Trip to Chicago

Last month Jason had the opportunity to attend a marketing workshop in Chicago, so we decided to bring the girls along and make it a family trip.

We started out by stopping at the Indianapolis Children's Museum on the way. This is really a must-see for any families that live in the MidWest. The exhibits are fantastic and educational. We've been several times, and our girls just can't get enough of it. This time the girls' favorite exhibit was the circus exhibit. So much to do hands on! We ended up spending most of our time there. Check out our video to see some of the things we got to see and do there.

Once we left the Children's Museum we stopped for the night in northern Indiana. The next day we made our way into Chicago. As many times as I've been there, I never get used to how crowded it is! People (and cars!) everywhere!

While we were there we were able to meet up with my best friend from college. Gaby & I have so many differences, but we have been there for each other for over 20 years now. It's amazing when we get to see each other in person finally. I love her so much!

The next day, while Jason attended his workshop, the girls & I went to the highlight of our visit: a trip to the American Girl store! Jena got one for her last birthday, and Jillian had been asking for one for months. Since Jillian's birthday overlapped with our trip, we decided to get her one as her "big" present from us. Jena too, had been wanting another one, and in fact had been saving her money for months, trying to save enough to get one.

I really am so proud of her. From her 8th birthday & Christmas she had about $40, but if you know anything about American Girl dolls, that's not even close to enough. The rest of the money she earned thru soccer and chores.

For soccer, midway thru her first season as goalie Jason had agreed to pay her $1 for every goal she stopped, but take away $2 for any goals that got thru. At the time this was maybe $4-5 per game, tops. Usually $1-2. Then indoor soccer started. Ends up indoor soccer moves at a faster pace, and strikers tend to get off more shots on goal. With our daughter being one of the top goalies in her age group, more than half of her games were shut outs. She stopped as many as 27 goals in one game, without letting a single one through! I'm not gonna lie, she cleaned up on that deal!

For chores, she earns money for chores. The amount is rather small though, ranging from 5 cents to 50 cents per chore. She worked really hard because she wanted that doll, and some weeks earned as much as $8.

She saved every dollar, and by the time of our trip had enough to not only purchase the doll of her choosing, but get two outfits for it too! I'm so proud of her for her hard work to earn the money, and the self-restraint to save it for a large purchase. That can be hard for many adults, and my little girl si only 8 years old.

Check out this video to see how excited the girls were when we told them about going to the American Girl store, and some of our time there.

We had such a nice time in Chicago. It's a lovely city, and of course I always get to see a good friend when we go.

Have you been to Chicago lately? What are your favorite sites to see there?

As always, thanks for checking in!

Things I Did Before I Was a Parent

- returned the shopping cart to the cart corral. Always.
Sorry, cart retrievers. Nothing personal. Just depending on my parking space I may not be willing to leave my child unattended in the car. And you try to keep a preschooler in the cart until you return it when she's ready to get out.
side note - I feel guilty every. single. time.

- I worked overtime whenever I was asked, without a second thought
With a small child, and a husband who's often gone, it's just not possible now. Overtime must be planned in advance. And no, I will not leave my child in day care for 14 hours because you, as my supervisor, did not plan ahead.
I do make exceptions for the rare emergency. But I have a pretty strict definition of emergency, and it's only happened once since Jena was born (earthquake & tsunami in Japan - we had people there when it happened that needed to be located & their safety confirmed)

- I We had more sex
We still manage to do pretty well in this department, but the fact is that middle-of-the-afternoon, just-because-you-feel-like-it just doesn't happen anymore. Pretty much ever.

- We took more big trips
We still put a priority on vacations, but with a child there's extra expense to a budget that's already stretched, plus the factor of traveling with a child and finding things to entertain said child, so... we aim for more smaller trips now. And all but one (our anniversary trip) tends to be centered around a certain preschooler.

- We ate worse (yep, it's possible...)
Not only am I conscious of what I feed Jena, the fact is she like fruits & veggies, more than any child I've ever seen. So we're constantly stocked. She inspires me to eat healthier.

- I was more self-conscious
Oh, I still have my moments. But when I'm with her, it's all about her. If me acting like a big goofball makes her happy, so be it. If she wants or needs me to do something that probably makes me look like an idiot, so what? it's done.

