Life Lately

Hey there!

Remember me???

Yeah... I kinda fell off the face of Blogland for awhile... it's been crazy, busy, stressful and chaotic around these here parts lately.

Here's what I've been up to the last few weeks:

I dyed my hair red...

Although the 1st time we put box color on it, well, it only took at my roots and various patches around my hair. We put other stuff on it but it still wasn't great, but acceptable to go to work with the next day and then I had to go to my family's hairstylist to get it fixed. I was going for brown with reddish tones to it but yeah... it's a tad too red for my liking. Oh well, it'll fade.

I went to my 10 year high school reunion. Just typing that makes me feel old. My graduating class had like 54 in it, 12 showed up, most with spouses or dates. That's not too bad... it was definitely interesting as we started out with half a room, that filled up with people eating dinner and then a Soul band started playing and we got pushed out to the lobby so we could hear each other. Some people were amusing, showing up to compete for most successful only to learn that most of us are pretty down to earth with regular ol' jobs, married and have young kids. One guy in my class is a millionaire already, being the co-founder of a health and fitness company and does motivational speaking for USANA and has been on Dr. Phil. Another guy was nominated for an Emmy for journalism broadcasting. We have quite a handful of successful people in our class actually... one guy I spoke with though seemed a bit sadden that he was still a bachelor with no kids and felt like he was in the minority.

I saw one of my favorite bands - Static-X - live for the 4th time, at a smaller bar downtown here. It was so small that I was literally within arms reach of the bassist the entire time they were on stage and was within 10-20ft of frontman Wayne Static the entire time too. The band geared up right next to us too - we were sectioned off by their equipment boxes. It was AWESOME to be THAT CLOSE to one of my favorite bands. I also caught the drumstick at the end - while having my hand out to fist bump Wayne as he walked past on his way off the stage the drumstick landed right in my reach and I caught it with my other hand. Some dude and his gf were grabbing onto it and pulling though so I pulled my fist away from Wayne just as he was about to walk by so I'd have both hands on it - they weren't taking it from me. Hubby got decked in the mouth by the chick that was rockin' out next to me the whole time though. The next morning my photo of the band gearing up next to us got retweeted by the band on Twitter, as did hubby's tweet about how he was bleeding, sore and now deaf after going to the show, lol... so cool! I've always seen them before at the House of Blues in Chicago so this was quite a different experience seeing them in a smaller venue and being able to be that close to them. I was right down front and the crowd, being older, didn't get too out of control so I was able to rock out without having to worry about getting crushed by people or having moshers thrown into me (a mosh pit broke out a few times but security got it under control quickly). I'll definitely be seeing more bands there in the future if it means I can be that close to them!

We went to the nearby apple orchard for the 1st time this season. It was fun - we let Jay lead the way in the wire fence maze... yeah, don't recommend that! He'd get to a dead end and come halfway back only to stop and pick up rocks and dirt and mulch, lol... We got his annual measurement there though - he's grown half a foot since last year according to the chart.

Jay has started throwing tantrums left and right now too - welcome to the terrible 2s! Last week we were watching The Office instead of his shows on Sprout, so he threw a tantrum the entire 30 minutes it was on - thrashing and rolling around on the floor, kicking and throwing his toys, screaming, crying... the works! The second it was over and we put Sprout back on he was completely fine and smiley again. That stinker!

Hubby got a seasonal job with Best Buy Mobile! We were on our way out to the apple orchard when he got a call about an interview so we turned the car around, he ran in to change and Jay napped in the car while I waited for him during his interview. It went really well as they hired him on the spot and he starts orientation this weekend. It's only seasonal for now, but we'll see how it goes, maybe they'll keep him on after the holidays!

And that's pretty much the excitement we've had around here, aside from the stress of my father-in-law still living with us and basically trashing the house as he goes as he doesn't pick up after himself (we're sooooo tired and fed up with it - I'm about ready to move back in with my parents until he's gone, cept I really don't want to rock Jay's world anymore than it already has been. I don't really know what to do anymore, I'm on the verge of losing it).

Bloggers Coast to Coast

Not gonna lie, I'm a tad jealous of my Texas blogger friends as they're all pretty closing and get the chance to meet up from time to time, participate in local stuff together, etc.

I've looked/Googled for bloggers in the Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin area, but haven't really had much luck (the majority of my search results are the professional blogs of our local newspaper reporters - not the kind of bloggers I'm looking for, obviously!).

So you can imagine I was thrilled when I saw that Angie made a post recently about Shane's Bloggers Coast to Coast link-up! Apparently there's other bloggers out there that seem to have the same problem as me - there seems to be no other bloggers in your area! Well thanks to Shane's link-up, I found a handful of bloggers within 90 miles or so of me! How exciting!

So if you think you're alone in your neck of the woods of Blogland, check out the link-up and see what other bloggers exist in your area! Maybe build some new friendships!

This is "The Symbol" along the river
walking path. No one really seems to know
what it's supposed to be or mean, but
whoever the artist was that scrapped
this thing together sure was a genius!

If you're visiting from the link-up, I'm in Rockford, IL - approximately 90 miles west of Chicago and just south of the Wisconsin border. It's made Forbes' list of 10 most dangerous cities 2 years in a row now, but it's home for me. I've lived here most of my life aside from when we moved to a small town called Malone in upstate New York due to my dad's job 2 weeks after I was born but we moved back when I was 2 (again, due to my dad's job). I also lived for about 6 years 30 miles south in DeKalb when I attended NIU for college and stayed down there awhile after graduation until a job brought me back to good ol' Rockford.

Rockford is also the home of rock band Cheap Trick (you know their songs "I Want You to Want Me," "Surrender," "Dream Police," and many others over the last 3 or 4 decades), Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, and Jody Benson (aka Ariel from Disney's classic "The Little Mermaid").

Random Ramblings

I finally finished "The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making" by Catherynne M. Valente. I originally won the book last summer in a giveaway on @amy_geek's blog and while I did enjoy it, it just took me awhile to get around to finishing it as I had a bunch of other books I wanted to get through and kinda worked on it in between them. Since the new Sookie Stackhouse book doesn't come out til May 1st, after finishing the Hunger Games Trilogy I decided to finish young Miss September's adventure in Fairyland! And it was a really cute book! It has a bit of an Oz feel to it, as September is a young girl who is one day whisked off to the magical Fairyland! Upon there, she loses her shadow, meets a witch and accepts a quest to get back the witch's magic spoon from the mean Marquess who currently rules Fairyland. She also makes friends with a friendly Wyvern and a blue Marid named Saturday. Her Key follows her, but is always a few steps behind and her green smoking jacket keeps her company as well. This book is full of adventure and a pretty easy read (just under 250 pages) and most of all - it's fun and whimsical! It also pays homage to both Alice in Wonderland and The Chronicles of Narnia. If you like fantasy novels, this is a great little gem to pick up! And I'm so excited that a sequel is in the works too!

So, as I wait for the next Sookie Stackhouse book to come out, I am currently reading the rough draft/1st edit of hubby's novel he's currently working on as he put the 1st 9 chapters on my Kindle app - he's hoping to have it up for sale on Kindle later this summer and you bet your bottom dollar I will be plugging it! He calls it a "gunpowder fantasy" as it is a medieval fantasy but there's gunpowder involved instead of just swordplay (or so I gather). Feel free to check out his blog/site for more details!

We recently rented "In Time" from Redbox. It stars Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Olivia Wilde and the guy that plays douchey Pete on Mad Men. Hubby wanted to see this one in theaters, but since having Jay... seeing movies in the theater anymore has become a rarity (which is kinda hard to believe as there was once a time when we would go multiple times a week! LOL). The premise is interesting - in a futuristic world, time is the currency, kept track of by a digital clock on your arm that starts counting down the day you turn 25 and you get 1 year. How you spend that year is entirely up to you - you can earn more time by working, having generous friends and family members, and by winning at gambling, or you can waste away your time on drinking and other vices. Once your clock stops though, you die by what looks like an instant fatal heart attack. Oh and you stop aging once you turn 25 too, so there's no telling who is really 26 and who is 50 or even 100! In the ghetto people are used to living day by day while the rich have acquired years and years of time. JT's and Amanda's characters become like a Bonnie and Clyde futuristic Robin Hoods as they set out to tip the economic scales, giving the poor a chance by taking years from the rich. It was pretty good! Was a little weird seeing Amanda Seyfried with a shorter, red bob though - used to her having long blonde hair!

