and take it back to the store). I ordered a new one with the credit right away and we just got it this week and Todd put it together for him tonight so he switched back to a crib. Hopefully the switching won't throw him off too much, especially since he seems sick.

On a more fun note with Xander, he seems to be so talkative lately and we love it! He is starting to say more words more often now and he just loves to chat! It is so funny since pretty much everything he says is gibberish - but we still love it! He is also climbing on everything he can and he's starting to get better at walking down stairs when we hold his hand. He is just so much fun and still changing all of the time!

I have a timeline for myself to lose some weight and the goal is September 18th - my brother's wedding! I still have three months and that is a good thing because I am nowhere near where I want to be weight wise even though I have lost some. I started doing P90X and it's not going perfect, but pretty well. I started the workouts last Monday and did the first three in a row and did pretty good - I finished all of them even though I had to either reduce my reps a little or modify some of the moves. But I still worked out as hard as I could and did as much as I could and I finished. Come Thursday night, I couldn't get the freaking computer to turn on to play the dvd to work out. I tried calling Todd at work several times over the span of an hour but couldn't get ahold of him to have him help me figure it out. I guess the fuse blew and the trip switch is out in the garage (even though the rest of them are in the basement - and of course, I was looking for one in the basement). Needless to say it kept getting later and later and it was past 11 and I had to work the next day, so I skipped my workout. I was bummed but thought I would just miss one day and get right back to it. Come Friday night when I first thought I was going to work out, I was so tired from going to bed so late the night before that I knew my body just wouldn't do what I wanted it to do for a workout. So I skipped another day. Boo for me. Anyway, tonight I got back to it and I plan on continuing and not giving up. For a minute there, I thought I was already done but Todd encouraged me to keep going and I'm glad I did! I just got done with a workout and it was SO hard, but I feel great! I am going to try to keep it up!

As I also mentioned in my previous post, I have a test to take for work and it is a week from Monday and I am not ready at all! Guess I will have to cram tomorrow and all of next week and next weekend to pass. I really don't want to fail, especially since this test should be quite a bit easier than that last one I took and I passed that one on the first try! It's going to be hard working out and trying to study too. I have a bad feeling next week might not be so good with the workouts, but I am going to try to fit it all in! Once I am done with that test, I might take a break from the tests for a while (the next ones are my choice to take them now or not) and focus on my health and time with my family. I still have other tests I have to take at work also, but not like these major tests I have been taking.

We need a serious overhaul of our house. I mostly just mean the clutter. Everywhere. I need to just organize once and for all but I never seem to get around to it, or when I start, I don't keep at it long enough or a new huge pile of stuff appears a week after I got rid of another one. Does anyone else have this issue? Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who has such a messy house, but I know that isn't true.

Looking forward to a week from Monday when hopefully that test is done and I have a little less stress for a while. It will not be fun if I don't pass and have to take it again, so I am going to make sure that doesn't happen! :)

Stressed!

2010-06-09T18:55:00.003-05:00

I am one of those people that stresses themselves out too easily. Anyone that knows me knows this is true. I feel really stressed right now and I have to keep taking deep breaths just to feel normal.

I am still feeling a lot of pressure at work even though we are kind of slow right now. I took one test for work (a big one) a month and a half ago but I have another test coming up in a week and a half. This one should be easier but the problem is, I put off studying until now so now I am going to have to cram. I totally know that is my own fault.

I am also stressing about some other tests I have to take for work. They aren't as big of a deal as the one mentioned above but still, they are hanging over my head and I just want to get them done.

I am stressed about money. I guess that is a constant. We need to buy this or fix that or go here or do this and it all seems to cost money! It is funny because now that I am back at work, I think I am more stressed about money than I was before! Weird.

I started a new workout plan (P90X) and though it is going well so far, I am getting stressed about it. Not really stressed but almost anxious. I am ready for results, though they won't come for a while. I am thinking about the future on this program - it is 90 days long and I am only on day 3. I keep wondering if I will be able to do it and if so, how well will I do and what will I look like after I'm done? I wonder what will be next for me as far as workouts go if I can complete it. I can do it over again (which I should) and hopefully get in even better shape. I have also started to think more about my health regarding this. Am I pushing myself too hard? How will this all work out as far as my diabetes is concerned and how can I eat the right things and give myself the right amount of insulin so my body recovers well and I get the most out of it? See? I think about way too many things.

I am stressing a little bit about a friendship and I won't go into it too much. I am starting to feel like the effort is all one sided and it's making me very sad and resentful.

I stress myself out easily with the future - what will happen, where will we end up, what will become of both of us? It's a lot to think about and most of it is fruitless. I just can think and think and think about a million different scenarios for so many things.

There's even more but I will quit for now as I am sure this is quite boring for people to read who aren't living it. I realize everyone has their own stress and most people probably handle it better than me! Hopefully the working out long term thing will help with stress.

New stuff!

2010-06-03T14:09:00.008-05:00

We have just been on a shopping spree recently! Well, kinda. Most of it was stuff we needed and only a few things we didn't.

Here are some of our new purchases!

Coffee table - we sold ours on the garage sale because it was glass and our little man was always getting it dirty. We sold the end tables too but we haven't bought those yet.

(We thought the coffee table was black and most of it looks black in the picture, however, the drawer on the side that comes out kinda weird makes it look like it is much lighter wood but it is just the inside)

Kitchen table and chairs. It is a high top table which was not my first choice but Todd really wanted it. Also, we had a glass kitchen table like the coffee table and were tired of the fingerprints.

Lens and flash for our camera. We already had a decent camera (Nikon D40) but we wanted to upgrade our lens and flash to be able to take great pictures. We have already tried them out and love them so far - I think this will help with my wanna be photographer hobby. I like to take pics but they only turned out ok before.

(Just the lens, the flash is kinda boring)

Basketball hoop for X. Ok, this one is silly but I thought I would throw it in there cause it is cute! Daddy got it for him. Still a little small for it but he will grow into it I think!

Crib for Xander. This was not by choice - the one we had was recalled. Though we don't have it at home yet, we ordered this one online and it should be here in a week or so. Putting it together will not be fun but you do what you gotta do! I think it is nice looking though and we actually saved some money over the original one we got him!

(This is just the stock photo from the website.)

I suppose that is about all! We got a new car a month and a half ago but that is kinda old news now! Although it does still maintain that 'new car smell' which I adore and I hope it does for a while!

June photo contest

2010-06-01T19:05:00.005-05:00

I did one of these a while ago and ever since then, I have wanted to do another but just haven't found the time or have forgotten! I think Todd and I are going to try and do this together.

We just got a new lens and flash for our camera and it takes way better pictures so I am hoping we can come up with some good ones for this!

1. Hilarious Out-Takes
2. Creative Crop
3. Sun Flare
4. Sweet Dreams
5. Work
6. Play
7. Cookout/Picnic
8. Transportation
9. Money/Currency
10. A Fountain
11. A Night Scene
12. B&W with Selective Coloring
13. Something Old
14. Something New
15. Something Borrowed
16. Something Blue
17. Something Musical
18. Something Purple
19. Something Yellow
20. Something Scenic

The long weekend

2010-05-31T11:18:00.004-05:00

So glad to have a long weekend - haven't had one in a while and haven't had an extra day off in almost four months! Trying to enjoy this day as much as possible!

This is what I (we) have done so far this weekend.

Had a garage sale Friday and Saturday - went well! Sold some big items so that brought our sales total up quite a bit.

After the garage sale, got showered and ready and went to dinner with the hubs and kiddo then went to NFM to look at a new kitchen table and coffee table and end tables since we sold all of that on the garage sale (wanted to get rid of as it was all glass and that doesn't work so well with a toddler who gets his grubby little hands on everything and makes a huge mess!) I think we found our kitchen table for sure and are pretty sure of the coffee table. The end tables are another story. We like this one coffee table but the end tables that match are so expensive! We were thinking of getting the coffee table (black wood) and finding some cheaper end tables somewhere else that are cheaper but match good enough (heck, they aren't right next to each other so as long as they are close).

Was lazy most of yesterday. Didn't do hardly a thing - didn't shower til 9 pm - haha!

Today so far I have gotten just a few things done but have a long list in my head that I am going to start working on soon. I got the dishwasher emptied (still need to reload) and got the kiddos bedding changed since he decided to pee through his diaper and onto his clothes overnight. Changed the changing pad cover as that was dirty too. Otherwise, not much done so far but here is the list for the rest of the day.

Reload dishwasher
Clean up toys in living room (the never ending job :)
Wash X's laundry
3 loads of our laundry
Start working on leftover piles of stuff from garage sale - sort it all
Clean up our bedroom - piles of clothes everywhere
Make a Target and Walmart run for a few things
Repaint my toenails (I have been lazy on this one and it is summer - need to keep up)
Give the X-man a bath (has become a chore as of late - he is suddenly scared of the tub even though nothing really happened to him)
Do some work from home - probably will only take a half hour
Wash George for Xander (if you don't know the story - Curious George is Xander's lovey and best friend - goes everywhere with him and he uses him as a pillow at night - therefore snot/slobber/drool/food gets all over him and he is gross! need to hand wash him which will take a while)
Vacuum
Clip the dogs nails
Etc, etc, etc

The list is never ending really, especially with a kid and a dog

Hope everyone else is having a fun weekend!

New blog design

2010-05-30T12:08:00.001-05:00

What do you think?

I was getting sick of the last one and thought I would go with something new. I know there are way better layouts out there but for a basic free one I thought this would work for now. Eventually I think I will try to do a nicer fancier layout than this one but for now I don't really have the time.

Works for me!

Crisis Averted

2010-05-24T20:21:00.004-05:00

In regards to my last post, the thing I thought was so difficult turned out ok. I kinda hoped it would but didn't know for sure. I am glad it is over and things turned out well. A few small things in our life will change soon but I think for the better and I am happy with what is going to happen and content.

It's funny how you can worry about so many things in life and most of them turn out ok. I am also more of a worrier than some other people so bad situations are worse for me.

I am excited for this week because we are cleaning up the house and getting ready for a garage sale. I am so excited to get rid of a bunch of junk! We are having the garage sale on Friday and Saturday and I am hoping to sell a bunch of crap to get it out of the house. I think I will donate most of the rest of the stuff we don't sell. Todd is going to do the garage sale on Friday with his parents and he and I will do it together on Saturday. On Sunday, Todd is going to KC to help his sister out with her house. Originally I was going to go to with Xander but I think we are going to stay behind. Also, I get next Monday off from work - can't beat that! I love holidays!

After we have our garage sale, I am looking forward to organizing the house a little better since we always seem to have junk sitting around. We have lived in our house almost 5 years and I feel like we have never really gotten our house organized. I wish I could get it clean and organized once and for all!

My kiddo has his 18 month appointment on Wednesday. I can't believe he is already a year and a half! It seems like he just turned 1! Crazy!

I have to figure out a good workout plan because my brothers wedding is in 4 months! I can't even believe that. I just don't want to be so fat when the wedding rolls around. I know it is going to come fast and I will have to work hard to lose weight. Time to get to work. I have lost a few so that is good but have a lot more to lose.

I have been bad at blogging lately cause I just feel like I have been so busy. Plus my life is boring and I don't feel like I have much interesting to write about.

Glad tomorrow is not Monday. Not that today was bad. It just means I won't be as tired and that the weekend is closer!

Why? Why? Why???

2010-05-20T20:03:00.001-05:00

Why do some things in life have to be so difficult? That is obviously a rhetorical question and I don't expect an answer.

But for real. I don't get it. I wish some things were just easier. I wish some situations didn't have to be so difficult. No matter how you spin them, some things just stink and are no fun at all.

Open Letters

2010-05-13T20:24:00.005-05:00

It is about that time. Open letters are great. I wish I had the guts to really send them.

**Please note, these truly are meant to be silly and funny, not serious, so please don't take them too literally!**

Here goes.

Dear Diabetes,

You suck! Why did you choose me? It's not like I chose a poor lifestyle and got very large and only ate crap food when you decided to bestow on me your everlasting gift! Give it up already and let yourself be cured! I would love to never see or hear from you again!