- I was more judgemental
I've actually always tried to be very non-judgemental, but the truth is that I'm a work in progress. And having a child has helped me understand, empathize, and sympathize with others (not just parents)  in a way that I just could not before.

- I hated my body
Oh sure, I know my body could be in better shape, I'd like to lose weight, etc. But before I had a kid? I despised my body. Even when I weighed less than I do now, it was never good enough. Even though I was healthy, and anywhere from 10 to 30 lbs lighter than I am now... I never liked it. Now... sure I have some trouble spots, but now I see a mom's body - the body that carried & bore our daughter. And I'm good with that.

Overwhelmed

I have been feeling quite overwhelmed lately.

Not just busy, but... sinking beneath everything kind of overwhelmed.

Work is insane right now. Instead of my normal 40 different hats to wear, now I have around 60. Every day is a struggle to juggle it all, and I'm barely scraping by. At this moment I'm still managing to accomplish the needed, must-do tasks, but barely. And I can't shake the feeling that I'm always forgetting something.

With the holidays coming up, our lives have been jam-packed with event after event, plus there's shopping & wrapping & cooking & card sending & decorating to get done as well.

Our home looks like a disaster area. Only a slight exaggeration. I'm staying up late & getting up early. Averaging maybe 5 1/2 hours a sleep a night. And still barely managing to keep on top of the necessities (laundry, dishes, groceries).

I know my lack of sleep is probably contributing to this feeling of being beaten, but at the same time I don't see how getting more sleep and getting even less accomplished is going to help anything.

Besides all the things to do, all the stuff, I have a lot of praying to do. Join me?

My dad had surgery on his back.
Surgery & recovery are going well.
However, they still cannot watch Jena. Which means that for the past few Friday's we've had to make alternate arrangements.

My brother had surgery on his adenoids, throat, etc. (severe sleep apnea).
Recovery is not going well. Not sure of all the details, but he still cannot swallow. Everything he tries to take in, comes out his nose. Apparently this is normal for a day or two past surgery. We're on Day 5. He has also ended up in the ER once because he tried to swallow his liquid pain medication, choked, ended up coughing & gagging, and... he coughed up two of his stiches.

My uncle has been diagnosed with lymphoma.He started chemo yesterday. Eight hours.
They've also done some biopsies because they think it may have metastisized to his pancreas & bones.

My great uncle has been diagnosed with cancer.He has decided to forego traditional Western treatment and is using some alternative treatments to ease his discomfort.

A very dear friend, like family really, has been diagnosed with colon cancer.It has spread to his liver. So far treatments have not changed his condition or prognosis. But he is persisting. For now.

Jason's grandmother is very ill.She has been in & out of the hospital for the past few months. I don't know all the details, but I do know her last hospitilization was for a severe kidney infection. She was on IV antibiotics for four days, and was released to a rehab facility. As of right now, doctors will not release her to her home.
This may force her into a nursing home. Which, quite frankly, is what she needs. Her health has deteriorated and she really needs 24/7 medical care. Two of her daughters (including MIL) have been trying to take care of her, going to her home daily, administering medication, fixing meals, and taking blood pressure & blood sugar readings. But they still get phone calls during the day, during the night, whenever her illness strikes again, and they're back at the hospital. I really believe it is in her best interest to be in a home, but she is very adament that she does not want to go, and her daughters I think feel guilty about it, so aren't pushing the issue.

Each & every one of those weighs heavy on my mind & heart daily.

This is also our first holiday season without my father-in-law. I'm sure there will be some tears, but we'll get thru it okay. My mother-in-law? Not so optimistic.

So we are walking on eggshells (did we every stop?), answering her calls for help, trying to just be there for her. I'm not gonna lie, we could do better in this area. But I also couldn't tell you where we'd find the time either.

And while part of me says this is all just life, get over it, it happens, I also find myself feeling so very overpowered by it all. Sinking. Stressed out. Scattered. Unfocused.

And unable to pull myself out of the pile.

I also find myself wondering why.

I don't recall ever feeling so overwhelmed in the past. Even when life crashed down around me, this sense of losing control was never there.

I know that statistically, women who have PPD or other Post-Partum mental disorders are more likely to develop other mental illnesses in their lives.

I find myself wondering if this is me. If the reason I feel so steamrolled by life has less to do with how much is going on in right now, and more to do with my mind's ability to handle it all. Anymore.