My BFF from college called off her wedding this past weekend (it was supposed to be in August). It's sad, but she said it was mutual as after talking, they both agreed that neither of them were really feeling it much anymore. I guess it's for the best though and I totally understand.

Jay just gets smarter and smarter... he knows how to work plugs! He unplugged the computer cords and promptly looked to see if it turned the TV off. When it didn't, he eventually went over to the outlet strip that the TV is hooked up to and started turning the big orange button off and on. Off and on... now he knows he's not supposed to be playing with the cords - when he unplugged the computer ones, he tried hiding in the corner when hubby went over to pull him out, lol... he also knows how to work the garage door button, wanting to press it whenever we come and go via the garage so we let him. And the other day he was trying to stack empty boxes from our groceries to climb! He also came up with a new "game" while we were shopping last week, where he grabs either my thumbs or my pinkies or pointer fingers and "makes" me clap my hands, lol... it's pretty funny and he's been doing it quite often when we're together, cracking up hysterically because he thinks he's controlling me, lol...

Jay is also the screaming kid in the nursery at church now - 2 weeks running! I don't know why he does it - he's been there before... we pulled into the parking lot though and he started whining a little (he's getting good about recognizing places we go to). Then I took him into the early toddler room and instead of handing him off to one of the childcare workers I walked him in and tried to get him occupied with some toys. He wasn't having it. He cried as soon as we got through the gate and got even more worked up whenever I put him down. Eventually one of the workers came over and tried to help and took over so I could go meet up with hubby in the lobby. We went to pick him up after and he was sobbing, although they said one of the other workers got him to calm down for a little bit. Poor guy - I don't know what to do... he knows I always come get him. Separation anxiety sucks and he's been extra clingy and snuggly to me this week too (he learned he can latch onto mommy's leg). He's also been getting upset when hubby leaves for work - both in the morning and at night.

I drank 2 cups of coffee today - the Van Houtte French Vanilla light roast. I learned that if I put enough of Coffeemate's French Vanilla Caramel creamer in it and enough sugar it hides the icky coffee taste I hate! I was still super tired though and ended up taking a half hour nap - wtf?? I thought coffee was supposed to keep you awake... O.o

Hubby got quite drunk Sunday night, if you couldn't tell by my tweets or Facebook posts. He had (what we thought was) a little bit of Tennessee Whiskey left and he brought home some other type of alcohol the other night. He keeps piling his bottles of alcohol up on the kitchen counter though, despite us having a bar downstairs, and I told him he needed to finish the whiskey up soon as it was taking up too much space. I figured he'd make several mixed drinks out of it over the course of the next few days... I didn't expect him to chug it! By the time Game of Thrones was over Sunday night he was acting a bit... goofy. And kept drinking. It was amusing but annoying at the same time... and omg he has no filter when he's been drinking that much as I learned some TMI stuff about family members I would rather erase from my mind! We did have a nice conversation and some snuggle time as he started to come down from his goofiness.

I finally made an appointment to get the massive moles on my back checked-out and possibly removed. The other night, my bra was just rubbing against one of them soooo bad it still hurt for a good bit after taking it off! I should have had them looked at and removed awhile back, but I never got around to making the call. And sadly, the soonest they can get me in, since I'm a new patient, is July 5th! Nearly 3 months away! Ugh... I was hoping to get them off much sooner than that... I have 2 really big ones on my back that I've had forever and all my doctors know about them and have taken note of them, keeping an eye on them at my check-ups, however I never really noticed just how big and ugly they were until last fall when I noticed them in the mirror. Seriously, I'm not just wanting those 2 removed for cosmetic reasons - they're dangerous, being all big and one is raised too. I also have one on the right side of my head, along my hairline by my ear... okay that one is more cosmetic, as I hate it and always bump or notice it when I'm doing something with my hair or putting my glasses on - I 1st noticed it in Jr. High and for awhile thought it was a zit so I would try popping it before I came to the conclusion it was indeed a mole. Hopefully these 3 are easily able to be removed (the one in my hairline might not be though, as I would prefer not to have my hair cut or shaved in that spot to remove it) and none of them are cancerous!

Speaking of mini surgeries... my father-in-law is having surgery on the 26th to have his dialysis tube moved from his neck to his arm - apparently only 50% of those that have it in their neck survive more than a year so when the opportunity to have it moved to a "safer" spot was made available he decided to go for it! Everything should go fine, but keep him in your thoughts and prayers regardless that day!

And I think that's pretty much all the random catch-up ness for now!

Payday = Shopping Day!

Today was a good day, in my opinion.

Granted, I was up til 4am cleaning the house and Jay had me back up at 1030am, only taking a 30min early afternoon nap (which I often take with him as I don't get as much sleep as I should), but we had a pretty good day!

I had some errands I wanted to run today since it was payday as well as some grocery shopping I needed to do later with hubby. Jay ate his afternoon meal (chicken & apples puree and a particle bottle) around 3pm and just as I was getting him strapped in his car seat carrier the doorbell rang - it was hubby's employee *finally* delivering our Cowboys jerseys after giving us all the runaround about them for weeks now! So excited though!!! I've never actually had an official NFL jersey so I was excited that hubby finally got one (as our anniversary gift, since my HTC Thunderbolt he got me back in June was an early birthday present!). It fits pretty well, I'd say and I look forward to wearing it on Monday as we watch the Cowboy's home opener!

Jay and I went out to run our errands - our first stop being Target, as I needed to pick up Jay's wipes there (720 wipes - 9 packs - for $13!), see if they had any of the meat & veggie purees left on clearance (I cleaned out the apple & chicken ones they had last week, lol...) and I wanted to see if they had any good handheld vacuums for sale before picking up the one I saw at Bed Bath and Beyond (I don't really have a vacuum to vacuum our stairs - oops!). Got the wipes and then checked the baby food. They didn't have much left in the ones we buy but I learned why they've all been on clearance - Gerber is *finally* putting the 2nd foods meat purees in the 2pk plastic containers that cost ~$1! Yay! We checked Walmart tonight and they don't have them yet, but at least I know Target does (even though their purees are about .10 more). I also found a Dirt Devil handheld for $16 that'll work, but I used a $13 gift card so it's like I got it for only $3! Woot! I also got Jay a plastic orange pumpkin bucket for trick or treat that he LOVED - he didn't want to let it go for the lady to scan it at the register and then he threw a fit in the car when he dropped it while I was driving, lol...

Next stop was Old Navy, as they have their Buy 1 item, get a 2nd for 75% off this weekend! I got 4 different colored 3/4-sleeved shirts for $22.

We walked next door to Kohl's when I spent quite a bit, but got some good deals and basically bought myself a new winter wardrobe (I was very pregnant last winter and I needed some nice, warm clothes to wear to work this year since we have a dress code). Here's some of what I got:

At work we have to wear black on top of anything else we wear so I thought this Candie's poncho top would look cute over one of the 3/4-sleeved tops I bought at Old Navy

This cowl-neck sweater is by It's Our Time and I've bought a few in the past and LOVE them, although my old ones have shrunk and gotten a bit worn. I bought 2 - one in this grey color and another in black so I can wear one to work!

 

This brown hooded sweatercoat I thought would like nice for casual fall wear or just hanging out around the house, wearing a cami or other shirt underneath it. It's very comfy!

I saw this when I was there the other day and fell in love with it - it's going to be my Christmas top for this year, and we're coordinating red for our family Christmas photo this year too. I figured I could pair it with a pair of nice black pants.

I also bought a couple cami's in hunter green and bold purple as I love the SO brand cami's (they seem to fit me best - no offense, Old Navy!). I saved quite a bit as I learned I was shopping during their Kohl's "Power Hours" sale where you get an extra 10% off each item and I applied for the Kohl's charge card and even though I didn't get approved (yay for buying a house taking a big hit on my credit! lol...) I still got 15% of my purchase just for trying!

After Kohl's we headed out to the mall and Jay fell asleep in the car for a bit for his late afternoon nap and fell back asleep once I moved him to his stroller.

We stopped in at work and lo and behold - we finally got in the baby boy black holiday vests I've been waiting for us to get! I also got him some socks on clearance and a couple long-sleeved graphic tees I've had my eye on for him but have been waiting for the price to drop back down to normal ($6).

I also stopped in to Bath and Body Works as I had a coupon to get a free item of my choice up to $13 if I spent $10, so I got 2 shower gels: Japanese Cherry Blossom and Black Raspberry Vanilla. I also really liked their Creamy Pumpkin candle scent, however I had to refrain from getting it as hubby, like I previously mentioned, isn't big on pumpkin.