Hating you daily,

Sarah

Dear not very smart dude in a different department at work,

Why do you and the other not very smart dude in your department send me these dumb emails? You decided that since I took over a certain process, suddenly it is not good enough even though it was good enough for MONTHS before I took it over. Why me? Why change it now? You are not very nice and make me feel like an idiot and as if I am doing something wrong, when if you fact you are the idiot(s). If you want the process changed, take it up with my manager.

Much respect,

Sarah V.

Dear super mean, unfriendly manager of the not very smart dude who emails me,

You are even worse! What is your problem and how did you even get that job? You have no people skills, are rude beyond measure and should go live in a cave. And your hair is ugly.

Also much respect,

Sarah V.

**Update - since I first typed out that open letter above - that manager is no longer with the company! Guess I wasn't the only one who thought those things about her!**

Dear rep who talked to me more than three months ago,

I am not your personal assistant. Quit calling me direct! I don't even work in the same department that I used to so you need to call them for help. I will continue to ignore you until you get the hint. I realize what I am doing is not the best customer service, but you will never learn otherwise.

Sincerely,

S

Dear silly people in my old department who keep transferring the rep to me,

DO YOUR JOB! Quit transferring someone who you know you can help just because you are lazy. When I worked there, I'll be darned if I tried to pawn off someone that I knew I could help onto someone else. That is one of the first things they teach you - always offer to help before transferring. Apparently that rule doesn't apply to you two. Oh and ps, to the dumb guy in your same department who GAVE OUT MY EMAIL without asking me first, that is rude and unacceptable!!!

Always,

Sarah

Dear cashier at (insert any store here),

Why do you look at me like I am a criminal when I hand you a stack of coupons? Since when is it a crime to want to save some dough? Also, why do you give me the most evil stare when I politely mention you skipped one of my coupons? I should be the one glaring at you since I gave you the coupon and you didn't scan it. I am not a bad person and I am not trying to annoy you. I just want to save money. Is that so bad? In fact, I try to make it as easy on you as possible by lining up my coupons and being organized and fast so people behind me in line don't get annoyed. Why do you still treat me like dirt? It hurts my feelings so you should stop.

Yours through thick and thin,

SV

Dear lovely people who drink coffee at work,

If you drink coffee, MAKE MORE WHEN IT'S GONE! I swear I am the only person who makes it as it is ALWAYS out when I want some. Grrrrrr.

Love,

Sarah

Random Tuesday Thoughts - I got the day right finally!

2010-05-11T20:06:00.008-05:00

- HA! Notice the title! I had most of this post typed out and ready to go on Tuesday but never got it posted. Such is my life recently! It took me two days to finally get it posted. Sad.

- The random tuesday thoughts really works for me because I am kind of a random person anyway and my brain skips from one thought to another to another.

- I am so happy with my job I almost feel guilty. I feel like ..... I wonder if other people love their job as much as I do and why do I get to be the lucky one who has a job they love and get paid well too? I guess I shouldn't feel guilty at all....I have had enough crappy jobs in my time, it's high time that I have a job I love!

- That said, it can be overwhelming at times. It feels like I just learned all of my job functions and they keep giving me more and more to do. That is good and bad. Good because it keeps me busy so I don't get bored and it means they trust me to do more. It's bad because it stresses me out since I am worrying that I may not be able to get everything done that they give me to do.

- I took my series 24 test and I was studying every night for a few weeks before I took the test so it is almost like I was working every waking hour for that time period since taking the test is work related. I just got my book for my series 66 and I will probably take the test in about 3-4 weeks so there is more work related stuff I have to do on my personal time.

- I have these tests that I need to take also for work but they aren't like the ones I am studying for outside of work. They are just short quizzes you take after reading the material and you do it all online. I have to do those test which are department specific, then I am also doing some company specific tests. I have taken a few classroom courses recently, then I have to take a comprehensive exam in a few weeks. Are we sensing a theme here? Tests and tests and more tests. Bleh. I actually don't mind them but since I am trying to do all of these things at once, they are stressing me out.

- I am also having issues with my weight. I have lost about 10 pounds in the last few weeks but I have so much more I would like to lose. I am starting to feel the crunch - my brothers wedding is in four months and I don't want to be the fattest person there and I don't want to ruin his family pictures by being the fat family member. Pretty much the rest of my side of the family is normal to skinny in size and I am not. I know that is a reasonable goal - I mean I can't (and shouldn't) lose as much weight as I want in four months, but I know it is reasonable to lose some. If I lose 20 more pounds I will be very happy. I actually would like to lose more like 30 by his wedding but we will see.

- I need a vacation!!!! We haven't been anywhere lately and I am pretty upset about it. I am not expecting a super nice fancy vacation, but I just want to get away! We never go anywhere or do anything and I hate it.

- I also continue to wonder/think about where we will end up. Not knowing kills me. I am a planner. I need to know ahead of time what is going to happen because I hate being forced to make quick decisions as I usually make the wrong ones if pressed for time.

- I am starting to wonder if one kid is all we will have and I will end up being career driven. I never wanted to be that or had any drive to, but since I had to go back to work and actually ended up with a job I love, it starts making me think that maybe I can keep working my way up and ending up with a great paying job.

- I sometimes wonder how other people see me. Do they think I am nice, smart, stupid, ditzy, mean, loud, annoying, cheerful?? I try not to care too much but recently I have been thinking a lot about that. Also, I wonder if I am a good friend. That is hard to know. I supposed your friends will either tell you if they have a problem with you or they will start acting different towards you. I dunno.

- I am having a problem right now with a dilemma in my life and I don't think I am dealing with it very well. I don't want to get into it too much but I am really torn and have even cried about it a little bit because it is stressing me out quite a bit. If I do this thing that I think I need to do, I have a feeling it will hurt someones feelings and though I don't want to do that, in some ways I feel like it is the only option and there is a very good reason for me needing to do it. Time will tell but I am hoping to make a decision soon.

-I am going to be writing some open letters soon as there are just a few things that really need to be said! Besides, who doesn't love open letters right?

- Looking forward to the weekend even though I do love my job. I am going to try and get more sleep this weekend so I can feel more rested and less stressed. Sounds like we might be indoors most weekend as it is supposed to rain most of the time. I think I will be getting groceries tomorrow night too so I can not have to fight the weekend crowds and so I miss the rain!

-My house is a mess. It is always a mess. And I am not sure I care.

-My kiddo is so cute! I will always say this - I know I am so biased but that's ok. I know I am! But I still think X is cute! And he's pretty sweet too so that doesn't hurt! :)

-I think I am going to try to get to bed early tonight since tomorrow will be a stessful day at work - lots to do. Goodnight!

My Thursday random thoughts

2010-05-06T18:45:00.004-05:00

Ok so I always miss the "Tuesday Randoms" post (or most of the time) so I just pick a day and write about random things. You see, that is the way I am most of the time (random) so I guess it works for me!

Did you know that May 4th is the unofficial (or maybe official - who knows) Star Wars day? Here is the reason - "May the 4th be with you". Hahahahaha! I hadn't heard that one until recently and many others are probably thinking, 'I've seen that a million times'. Maybe I have been hiding under a rock.

We decided to buy some new electronic gear - we got a new printer, a blue ray dvd player and a computer all within about a week. We got the printer because we wanted a wireless one and also, this new one is a scanner, copier and fax machine also (though we will probably never fax) and the one we had before was literally just a printer and had to be plugged into your computer to print. We got an amazing deal on it. Todd has always wanted a blue ray player too so when we found an amazing deal on one of those too, we got it. And last but not least, the computer. We only had two laptops that worked and we really wanted a regular ol' desk top, so we got one. Also feel like we really got a great deal.

This week has pretty much gone faster than any other in my life I swear. Work has been nuts and I have had something going on almost every night this week (of my own doing). I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday, but I am ready for the weekend for sure! I have a million and one things on my to do list and not sure when I will get them done. I feel like I have barely seen my kiddo this week even though the amount of time I have seen him is pretty much the same as always.

I am starting to really think hard about my job. I think the company I work for has a lot of great jobs and I think I have a chance to do really well there and move up with a lot of hard work. I just got my series 24 and my boss ordered my next book - the 66. After I am done with the 66 (hopefully in another month to month and a half) I will take either the Series 4 or 53. I will probably take both but not sure in what order yet. I think the more licenses I get, the better. Of course this will all be irrelevant if we end up moving.

I am coming to the realization that I will have very little time out in the sun this summer so I am thinking of breaking down and buying a tanning package. I know it is so bad for me, but I just don't know how much I care. I hate being so, so, so white. I swear having a tan makes you look thinner too! I need that big time!

I need to re-paint my toenails. I know no one cares about that at all but I do!

I love folding Xander's laundry! He has such cute, tiny things and they smell so good! I wish doing my own laundry was that much fun.

I have been sleeping like crap recently. I don't know why and I can't seem to get myself to have a good night sleep no matter what I do. I feel like this has been going on about two weeks. Man, I am going to need a sleeping pill soon!

I am no angel and am not perfect by any means, but I just cannot stand people who think they are right about everything or know everything. Self-righteous people just plain bug me. I just don't understand why some people always have a certain 'tone'. Almost like they are always condescending and think they are better or know far more than you. Grrrrrr.

Happy Thursday, almost Friday and happy weekend! Can't wait!

Finally back!

2010-04-30T15:50:00.003-05:00

Well it is official! I am now a registered principal! And no, not for a school! :)

I took and passed my Series 24 exam today. You have to get a 70% or better to pass and I got a 76%. Not a great score, but since there is no difference if you get a 70 or a 90, I am happy! So much studying - I would have been pretty mad if I didn't pass! I did have to pass this test for work so if I didn't pass this time I would have had to take it again. I also get a raise for getting it so that is great!

I am been very absent from posting because all I have done most nights for the last week and a half is study! My poor kiddo got very little mommy time because I had to study so much. Now I have a whole long list of things I want to do since the test is over and I have my free time back! I could go on and on with a long list but I will just mention the few things I really want to do.

1. Start working out a lot.
2. Work on X's scrapbook.
3. Get stuff ready for a garage sale.
4. Spend time with my baby and hubby.
5. Make a budget for our house.

Those are the main goals I have over the next few weeks and after all of that studying, I feel like most of those should be no problem.

Happy Friday!

Where have I been?

2010-04-22T22:13:00.001-05:00

Studying, that's where (or what I guess)!

A week from tomorrow I have to take my Series 24 test for work and I have been studying like mad recently and that is why I haven't posted in over a week! I am getting nervous and worried I won't pass, but I am sure if I keep studying at the rate I have and don't let up that I will pass. I have to get a 70% on the test to pass which may not seem that hard, but 3 of the other 5 people I work with in my department all failed the test at least once and they are all smart. Yikes!

Tonight we went to dinner and buffalo wild wings for some boneless wings and to watch the NFL draft and to see Suh get jipped out of the first pick overall. Oh, well, he was still the second pick in the first round and he still rocks and will make a huge impact on the Lions I think. He rocks!

I bought Xander this super cute little kids shopping cart off of Craigslist for $5. That was $5 well spent! He loves it and has been pushing it around everywhere!

I am ready for the weekend. Even though I have to study. A ton. It will be nice to sleep in a little bit and relax too.

We got a new car last week. I will have to post some pics of it soon too. It is a Subaru Impreza Outback Sport. It is pretty sharp looking and is fun to drive. We are splitting the time taking it to work as to not rack up too many miles on it. Todd drives more than twice the distance I do to work everyday so I am driving it sometimes even though it is sorta 'his' car.

Hopefully I will be around more once this test is done with next Friday! I guess it won't be done with if I don't pass because I will have to take it again a month later. Good luck to me!

Bike ride

2010-04-13T18:33:00.004-05:00

We went on our first bike ride of the season last night. It wasn't great though because the bike I was using had a leak in the tire so it was mostly flat after not too long. Also, I am so out of shape that the bike ride was super hard but good since I need to work out more. Xander rode behind in the new (used) bike trailer we got for him. He seemed to enjoy it! Here are a few pics -

Ok, so this one is not from the bike ride but right after, playing in the garage.

Sorry, you don't see his face much with this one.

After the bike ride, he climbed back in the trailer.

Daddy was pulling him around.

More juice with George in the trailer.