Is this just life for me now? Will I become more easily overwhelmed by life as time goes on? Am I destined to become scattered & unfocused & overcome at the first sign of difficulty? Is that who I have become?

Maybe more importantly, is that who I have to be? Is there a way out? I certainly haven't found it yet. Is there even one to be found?

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I feel like this post is a bit... detached. Several topics not quite meshing together the way I'd like. But I've been holding on to it for several days, and keep re-reading it, and am not finding the way to make it all flow a bit better, so... here ya go. As always, thanks for checking in!

Before I Was a Mom

Before I become a mother:

I actually had a night day time off, usually at least once a week. Or more. Now I'm lucky to get a couple of hours every few months.

I did not know that moose are horrifying when in dreams. But not when cute little stuffed animals.

I was much better at putting shopping carts back in the cart corral. Sorry cart boys, but I'm a little too paranoid to venture that far from my child when she's in the car, and she's a little too heavy / hard to wrangle to bring over to the corral.

I came into work early & stayed late whenever anyone asked. Even with no notice. Now I have a kid to get ready & drop off in the mornings, and to pick up from preschool in the evenings. "No notice" doesn't really work anymore.

My house was cleaner. Fewer people, no kid, more time = cleaner house. It's really just math people.

I wasn't nearly so creative. Now I can make up songs & stories on the spot. Most of the time.

I was much more reserved / worried what people thought of me. Mostly I thought everyone thought I was weird (I am). Now, I will do just about anything to make my kid smile. Including sing in the middle of the grocery store so she has decent music to dance to.

I was much more modest about my body. Not that I dress immodestly now, it's just that... I think being a mom helped me to see my body for the amazing thing it is, instead of just parts to be covered up.

I was also much more self-conscious about my weight & shape before becoming a mom. Would I like to lose more weight? Sure. But now that I'm healthy, I love that my body looks like a mom's body.

I never realized a corndog would qualify as a meal. Or lettuce & mushrooms.

But mostly, before I became a mom, I never quite had a grasp on this love thing. Now? I think I'm getting it.

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What about you? How are you different since becoming a parent?

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this post inspired by this post

New Pillows !!

I've been looking for pillows for our couches for what seems like forever. Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but everything I found that looked halfway decent cost too much for my taste.

And then... I found these on clearance at a Kroger Marketplace, of all places! Love 'em!

They only had 2 left, so I'd like to get another 2 to fill out both couches, but still... I'm excited about this find!

Randoms

I could really use some more work clothes. With my weight / size fluctuating so much for the past FOUR YEARS (since my pregnancy), I've hesitated to buy entire wardrobes at each size. But I am so tired of having limited clothing choices.

Right now I have 3 pairs of pants I can wear to work, plus 1 skirt. That's not even a work week. I can't tell you how many times I've done laundry simply because I was out of work clothes.

And my work clothes pretty much double as my church clothes, so... 4 bottoms for 6 days. Ugh.

Also - all but 2 of my work shirts are short sleeved. Mostly because it was summer when I bought them, but also if it's cold I can put a jacket on in the office. It's cold in my office every day. Ugh.

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related to above - I'm still losing weight, albeit slowly, but I really think I might be at my end size. I am currently 4 lbs above my wedding weight, and 10 lbs below my pre-pregancy weight, but hardly any of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit. Very, very few.

I think my body shape has just changed so much. I'd probably have to lose another 20 lbs to fit into them, and even then it would be iffy, LOL.

Which means I might not meet my goal of fitting into my wedding dress again this year, which totally sucks. Booo!

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Work has been a roller coaster of emotions lately. Example? Sure.

Last week I have two managers, including my direct supervisor, tell me that one of my largest single projects "doesn't matter".

Morale = plummeting

Today I had a Vice President ask me to teach him something. Later he asked my opinion about a division project, and said he will act on my suggestions because I am the expert in that area.

Morale = skyrocketing

Just two small examples. But it's been like that for a month or so. Roller coaster. Seems like every day. Stress.

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We have way too many vehicles at our house. Five to be exact. For two drivers. Ridiculous.

To be fair, a breakdown:

- the ILs truck, which has been broken down for months, and Jason has thus far been unable to fix. I want to declare it dead & tell them to get it off our property, but... they're his parents & they want him to fix it, so... it stays. For now.