We parked by JC Penny as the mall entrance by Sears doesn't have handicapped automatic doors and trying to get a stroller through a normal door is pain and a challenge. On the way in I saw a cute pair of shoes and decided to try them on on our way out. I wasn't a fan of how they looked, despite them being flats with a slight heel. I tried another pair on in which I liked the style, but wasn't a fan of them being straight flats (I need something with a little lift otherwise I feel like I'm walking flat on the ground which I hate when it comes to shoes). I told the salesman I'd think about them and he put them on hold for me - I need a pair of basic black shoes for work as it's getting too cold out for the crocs I wore this summer, I don't always feel like wearing my block heels, and it's not really weather to be wearing my boots yet.

After the mall we went home - Jay did very good up until the end when he started getting fussy as I was trying on the shoes.

Hubby had come home right before we left, feeling sick to his stomach with a horrible headache. Despite the headache, he seemed to be alright so we went out for the evening, getting sushi for dinner (although hubby couldn't eat much) in which Jay seemed to enjoy the little sauce cups as they're the perfect size for his hands! We went to Sam's Club to stock up on groceries, diapers, baby formula and pureed fruits, however it was already 815 and we didn't realize they closed at 830! We hauled butt around the store in record time though, getting most of what was on our list and saving the rest to pick up next door at Walmart.

We were home by 930 and I started putting everything away. Jay was crawling around in the kitchen when he decided to use his walker to pull himself to his knees... and then he pulled himself up to a standing position! I was sooo happy for him, but a little sad too as it means he's getting that much closer to being a "big boy" and doing things on his own!

All in all, despite hubby being a bit sick and only being able to keep liquids down, it was a pretty good day!

Ten on Tuesday: Misc 1

Once again, I'm posting another meme that Angie posted on her blog. Seems that's all I get to post on here most of the time! Doh! I'll be posting my progress on my 101 in 1001 list once May is over though!

1. Have you ever used Craigslist?
Several times - once I posted a missing ad for our area when Tiger took her 2 day walkabout outside and we couldn't find her. I got several responses of people who had suggestions and a few well wishes, but no one had seen her. Another time I posted trying to get some interest in my Mary Kay business. Most recently I purchased a retired Partylite Aroma Melts holder I really wanted as it matched our upstairs bathroom decor perfectly (ocean and dolphins) - by searching through Google I found a seller on Craigslist who was liquidating her Partylite business inventory and selling it off at cost so I got a great deal on it too!

2. Can you sew? 
No, I'm horrible at it - I can't even a sew a button on that stays on for more than a few days! Fortunately my mom's a seamstress though so I just go to her for all my sewing needs.

3. Do you pour syrup on your pancakes or dip your pancakes in the syrup?
I drown my pancakes in syrup. My ex's mom once made pancakes for us one day when I was out there for a few days just so she could witness the insane amount of syrup I apparently use. Even my ex thought it was crazy... fortunately, hubby drowns his pancakes just as much as I do and this habit of mine seems perfectly normal to him! LOL

4. Rain storms: Love them or hate them? 
I like them so long as it doesn't go on for days on end (like this past April!) and I'm able to watch from somewhere safe (ie: indoors) and not stuck out in them.

5. Do you like swimming? 
Swimming is just "meh" to me - I don't mind it, but it's not my favorite either and I don't really go out of my way to do it. I plan on taking Jay a few times this summer though with my friend and her 2 young kids - got his spf 50 waterproof sunscreen and some Little Swimmers he can wear since he's on the small side for the reusable swimpants.

6. What kind of drink do you order at Sonic? 
Cherry Limeade! Their diet ones have almost no carbs in them too which, while it obviously tasted diet, I was able to treat myself to them while pregnant and on my diabetes diet =)

7. Are you funny? 
I can be at times.

8. At what age will your kids get cell phones?
This is to be debated as my husband is alllllll into the cell phone stuff (hence him working for a Verizon retailer). He's positive our son will have one in grade school at some point as that'll be the norm by then (both my cousin and my sister in law got theirs when they were 11, going on 12), although I really don't think he needs one until maybe Jr. High if he's involved in after-school activities. I was 16 when I got one and that was just so if my car broke down or I was running late from some activity I was doing I could call my parents.

9. What’s your favorite vegetable?
Broccoli! I <3 Broccoli

10. Were you a Girl Scout? 
I didn't make it that far - I was a Brownie for a year or 2 though, which was the level below Girl Scout.

Weekly Update

This past week has been somewhat busy with some amusing moments as well!

Tuesday it was hot and sunny! Jay and I met up with my friend and her 1 year old and went walking for a bit at a nearby park around a mini-lake. Good thing too, as the lake offered a little bit of a nice breeze! It finally felt like summer though and I'm not sure Jay knew what to make of it as on this day he got to go out in just a onesie with no shoes or pants on bottom when usually when we go out he's all bundled up! I'm glad I bought the Huggies Little Swimmers spf 50 sunblock recently though, as it came in handy and kept Jay from getting burnt like I did! He was sweating a lot though while we were out so I went on a search to find him one of those water spray bottles with the fan on the end so I can take with us and mist him while we go for walks this summer.

It's a good thing that our basement is super freezing as it felt really nice when it was 90 degrees outside!

Also, I got my Mother's Day present - a trip to a nearby salon for a mani-pedi! And at this place you get a complimentary beverage too - neat! We're going to a wedding out of state on the 1st of July so I'll probably use it sometime the week before.

We think Jay might be going through his 3 month growth spurt as Thursday he literally slept almost all day - he didn't wake up in his crib til after noon, I picked him up and he fell back asleep and slept til almost 3pm before he woke up for food, sleeping on and off throughout the day only waking up to eat or have his diaper changed. He seemed more like himself on Friday, but I looked it up and they say increased in appetite and sleeping more than usual is a sign of a growth spurt coming and he's due for his 3 month one too... he does feel a bit heavier, as I've noticed I've had to shift him a bit when he's laying on me as my back or side starts to hurt if he's on it for too long. He's also eating 8oz bottles regularly now too - finishing off several in a day that we had to go out and buy another 3 pack of bottles so we have enough to get through the day! We weighed him on the scale by weighing daddy while holding him and then without - it showed that Jay added about 12lbs to daddy's weight, so we're assuming he's at least 12lbs by now. His 4 month check-up on June 8th - wouldn't be surprised if he's at least 13lbs by then!

Friday Jay had a few "scares." We decided to go out to a sit-down restaurant on Friday night for dinner so while I was in the bathroom putting on make-up hubby was watching Jay when I heard him shriek and scream and start crying out of nowhere! I rushed out of the bathroom to see what had happened and saw hubby trying to comfort Jay - hubby decided to play "Elmo Attack!" with Jay but Jay freaked out at the sight of his favorite stuffed animal lunging towards him, lol... poor kiddo! And at Texas Roadhouse, whenever it's someone's birthday they yell it out so everyone in the restaurant can hear and have everyone yell "yee-haw!" Well, it scared Jay, as the 1st time it happened, the birthday was just a few tables over from us. They started yelling out the person's information and his face scrunched up and he started wailing... I picked him up and held him to get him to calm down but then a few minutes later they announced another birthday in a nearby section and he started crying again. So yeah... guess he wasn't fond of that, although he didn't mind the rest of the loud atmosphere! LOL...

I had to quit the 30 Day Shred, unfortunately. It's a good work-out and it is doable, it's just I realized my knees are HORRIBLE! They can't handle the intense workout and I'm afraid if I kept up with it I'd really do something to damage them and make em even worse. So I'm watching my calories thanks to the My Fitness Pal smartphone app and I'm making an effort to go walking at least once a week if not more so I'm doing something. Plus wearing my Shape-Ups help too as I can feel those toning my legs and butt.

What else...

I started on Jay's baby book earlier this week, filling out the info so far. I need to get some pictures printed up for it though.

Also, Jay enjoyed sending text messages to people this week! I was holding him while we were hanging out in the basement on a hot afternoon and I had my phone in my hand too, which is a touchscreen. On occasion Jay likes to smack my phone, put me on who knows what screen and how he got there, lol... well this day he got it to open a text message to one of my friends. Seeing how he was hitting the screen of my phone with his hand I decided to just let him send messages to people (with a follow-up one that it was from him) and let him go to town punching in random characters! He had a blast and it provided us with some entertainment for a little while! He sent one to a few of my friends and daddy as well as both of his grandma's and my dad (as his other grandpa doesn't text). They all thought it was cute and amusing. Gotta love touchscreens!