Lots of randoms

2010-04-10T20:09:00.014-05:00

Gosh I have been a bad blogger lately - not that very many people read it anyway and are holding their breath! :)

This last week has flown by and it's crazy to me that it is Saturday night. I have a million things to write about floating around in my head and I am hoping to get them all out and get a good night sleep tonight.

Xander had his first hair cut today! I can't believe it took 16 1/2 months, but we finally did it. I was a little nervous but it turned out great and out little guy looks handsome! I thought he might lose some of his curls when we cut it but he didn't. I think the top will actually curl up a little more because it is shorter now.

Getting his hair wet to cut.

He doesn't look too happy here.

All done! He looks like such a big boy!

He didn't squirm or fuss pretty much the whole time!

Got a chance to play with the sprayer bottle.

I also had a bad mom moment today - when I took Xander to get his hair cut today, we were walking back to daddy's office (I took him to Penney's salon and we saw daddy while we were there) and there was a door I had to hold open for him and I let it go a little too soon - WHACK! Right on his forehead the door hit him. He just made a little grunt and kept walking! I can't believe he didn't scream or even cry a little! It had to hurt because it left a decent sized red mark! Sorry baby!

Xander is a teething machine as I have previously stated. He has 12 teeth all the way in, the 13th is pretty much all the way through and I see the 14th! Overall he hasn't been too crabby but he has his moments.

I learned a lesson today regarding my frugal ways. I am pretty much a bargain shopper almost all of the time. I never buy anything full price and refuse to buy most things on a 'normal sale'. I pretty much have to have mega clearance or the lowest sale price to buy something when it comes to groceries and clothes and household items. So I was shopping at Sam's club (warehouse where you purchase items in bulk) and I got quite a few things to stock up. I was walking down one of the aisles and noticed the bulk shredded cheese. I looked at the price and at first glance though, 'I can get it cheaper at regular stores with a sale and/or coupons'. Uh, after re-calculating, I realized I was WRONG! What? I have learned a lot about couponing and bargain shopping in the last year and a half and realized that for about 95% of the things I buy, I can get it as cheap of cheaper at the regular stores with coupons and sales. Anyway, the 5 pound bag of cheddar cheese was $8.50 or somewhere right around there. I started thinking that was a terrible price until I realized the VERY cheapest I can get shredded cheese is $2/pound. Most normal bags of cheese are 8 ounces and the bottom dollar price you can get them is usually $1. So in order to get a pound of cheese, you have to get 2 bags. That is $2 then and for 5 pounds that would be $10! And that is pretty much the best price I have gotten cheese ever! I guess maybe once or twice I got 8 ounces for $0.50 but that is very rare and the coupons rarely line up with those mega sales so again, that is rare! Either way, I learned a lesson to double check some of the things that I thought were cheaper at the regular store. I did find out too that at least right now there milk is the cheapest in town if you don't mind buying generic.

And on yet another random note, I took a picture of the bush that is in our front yard. I like it but I hate it. It blooms once and the flowers literally last a week, fall off and don't return for a whole year. Ugh. I get to enjoy it for about 2 days and then not again for a year. Boooo. Who's idea was it to put that bush in our front yard? Not ours!

I am doing pretty good at growing my hair out for now. I have a hair appointment next week and am going to get some fresh color and just a tiny trim to keep my hair looking good but I don't want to lose any length. I am curious to see how long I can let it get.

No progress on the diet/exercise/lifestyle change yet. This week is the week though. I have already prepared myself mentally and now I bought a bunch of healthy food to eat this week so I will hopefully have a good start.

We are looking at getting a new car to replace the Jeep. The Jeep gets terrible gas mileage and the payment is more than the few cars we are looking at. Even if the insurance went up a little bit, we would still be saving a lot of money each month so this is looking like a win-win!

I am ready to have a garage sale! We have so much junk around the house that we could stand to get rid of.

Lastly, I will have to also post some pics from Easter last weekend. Maybe sometime this week!

Ready for change

2010-04-03T12:17:00.005-05:00

I am ready. Ready for some changes.

It has been a long time coming. But I really am ready now. I am ready to lose my weight once and for all. I am starting today.

I don't have a gym membership and I don't need one.

I have a treadmill and weights and some workout videos and a neighborhood to walk in. I have my own body which can do a lot without any equipment.

I haven't figured it all out yet but I have needed to make this decision for a long time. I don't have an exact plan but this weekend I am figuring it out. I have made a few little efforts here and there in the last year but nothing firm and nothing serious. It is time.

There are a few things that motivate me.

I don't want my son to grow up with a 'fat' mom. It's not that I just don't want him to see me fat. I also really want to be able to play with him and do the things he wants to do as he gets older. I don't care if that sounds cliche. I want to be able to keep up with him.

I don't like looking in the mirror. Ever. I want to like what I see at least most of the time.

I don't have any clothes that fit well except maternity clothes. I admit it.

I am not healthy and I have no energy. I want to feel alive and energetic!

I need to lose 60 pounds. I admit it. I think I would be considered a healthy weight if I lost about 40 but even that is sad to say that I have that much weight to lose.

I avoid pictures at all costs. I don't want a bunch of pictures of me at this weight floating around. How sad is that? I don't even want family pictures with my kid and husband because I am afraid of how terrible I will look! Horrible.

I need to take better care of myself because of my diabetes. I have to take it more seriously once and for all. I don't want to have long term problems because I'm not taking care of myself now.

It is time to feel good about myself and feel normal.

Once I figure out what I am doing I will write about it. I have a few ideas of what I am going to do but will decide that soon.

More to come.

The new job

2010-03-31T20:52:00.002-05:00

I started my new job on Monday and I am very happy with it! I like the people I work with and though the stuff I have done so far is somewhat easy, I am looking forward to learning more processes and doing harder work. It is pretty quiet in my department unlike my old job. In my old job, everyone talked on the phone all day long so it was pretty noisy at times. In my new job, it is pretty quiet most of the time and I even listen to my ipod when I am doing something long and tedious.

I am studying for my Series 24 exam and last night I read one of the chapters and felt really good about how much I remembered so I took the online test reviewing that chapter and got an 80%! That is awesome since you only have to get a 70% on the 24 to pass it. Granted that was just one section but I am pretty excited to get this done with! The 24 is required for my job so I have to pass the test but the good news is, I have three months, so if I don't pass the test the first time, I can take it again. I don't want to have to take it a second time but if I have to I will.

Overall I am pretty excited. It has only been three days but I think I will like this job overall a lot more than my last job. I no longer dread going to work everyday. Yay for me!

Holy cow!

2010-03-24T19:59:00.005-05:00

Where does the time go? I was just looking at my last post and it was over a week ago!

I have been sick as a dog this week but had to go to work anyway because I don't have enough PTO to take a day off and would get in trouble if I had more absences. I have been going to bed at ridiculously early hours this week because I am so tired. This week has flown by!

I can't wait to start my new job - 2 more days in my current job and on to the new one! It is a promotion I guess so I am pretty excited. It is also doing something I think I will enjoy more than what I am doing now. Tomorrow and Friday, I get to meet some of my new co-workers, see where my new desk is and move all of my stuff upstairs. I work on the second floor right now and am moving to the third. I will really miss all of my current co-workers. They are a lot of fun and are all pretty awesome!

There is nothing else really new in our life. Just working and sleeping and trying to get over this cold.

Hopefully I will have something interesting to write about soon, but for now, I've got nothing.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2010-03-16T19:28:00.005-05:00

Well then, it is Tuesday and here we go.

- I got a new job! Woohoo! It is at the same company but in a different department. I applied for two jobs and the one I thought I wanted, I didn't get. But I didn't realize until now that the one I ended up getting actually pays more and will probably be just as good or better in the long run. I start on the 29th and I couldn't be more excited! I am not so fond of the job I have now as many of my previous posts have shown. I know I complained way too much in the past but I really don't like the job I have now and CAN'T wait to start the new one! I got just about a 20% raise! Woot!

- Now that I am feeling happier about the job situation, I think it is time to get healthier. I took the first step by going to my doctor two weeks ago and I have a follow up appointement in April. I am going to work on taking care of myself more and it's time to start eating better and exercising more. I admit, it is much easier to want to take care of yourself when you are in a good mood.

- My sister is coming to town this weekend with her two kids and I can't wait to see her! She hasn't seen Xander walk so hopefully it will be fun for her to see him. Her little boy is almost a year too and that is crazy to me - he just seems like a little baby to me still. Love family!

- I am trying to grow my hair out. I am about 99% certain I have mentioned that before but it ist starting to get a little longer and I am excited. I just want it to be longer by summer so when it is really hot out, I can pull it back.

- My house suffers during the week as it seems like I am always so tired during the week that I never want to clean or do much other than relax and play with my baby. My poor house looks pretty bad during the week but I am not sure I care.

- We have a repair to make on one of our cars and I am not looking forward to it (but who does look forward to car repairs?). It makes us think more seriously about maybe getting a different car. I would like to get a new car just so we don't have to worry about the risk of a major repair. Not sure what will happen with this but I will get back to you!

- I am so ready for the weekend even though it is only Tuesday. At least tomorrow is hump day! Also, it is much easier to stomach my job knowing that I only have a week and a half left of it. Yay! (Have I mentioned I don't like the job I am currently in? It makes me sooooo thankful for the new one!)

- I need a vacation. And on another random note, we need to have a garage sale. I think we are going to try to have one sometime this spring to get rid of a bunch of junk. Ugh - we have so much crap!

Oh, and check out the un-mom for more Tuesday randomness!

Soooo.....this is why I'm fat?!

2010-03-09T19:28:00.005-06:00

Warning: This could be a very boring post if you don't care about my medical condition. I just wanted to write about this for my own sake and to let all of the thoughts out of my head regarding this.

So, last week, I went to the doctor - my Diabetes doctor. She said 'you're not taking as good of yourself as you could be'. I said 'no duh'. Just kidding. I said, 'I know, it's been hard'. She then proceeded to tell me that there may be this drug that I might be able to start taking once I get my blood sugar in better control and if I lose some weight.

She told me about this drug called Symlin. There have been studies done recently that showed that while insulin is the main hormone that type 1 diabetics are missing and need to replace, there is another hormone that is missing that can help with your diabetes also. It is called Amylin. Funny how this is the first time I have even heard about this hormone or this drug. Anyway, she said there is a newer drug on the market (FDA approved) called Smylin which is the hormone Amylin and it can help people maintain better blood sugar control as well as lose weight. Not only do I want to control my blood sugar better for better health but I want to lose weight also (duh).

I guess this hormone they call Amylin helps keep your blood sugar from spiking after meals as well as decreases glucagon secretion, decreases appetite, and delays gastric emptying. I have read enough about it now to know that most patients who use it who are overweight are able to lose weight because it makes you feel fuller sooner while eating and stay feeling fuller longer. For me this is huge because that is what I told my doctor - I always feel hungry. Even if I feel full for a short time with a meal - I always seem to be hungry an hour later! It is ridiculous! I am hoping if I can get on this drug it will help me. I am not expecting a miracle solution but I think it will help me slowly over time and long term. I hate always feeling hungry and I feel like such a pig sometimes but now I am realizing it's not really my fault - I don't just have a complete lack of control. Everyone else who is not diabetic has this huge advantage in that their body tells them much sooner when to stop eating and also that they are full much sooner than my body does. Sorry if anyone thinks this seems like a cop out, but I have gained so much weight since being diagnosed with diabetes 4 years ago and I have never been this heavy in my whole life. It does lead me to believe there is more to it. My doctor basically confirmed what I have been hoping all along - it is not all my fault that I am fat (or not all my fault).

I feel a little better having this knowledge, but I am also bummed that I never heard about this before and wasn't given the chance to use this sooner. I have had times where my blood sugar was in very good control (the best it ever was, was early in my pregnancy with X because I was so careful about it) but that didn't mean I was thin then.

I struggle with my weight and every day I wish it was easier for me to diet and to want to exercise. I think the diabetes and my constantly too high blood sugar make me tired and sluggish and that makes me not want to exercise and not having the correct hormones makes me feel hungry all of the time. I have always had an issue with my size - even when I was skinnier. It is funny how back when I was skinnier, I thought I was so fat. Crazy. I am not expecting a miracle but I am hoping this will make life a little easier for me. Once I am given the chance to go on the drug, I will hopefully have good results and lose some weight.