- Jason's work van for his business

- the SUV, our newest (by model year) & most reliable, which is driven by whomever-has-Jena (primarily me)

- my old car, which we planned to sell for a decent amount of $$ (13 yrs old, and blue book was still over $3,000)... until it broke down. FireMan would like to fix it, because we'll get so much more $$ out of the sale, but... I don't like have broken down vehicles around the house.

- the new (to us) car Jason bought off of CraigsList, with the intention of it replacing my old car

I know we live in the country, but I really don't wanna be those redneck hillbillies with 63 broken down vehicles scattered around the property.

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I'm getting my hair cut next week. I can't decide how to do it. I don't really care for it shorter.

Well, not that I don't like it, I just liked it better longer.

But everyone else seems to like it shorter. Everyone.
I hear "you look younger" a lot.

So I can't decide if I should keep it short, or just start growing it out.

Either way, I have decided the shape needs a change. It was great right when I first got it cut, but after just a week or so what little it had grown out I really didn't like.

Who knows, maybe just getting a different shaping to it will help me to like it better.

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We're doing crazy-good with our Financial Peace plan.

Every. Single. Month when we sit down to do our finances, we're like
"we can't believe we've paid off this much!"
"we can't believe how much money we have to pay down bills!"

Every month. Same conversation.

Needless to say, I highly recommend the program.

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We're taking the membership class at our church, er... the church we've been going to regularly for over three years.

I know, right? Three years. Definitely not rushing into anything, but we finally decided we should become members.

We actually decided this a while back, but they only offer the class every six months, and the last one we weren't able to attend due to FireMan's shift schedule.

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For anyone not familiar with a membership class (I wasn't until my mid-20s), they review what the church's core beliefs are, core values, what they teach, etc. and give you a chance to ask questions.

At our old church it was one night.

Here it's three nights, spread over several weeks.

At the end you decide whether or not to join.

Not anticipating any issues, but it would kinda stink to find out thru this class that they believed in something that I didn't, after going there for over three years.

We had reasons for waiting. Or rather, reasons for not making it a priority.

But oh boy do I hope that doesn't happen, because that would most likely create some tension between FireMan & myself, because he loves this church, while I could easily walk away.

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I recently schedule a consult for Lasik eye surgery.

The idea of it makes me very nervous (hence the years-long procrastination), but the consult is scheduled.

Just that makes me nervous. They said just the consult will take 2-3 hours, and they'll be dilating my eyes more than is done at regular appointments, so I won't be able to see well for "several hours" afterward, and will need someone to drive me home.

Wowsa.

Stuff I like on Etsy

Because I love that site, and I love supporting individuals hawking their creative genius. Enjoy

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hair clips by KyandTayaAccessories

Whimsical Reindeer by woodenshimsie

Fire Truck Wall Hooks by juniordesignco

Ironing Board Cover by CityChicCountryMouse

The Cardinals Print by WalkByFaithStudio

Firefighter Courage Plaque by thehomespunraven

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What about you? Any recent Etsy finds?

Girlfriends (aka The Good, The Bad, the Socially Inept)

The other day I went out with a couple of girlfriends. One a long-time friend, one I've only known a few months. Both very good friends.

The three of us get along fantastically, and have been trying to work out our schedules literally for months. I eventually ended up using a vacation day to make it work.

And it was well worth it.

We met at IKEA, and walked and talked and walked and chatted and walked and shopped and talked.

Then we went to dinner and talked some more. In the parking lot we just couldn't shut up so we decided to do dessert, and kept on talking.

It was very, very good.

It was refreshing. It was renewing. It was healing. It was just about every good word that ends in -ing wrapped up in one afternoon that dragged on into evening.


And it reminded me that I need more girlfriends.

I've never had a lot of girlfriends. For whatever reason I found it easier to connect with the boys. So I always had a lot of guy friends (not boyfriends, mind you, but that's a whole 'nother blog post), but relatively few girlfriends.

And I've been pretty okay with that, to be honest.

I mean, the girls I have been close with... are awesome. So I didn't need many. And I always had those guy friends too. So my social circle was full. I had a great family. Got plenty of support. Life was good.