I almost forgot last week that Jay "watches" TV now too, as I had TBS on late one night and a horror movie came on. It was about 5 minutes in when it hit me to see if he was asleep or awake, as I was on the laptop and had Jay propped up on some pillows on the couch laying next to me. I look over and sure enough, he's wide awake, staring at the TV, sucking on his binky and snuggling with Elmo. Fortunately nothing graphic had happened yet so I flipped the channel over to Disney Channel which had Little Einstein's on! Oops!

Sunday I had a Mary Kay party and got a bunch of items (at least 10) for just $41.27! I stocked up on the items I use that I was either really low on or pretty much out of and got a handful of fun extras too! It seemed like everyone had fun too! Jay spent the evening downstairs with daddy at "the man party" as hubby invited one of his co-workers over to play video games with and my father-in-law hung out with them too as my mother-in-law and sister-in-law were there for my party and with his health issues he can't be alone at the house for very long. It all worked out though - us girls did our thing while the guys did their thing.

We took Jay to church again this week and kept him with us rather than dropping him off in the nursery - he did well once again, sleeping throughout most of the service, except at the end in which he started laughing and we had to try to keep him from being too loud during the prayer, lol... the sermon was really good too (they're doing that Generations series I mentioned last week and this week's was on toddlers) and as a new parent I found it to be pretty insightful, but I'll be posting more about that in a bit =)

We also got a call this week to participate in the upcoming church pictorial directory. They haven't put one out since shortly after I started college. My family had the time slot after hubby's family so I remember him and I hanging out for a bit as his family was taking forever, holding up the photo shoots, lol... part of the problem was his brother insisted that his girlfriend at the time be in the photos and they had trouble picking one they liked that she wasn't in or something along those lines... hubby and I just remember it taking forever, lol... we setup a time for the 3 of us, not sure if we're also going to join his family to get one nice big family photo or not - that's up to them. I'm excited though as they've done these pictorial church directories for years and it's neat having them and looking at them from time to time... I remember being a kid and thinking about the day I'd get to be in it with a family of my own and now that day has come! How exciting!

4 weeks come and gone!

Tomorrow morning Jay is going to be 4 weeks old already! I guess losing a week, stuck in the hospital really made it fly by!

So they say by the end of the first month he should start holding his head up... well, he's been working on that since he was 3 days old and he's gotten quite good at it, being able to hold it straight up on his own for several seconds.

He's also sort of getting into a routine - we go to bed around 330/4am when daddy gets home from work (Jay is usually finishing a bottle or just recently finished one by this point). Jay wakes up (usually) around 6am wanting to eat more and then again around 9am when daddy is leaving for work. Then we go back to sleep til about 11 or 12 and he eats "lunch" before taking a short nap, eating again around 3pm and then he passes out til 6 or 7pm before eating again. He usually eats again between 9 and 10pm, falls asleep and then eats again around midnight or 1am before sleeping a bit more until it's time to eat again.

The last 2 nights though he skipped the 6am feeding and just slept right through for a good 5/6 hours straight! He sleeps in the bassinet for a few hours (which is better than none like before!), but usually ends up on my chest, snuggling with me.

He's becoming more aware of things too - he likes to look around and take things in (in the hospital one night, I was sitting on the chair at an angle where he could look out the window in the door and out into the hallway - he was very intrigued by people walking past!) and when I read to him now he looks at the pictures on the pages too! He's aware of daddy - there were several times last night where no matter what I did he wouldn't stop crying and fussing... I passed him off to daddy and within a minute or so he was calmed down - he just wanted daddy and not mommy! Doh!

Tomorrow is his first appointment with the urologist... I'm hoping his enlarged kidney is only mild or moderate and they just want to monitor it instead of it being severe and him needing surgery to get rid of the blockage!

We've had several counter-offers already on the house - they came back to our $65k offer with $71.3k... we countered with $68k and today they came back with $70k which is what we were wanting them to drop it to! I didn't get to speak to our realtor today though to confirm the offer, as he sent us the email and said he was going to be in a meeting all afternoon and to call him between a certain timeframe as he had a house to show later in the day too... I called but the receptionist said he was still in his meeting so I left a voicemail and sent him an email saying to call us when he could... so we're waiting. Which sucks. But unless something major falls through, we should be closing on the house near the end of the month and moving in ASAP!

We also got some fun stuff coming up within the next week - I'm excited!

My college roommate is coming up from Dallas to visit for a week or so and get some wedding stuff done as they're having it up here. She's got an appointment for us bridesmaids setup at David's Bridal this Sunday so we're meeting for lunch beforehand and then trying on dresses! Then on Wednesday her and her fiance are coming to us to visit and meet Jay - she said she plans on buying him Converse shoes as he grows up. Fine with me - they're cute! Friday they're having an engagement party with their friends up here at Gamewerks in Schaumburg so hubby and I are planning on going. The following Sunday is my good friend's daughter's 1st birthday party that we're invited to, so that should be fun! Our kids (her son just turned 4, her daughter is turning 1) are likely going to know each other pretty well as we're planning on going for regular walks this summer and doing other stuff together once the kids are a little bigger (like play days at the children's museum, etc).

Jay update!

Today we had our first visit from the visiting nurse as they said one would be coming twice a week for 2 weeks to check Jay's weight and make sure he was still making progress, growth-wise.

Well, as of this evening, he's up to 7lbs even! Woot!!

The visit went alright it seemed - he screamed bloody murder when I had to strip him down so she could weigh him and he ate 2.5oz while she asked me a bunch of questions about him and my pregnancy and delivery, etc.

She'll be back Friday for another weight check up.

I ran into our landlord today for the first time in months. He saw me carrying in Jay in his carrier and helped get the door for me, asking if he was our baby or someone's we were watching. I said he was ours and the response was "Really?! I didn't even know you were pregnant!" I told him Jay was almost 4 weeks old and he was surprised too! Guess our landlord's been out of the loop! lol...

I also realized that the house we put an offer in on today is in the city and not the county so that means we can finally get library cards!! I'm so excited - I haven't had a library card since I was a kid when my dad would take me a few Saturdays a month. See, here if you live in the city, your library card is covered by your city taxes, but if you live in the random county patches well, it's $100 annually that you have to pay upfront so obviously you can see why I haven't had one in years. I'm really excited though and I look forward to taking Jay to get a library card in a few years too!

And on a sidenote...

Jay is NEVER going to have clean sleeves again. This weekend at the hospital he figured out that he can wipe his mouth off on his sleeve and he was regularly beating me to wiping the milkies off his face! We started him back on his medicine tonight and while we had a bib on him, he attempted to wipe his mouth off with his "good" shirt sleeve... this is bad because the medicine is pink and stains! We kept having to grab his arm to stop him from doing it! lol...

Interesting thoughts on movies and villains

From time to time, friends of mine post some really amusing links to articles on various sites.

This week, I've come across several that posted from Cracked.com (anyone else remember reading Cracked and MAD in the magazine aisle of the grocery store when they were kids??)

Here's the first one:
9 Famous Movie Villains Who Were Right All Along

In this one, the article touches on Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller, The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz, the hyenas in The Lion King and many others! It was a pretty interesting read and I love their captions too!

And another:
6 Insane Fan Theories That Actually Make Great Movies Better

This one was pretty interesting and thought provoking - I had heard the James Bond theory before, and that one actually does make a good bit of sense! I hadn't heard of some of the others though, but it definitely got me thinking!

Random randoms

Yesterday I actually worked at my design job for the first time since before Christmas. Across the street from the building our office is in is a Chinese buffet and just the thought of Chinese food made me crave it. Hubby agreed that we'd get Chinese food for dinner tonight. Then one of my brother-in-laws posted on Facebook this morning about steak and invited people to join him at the steakhouse for dinner tonight... steak and veggies sounds good too. I'm torn... I really want both, to be honest! Ah, what to do, what to do...

This past week hubby started feeding Tiger about half a dish (which is half a cup) of her food when we eat dinner to get her to stop being a pest while we eat (she's seriously been getting in my face while I try to eat like she thinks she's entitled to people food all the time). This is in addition to the full dish (which is 1 cup) of food she gets in the morning. I just noticed today - my skinny-minny kitty is looking a bit fatter!