I hope this doesn't turn out to be a big disappointment but I will just have to wait and see!

My little man

2010-03-06T16:28:00.004-06:00

Just a couple of pictures of my sweetie pie! He continues to grow and change so fast! We love him more than we ever thought possible!

Eating goldfish crackers while typing on the computer - so talented!

'I'm busy mom - come back later!'

Messy face, making a mess in the kitchen. (Notice his shoes - I made them for him but they don't match his outfit).

Look at that mess! He discovered the cupboards!

Playing with cousin Sam at Sam's house.

Playing with the baby gate.

Just walking around!

Helping with our cleaning day - emptying the trash!

Dad put on new door knobs and Xander helped with the screwdriver!

A bunch of sickies

2010-02-28T13:00:00.004-06:00

No fun. I'm sick, the kiddo is sick and the hubby is now sick too. He just came down with it in the last day or two and I've had it since early last week. Xander started getting sick maybe Monday or Tuesday but got a lot worse after he got his shots on Wednesday. He is so sick and I feel so bad for him! This is the first real cold he has had since he was born. He has had about two runny noses before but no fever and no cough....until now. Poor baby!

I think we are just going to lay low as much as possible until we get better. Not sure if I will make it work tomorrow - it partly depends on me and how I feel and also X and how he is. I didn't go to work Friday but don't feel the least bit guilty because there have been so many others sick at work, so who can blame me for getting sick? Right!? :)

Looking forward to feeling better and starting to work out again. I started Monday but that got put on hold quick since I got sick. Here's to better health!!!

What I've been up to

2010-02-25T21:11:00.003-06:00

The answer to the title is not much, yet quite a bit.

I think what I have been up to is not much that is interesting but quite a bit - enough to where I've felt like I haven't had much time to write.

I started feeling sick on Tuesday. I am getting sicker by the day but still am not that sick yet. Hoping the full blown nasty cold stays away.

Kiddo had his 15 month appointment yesterday and got shots. He was already starting to come down with a little bit of a cold and the shots seemed to make him worse. Now he has a cough and still has the runny nose and has had a low grade fever and is majorly lethargic. Last night, all he did was lay in my or Todd's arms the whole evening. A far cry from his normal wandering around looking at and touching things and picking everything up! Poor baby!

Todd has been doing great with the house projects. We just need to get a few more door knobs put on and all of the projects we have started so far will be done. He got the new light put up in the entryway this week (so much better looking than the old one).

Work has been dragging this week and each day seems longer and longer. I dread going to work everyday but once I am there, find that it is not as bad as I thought it would be. Still, I don't enjoy it and am hoping for a chance at one of the two jobs I applied for within the company.

Todd had a busy week this week with inventory and other normal work stuff. He had to work overnight on Tuesday night and I slept terrible without him home. I guess I have become very dependant on him for my comfort and safety. I guess that is how I want it!

Looking forward to the weekend as usual. I am hoping to get some serious cleaning done around the house as it has become a huge pit since we started all these small projects. I am not going to put too much pressure on myself but I do want to get some stuff done.

I decided to start my couch to 5k running again on Monday but started feeling sick on Tuesday so once I am better (hopefully by next Monday at the latest) I am going to start again. I am kind of excited to get back to the point where I can run more. I need to drop some serious lbs and hopefully this will get me started.

I decided to grow my hair out (again) and am wondering how long it will take to get it where I really want it. I am thinking two full years but maybe closer to a year and a half or less. The thing is, I have to keep up on the color, otherwise I will hate it. If I try to let it grow and don't get the color done often enough then I end up hating it and wanting to chop it all off. We will see how this one goes. I am notorious for chopping my hair every time it starts getting a little longer. I haven't had long hair since high school - 9 years ago!

Time for bed. Since I am fighting off this cold I am trying to get good sleep and haven't done so well most of this week. Sweet dreams!

My week so far

2010-02-18T21:40:00.004-06:00

Glad it is Thursday night, which means tomorrow is Friday! I am ready for this week to be over even though it was a short one. I have said it before and I will say it again - I don't love my job. But on that note, I am excited because there are two new jobs that opened up at my company that I am very interested in. Also, it's a small promotion but it's not like it would be a long shot or way out of my league to get either of those jobs so I would say I have a decent chance. Even though I have only worked at the company for four months, I have industry knowledge and my 7 and 63 which might help me get a different job. I am already starting to feel a little happier at the thought of getting another job within the company and actually somewhat enjoying my job each day, or at least not dreading it as much as the one I have now.

I was watching the olympics tonight and I picked Xander up to take him up to bed and he pointed at the tv. It was Jeremy Abbott ice skating and I said 'say night-night to Jeremy'. :) I am such a dork, but Xander did his little wave that he does when he say bye or good night and it was so cute!

This is not really part of my week but more part of my life in general. I have type 1 diabetes and most days I don't think much about it but every once in a while I hate it or it makes me mad, sad or frustrated. I went to give myself my 24 hour insulin tonight and when I injected myself, it left a huge bubble under my skin as it sometimes (actually rarely) does. It is so gross! It just looks like a bubble under my skin about the size of a quarter. It goes away eventually once the insulin makes its way into my body further but how yucky is that?! Sorry, just had to share.

We decided to be smart about our tax return money and a potential bonus Todd will get this year. We decided to take a chunk of the money and improve some small things in our house. We have already put cabinet pulls on all of the cabinets and knobs on all of the drawers in the kitchen. Todd replaced one of the two bathroom faucets - they need replacing very badly. He also picked out and installed a new kitchen faucet on Wednesday - I am so proud of him that he was able to figure it out in a few hours! That was also something that needed replacing badly. We also found new door knobs that work. We are replacing the ones we have from a shiny gold finish to all matted silver finish. He has already switched a few out and we had to buy a few different brands to find one that would fit. I am so excited even though those things seem like small changes - they make a nice visual impact.

Anyway, this weekend we are going to go out and do more shopping for household things. Oh, I forgot to mention that I also found curtains for the living room this week. I even managed to find some on clearance that work well with our living room! The funny thing is, we have lived in this house four years and have never even put curtains up in the living room. How sad is that? Anyway, we are going to get a set of vertical blinds to go over our back patio door, possibly get a second bathroom faucet, a light fixture for our bathroom (silver to replace gold) and we might get a new light fixture for the ceiling in our living room. We are also thinking about getting a headboard and footboard for our bed but haven't decided on that yet.

I am so, so excited to make our house a little nicer! Now if only we had money to replace the carpet!

I think this weekend we are also going to get together with the family for my sister-in-laws birthday. I love getting together with family so that should be fun. Family is so special to me. Sorry to sound cheesy but it is so true!

Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T11:46:00.006-06:00

Here is how our v-day turned out. Saturday night, Todd brought me home some flowers and I love them! Not to ruin the fun, but Todd knows that I hate when he spends a fortune on flowers, especially around v-day because they jack up the price so much. While I think it is a romantic gesture, to me it is a big waste of money. Flowers die where as most other gifts last longer (with the exception of chocolate - haha). Anyway, he got me these really pretty flowers and didn't spend a ton so I love them even more! Here is a picture of them.

We decided not to spend much on v-day since we have a lot more important things to spend our money on right now. He got me a cute pair of pink slippers (which I asked for) that have a hard sole (something I asked that the slippers have). He also got me this nice new alarm clock as the one I have is little and crappy. Also, it seems to not work as well as it used to - there have been a few times recently that I hit the snooze button and it never went off again and because of that, I was almost late to work.

Anyway, I decided to get him a Huskers insulated coffee mug and a pilsner glass with the Huskers logo on it too. I also got him some nice chocolates.

We then had a yummy dinner of pizza. Yeah, it was a little boring but it was heart shaped! I thought it would be fun to get that for dinner since I knew Todd would be hungry when he got home. Overall, it was a nice day. Hope everyone else enjoyed their day!

First day off

2010-02-11T09:26:00.003-06:00

Yay! Today is my first day off of five. I am so happy to have some time off to do what I want and also do some things I need to get done.

So here are the plans for the day.

-Take a shower (I know it's sad that I have to list this, but on a day off, it is very easy to slack and just lay around in pj's all day).

-Clean the kitchen and do the dishes.

-Wash our sheets and pillow cases and our pillows.

-Sort my coupons.

-Go out to look at some household items (we are thinking about getting a few things with our tax return money including curtains, a kitchen table and a headboard/footboard or bedroom set).

-Run to Walgreens to get a few things.

-Order some pictures for the scrapbook.

-Buy a seam ripper so I can work on the baby shoes for X.

Ok, hopefully that isn't too much but I sure am going to try to get it all done. If I even get a few things done off of my list I will be pretty happy!

Random thoughts on a Tuesday

2010-02-09T21:17:00.006-06:00

I want to start this post off by saying a couple of things. First of all, it seems 'random thought Tuesday' or something to that effect is the thing to do on the blogs on Tuesday. That is why I thought I would give it a shot.

Next, I wanted to say, normally I would write a post during the day except for the fact that I have NO access to the internet during work. I suppose I should follow up that sentence with the truth - I have very little access to the internet at work and that means I can't get to any fun sites - just a few work related ones. Also, they do provide *4* computers you can use to get to any website during your lunch and breaks but it is nearly a joke because there are a few hundred employees in our building and half the time you can't get on a computer due to someone else being on them and after going down to the lower level to get there, you barely have any time left in your break to actually use them. Not being able to get online is kind of depressing.

Anyway, on to the random thoughts.

-I am so, so, so excited to have my long weekend! Tomorrow is my Friday and I actually decided to take Monday off also so I will have 5 days off in a row! Woohoo! I cannot wait. I have a lot planned and hope to get even half of my to do list done.

-I am making some popcorn on the stove top as I type this. My husband decided to make popcorn on the stove one time a few months ago and ever since then I have been hooked. I will rarely, if ever, eat microwave popcorn again.

-We are getting a rather large tax refund and I am super excited. We have 100 things we could do with the money but we are going to make sure we use it responsibly. We need a new kitchen table and to pay a couple of things off. I wish we could just splurge and go on a vacation but we are going to try and be smart about it.

-I joined this goofy facebook group about making fun of people who use bad grammar. It is funny because it drives me crazy when people use your and you're wrong and also there, their and they're. To me it is so simple and if you have to stop and think about it, it only takes a second or two to make sure you get it right to not look like an idiot. At the same time, I realize that some people really struggle with grammar and I shouldn't make fun of them. I will say though that some of the pictures people post on that group of signs and other things with bad grammar are hilarious! The other thing I wanted to point out about this is I speak better than I type. With typing, sometimes I forget a word in a sentence, but it doesn't mean that I don't know what I am meaning to say - I just type it wrong. Either way.

-I feel like such an old person these days, probably because of the winter. I just want to go to bed earlier and earlier these days. I know if I work out more then I will have more energy but it is hard to get started again.

-I have been paying for weight watchers and haven't been going. Maybe I need to go back one of the days that I am off this week so I can get back on track. It feels so good to lose weight and I really need to work on it again.

Weekend recap

2010-02-07T22:04:00.003-06:00

This weekend went way too fast as usual.

On Saturday, we woke up, got ready and headed out to Lincoln at about 10. We stopped by the store my mom works at to see her for just a minute to say hi. We then headed to my sister in law and brothers house to see their new baby boy! It was fun to meet my newest nephew. He is so cute and sweet and tiny! I quickly forgot how little Xander used to be and in some ways it makes me want another baby but in other ways it makes me want to wait a long time to have another one, if ever! :)

After Lincoln, we headed to Schuyler to bring Xander to see Grandpa and Grandma Vest. Xander slept for a little while on the way there and then got really fussy. Once we got to Schuyler he was happy for the rest of the afternoon.

Today we got a lot of cleaning done and Todd got our taxes done - big refund coming our way and I couldn't be more excited! Anyway, I made Rotel dip and dipped pretzels, almonds and peanut butter sandwiches for our mini get together with our neighbors for the game tonight. We went over to their house about 5 and came home after it was over. I didn't really care who won but I know my sister and brother in law are super excited the saints won. We got home a bit ago and have just been relaxing and are about ready for bed.