Since I've written about them before, I won't delve into it again, but some things happened in my past that left me feeling defenseless, and I pushed away some of my friends, and I built up a wall, and I developed some trust issues, as well as a good dose of social anxiety.

Not the best for developing close relationships with people.

I kept my family close, but not many friends.

But recently, some of the closest people in my life have literally been moved across the world. Literally.

First, one of my best friends' husbands got relocated to California. Then my sister got transplanted to Iowa. Then one of my oldest friends follows God's call to teach in Africa.

While I was left with a lot of good acquaintances, my friends were all gone. Literally, physically moved away from me.

I hesitate in writing that line. I hope no one is taking offense, thinking "hey - I'm your friend". So let me explain.

In this post, by "friend", I mean a close friend, the one you can stay up talking to all night, who can call you at any hour for any reason, who is as close as family or closer, who you can't imagine your life without, the one when you were younger you imagined being your maid of honor in your wedding and living next door to raising your children together.

I need some good girlfriends. Some more gal acquaintances would be nice too.

Of course, working with all men doesn't help things.

Don't get me wrong, they're great guys, but... not only am I a little hesitant about the befriending-a-coworker thing, I'm also a little hesitant about the whole befriending-a-married-man thing too, you know?

So... where was I?

Oh, yeah. Girlfriends are awesome. I am so jealous when I see girlfriends out together, or see people post on Facebook or Twitter or their blog about their gal pals and how they just hang out, casually as can be.

Because on the rare occasions that I do get to see any of my very few girlfriends, it seems to take so much effort.

Coordinating the schedules of even just two of us can sometimes take weeks to find a date to get together.

The message boards that I used to belong to, and still talk to quite a few of the ladies from, well - they get together quite often. During the day. Not always formal get-togethers, but playdates & such. During the week. During the day.
Of the numerous more formal get-togethers they've arranged over the past four years, I was only able to make it to one.

I volunteered to organize one once, and after surveying for good times & places, selecting a time, and choosing a place that was convenient for the majority, but would make me drive an hour to get there, we only had 1 person besides myself RSVP, so it was cancelled.

And it doesn't help that I'm completely socially inept.

Confession? I don't know how to make friends.

And when I try, I tend to fail. And then I feel like a big fat loser that nobody likes. And when you feel like that, you're not exactly appealing to potential friends.

Trying to make new friends is a lot like dating.

Confession? I hated dating.

Examples of my trying fails? Sure:

Tried to do something nice for someone at work. Got accused of being a stalker.

Tried to do something nice for an old college friend. Was told I was being "too nice", and must have ulterior motives.

Threw a party. Invited 120 people (no lie). Five showed up.

Threw another party. Invited 75 people. Six showed up. But two of those were my parents, so...

With their blessings, sent out a mass text prayer request for a friend. Trying to be nice & supportive, right?
- had one person respond that I was invading privacy by sending it out regardless of whether or not I had permission and reamed me for "overstepping my bounds"
- had another person accuse me of doing it to draw attention to myself
- had yet another person yell at me for "scaring them to death" because they got a text about a random person being sent to the hospital and they couldn't imagine what had happened (apparently they were driving and in & out of dead spots and only got half the message, but it was my fault, even after I showed them the whole message, and I just shouldn't send things like that).

And my husband wonders why I have social anxiety, why I don't put myself out there more. It seems like even when I try to be a friend to others, to be nice, to do something good for someone else, I'm either ignored, or it gets twisted around and I somehow end up the bad guy. Again.

I swear I'm not a bad guy. I'm not.

I'm not perfect, but I'm good. And I'm nice. And I try really hard to do right by other people. I do my best to be fair.
Again, I'm not perfect, but I certainly am not bad.  Really, I'm not.

And when I put myself out there and try to be friendly to others, open my home up to others... no one comes.

And yes, I realize I'm rambling right now.

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I guess what I'm trying to say is that the other night made it even more evident to me how much I need good girlfriends in my life. A good, strong support system. Good friends to laugh with and cry with and share life with. To share their lives with them.

And I want that. I really do.

And maybe the problem is that I'm trying to force it, and relationships like that can't be forced, but they sure as heck aren't just falling in my lap either.

This post seems rather disjointed to me. A little rambl-y, I suppose. Just putting some thoughts out there.