My baby shower is a week from tomorrow. I can't believe that's already here! While I didn't post it on here, I did post on my baby blog about how I had a case of "preggo brain" and for some reason, while I've always known the shower was the last Saturday in January, I kept thinking the actual date was the 30th, not the 29th. I kept telling people it's scheduled for "the last Saturday in January - the 30th" and even wrote that down for my mom who was writing up the invites and had to go back and redo some of them when she caught my error! The icing on the cake though - a month ago at work I put in my request off for the shower... and put the date as the 30th! I even double checked the request off sheet last week when I worked only to get home and wonder... "did I request off the 30th or the 29th?" I had a feeling I put the 30th so I stopped by earlier this week, before they put together the schedule for this coming week, to double check and sure enough - I requested off the 30th! Oops!! Fortunately no one else had requested the 29th off so I just simply changed it on the sheet, but yeah... good thing I thought to double check - with my luck, the 1 shift I have next week would have been for Saturday during my shower! lol... how bad would that have been - not being able to attend my own baby shower which I've known about for months all because I had a case of "preggo brain"???

Speaking of baby... yesterday (the 20th) marked exactly 1 month left until Jay's estimated due date (Feb 20)! Again, I can't believe it's almost here! Where'd the last 8 months go??

Found out yesterday that we're apparently going to the Chicago Blackhawks game on Sunday, as one of hubby's Verizon co-workers' birthday is Sunday and I guess the guys got a block of tickets. That's right though, it's THIS Sunday. In downtown Chicago. On the same day as the BIG Bears vs. Packers game for the NFC Championship title. This could get a little interesting as things are expected to be a bit crazy in Chicago on Sunday! I've heard talk of riots happening regardless who wins the football game! Seriously - people around here are actually more excited and pumped up for this game than they are the actual Superbowl! Fortunately, the hockey game starts at 1130am while the football game isn't until like 2pm, so we should be getting out and leaving the city before any of the major madness starts, but yeah... should make for a fun and interesting day!

In father-in-law news... yesterday they had a bunch of people volunteer to come out to the house and do some demo work in their basement as that's where all the mold is that's been causing problems. They got the drywall and doors torn up but I guess people are going to have to come back later this week to tear up the carpet. He said he feels bad as they did all this remodeling work down there when they first moved in so the boys all would have rooms, but like someone pointed out - most of the kids are grown now, so it served its purpose (Hubby's older brother is married with 2 kids living near the Quad Cities, hubby and I live an hour away from his family, his oldest younger brother recently moved out and the next youngest is planning on moving in with a friend soon too - the only 2 kids still at home are hubby's 18 year old brother and 12 year old sis who's rooms were always on the top floor of the house anyway).

His dialysis seems to be going better - no more "code blues" like the first time. They're releasing him to go home again today, having him continue to do dialysis several times a week as an outpatient. Hopefully with all the work done yesterday, the house is in better condition for him now than it was when he tried to go home 2 weeks ago!

The urge to do... nothing!

Right now I'm at a bit of a loss - I honestly feel like doing absolutely NOTHING. I have the whole afternoon and part of the evening free and nothing to do around here sounds appealing.

I don't feel like playing WoW, or anything on the PS3 or Wii.
I don't feel like reading.
I don't feel like watching any of the movies in our Netflix Instant queue.
I sure don't feel like cleaning.

I would paint the next layer (white) on my Super Mario Bros panels except the paint from the first layers I did the other night still aren't dry, not to mention it wouldn't even take me a half hour to do the next set of layers on them.

I kinda feel like climbing back in bed as I've been awake since 9am (which is due to have 5.5lbs of baby chilling ontop of my bladder making me get up to go and being unable to fall back asleep), however I know I'll sleep away the whole afternoon like I did the other day, messing up my sleep and eating schedules again.

And I'm not going outside - I really don't feel like going out right now in negative degree weather with a -20something windchill. Plus that requires getting cleaned up and dressed and I just don't feel like doing any of that right now either.

Ugh... I kinda hate this.

Doc Brown is the villian in the Back to the Future trilogy?

Right now, AMC is finishing up an evening-long Back to the Future marathon that I've been watching since about halfway through part 2 (it's currently at the end of part 3).

Growing up, I didn't watch the trilogy until the early 90s when I was a kid and by then all 3 parts were on VHS. I particularly enjoyed part 3 the best as it had the whole Western element to it - part 2 always confused me as it jumped around a lot. I also grew up watching the Saturday morning Back to the Future cartoon which takes place after part 3 and focused more on Doc and Clara's sons Jules and Verne

A few months ago, the Back to the Future trilogy was re-released in as a 3-disc 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray/DVD set and in response, Sci-Fi and Pop Culture site io9 posted an article stating and pointing out how Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd's character) is actually the villain in the trilogy. Pretty interesting way of looking at it, if you really think about it.

Below are key points from the article, which you can read in full here.

He's a Terrorist

It's hard to call a lovable character from our childhood a terrorist, but he was. The DeLorean was electric but he needed a nuclear kick to generate the 1.21 gigawatts...again, 1.21 GIGAWATTS!!!...to shoot through time. Since you can't buy plutonium at the corner drugstore he had to steal it from Libyan terrorists. He takes the toxic and deadly substance for his own personal use and makes a bomb for the Libyans out of used pinball machine parts. This proves he knows how to make a bomb and is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal. When they realize he made them a fake bomb they want revenge so they drive their van down to the Twin Pines Mall—later the Lone Pine Mall—at 1 AM looking for some payback. He then promptly gets shot in front of his dog and a teenage boy, who's then forced to jump in a time machine and destroy the space time continuum. This all happened because he was working with the enemy. More like Doc "Taliban Al Qaeda" Brown, right?

Let's face it: He deserved to get shot. That's what happens when you deal with terrorists. They kill you. However, in the process he put a teenager and his dog at risk. Doc was on his way to the future moments before the terrorist van tore into the parking lot. What if he had remembered to pack the plutonium, left for the future, and then the terrorists arrived while Marty was still there and took out their revenge on the happy-go-lucky teen who was drawn into the mad scientist's web of deceit? Or, worse yet, what if the terrorists killed Doc, Marty, and took the time machine for themselves? Plutonium is nothing when compared with a machine that could take over the world. Biff had a shot to run the world and made it sleazy; terrorists would travel back in time and run over George Washington with the De Lorean. If there's no George, there's no Great Satan. But what if the terrorists killed them all and didn't realize it was a time machine, you ask? Well, genius, Marty made a videotape detailing every aspect of the DeLorean. It even shows how to fuel the damn thing. If they can find a guy in a mall parking lot in the middle of the night they can probably operate a VCR.

Even if everything went according to plan, Doc still contaminated a mall parking lot with plutonium, poisoning a helpless community for decades to come. You really think those thin hazmat suits or plutonium chamber in a jury-rigged DeLorean are safe protection against nuclear fall-out? Well, they're not.

He's an Old Man Whose Best Friend is a Teenage Boy

Let's rewind to the very beginning, when Marty first walks into Doc's home. That's weird to begin with: A teen having access to a much-older non-relative's house. Then the phone rings and Marty is comfortable enough to answer the phone in a house that isn't his own.

It's Doc. How did he know Marty would be there at that precise moment? He should have been in school. Does Marty always stop by Doc's house before school? Does he ever spend the night? Doc tells Marty to meet him at the mall at 1:15 AM and Marty's totally cool with that. Later on he wakes Marty at around 12:30 AM to make sure he'll be at the mall in time. He also reminds him to stop by his house and grab some condoms...sorry, the video camera.

He's a loner in 1955 as well, living on the outskirts of town, on the precipice burning through his family fortune to make a machine that could destroy the world.

In Part III they give him a love interest. Director Robert Zemeckis and Producer Bob Gale say in the Blu-ray special features it was time for Doc to stop living with his head and start living with his heart.

Likely story, Bobs.

He Unnecessarily Puts His Dog's Life at Risk

When he first tests the machine he puts his Dog Einstein in the DeLorean with a stopwatch around his neck. He then sends the poor pooch one minute into the future. What kind of man tests something this dangerous on his unknowing pup? What if it did what Marty thought had happened and it disintegrated him. The car was set up to run on a remote. Why didn't Doc just put a stopwatch in the driver's seat? He would have gotten the same result. The clock would have skipped over the minute regardless. His excited reaction when the DeLorean disappears proves this was the first time he tested it, so there was a chance something catastrophic could have gone wrong. Risking Einstein's life and not testing it himself first proves our next point...