Not looking forward to the work week as usual. The one huge positive is that I only have a three day work week. Woohoo! I have Thursday and Friday off this week and I am so needing the long weekend. I already have a lot of plans for what I want to get done over the 4 days. I know I want to get plenty of cleaning done as well as some scrapbooking and studying for my Series 24.

Good night worlds. See you in the morning.

Some pics, playing dress up and my newest nephew!

2010-02-04T19:03:00.007-06:00

My newest nephew was born yesterday at about 10 in the morning! His name is Gabriel Leon and I can't wait to meet him. Here are two pictures of him. I love new babies!

Xander got this adorable shirt for Christmas from his Aunt Jen - my sister in law who just had the above mentioned new nephew. I think it is so cute because it looks like he is a little dressed up. I just had to get a few pics of him in the shirt.

Finally, here are a few random pics of the kiddo. He brings so much joy to my life and I thank God for giving him to me! He is my little baby and it is amazes me how much he has changed since he was born and how much he seems to change by the day! He is walking so much now and it is fun to watch him go, go, go!

That's all I got for now!

Ahhhhhh - how nice! An award!

2010-02-03T20:29:00.007-06:00

I received this The Best Follower Award from Travel & Dive Girl!

I stumbled across her blog a while ago and her sense of humor is awesome and her posts are always funny!

Go stop by her blog and have your daily dose of laughter!

So here are the questions filled in with my answers of course!

What is your current obsession?
Being a stay at home mom. I guess this is my obsession because until recently, this was my 'career' and I am hoping to get back into that 'career' some time in the near future. We will see! Also, being craftier. I have done some scrapbooking but hope to do more and also I hope to complete the baby shoes I started for Xander soon.

What are you wearing today?
Well, now I am wearing some comfy fleece pants and a t-shirt - so attractive! Earlier at work, I was wearing grey dress pants, a black tank top and a black cardigan with argyle print.

What’s for dinner?
Ohhhh, it was yummy! We had fettuccine alfredo (a boxed kit) with chicken and broccoli. So good!

What’s the last thing you bought?
Hmmm, probably groceries. Yeah actually it was a blood glucose meter (don't ask. unless you really want to know).

What do you think about the person who tagged you?
I don't know her all that well yet but hope to get to know her more through our little blog world! She is always honest, insightful and funny. The way she words things consistently cracks me up! She's fun!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
I would have to say in Napa Valley or possibly Sonoma! So beautiful and peaceful and it seems like they just have a slower pace of life up there and I love it!

What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Flip flops in tons of colors and a decent fitting swimsuit even if I don't love the way I look in it.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
To the tanning salon for some color and to the salon for a manicure and pedicure. Relaxing!

Who do you want to meet right now?
Hmmm, that is a tough one. I think it would be fun to meet Reese Witherspoon in person since I think she is adorable. I would like to see what she is really like!

What is your favorite color?
Pink! (Don't hate me - I just cannot help myself!)

What’s your favorite spectator sport?
Football for sure though I also love hockey!

What is your dream job?
Stay at home mommy! But I guess if it was a 'real job' I would say owning a small boutique.

What’s your favorite magazine?
I don't really have one but I do read all the parenting type magazines.

What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Where do I start? Navy and black together (unless they are meant to go together, but even then it is questionable). Brown belt with black pants or vice versa. Socks with sandals. Pants that are way too tight on women paired with a too tight top leaving a large muffin top. Ick. Don't people look in the mirror?

What kind of haircut do you prefer?
Short bob-ish do. I want to grow my hair out but always chop it off. I am thinking about trying it again but we will see how it goes!

What are your favorite movies?
Ever After

The Rock

Legally Blonde

Shooter

Many more.....

What inspires you?
Thin people who have so much self control and can keep themselves from eating everything they want.

What do your friends call you most commonly?
Just my name - Sarah. I guess a few people call me by my last name.

Would you prefer coffee or tea?
Coffee. I don't drink tea. At least for now I require coffee to function.

Which other blogs do you love visiting?
Check out my sidebar and you will quickly see! Lots of money saving blogs and a few for entertainment!

Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Any type of cheesecake.

Favorite Season?
Fall. Spring is a close second. Warmer than winter but not as hot as summer. I love the changing of leaves and the colors of fall.

When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Ugh. When am I going to finally get it together and try to lose some weight?

What brings a smile to your face instantly?
My baby and most other little kids.

What would you do if you were made President for one day?
Relax in the white house and enjoy the thought that I have so much control. But one day wouldn't be enough to do anything.

What is your favorite song (new or classic)?

My favorite classic song is "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and my favorite newer song is "Love Game" by Lady Gaga.

Rules for those who are tagged: Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag eight or ten other new set of people.

Ok so here are the few people I am passing this award along to - hopefully they will take it and post it to their blog! (And I also don't have 8). :)

Amy @ The Broker Bunch

Jill @ Carter's Crew

Sharon @ Good True and Beautiful

Cartoons and diapers.

2010-01-31T10:16:00.006-06:00

I guess this is a typical name of a post when you are a mommy.

The funny thing is, my kiddo doesn't really understand how to watch tv yet. Sometimes something on tv catches his eye, but he won't sit there and just watch tv for a long time yet. I guess that is a good thing. Anyway, it's funny because I watch more cartoons than he does. Come Saturday morning, I bring him down to the family room and turn on the tv. Well, there isn't anything else on in the morning so I end up watching cartoons. It's sad how I even know the name of some of them - the emperor's new school, hannah montana (I guess that's not a cartoon), the suite life of zach and cody (also not a cartoon), and there are two others that are always on that I am not sure the names of but one has these cute little animals like ducks, a rabbit, a hippo, an elephant - I think it might be rabbit and friends, and the other is this girl that lives with her dad and all these wild animals. They are all actually really cute and I am sure X will like them more as he gets older.

So, in regards to the diapers, I think it is safe to say that I have a slight obsession with diapers. Right now in Xander's closet, he has over 1000 diapers. Yes, you read that right. It is because I am obsessed with finding a deal. This way, I never ever have to pay full price for diapers. I think it is funny how some people think that getting a pack of the nice brands of diapers for about $7 is a great price. I guess I see why they think that - the regular price for a pack of Huggies or Pampers is about $10 - a crazy price if you ask me for about 4 or 5 days worth of diapers. Anyway, they go on sale for $8.99 which still isn't that good of a price but people think - oh, I better get some since they are sale and they will use their $1 or $2 off coupon and think the got a deal on diapers. I don't consider these people unintelligent but I have gotten some amazing deals on diapers and I pretty much refuse to pay more than about $6 a pack and have bought most of them for closer to $5. Anyway, I think I just need to stop buying diapers for a while as I think I have enough to last a while. But I will say one thing - think about how many diapers a kid goes through in his life. I figured right now he is going through 5 or more diapers a day and when he was younger, he went through more like 8 a day. So let's just use 6 as our factor. Say the kid potty trains at 2 1/2, your kid will go through like 5400 diapers! Crazy! So even if it seems like I have so many diapers, my kid will use them all eventually!

On that note I suppose I better go fold some laundry and finish the dishes so my house isn't a mess going into the work week.

Random thoughts on a Friday night

2010-01-29T20:30:00.005-06:00

So here are my random thoughts for the week.

-It's funny how defensive you can become when someone questions your parenting skills or something that you do as a parent. Until this week, no one had questioned the way I parented at all so I didn't know what it felt like to have your parenting called into question. Frankly, it upset me quite a bit and it wasn't even something with regards to my child's behavior or the way we discipline. I won't get into it more but I was furious.

-I am always hoping that the work week will go fast as I live for the weekends! I said this to someone at work and she told me ' my mom always said, don't wish your life away'. I don't think that I am wishing my life away but am wishing for a better time in my life, hoping that if this part of my life goes faster, I can get a to a better part and enjoy it more. I do agree everyone needs to take some time to enjoy life and each day though, even the work days.

-My boss ordered my series 24 book for me this week which means once I get the book I am going to hit the ground running. I figured I might as well get my studying out of the way and get the test taken quickly rather then letting it drag on and on. I think I want to take my test by the end of April. I hope I can pass the test the first time. I am sure I can but I know it will be hard and will take a lot of studying. I am already feeling guilty for how much time I am going to have to study and how much time it will take away from my son and I haven't even started yet!

-Xander is walking so much more now and it is so fun to watch him! He still falls and crawls sometimes but overall, he is a walker and takes lots of steps each day. He still doesn't really say any words (but can imitate mama and dada sometimes) but he sure babbles a lot.

-My sister-in-law is due to have her baby any day now and I can't wait until she has him! I love little babies and can't wait to meet my newest nephew!

-I am going to work on the baby shoes for X this weekend and hopefully will get 2 or 3 pairs done. I cut out most of the pieces of fabric this week while I had free time at work and all I need to do before sewing the pieces together is iron on the interfacing. I hope I can get at least one pair to turn out good. I think even if one or two of them don't turn out that great, I will still use them as 'house shoes' to keep his feet warm and for some traction while he walks.

-On that note, I hope to get a lot done this weekend. I always hope to but am hoping to get even more done this weekend than usual as I feel I have so much more to do than usual. I need to do laundry, dishes and lots of other cleaning.

-I was always proud of my little boy that he slept through the night so well since he was little. Now all of a sudden he is waking up a couple of times a night. Granted, I usually only hear him once because I sleep harder than Todd but he seems to hear him a few times a night. Anyway, I am not sure if he is teething or what his deal is. I guess he doesn't get up every night but he has been up more than ever before. I know he did get a big molar recently so I wonder if that was hurting him for a while.

-I am tired and it is only 9:55 on Saturday night. I am going to bed. Hope this weekend is a good one!

Not much progress

2010-01-24T20:23:00.006-06:00

First of all, it is funny how that title applies to my plans for the weekend to get some of my crafts done as well as many other things in my life such as my weight loss and a few other things. But that is not what this post is about - just pointing that out.

I successfully made my first chain crocheting but I couldn't get the turn right to start on my second row so I basically did a single chain over and over and over just to practice and then I pulled it out to start over. I practiced my slip knot several times also but I have nothing done. :(

Maybe I will try again later this week or next weekend.

I wanted to get at least one pair of shoes for Xander done this weekend but that didn't happen either. I did get all the fabric cut and the interfacing fused on to each piece but I got stuck when the stitching on the sole of my shoe was all loose and funny on the bottom. I think I am having bobbin issues but am not sure how to fix them. I have the manual for the sewing machine so I will be digging it out this week to try and figure out what is wrong. I pulled out the bobbin and now I don't know how to put it back in. This is a super old Singer (my moms) so it probably isn't the most user friendly but I am going to try to fix it.

I picked up some new fabric at Walmart tonight to make some more shoes. I have a bunch of pieces cut out to make several pairs of shoes (6 pairs I think). This is going to be a time consuming project at least at first until I get the hang of it I think. I still want to do it but am not even sure how the first pair will turn out. We will see I guess.

I got zero done on my scrapbooking and I am a little depressed about that. I am so far behind and almost feel like I will never catch up. I just don't know when I will have the time with working now. It seems like each weekend there are just too many other things to do. Although I guess I spent time cutting out the fabric for the shoes so I could have spent that time scrapbooking. Whatever.

Crafty weekend (I'm hoping)

2010-01-22T19:53:00.003-06:00

So I am hoping to get a few crafty things done this weekend.

I successfully taught myself to crochet this evening (following directions from a book of course) but my chains aren't very pretty yet. I will need much practice. I am willing to put in the work to end up crocheting a blanket and a scarf at some point.

I hope to make a pair of baby shoes for Xander as well. I have the baby shoe pattern that is floating around the internet and I am hoping to get a pair made this weekend. I have some cute green printed fabric that I am going to use for the top of the shoes and some brown corduroy for the bottom of the shoes. I also have the elastic and the interfacing. I just need to start cutting, ironing and sewing.

I am also hoping to work on Xander's scrapbook at some point this weekend. I am still at 6 months and he just turned 14 months! Way behind! The only good thing is that I probably won't scrap month by month after his first year but I have 6 months to catch up on! I have a lot of the pictures but just have to decide on the layouts and glue it all down. I do need to order his most recent pictures though and that in and of itself is time consuming so I will feel good to get that done.

If I get enough done I think I will post some pictures on Sunday showing my progress (if there is any).