All I'm saying is I need some good girlfriends. I want some good girlfriends. I've been trying to make some more friends, to make more time for friends, to make it more of a priority for me... but it just doesn't seem to be working.

I end up with a few really good nights, interspersed with a lot of bad nights. It's depressing. And it reminds me so much of dating: you know, mostly rejection. For me, anyway.

I recently had an acquaintance tell me that to make more friends I need to "show yourself friendly". To be honest, it kinda ticked me off. I mean, really? Because I thought being a big fat jerk-wad was a good way to make friends. Seriously! But I already told you, it's like even when I try to be nice, it blows up in my face. I try to be friendly, I try to open myself up... and it doesn't seem to work.

Maybe I just don't know how to "show myself friendly". Whatever.

Anyway. Those are my random thoughts right now.

Thanks for checking in

Not Just Another Blog Challenge #5 - Something I Side Eye

Okay, I just want to say that I have no idea why this bothers me, it just does. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, and I know that in my head, but if I see it, it just irks me to no end, and definitely gets the ole side eye from me.

What I side eye: people who take their kids out in public wearing their PJs.

The kids wearing them, not the parents.

Yes, even infants.

Yes, I know it's weird that this bothers me.

Especially since when I was in college I would occasionally go grocery shopping in pajama pants & a Tshirt.

But it still bothers me.

Even when FireGirl was a newborn, I didn't care if she stayed in her sleeper all day at the house (heck, I've been known to put on my PJs as soon as I get home from work), but if we were going anywhere, I insisted on dressing her in a clothing outfit (ie. not sleep clothes).

Again, I have no idea why this bothers me so much, but it does. It really, really does.

Parenting WIN! re: nutrition

Now, I want to begin with a disclaimer: I know that we eat out way too often. Way too much. FireGirl knows way too much about the menu's at various restaurants in the area.

Okay, I know it. I admit it. Got it. Okay.

Now, can I share my win? Thanks.

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Real Life Scenario #1 (ie. proof that I do some things right, LOL):

FireGirl & I stop at the grocery store. First stop is the produce section where we usually pick out at least one fresh fruit & one fresh vegetable. No biggie. Boring routine visit to the store.

Well, FireMan said he would grill out that night, and this is just a quick stop, but it dawns on me that I'm not sure if we have any side items or not. Unsure of what he's making, and knowing by the time we get home we won't have time to cook anything, I decide to just grab a bag of potato chips. Not the best choice, I know, but I figure if we don't eat them for dinner, we can snack on them in the coming days, right?

As we turn to go down the chip aisle: "Mommy, why we in chip row?"

"Because I thought we might buy some chips."

"Why?"

"Well, we might eat them with dinner tonight. And if we don't, well then we'll just have them in the cupboard and maybe we can have some later for a snack."

Long pause

"That silly."

"Why is that silly?"

"Why have chip?"

both of us giggled

And that's when I realized. We don't keep chips in the house.

So while going to pick out our fresh fruit & veggies seems perfectly normal to her, the idea of us stopping to get chips, and having chips in the house, FireGirl finds silly.

Win.

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Real Life Scenario #2:

One night last week I asked FireGirl what she wanted for her snack.

I was exhausted, and drawing a blank on what snackie foods we had, but remembered seeing a bag of mini-Oreos that had been in our cupboard so long that if they weren't eaten soon, would probably go stale.

"Do you want Oreos for snack?"

Pause

"No. Want oranges."

{{ giggling }} "I can definitely do that. You're awesome. I'll be right back with your oranges"

icky side note - she eats oranges with milk, preferably chocolate if we have any. Yucky!

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Real Life Scenario #3 (as told to me by FireMan):

Yesterday they had a daddy / daughter day.

He stopped at Burger King to get a "special" breakfast & took it to the park to eat, before going to his parents' house.

After getting out the cinnamon rolls, and other yummy breafasty sweetness, FireGirl asked where her food was.

"Right there hunny. That's your food."
"No want that. What Mommy pack?"
I had packed a thermal tote with snacks for later - strawberries, grapes, oranges, pretzel chips, and fruit snacks. She knew what was in there, because I had told her before I left for work that morning.

She picked the strawberries.

Win.

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So yes, this post is bragging on myself a little bit. Because as much as I might screw some other things up, and as much fast food as we may eat, I think I clearly get the win on the food we do eat at home. And I'm a tad bit proud of myself.