He's a Selfish Coward

Near the end of the original Doc rips up the letter where Marty tell him about getting shot by terrorists.

He says no man should know his own destiny, space-time-continuum, blah, blah, blah... But what's he do at some point between 1955 and 1985? Tapes the letter back together!

When Marty asks about the whole destroying the universe thing Doc responds: "I figured, what the hell."

So it's wrong for Marty to make a few bucks from the future with a sports almanac, or for other people to not know their fate. But when it comes to his own ass it's "what the hell." Really brave, man.

He's a Thief

He burns through all his family money to make the time machine, yet he still has enough to fill a suitcase with different denominations from every possible era.

Plus he upgrades the DeLorean with a Mr. Fusion machine and visits a rejuvenation clinic (took out the wrinkles, did a hair repair, changed his blood, and replaced his spleen and colon) adding 30-40 years to his life. Where's he get all the cash?


Clearly he stole it. Moving on...

He Destroyed the Space Time Continuum

He ruined time. He takes no responsibility over his unholy invention. He proclaims over and over again that it was a mistake and must be destroyed, but he kept on using it. Like a junkie who's always prepared to quit tomorrow.

The Back to the Future logic says time is not set in stone, or self-correcting, and the future can be changed. With each trip they take he destroys time that much more. George McFly, his father, was a weak peeping-tom loser. Biff was a strong Alpha-male, most likely raised in an abusive home (did you hear how much his grandma screamed at him in Part II?). That's how things were supposed to be. That's nature. But it's okay to change things if the results benefit Marty and Doc? Biff of the alternate 1985 world would strongly disagree.

Speaking of which, wouldn't George and Lorraine remember Marty? Marty took a nap in his future mom's home, got his dad to hook up with his mom at the dance, and played an integral part in their lives. And then they just completely forget him? His mom was infatuated with him. At no point do they say: "You look a lot like this guy you're named after. I was gonna bang him in a parked car but then Biff came along and almost raped me before your father got up the stones to punch him out. Then you played guitar on stage and we kissed and fell in love." Also, as Marty is leaving them at the dance Lorraine says she likes the name Marty. Well, not enough to use the name on her firstborn son. Instead they name their first son Dave, then they have a daughter named Linda, then they wait to named the youngest Marty. That's cutting it kinda close for a name you really like.

This is just the tip of the destruction caused by Doc. Even when he goes into the future to save Marty's kids he could have done more harm than good. When he's toying around in the old west he's inventing items that shouldn't be in existence yet. We're not saying Doc is responsible for global warming, but it's a definite possibility.

He's a Big Fat Liar Who Plays God

How many times does Doc say once they get back to 1985 they have to "destroy this infernal thing" referring to the time machine? At least twice. He also says he wishes he never invented it. When Marty arrives back in 1985—alone because Doc was too busy thinking with his Lil' Emmett by saving the damsel in distress (a woman who was supposed to die in a ravine)—the DeLorean is pulverized by a train. Whew! It's over. Everything is in place, Doc is stuck in the old west with his true love, and Marty can get back to his life. He goes home and it's the 1985 where his dad wasn't a loser and he has his own truck. He gets his girlfriend and takes her to see the destroyed DeLorean.

Then WOOOSH!

A big f-ing old west steam train appears with twirly things on top almost killing them.

Who's it in? Hey, it's Doc, his wife, and two young kids, one of which he won't let take a pee.

What happened to the whole notion that traveling through time is wrong? That he should have never built that infernal machine? Since his eldest son Jules doesn't appear to be older than five he must have been building it shortly after Marty went back to the future. Why would he do that? Did he build it so he could show up in the future—almost killing Marty and Jennifer—and tell them in person that the future is up to us? He also said he had to come back for Einstein, but we proved above that's a crock (i.e. using him as a guinea pig to test out the time machine). Couldn't he have just sent a letter like he did at the end of Part II? Or maybe his great-grandson could have approached Marty and told him of all the good his great-grand pappy did to benefit humanity and given instructions on taking care of Einstein. At least we know Marty wouldn't try to vaporize him. But no! The devious Doc decides to start the whole process over again, only this time dragging a wife and two young kids into his madness.

From a Hollywood perspective this ending made it clear that if Zemeckis' career went in the tank he could always return to this franchise. But success smiled on The Zemeck and he never needed to make another BTTF. But somewhere, shooting through time, is Doc, addicted to the power of controlling the universe, wielding his infinite power over three hostages he calls family. Great Scott, indeed.

Source: http://io9.com/5673855/why-doc-brown-is-the-real-villain-of-back-to-the-future

What do you think?

Survey thingy

I haven't done one of these in forever (not since the Livejournal days I believe, lol...) but I'm bored and this seemed like an okay one so I figured why not?

Read my answers to this random survey a cousin of mine posted on Facebook after the jump =)

A look at this past week

So I realized I've been kind of scarce with posting this past week (I blame WoW) so here's a brief update on life.

Mom and me are on the left.

Saturday morning I got up and went up to church for the annual Christmas women's luncheon they have every year called The Prepare Him Room where we eat a yummy dish, some dessert and listen to a guest speaker or 2. My mother-in-law and a friend of hers always put together a table for it each year as that's one of the highlights - a woman or a set of women each get a table to dress and decorate all Christmas-y. This year though, we had a decent snowfall Friday night and into Saturday morning (we got like 6 inches) and my in-laws live out in the country with a quarter-mile driveway that's a pain to shovel out in the snow. All my brother-in-laws were in town Friday staying with friends so the only one around to shovel was my 12 year old sister-in-law. They said she made a good effort, but they just weren't able to get out of their driveway, that's how bad it was out by their house! My mom and I still went to the luncheon but our table didn't have a centerpiece as my mother-in-law was bringing it into town with her - oops!

On Sunday, hubby and I attended his Verizon company's Christmas party which I had found out that afternoon I was allowed to go to too (previously they said no "dates" but an email went out Sunday afternoon retracting that). It wasn't great but I had fun getting dressed up nice and going out - it definitely beat sitting at home! I gave hubby my free drink tickets since I obviously can't drink (everyone got handed 2 tickets for alcoholic beverages). I did try a Virgin Bloody Mary but ugh, it tasted way too spicy and I couldn't drink more than 1/4th of it - Jay didn't seem to like it either. They also gave out door prizes - hubby (and  I) won one of several $50 Visa giftcards - they were also giving out $25 BP gas cards and the grand prize was a phone.

Monday was kind of a crappy day for me.

Last week I had my glucose screening to test for gestational diabetes which is a form of diabetes that pregnant women can develop although it usually goes away. I "failed" the 1 hour version of the test so they had me come back in and do a 3 hour version (where you fast the morning of and they draw your blood and then draw it again every hour for 3 hours). Monday I got the results from that and turns out I have the gestational diabetes. It wasn't too much of a surprise as it seems to run in my family on my mom's side (my mom was borderline while her sister and mom both had it like I do) and they said at my last appointment that Jay is measuring a big bit for his gestation age which is common for women that have the gestational diabetes, but still... it sucks. I got a call today from the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward at our hospital to set up an appointment for next week to meet with a dietitian/nutritionist and schedule an ultrasound so we can get my gestational diabetes under control. I've started watching what I eat even more than I was going off outlines for it that I found online and started keeping a food log too so they can go over with me what I'm eating that I shouldn't. I keep telling myself, I only have to deal/suffer with it for 10 weeks or less... I just need to get past the holidays and all the sweets/cookies I have to miss out on this year =(

On top that, I was frustrated as my mom's been busy the last few weeks doing all the costuming for our church's Christmas production of A Christmas Carol this weekend and it seems I've been having the worst time trying to reach her lately and The Children's Place didn't need me to come in again - I guess things have been so slow out at the mall that they've called and cut my last few shifts and didn't need me to come in for my on-call/call-in shifts, which is a little frustrating. To top everything off, I couldn't find the shirt I was looking for and broke a nail in the process. Hormones got the best of me and I had a little bit of a breakdown (I hate when that happens!). Fortunately hubby came home from work soon after and insisted I snuggle with him, which helped me calm down.

The rest of the night turned out okay - we went to Best Buy to pre-order the new WoW expansion and I bought a wireless mouse for my laptop since I figure if I'm playing WoW on it, I'm going to need an actual mouse as the Dell trackpad is different than the Mac one I'm used to playing on. I ended up getting WoW later than night and taking advantage of the Expectant Mother parking they have at Best Buy and played the new expansion well into the morning, sleeping in late Tuesday.