I am afraid I will not get as much done as I would like since I have to get groceries, do laundry and a lot of other cleaning this weekend also. I don't want to neglect my kiddo either so we will see just how much I can get done on my crafts this weekend. I guess that is life! Good luck to me.

Melts my heart and a few randoms

2010-01-20T22:03:00.004-06:00

Ok lets start with the randoms.

- How is it that you can be neighbors with someone yet be so different and worlds away? Just a thought.

- I love pink. I am sure many people know that about me but I thought I would mention it again. I have as much pink stuff as possible at my desk at work and though people tease me about it, that is what they know me for and it is kinda fun!

- I swore I wasn't going to size my diamond ring when I couldn't wear it anymore after having Xander. I told myself I was just going to lose enough weight so I could wear it again. I decided that just wasn't cutting it after a year so I broke down last fall and had it sized. Now I am hoping to finally lose that weight and hopefully I will need to get it sized down.

- Why are people so clueless when it comes to their money? All I am saying is, it is your money people. Be smart about it, educate yourself on where it is going and protect it the best you can. Don't invest in something without knowing the risks.

Ok, on to what melts my heart.

My sweet little boy learned to wave a few months ago and it was always so fun to see him wave at you when you would leave. He would always wave at daddy when it was bedtime (it is our tradition for me to take him up to bed, get him ready and put him down) and for some reason he stopped waving at daddy. Recently, instead of waving his whole arm to say bye, he just opens and closes his fist. That, in and of itself, is cute. Tonight when I took him up to bed and put him in his crib, I gave him his Curious George (the stuffed toy he sleeps with) and he starting doing his newest wave to me. It was the sweetest little thing and it was one of those moments in time you wish you could freeze and enjoy forever. So sweet! He did it to me without me saying good night. I just rubbed his little said and told him I loved him and then said good night. Ahhhh! I am blessed and should never forget it! Don't you just love moments that melt your heart?

I'm not as sad as I seem

2010-01-18T18:20:00.010-06:00

So I have to come to find out that some of my recent posts might be a little too depressing and make me sound like I am unhappy about everything.

I think I need to clarify. Oh and just a warning, this could be long. Very long. :)

First of all, I realize the importance of having gratitude and being thankful and positive. My mom always made us write thank you notes and say thank you for everything growing up. I am by nature a grateful person.

I guess by reading my blog people might think I am an unhappy person who just complains a lot. In real life - I am not 'that girl'. At least not most of the time. (Hey, everyone has their bad days, right?)

It seems I have been more of 'that girl' recently. I have been down lately about things going on in our life. I guess I sometimes do feel like things have been unfair and I have wondered 'why me?' more than once.

You see, it all started with the birth of my son. I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom for as long as I can remember. When I got pregnant with Xander, my husband and I talked about how I would stay home. The problem is, we didn't plan for it. At all. In other words, we really didn't save our money or spend smartly like we should have. So after 11 months, I went back to work.

I think this is the main source of my sadness. As I said, all I ever wanted was to be a stay at home mom. It is like having your dreams shattered. I cry about it. Often. Think about it this way - imagine all you ever wanted was to be a nurse. You went to school, put in your time learning and then there are no jobs. Anywhere. Ever. That is what it feels like to me. I know I don't 'deserve' to stay at home with my son but I miss him so much every day it hurts.

The other thing that makes me complain more than I would like to is my actual job, not just the fact that I have to work at it. The job I am doing is not something I would like to do long term. The job is ok, but I feel like it is not a job that I want to do much longer. I am not complaining about the job because I should be grateful to have a job (I know I know) but I also know realistically the job I am doing now will not make me happy and will not fulfill me if I have to stay working permanently.

So on to the positive.

I am so thankful that I have an amazing husband. Taking him for granted is one of the worst things I can do and I think I sometimes do it. He is hard working and smart and kind and a great father. He works so hard at his job - he has literally called in sick twice in the last 2-3 years. He is dedicated and always puts in extra time at his job (which I sometimes wish he wouldn't so we could see him more). I have to remember he could be so much worse - a drug addict or an alcoholic or someone who is not there for me and my baby.

I am so thankful for my little man too. He is so sweet and he has been so healthy since he was born. He did have jaundice right after he was born but other than that he has been pretty healthy. Every time I see a story about a little kid with cancer or something else it makes me sad but also very thankful for the health of my little boy. He is such a joy to watch and be around and I love him more than words can say. I can't imagine life without him and wouldn't give him up for anything in he world.

I am thankful for my health (and I use that term loosely because I am diabetic and am overweight - but I don't have cancer or anything like that). I am thankful for my parents and my siblings and my in laws too. I could have a strange or dysfunctional family. I have a great family and am very thankful.

I am thankful we have a roof over our head. Our house is not falling apart and though we could stand to do some things to it, it is overall a nice house.

We have two cars that are running (for now) and they get us where we need to go.

Ok so now that I talked about some things I am thankful for, I want you to know something you would never know unless you worked with me.

If I ask for help on something at work and you help me I will thank you every way I can. I probably will say thanks at least 3 times because that is how I am. I don't like confrontation and I want people to know that I am grateful and not rude or ungrateful. I make sure to say thanks every time and try to keep a positive attitude at all times. Or at least to most people and most of the time. It is sad that I can take out my frustrations on my family and friends that are closest to me.

So in summary, I am sad and sometimes mad but I am going to work hard at being more positive and happy. Not because anyone tells me I should but because I know I should and because I want to be happy and I want to try and be positive. All I do is drag myself down and sometimes those around me when I have a negative attitude. I do think right now is harder for me because of the season (winter always gives me the blahs - as diagnosed by Travel & Dive Girl) and also because of other circumstances in my life. But, I think this year could be a good year if I believe it will be and if I make good choices. I think that is my goal this year. Make better choices and try to be happier.

There you have it. Take from it what you will. I will try to be more positive - after all, the title of my blog is 'our happy life' and gosh darn it, we do have a happy life! Oh and one last thing, I realize my thoughts are very random and don't always go in order but that is just how my mind works! :)

Short and sweet

2010-01-17T22:56:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is Monday and I am so not looking forward to going to work. Every Monday I consider calling in and quitting my job. All I want is to be able to quit and stay home with my kiddo again but I can't.

The one good thing is that tomorrow is a bank holiday which means the stock market it closed and hopefully we will be slow at work. My boss said in the past it is usually a slow day so if that is the case, I think I will survive.

Hope everyone else has a great Monday!

2010 survey

2010-01-16T19:44:00.002-06:00

Here is a follow up questionnaire to my previous post. The previous one was more about last year and this one is about this year. Here we go.....

1. One habit you'd like to break totally:
Eating because I am bored, mad, sad or lonely. In other words, eating when I am not hungry.

2. One person you'd like to get to know better:
Hmmm. I am not sure there really is anyone. I am really bad at this - I tend to avoid getting to know people too much because then I feel bad if I don't maintain a friendship with them forever.

3. One random act of kindness that you'd like to make a habit this year:
I think this is something I will have to think about more. I guess maybe letting people in while merging while driving. I dunno.

4. Something that you'd like to own by the end of 2010:
Two new (not brand new, just different) cars.

5. Something that you'd like to get rid of by the end of 2010:
40 pounds of chub!

6. One change you'd like to see in your life in 2010:
More time for crafty things like scrapbooking and sewing.

7. One thing you'd like to memorize in 2010:
Um that is a weird one. I guess I would say I want to memorize enough material to pass my 24, 66 and potentially the 53 (securities licenses).

8. Something that you'd like to improve on in 2010:
My patience. For sure.

9. Something new you'd like to learn in 2010.
Again, probably the material for the 24 and 66. I guess how to sew more, knit and crochet also.

10. Something you're looking forward to this year.
Todd getting a new job! Also losing some weight once and for all and maybe a mini vacation.

11. One thing you're going to make sure DOESN'T happen this year.
Gaining any more weight. I am big enough and it's time to lose, not gain.

12. One person that you want to be closer to this year.
My best friend Laura. I feel like part of the year last year we talked a lot but since I got my job I feel like we never talk anymore.

13. One place you want to visit this year.
If money was no issue I want to go to France but on our limited budget, maybe Chicago or Kansas City.

14. One thing that you'll move from 2009's to do list to 2010's to do list.
Lose weight. Do you see a theme from this survey? I do.

15. One old acquaintance that you'd like to reconnect with this year.
Once again, a tough one since I am bad with close relationships. I would love to talk more with my best friend this year.

New Year's Questionnaire

2010-01-13T22:02:00.005-06:00

I realize this is a little late, but I have seen this around the blog world and thought I would fill it out for myself if for no one else.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you have never done before?
I was a mommy all year for the first time! Xander was born in 2008 but I didn't have a full year with him then since he was born in November.

Oh yes and one more thing I am super proud of - I ran for 20 minutes straight. For me that is a big deal. I realize for most people that is no big deal but for me it is.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more for 2010?
I don't think I made any last year but I did make a few for this year (although I didn't call them resolutions, just goals).

3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2009?
My sister Nicole had her son Eli in April. :)

4. Did anyone close to you die in 2009?
No and I am grateful for this.

5. What countries did you visit this year?
Countries? How many people in the US visit more than one country a year? (I guess if you are on a cruise you might stop at more than one). But for this girl it was a big fat zero and probably will be again for the next few years. Traveling to other countries requires lots of money which is something I don't have!

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
More money, less debt and better health.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
November 21st. My baby boy's first birthday! Other than that it was a boring year.

8. What was your biggest struggle in 2009?
Realizing I had to go back to work because we couldn't afford for me to stay home anymore. I am bitter about it almost every day and wish something would change so I can stay home again.

9. Did you suffer any illness or injury in 2009?
Nothing new that I didn't already have before.

10. What was the best thing you bought this year?
My Cricut machine for scrapbooking. I can't think of anything else interesting I bought so we will go with that.

11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I suppose my little boy's. He is a good boy and learning to listen to his mommy when she tells him to do something.

12. Whose behavior disappointed you?
I suppose my own.

13. Where did most of your money go?
My hospital bills from having the kiddo. Also diapers and clothes for Xander!

14. What did you get really really excited about this year?
Christmas and Xander's birthday.

15. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Hmmm, I would have to say several but there are too many to name.

16. Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, much nicer or richer?
No to all of these which is sad.

17. What do you wish you had done more of?
Exercise and saving money.

18. What do you wish you had done less of?
Eating, spending money, being lazy and taking for granted staying home with my son.

19. Did you fall in love in 2009?
I didn't fall in love for the first time but fell more in love with my husband and son.

20. What was your favorite TV Program in 2009?
Tough one because I like several but I will have to say The Biggest Loser.

21. What was the best book you read this year?
Babywise, Babywise II and Toddlerwise. My kiddo would be much worse off if I hadn't.

22. What was your greatest musical discovery this past year?
I know many other people have said the same thing but Lady Gaga for sure.

23. What did you want and get?
I don't think much of anything. It seems more like I wanted a lot of things that I didn't get, and not just physical things.

24. What was the best movie you saw this year?
Harry Potter hands down!

25. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn?
I didn't do much I don't think and I turned 27. I think me and my husband went out sometime within a week of my birthday for dinner.

26. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?
Oh, a few things. To have lost more weight, if I would have been able to keep staying at home with my son and if we would have been better with our money.

27. How would you describe your personal fashion statement this year?
For most of the year I would have said sloppy since I stayed at home but since the end of the year I would say dressy since I wear nice work clothes 5 days a week.

28. What kept you sane this year?
My son and husband.

29. What celebrity did you fancy the most?
I am not sure what that means but I don't follow any one celebrity. I just read occasional articles on celebs.

30. Who did you miss this past year?
Not really anyone but if I had to pick I would say my sister since she lives the farthest away.

31. Who were the best new people you met this year?
I would say my new co-workers. Especially Christina!

32. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year.
Life is hard and never fair. No matter how bad you want some things, sometimes you will never get them. If you want something you have to work really really hard for it.

I want a new car....among other things

2010-01-12T21:50:00.005-06:00

So in my last post I was complaining about how expensive the tires are for my car. I guess it would just be smarter to get a cheaper car that doesn't require such expensive tires on it. Right?