WIN!

Dancing in the Grocery

Remember how I told you FireGirl loves to dance?

Here she is, dancing in our local grocery store. She danced thru every aisle. This pic was taken in the pet aisle.

She'll dance anywhere. I'm glad I happened to have my camera in my purse that day. But I wish I'd been able to catch some better pics of her. I snapped a bunch, but in most of them you can't really tell that she's doing anything. This was the "danciest" pic of the bunch.

Girls' Day in Indy

This past Saturday was... terrific!

I met up with fellow bloggers Candace (from New Adventures of the Princess & the Peanut) & Steph (from Plan B) for a girls' day in Indianapolis.

Candace & I have known each other since childhood, and she remains one of my oldest & dearest friends.

Candace & Steph



Steph connected with me thru blogging, by way of Candace's blog. Since then we have become Facebook friends, shared a few emails, and basically just came to realize that we have a ton in common, and she's become a good friend, although until Saturday one I only knew online.

A month or so ago (maybe two months now?) the idea was thrown out for the three of us to get together, since we have this common friend-blog-friend thread. We all enthusiastically agreed, and despite the fact that we each live in separate states  from one another (three friends, three different states), we agreed on a destination and made plans.

Candace met me at a gas station off the highway, and we rode together to Circle Centre Mall, where we both met Steph in real person for the first time.

Me & Steph

Lunch at Hard Rock followed, where we ended up chatting it up for over three hours!

After Hard Rock we headed back to the Mall for some shopping. A few hours (and some new clothes) later, we made tentative plans for a future outing (in a different state, mind you, LOL), then Candace & I parted ways with Steph and headed for home.

And while that's the nuts & bolts of our girls' day, this post really doesn't do it justice. It was truly one of the most fun, relaxing, refueling days I've had in a long time.

Yes, refueling. I think that is the word I will use to describe that day. I came home refueled.

Thanks girls! It was truly a pleasure to spend the day with both of you!

And has me brainstorming other ideas for future meetups... more to come!

The Grocery Store

Brought to you courtesy of:

1. Do you make a list when you go grocery shopping?
YES. Okay, when I have time. I have an organized list in Excel, separated by categories, with columns to note if the item is on sale and if I have a coupon. The list is a must for big trips, but I will run to the store & pick up a few necessary items without a list, when needed.

2. Do you buy more groceries when you're hungry?
Only if I don't have my list with me.
But, yes. {{ hangs head in shame }}
Also, when I'm hormonal. I buy all kinds of yummy foods that sit in our fridge / cupboard forEVER until one of us finally eats it.

3. Coupons. Use 'em?
Absolutely.

4. Have you ever complained to the manager of your grocery store?
No.

5. Do you like to buy groceries at huge chain stores like WalMart? Or do you shop exclusively at food stores?
I heart Kroger.

6. How much time do you spend reading labels in the grocery store?
Little to none

7. Do you push your own grocery cart to the car and return it?
99% of the time I return it to the cart corrals, but now that I have Jena, I have been known to leave it at the car if the cart corral was too far away. Which is why as long as the weather's nice I now try to park next to the cart corrals, even if it's a longer walk into the store.

8. What is the one food item you always buy at the grocery store that you can't live without?
Milk & ice cream.
We go thru almost two gallons of white milk, and the occasional half-gallon of chocolate milk every week.
And Jason is an ice cream fiend, which is apparently contagious. So ice cream is considered a grocery staple in our house.

Stopped by WalMart this Morning...

... to buy a shirt for work, on my way to work.

With all this crazy house stuff, and shuffling locations between our house, my parents' house, and my brothers' house, and having tried to pack light to begin with... well, I couldn't find a clean shirt suitable for work.

I'm definitely missing one of my work shirts. Already checked Mom & Dad's. Checked our house (where I was last night), and checked the car.
Which means I'm hoping it's at my brother's house, along with the missing pair of FireGirl's pajama pants.

So I put on a Tshirt, and swing by WalMart on my way to work this morning. Was planning on just getting a cheap, just-nice-enough-to-pass shirt for work, but... I actually like the shirt I found! Tried to find a pic online to show you, but funny enough, it's not on their website.