A few packages arrived Tuesday and Wednesday. I had ordered this Holly Lites aroma melt warmer from Partylite as it's normally $20 but was listed as an internet special this month for $10 and goes great with our Christmas decor - now I'm just waiting for my Iced Snowberries aroma melts to come in so I can start using it. My dad's Christmas present also arrived too so I got that wrapped and put under the tree.

Speaking of the tree... I think Tiger's retarded this year. This is her 3rd Christmas with us and she's acting like she's never seen the Christmas tree before and won't leave it alone! She keeps knocking ornaments off (none of the breakable ones, thank God!) and stretching up into the tree... I don't get it! She was so much more behaved around it last year, this year she's a complete terror! And she doesn't listen or learn as we keep spraying her and putting her in "time out" in her crate/cage/kennel when she keeps it up!

Today was a so-so day. I was up late last night/this morning as I've been playing WoW while hubby is at work and he's been getting home about 4am lately. I was going to go to bed at 430am but made the mistake of checking Facebook one last time and got to chatting with a friend and yeah... time flew and next thing I know it's already 530am! I was in bed by 6am and I needed to get up by 930am as I thought I had work, however it took me a good hour or so to fall asleep (Jay's been kicking A LOT more lately, as it's clear he doesn't have a lot of room in there now). Anyways, I got up around 930am, ate something quick and showered and drove all the way across town to work. They didn't call me yesterday so I took that to mean it was okay to go in. Well, I was wrong - I walk and one of my bosses is like "Didn't we tell you last week we didn't need you to come in this week?" What she had said was that they weren't sure if they would need me and since they had called all the weeks before when they didn't, when I didn't get a call I took that to mean it was good for me to come in. I left promptly, a bit annoyed, but whatever. I had errands to run anyway so if anything it just made me get out of bed and dressed to get out and get em done.

Stopped by my mom's house for a bit to pick up tickets to the church Christmas program tomorrow and we ended up going out to hubby's Verizon store so my mom could look at a few phones she was interested as our plan has 2 upgrades available, Best Buy has some 6 day special where you can get decent smartphones for free or $1, and we have some promotional thing hubby put on our family plan where everyone gets the $29.99 data package for $9.99. My sister is getting the HTC Droid Incredible (it's $1 at Best Buy right now) and while my mom was planning on getting the LG Octane, the price on that one went up from $29.99 to $69.99. While she can use the internet on it, we learned that the GPS on it is through the VZ Navigator (since it's not an Android phone) which costs extra to use, so I got her looking at the LG Ally since she really wants a phone with an actual full QWERTY keyboard (she's iffy about full touchscreen phones like I originally was), would like to be able to use the Google Maps Navigation  (she thought it was neat that I used my phone as a GPS when we drove to St. Louis and back to pick up our car after the accident), and would like to be able to check her email and Facebook from her phone since she doesn't always have time to get on the computer to check that stuff so she sometimes doesn't get an email or message for days at a time. She also wants a decent sized screen as she's getting old and wants to be able to store baby photos on it to show off to people and put her music on it too. It's currently free at Best Buy too. Hubby agreed with me, an Android phone would be best for her and the LG Ally is about the size she wants and has the keyboard too, so he showed her one of those. While he wouldn't recommend the Ally for someone more tech savvy, he said for my mom it would work just fine for her and her needs. He said she'll need a car charger if she's planning on using the GPS so he said he would get her one at cost for $5.

I stopped into Hobby Lobby to see if they had any Christmas-themed coasters as our Vegas ones don't really match our Christmas decor and I only found 2 in sets of 3 and wasn't thrilled about either. I found one I like on Zazzle, but they're sandstone ones and cost $9.99 EACH! A set of 4 Christmas-y coasters for under $10 is ideal... I guess I'll check Walmart next week. I also picked up my paycheck from The Children's Place and learned that I actually had 2 checks to pick up AND they totaled more than I was expecting to get! That was pretty sweet! Also, the mall was REALLY dead/slow for being 2 and a half weeks until Christmas - no wonder they keep canceling my shifts out there! I stopped by the bank on my way home and got stuck behind some guy in a truck doing 25-30mph in a 45mph, I'm assuming due to the snowfall that started this afternoon. Granted, the snow was covering the roads so you couldn't see icy patches as easily and was coming down pretty steady, but it wasn't THAT bad to be going THAT slow!

RIP Boy =(

In hubby news... he got a mini-promtion/pay-raise at Verizon - he's now an assistant to the executive administrative of their company, although really he's not doing much more than he already was, he's just getting paid for the extra stuff he's been doing. He also found out this week that he got the 2 week Christmas overtime shift at UPS he was hoping to get. Sadly though, we learned tonight that one the dogs at his parent's house (they have multiple dogs and cats - it's like a mini zoo out there! lol...) suddenly died - it was their smaller dog named Boy and he was only 7. When we've talked about getting a dog of our own in the future, hubby always says he wants one that's a lapdog about the size of Boy. One of his brothers is pretty bummed out.

And that's been my week.

Another fun Holiday meme!

Since I'm in the holiday mood this week, I thought I post another fun holiday themed survey/meme/questionnaire that Angela from High on Life/Lariats and Lavender shared today =)

1. What are your plans for the holidays? Do you travel at Thanksgiving?
If you celebrate Christmas, do you travel then, too?

As previously mentioned, Thanksgiving we tend to alternate each year as both our families do dinner and hubby's family lives just over an hour drive away and trying to make both just isn't something we feel like trying to squeeze in. This year we are at my in-law's for Thanksgiving, next year we'll be back at my parent's (who do Thanksgiving with my aunt, uncle and little cousin who live here in town).


Christmas is an easy one for us, as my family does all our Christmas stuff on Christmas Eve and then we head out around 1030/11am on Christmas Day to drive out to my inlaws for the day to celebrate with them.

2. How do you make the plans for the holiday?
If you have a significant other, how do you decide which family to visit?

Doh, think I answered this one in #1 - we alternate Thanksgiving every year and then spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with hubby's.

3. Do you have your Thanksgiving meal at lunch or later in the day?

Around normal dinnertime hours - it's not Thanksgiving DINNER if you eat it at lunchtime =D

4. Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving tradition?

Not really for Thanksgiving aside from getting together and eating lots of delicious food! Oh and watching Cowboys football!

5. After a big meal do you lounge around or get up and take a walk?

For Thanksgiving, we lounge around, usually gathered around the TV and watch a movie/DVD together (with my family we usually watch a popular Christmas movie to kick off the Christmas season). After Christmas Eve dinner we gather and open presents and then after Christmas dinner we tend to lounge around and watch a movie or DVD together.

6. Do you shop on “Black Friday” or do you avoid it?

I tend to go out at some point during Black Friday - I remember in high school getting up and going out at like 10am to get some good deals at the mall. Last year was the first year I actually got up at the crack of dawn, but mainly because I was working at Sears Essentials at 6am and I since I was off at 10am and Walmart had deals til noon and was located next door, I stopped over there. This year we're actually staying up, as we're planning on getting back from my in-laws around 1am and then figure we'll go get in line for Target to open at 4am since they have a 40" flat screen TV for $298 that we really want (we've never had a flat screen and we're on our last TV - this is our Christmas present to ourselves this year).

7. When do you usually finish your Christmas shopping?

Usually pretty early - I like to get a head start so I start planning out gifts prior to Black Friday and usually finish early in December. This year, assuming I get out to Walmart, Barnes and Noble and Gamestop on Black Friday (also assuming my 2nd gift card to there comes in) we should be mostly done this Friday. This year I have a nice gift card balance for Amazon.com so we ordered most of our gifts from there, with the exception of a few items I'm planning on picking up on Black Friday. One gift though won't be here til right before Christmas though as it's a pre-order.

8. Do you and your significant other exchange gifts?
Is there a budget?

Usually we do (and the budget is usually at least $50, sometimes $100 just depends on how we are financially that year), although this year since we both want that TV and it's kind of an expensive gift, we're saying that's our present to each other this year.

9. When do you decorate for the holidays?

It's always been tradition in my family that we don't start putting Christmas decorations up until the weekend after Thanksgiving - then we pull out the tree and everything else and start getting to work!