We have been talking about getting two new cars (or not new, but new to us) to have lower car payments and also better gas mileage. The Jeep has terrible gas mileage. I think on a good day it gets 15 miles per gallon. I have liked having it for this crappy weather but other than that both cars have not been my favorite.

I can't decide what I want to do for a new car or cars. Should we go with two really small really cheap cars to get by for a while or should be get one small somewhat cheap can and a small cheaper SUV? I am torn on what to do. The funny thing is, I am talking about this as if it is going to happen. I guess a lot of things would have to go right for us to even get one car, let alone two!

The situation is, we have two cars and two car payments and we would like to have lower payments. It's not that we will have no payments if we get different cars (obviously) but we think we might be able to reduce our car payments which will help us out in other areas.

I think several things will have to go right for us over the next few months but I will just have to wait and see what happens.

A whole lotta nothing

2010-01-10T20:23:00.009-06:00

There is just nothing much new in our life right now. At least not much that is interesting. I suppose I will write anyway about the latest.

Xander is getting more and more mobile. He isn't walking all of the way yet but he is taking several steps at a time several times a day but hasn't walked more than a few feet at a time. He is getting more brave but isn't quite there yet. He also crawls super fast no and gets away from us in now time. He can crawl up the stairs faster than we can catch him and tries to go up the stairs to our upper level (which is about 8 steps) and I am terrified of him falling. It is fun to watch him go go go though!

Xander is also getting more verbal by the day. He babbles all of the time and it is fun to listen to him. He can say mama, and dada and sometimes imitates other words we say. He is getting better at waving and points all of the time. In the last few months he has changed so much and it's crazy to think about! I know he will continue to change but the last few months have been the most fun since he was born.

I am working and every Monday morning I debate not going to work and quitting my job or if there is a way for me to call in sick and not get fired. I miss being at home with my baby so much and it sucks. I keep hoping Todd gets his own store and we move or I can move on to a job within the company that I will enjoy more long term. I feel like I am in a funk and I need to get out of it somehow.

We have had three tires on our Maxima go flat in the last two years and I am getting pretty sick of it. The tires are $300 each and that is enough to annoy anyone. Todd has been driving on a donut (yes I admit it) for over a month (terrible for the car) because we simply have not had the money to buy a new tire. How pathetic is that? Sad. Beyond sad. The point of this story, though, is that Todd decided to research the tires and found out there are some MUCH cheaper tires that will fit the car just fine and still perform pretty well. How about $140 instead of $300??? Yeah, what the heck was I doing replacing the flat tires with $300 ones when I could have been replacing them with $140 tires? What is wrong with me? Lesson learned.

I feel like I have been learning a lot of life lessons recently. I feel like I have learned my lesson with every purchase I have ever made in life because it seems like they have gotten me to this point where I have to work full time instead of staying home with my little boy. We have made so many bad decisions in life and now we are paying the price. I just can't believe I wasn't smarter. All we can do is make better decisions going forward.

On a positive note, we have one last payment on my hospital bill and we are finally done with all payments for our medical bills from when Xander was born. Kinda sad it took 14 months to pay off, but we had crappy insurance and we had to pay more than $3500 out of pocket. Booooo.

I am starting to get worried about our Jeep because it is making awful noises. I think the reason for the noises is because of how cold it has been but the emergency break light is on all the time now even though I don't have the actual break on. I can't believe how bad it sounds some times but I am hoping it gets better as it gets warmer out.

I finally took the trees down today and put all the Christmas stuff away. I only didn't do it before now because all of the boxes were up in the attic and it is really hard to get up there so I had to wait until Todd had a weekend off to help me. Because of the holidays, this is the first weekend he had off so not only did we take the Christmas stuff down but we also got a LOT of other cleaning done today. I actually feel really accomplished. I still have some laundry to put away but overall, we have a much cleaner house.

I suppose that's about it for now. I have a pretty boring life but it is my life! What can I say? :)

New blog title....again

2010-01-03T15:15:00.002-06:00

I started with a name for my blog (A day in the life) and then discovered there were a bunch of blogs with the same name already. I then decided to change it, but couldn't come up with a name I liked so I used 'it is what it is' as a temporary title. I never liked that as a title for my blog so I decided to come up with a new one again. I think I am going to leave this one as this is a mental attitude I would like to adopt. Though everything in my life may not be perfect, I still have many thing to be happy about and thankful for. I could focus on the negative, but there are so many happy moments in my life that I ought to focus on them.

I am sure everyone has many things to be happy about and thankful for and I encourage you to focus on those things!

My 2010 non-resolution list

2010-01-01T20:08:00.007-06:00

Well, everyone is talking about the new year and their 'goals'. I hate resolutions because I never seem to accomplish them. I decided this year to make a list of things I would like to do. I guess it is pretty much the same as resolutions but I guess I am just not calling them that.

Here it goes:

1. Be healthy. I am using this broad term instead of saying I want to lose a certain amount of weight. A specific number can be scary and feel overwhelming.

2. Finish Xander's 2 scrapbooks by the end of April. This will be tough since I am working full time now. I really want to get them done though because they are supposed to be for his first year of life and I am only on month 6!

3. Have a garage sale in the spring. We have so much junk to get rid of, I just want to sell what we can and then I can donate the rest.

4. Reorganize the shelves in the family room. They are just a big mess right now with no rhyme or reason to them.

5. Have two lower car payments. We are thinking about getting different cars with lower payments and also better gas mileage than the Jeep.

6. Read 10 books that aren't chick lit. I love to read but never seem to find the time. I would like to read about 10 classic books this year including Moby Dick.

7. Buy a piano. I will have to get a used one to start with since they are so much, but I played piano growing up and would love to have one and be able to play it again.

8. Get the backyard all seeded and the deck finished off. Ever since we tore out the pool, the backyard has been a mess. I want it to finally look nice.

9. On that same note, I want to have the deck stained this year.

10. Make a few homemade items for Xander. I want to make him a pair or two of cloth shoes as well as a blanket or toy or a shirt or something like that. I love the idea of making homemade stuff but just don't take the time to do it.

11. Make a mini Christmas scrapbook. I have the small album already but need to print the pictures and put it together.

12. Go ice skating. I love to ice skate though I am not good at it. I want to get a sitter for Xander and take Todd either this winter or next.

13. Get Xander's toys organized. He has so many right now and a full toybox so we stack them up against the entertainment center when we want to clean up. It is absurd how many toys he has and we need to get rid of a few and store the rest better.

14. Start running again. I did the couch to 5k plan last year and made it to week 7. It was hard but very rewarding and I want to start jogging/running again on a regular basis as well as doing other workouts. This goal is directly related to goal #1. This is a huge goal. Both Todd and I want to eat healthier and work out more and make it a daily habit to be healthy.

15. Get my series 24 if I am still at my current job. I want to get this done within the next 4-5 months. It will take me at least 2 months to study but I want to get it done as soon as possible as I get a raise for doing it!

16. Get my hospital bill paid off from having Xander. Believe it or not, we still have a small balance left so this should be the easiest goal to accomplish as I will make my last payment soon.

17. Get a new kitchen table. We hate ours because it is glass and shows every little fingerprint. We got this as a wedding gift and loved it for a while but it is not our favorite anymore and we would love to find a basic square table with four chairs that is inexpensive. We have a rectangular table right now and we don't really have room for it either. It needs to be a square table to fit.

18. Get bedroom furniture. We have horrible bedroom furniture right now - two mismatched dressers, an old night stand and no headboard or foot rails. Our mattress sits on just the floor frame right now and it looks bad. I want a matching dresser, chest and night stand and either a matching headboard or something that at least coordinates.

19. Get a new kitchen sink. This is something I have wanted for a while and we will probably only get it if we know we are staying in Omaha for a while longer.

20. New bathroom faucets. The bathrooms have the original faucets and are about 12 years old. They are the most basic ones you can find and I would like upgrading slightly.

21. Change all the doorknobs from gold to silver. I hate gold accents so I would love to get the doorknobs all switched to silver. I think we have 9 doorknobs to change so maybe we will do it 1-2 at a time.

I think that is all for now. I am sure I will think of some other things this month and maybe I will post again later with more. I think this is enough to work on for now. I am hoping this year will be better than last in certain ways. I know a lot of how the year turns out is up to me and my attitude towards it but there are also things that could go our way and make the year easier.

I hope everyone else has a blessed new year!

A very homemade Christmas

2009-12-29T21:10:00.006-06:00

I am so impressed by my sister in law Jen's craftiness. She made all homemade gifts for Xander this year and I couldn't be more thrilled with each of them! Some people would think - ugh, homemade gifts are so boring. Not true! The things she made are so awesome and I am very thankful for each of them!

Here are the pictures of the things she made.

Curious George blanket
I realize this isn't as hard to make as some things- she just sewed down the edges of fleece fabric. But it was still such a kind thought because we like Curious George stuff for Xander since he loves his stuffed George so much. Plus it was homemade and a better deal than buying a blanket pre-made. I just love it and Xander is already sleeping with it at night!

Adorable little brown shoes
These are similar to Robeez but with the benefit of not being so expensive! I guess in my case they were free but she has told me they don't cost much to make either - just time!

Homemade letter book

This is seriously one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. It is a beautiful book and has the letters a-z with something representing each letter on each page. This had to have been so time consuming! It is something I know we will treasure forever!

This adorable long sleeved shirt with a sewn on fabric tie

Jen's son Sam was wearing one of these on Christmas and I thought it was so cute and then we opened Xander's gifts and there was one for Xander! So cute!

How fun are these gifts? I am so thankful for each and every one! What fun gifts to get!

Let it snow....again!!!

2009-12-27T19:21:00.004-06:00

Oh man. My last post was about the ridiculous amount of snow we got and here I am again writing about the snow! We were so lucky to come home to all of this snow on Christmas day. When we came home the snow was so deep in our driveway that we wouldn't have even made it in with the Jeep! We had to park in our neighbors driveway until we could scoop out the driveway enough to get the car in the garage. When we knocked on our neighbors door to ask if it was ok to park there, he offered to help us clear our driveway with his snowblower. We would have spent hours scooping but were able to avoid it because of our neighbors generosity! Here are some more pictures of what we were dealing with!

Let it snow!

2009-12-13T21:15:00.007-06:00

This last week, we got about 10 inches here in Omaha. Some areas got a little more around here but needless to say we were up to our ears in snow! We also had some huge drifts as you can see in some of the pictures. Also, check out our crazy dog loving the snow in some of the pictures.

I didn't go to work on Wednesday so we had a family day and Todd and I spent a good part of the day shoveling snow. It was pretty but a pain to deal with! I had to leave super early for work the next two days after it snowed because the driving was so slow!

We took lots of pictures of the snow and here they are!

Cousins

2009-12-05T14:02:00.003-06:00

Last week for Thanksgiving, we went to my mom's house in Lincoln where we had the whole family together. My mom wanted a picture of her 4 grandchildren for her Christmas card so we took a few. Here are a few of the ones that turned out ok. None of them are great, but that is what happens when you have 4 little kids, all under 2 1/2. Enjoy!

living the dream.....or not

2009-12-03T22:26:00.004-06:00

Oh man. I have no free time anymore since I started my job and it totally sucks! I used to have all the time in the world every day and loved it. I could do what I wanted when I wanted and had no one to answer to but my husband. And even then, he wasn't very demanding.

Now, I live and die by the clock and a very strict schedule. I hate it. I hate working and there is no nice way to say it. It is probably because of the type of job I am doing. I know I enjoy working in the financial industry, even if the stock market tanked last year and everybody is mad they lost so much money. I love the technical aspect of it and the numbers and rules and such.

I know already that the job I am doing right now is something I won't last long in. If I have to stay in the position I am in now, I will quit or get fired. I am going to do my best in the job I am in and try to get promoted to a different job within the company. I think I am going to try to get more licenses so I look more attractive to other departments so they will hire me. Or, heaven forbid, I could end up looking elsewhere for a job once I get my Series 24. I am just certain that if I have to do this job any longer than 5-6 months, I am literally going to go crazy.

I'll be honest. Customer service type jobs are just not my thing. Too bad the last few years that I have worked have ALL been in a customer service job in one form or another. I am done with it. I just can't handle it anymore. I know I shouldn't complain because I just spent the last 11 months not working and staying home with my son. But unfortunately for me, 11 months was not long enough of a break!