So anyway, I buy the shirt, and walk into work carrying my WalMart bag. Slip into the restroom & change before heading to my desk. And they're none the wiser, LOL.

And... I got a nice new shirt for work. For only twelve bucks! Score!

I Need New Shoes

Normally, I would be semi-happy about being "allowed" to shop for new shoes.

But instead, I'm irritated.

Right about a year ago, I purchased some black heels for work (and other). Usually, I get my shoes at discount stores, and am happy if they last me six months. Although the last pair of black heels I got, at a discount store, that I paid only $15 for, lasted me three years.
Well, since I wear black heels so often, I decided to "invest" in some "higher" quality shoes. Went to a well-known website, and purchased some cute name-brand heels. Got them at quite a bargain for $40. After shipping & handling, taxes, etc. I paid over $50 for my awesome new, comfortable, cute shoes.

Here's the closest pic I could find online:

Not them, but pretty close. Aren't they cute?

Well, about two months ago, I noticed I was getting blisters on my heels from wearing them. I checked the insole (not sure if that's the right word, but that's what I call it), and it had begun to wear unevenly, causing the blisters.

Not to be dismayed, and because these are my awesome, black, name-brand, paid-more-than-double-what-I-normally-would heels, I continued wearing them.
And getting blisters.
Until it became too painful to wear them.

And then I purchased some of the insoles you can put inside your shoe. The cheap ones. Five bucks. Because if I'm gonna pay much more than that, I might as well buy new shoes, right?

They were actually very comfortable, but I wore thru them in no time, and within a couple of weeks, the blisters were back.

So then I bought some slightly more expensive insoles. Ten bucks. Gel insoles. I'm wearing them today for the first time. My feet already hurt.

I'm a little ticked.

When I pay more money, I expect better quality. I know that's not always the case (obviously), but it's what I expect.

I have now invested approximately FOUR TIMES into these shoes as my previous, cheap pair. Cheap, but lasted me three years, while these are lasting me barely one. And we only got that far because I purchased insoles.

This does not make me happy.

And I'm a little upset that other than the uneven wear on the inside, they're in great condition. Heel is still very sturdy, sole is in good condition, and they're cute as ever. Just horribly painful.

And so I suppose I will purchase new shoes. I also suppose I will probably go back to my discount store, and hope they have cute black heels in stock. One of the risks of discount stores: they don't always have in stock what you want / need. But at least if I buy cheap shoes, the fact that they might fall apart after a few months doesn't really disappoint me. And if they last me three, then bonus.

Oh, and I know I could invest in some real insoles, for some more money, but if I only need them for this pair of shoes, and I can buy a whole new pair of shoes for the same as a good pair of insoles, then... I'm gonna go for the new shoes.

Thanks for checking in.

Where did all of our money go ???

Jason & I had been regularly putting a pretty good chunk of change into savings. Savings for when the car insurance is due, homeowners insurance, property taxes, vacation, Christmas, etc. Big purchases. The method had been working pretty well.

But here lately, we haven't had nearly enough to put aside. In fact, there have been several pay periods where we haven't put anything into savings.

I didn't understand why. We haven't changed our spending habits. So why now do we have less money for savings.

I figured it out this morning. See, back in April I was given a mandatory 10% paycut. I hadn't really noticed any differences, until here recently when I realized we hadn't been putting hardly anything into savings. Stupid bad economy. That and I have noticed the past couple of months that our grocery bill has gone up, due to increased grocery prices. Combine the two together, and one thing is obvous: we have to do something to change our spending habits.

We're pretty good about managing our money, I think. We spend hardly anything on entertainment. All of our vehicles are used. Even our house was purchased as a fixer-upper. I'm an avid coupon-clipper, and hate paying full price for anything.

But we do have one bad vice: eating out.
Not only because we enjoy eating out, but it's aggravated by the fact that with both of us working, and Jason's odd shifts, we don't really want to "waste" what little time we have together by doing chores like cooking. Add to that the fact that I'm really not very good at meal planning, and we have a recipe for disaster.

But I think we've reached a point where something has to change. We have to get better. If we stop putting money aside for these inevitable large expenses, then some day it's gonna come back to bite us in the butt.

Now, to find the time for more diligent meal planning, and cooking, and more aggressive sale/coupon comparison, and grocery shopping, and.... ugh. It's exhausting just to think of it.