10. Do you go “all out” with the decor or do you keep it simple?

I'd say somewhere in between - we have a Christmas tree that I bought back in college that's in pretty good shape and I put Christmas decorations up around our main room and stuff along the top of the window to make it look festive in here. Being that we're in an apartment though and not a house we can't really go "all out" yet since we can't really decorate much on the outside. But I make due with what we have =)

Fun Thanksgiving Questionnaire

Normally I don't post surveys or reoccurring memes on here as I think most are redundant and get old kinda fast, however Angela over at High on Life posted this Fill-In-The-Blank Friday one this past Friday and since it's Thanksgiving oriented, I thought it might be kind of fun to post with the holiday this week!

1.  My Thanksgiving plans this year will include...

Since our families both do Thanksgiving, hubby and I alternate whose parent's house we go to each year for this holiday. This year it's our turn to spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws at their home roughly an hour and 15 minutes away. While dinner isn't until 6pm, I think we'll be heading over a little earlier since the annual Thanksgiving Cowboys game is on at 3:15 and well, watching the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving is an old pasttime of mine and of course hubby can't miss a televised game!

Normally we would spend the night at my in-laws, however this year we're heading back home that night since hubby has to work Black Friday morning and we're hoping to get lucky and score one of those 40" Westinghouse flat screen TVs Target has on sale at 4am for $298 (this is would be our Christmas present to ourselves this year)! We plan on getting in line as soon as we get back in town - should be fun as while I've shopped on Black Friday most years, I've never actually waited outside in line for anything!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, in my family at least, is traditionally when we break out all the Christmas decorations and set them up. Setting them up before Thanksgiving is just waaaaay too soon for me!

2.  My favorite Thanksgiving was...

Oh geez, I'm not really sure, to be honest as up until 2 years ago I always just spent Thanksgiving with my family, rotating dinner every other year between my parent's house and my aunt's house, as mom and my aunt trade off Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners so neither gets stuck making 2 big meals a month apart.

3.  My signature Thanksgiving dish is    

Well the only Thanksgiving dish I've ever attempted making is the homemade recipe we have for these really delicious rolls! Mine turned out okay although not nearly as soft as my mom and aunt can make them.

4.  My favorite Thanksgiving food is...   

Oh geez, all of it! Especially when my mom makes it. No offense to my mother-in-law, as her food is yummy too, but I've spent most of my life eating my mom's Thanksgiving food so I'm a bit biased, lol... but no, my mom and aunt make these really delicious noodles from scratch that I've always loved, plus the rolls I mentioned above and then there's the mashed potatoes and turkey and gravy on everything... plus the pumpkin pie too as my mom makes her own pies. I told her to save me a pie this year since we won't be there... I should probably mention to save me some leftover noodles and rolls too as my mother-in-law doesn't make those either and I love them!

5.  Thanksgiving free association!     

Turkey, food, family, warmth.

6.  Thansgiving is... 

Thanksgiving is being thankful for the people in your life and the things you've been blessed with.

7.  I am thankful for...  

My family, friends, faith and freedom; my kitty; our growing baby boy whose in the flesh arrival is quickly creeping up on us; that we have a roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, and food in our bellies; that hubby is fortunate enough to have 2 jobs that provide us with enough funds to pay the bills and stay afloat financially; and that we're in relatively good health.

30 Days of Me: Day 27 - This month, in great detail

I went to bed early last Wednesday and wasn't near a computer until late Thursday night so I forgot to make this post last week - sorry for the delay!

My month in great detail... hm... well since today is November 16, that takes us back to mid-October to start.

Let's see...

We took our vacation to Dallas, Texas and had a blast save for the last 24hrs of the trip as we hit that buck 20 miles outside St. Louis on our way home and it messed up our car. We ended up going to the ER when we got back since I'm preggo and everyone was insisting we go get checked out. Yay for having good insurance though as they took care of us, hooking us up with a rental to drive home, getting our car towed to a shop and then fixing it up for us and we all had to pay was our deductible.

Found out there was another tragedy at my aluma mater, as a freshman art student went missing and they found burned human remains in a park not too far from campus that they believe to be her as her cell phone and other personal items were found near the ashes.

Got my hours cut back at work due to lack of business - AGAIN - so I went out looking for a seasonal job. I filled out an app at The Children's Place and they had me come in for a group interview the next day and called me back the day after to offer me a position. I've worked there once and am waiting for them to call me and let me know when they want me to come in next as they had to figure out how to work us seasonals into the schedule.

Went to my friend's Partylite candle party debut as she's a consultant now and I bought some Christmas gifts. Since I got another Amazon.com giftcard to add to my current giftcard balance as well as a few Gamestop giftcards we decided to do most of our Christmas shopping through Amazon and Gamestop to help save on spending money for gifts this year since we got our car deductible to pay off our credit card and we have doctor/hopsital stuff we need to save for and pay with Jay on the way. So far it's turning out really well as Amazon has some great deals and it looks like we have enough of a giftcard balance to cover everything we're getting off there (plus it's free shipping on orders of $25 or more!).

We went back to the bank to see about getting pre-approved for a home loan and learned that we're *this close* to getting it - we're planning on going back in in January and we should be all set and ready to go.

We started our baby classes at the hospital - I had the breastfeeding class last night and we have our last of 3 childbirthing classes we're taking on Thursday. We're taking a newborn care class too, but that's not until January.

Hubby's 2nd cousin and his wife gave birth to a baby girl at the beginning of November. Speaking of birthday's, hubby had his, my dad's is today and my parents had their anniversary (which is the same day as hubby's birthday).

That's pretty much all the highlights of the past month that I can think of off the top of my head.

"Oh please, make it stop!"

I have to go get ready for my doctor's appointment this morning, so Music Shuffle Monday will be up later today, however in the meantime I thought I would share's today edition of the webcomic Multiplex.

I've mentioned Multiplex in the past, but for those that are newer to the blog since the last time I posted about it, Multiplex is a webcomic based out of the Chicago suburbs and the main setting of the comic takes place at a movie theater and the plotlines revolve around the different employees that work there. If you've ever worked at a movie theater before I highly recommend taking the time and going back through the archives as the author of this one is pretty spot on about things that happen at the theater that it's almost scary! lol...

Today's post had me laughing as I can totally relate - when the Hannah Montana (with special guests the Jonas Brothers) 3D concert movie was released in theaters in early 2008, I was the manager that got stuck having to screen the thing as it was our first digital 3D movie at the theater and we needed to make sure there were no glitches as we were expecting a huge crowd for it. This was basically how I felt - I wanted someone to kill me, to make it stop, as I thought it was THAT bad, lol...

Click the image to view the link to the actual comic as I know it's kind of small here.

The Car Full of Fail.

The other night while hubby and I were pulling out of our neighborhood and onto one of the nearby main streets, heading to our 2nd childbirthing class we pulled up at the intersection to make a right onto the main street right behind this SUV with some pretty fail stickers on it.

The first one that caught my attention was this:

 

displayed proudly on the bottom center of the back windshield. I gave a giggle and pointed it out to hubby. Of course I had to explain to him that the Cullen's are the main vampire clan in the Twilight series, as he's only watched the first movie and that was with the Rifftrax and he was too drunk during the 2nd movie to the point where he maybe remembers 10 minutes of it here and there, lol...

As previously mentioned on here, I'm not a fan of the Twilight series - I read the first 3 books before they were insanely popular and then the 4th soon after it came out and thought the first 3 were just okay while the 4th one was one of the biggest pieces of crap I ever read and I want the 2 weeks it took me to force myself to finish it back. As for the movies... I only watched the 1st two and they were bad - like, really bad! The first one was laughable at how horrible EVERYTHING was (especially the special effects and cinematography, not to mention the acting) and the 2nd one I was just bored in and would have walked out had I not actually paid to see it. I think Bella is a horrible rolemodel for teenage girls and Edward is just a creepy, stalker controlling boyfriend.

I'd much rather read/watch the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series - at least Sookie's a female who puts her foot down and stands up to the boys than let them control her life and well, the guys on the show are all adults too so I can ogle all I want without feeling dirty, lol...

Also, as I've mentioned before, I'm not much of a Nickelback fan. Now I'll admit, they have a few good songs and I liked their album "The State" back in the day before they went insanely mainstream and most all of their songs were either sounded the same or were about sex. The latter though is why I think they should just stop making music.

Anyways, we were behind this car at the next stoplight and I noticed a 2nd sticker on the back of the vehicle that said:

"I'd Rather Be at a Nickelback Concert"

I again busted out laughing - not only does the owner of this car like bad literature and/or movies, but they also have a horrible taste in music if they like Nickelback THAT much!

If this is your vehicle, I'm sorry, but hubby and I deem it full of fail!

Thanks for the laughs though!