It is so odd to me because I have read several random blogs where the women talk about how boring their job is - how they never have anything to do or nothing worthwhile and they get bored so easily. If only I had that type of job! I am the kind of girl that could fill a lot of free time. I can waste time with the best of them and I would always find something to do. I wish I had that kind of time on my hands! I just wonder how much these women get paid. Surely it can not be that much to literally do nothing all day. I have so much to do each day that I can barely get it all done! I would kill to have a job where I had the chance to get bored!

It is just strange to me how people end up in the jobs they do. Obviously, a lot of people end up in a job because that is what they went to school for. But sometimes, people who have a college degree don't even do a job in the field they have a degree in. Also, people like me who don't have a degree just find whatever they can that pays decent and try to build on that. I got into the financial industry just by luck at the beginning and I realized I liked it ended up being good at it too. If I had gone to college, I doubt finance would have been what I wanted to major in. I think it would have been something more like the medical field. Too bad I made the poor choice of not going to college. Although I will say one last thing. Even without a college degree, I was making more at my age then my husband who has a college degree was at the same age. And I am even a female and females tend to get paid less! My last job before having Xander spoiled me in the salary field because anything less than what I made there seems like nothing.

Whatever.

Xander is 1!

2009-11-19T19:55:00.008-06:00

Gosh, I think if you ever read my blog, you can tell I haven't been on here much at all. I have had no time to write since I started my job. I just finished my fifth week of work and I am just still not used to it and I haven't settled into a good schedule yet. I think my schedule will be changing once training is over so I didn't want to get too used to my schedule. Anyway, this is going to be a long one since it has been so long so just fair warning.

Xander's first birthday was yesterday! I cannot believe my baby is 1 already! It is so fun to see him change but it is a little sad too that the first year seemed to go by so fast. I am excited though to see how much he changes this next year. He isn't walking yet but can stand for a few seconds, walks behind his push toy and cruises along the furniture with ease. He can't say many words yet but he can imitate us when we say 'mama' and 'dada'. The other fun thing he just started doing is waving. I am hoping he will be walking by Christmas so the family can see him doing it. If not, oh well - he will do it eventually!

His party went really well and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The theme was 'Curious George' since he has a stuffed George that he loves so much. We had the party at noon and served lunch. We got a really yummy cake and Xander had his own little smash cake with a '1' on it. We ordered the cake from The Cake Gallery here in Omaha after a few recommendations from my co-workers. I told them I needed to order a cake and several people said they have the best cakes in town. We ordered a cake with Curious George on it and when we ordered the cake, they gave us a free smash cake with our order since it was his first birthday. I will definitely get a cake from there again in the future.

Xander got some fun toys for his birthday and he has already played with several of them. He got some fun bath toys too which I know he will love. The kid already likes to take baths so the toys will make it even more fun for him!

I can't believe his party came and went so fast. It seems like I was planning the party for a long time and it seemed like it was far off for a long time then suddenly it was here! It's weird that he is now 1 and no longer my little baby. I guess now it is time to write the thank you notes!

On to another subject - my new job. I don't know any nice way to say this - I don't really like it. I think part of it is the fact that I don't want to have to work full time at all and I resent it. Part of it is that I don't enjoy answering phone calls at all. I am so over any job in customer service and though this isn't directly customer service, it is pretty similar since it requires I answer the phone all day and help the caller with whatever they need. The nice thing is, it is not the end customer that I am talking to.

I guess this would be a good time to explain what I do exactly. I work at a Broker/Dealer firm. If you don't know anything about the financial industry then you may not get it but we are the middle man between a financial advisor and a clearing firm. Again, those are terms you may not get if you don't work in the financial industry. My company basically makes it possible to do the everyday stuff you need to do to be a financial advisor and help your clients with their accounts. Anyway, I don't have to talk to clients about their accounts (or at least not very often) but I talk to the advisors when they have procedural questions. I have my 7 and 63 so technically I can place trades but I don't at my current job. I already know that after I have been there a while and hopefully gotten my series 24 then I am going to apply for a job in compliance/anti-money laundering. I know I would enjoy a job like that a lot more than the one I have now. I will need to get a few more licenses but you don't have to have them before you get the job, you just have to be able to get them soon after you start the job. I know after taking my 7 that those tests are hard, but doable if you study enough. I am just counting down the days until I can move on to another job within the company. I figure a good goal is to be out of my current job within 6 months. I am not sure I will be able to stand it much longer than that.

I rejoined weight watchers about a month ago and though I lost a total of about 7 pounds since I started, I feel like I have either gained most or at least some of it back by now. I really haven't been following the plan and I am not sure why. This coming week, I decided I am getting back on track, even with Thanksgiving. I look at it this way - it is only one day and even if I eat what I want, I can get right back to it once it is over. I also know that the food you eat at Thanksgiving doesn't have to be that bad if you don't make it. I know turkey is lean and having a small portion of potatoes and maybe some corn isn't so bad. I just have to limit how much I eat and not eat dessert at all or have a very small serving. Even if I give in a little more than I should, it won't ruin my diet forever. I know it is going to be harder to eat well since the holidays are coming, but I think it is a choice and I have to choose to eat well period. I know I am the only one who can decide for myself what and how much I am going to eat. I also decided it is time to start working out again. I just want to feel strong and fit even if I am not skinny. I feel like I have no muscle anymore and lifting heavy stuff is a lot harder than it used to be. My kiddo is not getting any smaller and lifting him is becoming harder so I want to be able to lift him without it being so difficult.

I have already started Christmas shopping and I even wrapped a few gifts last night. I have a lot more shopping to do, but most of it will have to wait until next weekend when we get our paychecks. I am going to try to be at least 75% done after next weekend so I won't have much left and have to feel stressed about it. I wanted to get some of the Christmas stuff out this weekend so we can start getting it put up, but Todd works later tonight so I don't know if he will be in any mood to get up into the attic and get stuff out for me. I might just have to wait until this week or next weekend. I am excited to get the Christmas stuff out and put up since I love, love, love Christmas! I can't wait to decorate but I am going to have to be more careful this year since Xander is into everything. I think I am going to try to decorate pretty close to how I normally do it and just try to teach him not to touch, but I do have to think about safety also. We will just have to see what happens. I also don't know what to get for the kiddo for Christmas. He is still too young to remember what we get him and he already has so many toys that I am thinking about either getting him nothing or getting him something small or even something practical like clothes.

I have a bunch of stuff to do today and it is already 11 and I have gotten nothing done. I need to get in the shower since I have several errands to run. It sucks because the weekends always seem so short and go by so fast that I am never able to get everything done that I want to get done. I know I am the one who sets my own standards for my house and my life and what I want to get done, but I feel like I never do everything I want to do. I just hate having only 2 days to get everything done that I want to get done. I guess most of the world is in that same boat so I should quit complaining.

Here are some pictures from Xander's birthday. I wish that we would have taken more pictures. I basically did everything at the party so Todd had to take pictures and he didn't take as may as I would have. Here are a few that we did get. He is getting to be so big!

The new job

2009-10-30T19:03:00.006-05:00

Man, I haven't been writing much on here at all because I have been so busy, or at least have felt like I am so busy. I swear I have no time to do anything in the evenings anymore since getting a job.

I guess I will start there. I got a job and started two weeks ago. The job is similar to my old job, but they pay is a lot less. That is ok though because the job is easier too with less stress. The other thing is, there is a chance to get a couple of raises in the next year anyway with passing some tests. I think I am going to go for any raises I can since I don't want to work forever, especially if we have another baby and the more money I make, the faster we get to our financial goals. Anyway, so far it's going ok. I met a girl who started at the same time as me that I really like. I get along with her really well and it is fun to have someone to talk to so the days go by faster. She is the best thing about the job so far - I don't think I am going to love the actual job I do that much but I have a plan.

My last job was on the phones all the time and this one is too. My plan is to work in this job only as long as I have to, no longer. I want to get more licenses (24 and 65) and pass their own testing they have for employees and then move on to compliance. That is my ultimate goal - did I mention I work at a financial institution? Anyway, the job I am doing is pretty much the only one at the company that is a phone job. There is a whole department of the same job I do, but I want to move on to something that is not on the phones. Customer service is not my passion - my passion would be something more analytical. I like policies and rules and enforcing them and I think a compliance job would be awesome.

Xander started going to daycare last week and he seems to be doing well with it so far. He is going to our neighbors so that is reassuring for us. I know lots of people take their kids to a daycare center, but in some ways they seem like kid factories. I just don't want to have to use a daycare center if I don't have to. I may have to at some point in the future but would like to avoid it as long as possible.

My birthday was last week and Todd and I went to dinner and brought Xander along. He did really well and we enjoyed a nice meal. Todd's birthday is this weekend and we also have Halloween tomorrow night. It will be fun this year since Xander is almost a year and we are going to dress him up and also get together with the neighbors after trick or treating for some dinner. Also, my side of the family is coming up on Sunday for lunch to celebrate Todd's and my birthday. It should be a fun weekend, but I am sure like every weekend, it is going to go by super fast now that I am working. Booo.

Nothing else new with us overall. We are amazed that Xander's first birthday is in three weeks! I am not even done planning his party yet so I need to work on that for real!

Busy busy

2009-10-21T18:57:00.004-05:00

Man, has it really been that long since my last post? It's not like my life is that interesting but since getting a job, I feel like I haven't had any time to do anything! My house is a mess, I haven't worked out this week and Xander's room is even getting messy and I always clean it! I haven't folded his laundry that has been clean for four days and my own clothes are piling up on my dresser.

It doesn't really feel real yet that I have a job. Probably because I am just in training now and that isn't really work. It is also a horrible feeling in general because I am not with my kiddo every day now. The nice thing is, this week my kiddo is only at daycare 2 1/2 of the 5 days. We actually found just about the ideal daycare setup. My neighbor right across the street asked if she could watch our son. She has three kids, one of which was born about a month ago. She wanted to stay at home, but needed a little income to justify it, so she asked to watch our son since she knew I was going back to work. It was perfect for us since we were looking for daycare and it's also cheaper than a center. We also really like them so we trust them with our son. So far it has gone well and she said he has been pretty good.

I am not sure how I feel about working in general, but I know that it is something I don't want to do forever if I don't have to, especially if we have another baby. If we don't end up having another kid, then I will probably end up working long term. I am glad I got to stay home with Xander as long as I did, but I am still so sad about not being home with him anymore. I wish I could have found a work at home job, but nothing really seemed to be out there so for now I am working full time.

I am just hoping this weekend I can get caught up on everything and even get stuff planned for next week so my life isn't so chaotic and disorganized. We'll see how it goes.

Growing so fast!

2009-10-11T15:07:00.003-05:00

Just thought I would share a video of my kiddo climbing the steps. I have no idea if he is fast learning for his age as far as steps go but it amazes me that he can already do this becuase it seems like he was just born! He is getting close to his first birthday! Crazy!

The Huskers, a job and a few other things.

2009-10-09T22:35:00.004-05:00

Well, I have been lazy about writing anything recently and I also feel like NOTHING interesting is going on in my life other than crappy stuff and day to day boring stuff.

That is, nothing has been interesting until the last few days.

I had an interview on Wednesday. The Huskers came from behind for an awesome win last night. Today I got offered the job I interviewed for on Wednesday.

There you have it. The only things interesting going on right now.

I don't want to get too into the job thing since technically it isn't final yet. If it does work out, I have probably one week to find daycare for Xander. That makes me a little nervous, but I am sure it can be done. I also need to get just a few new articles of clothing to wear to work so I don't end up wearing the same thing every day to work!

I also feel weird about probably having only a little over a week left to do whatever I want to do. It is weird to have such a freedom to do whatever you want most of the time (within reason of course since I have the kiddo to take care of and watch). I can no longer run to the store any time during the day, wear pajamas half of the day and not shower until 3 pm. I can't sleep in anymore or not put on makeup and not do my hair. It is weird how everything I do every day is going to change. I am very, very sad to put my child in daycare. I know people do it every day, but I still feel very guilty about it.

I don't think I have a lot more to say about the issue right now, so I guess that's it.

Well, except this picture. I think it says it all!