..::: Mama Rants :::..

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 16-22, 2012

2012-01-16T00:48:00.000-05:00

Monday: Pot roast w/ veggies

Tuesday: "Loaded" baked potatoes w/ salads

Wednesday: Cilantro Lime Chicken w/ rice & Southwestern-style veggies

Thursday: Butternut Squash Soup w/ Sweet Potato Quinoa Salad

Friday: Balsamic-Crusted Pork Tenderloin w/ Roasted Root Vegetables

Saturday: Tilapia Parmesean w/ Roasted Asparagus

Sunday: Bruschetta Chicken w/ Spinach & Cheese Tortellini in Marinara Sauce

I Can't Believe My Kid Likes...

2012-01-14T13:28:00.052-05:00

I've always thought it was cool that the rugrat eats real adult food, and have tried to help him develop varied tastes, but some of the stuff he likes weirds even me out:

Really spicy foods - When he was tiny, he got into some of he sauce from my chipotle chicken, then started fussing for more. Not to be outdone, he started eating jalapenos not long after starting solid foods. Now, he digs into Mexican food and will hoard all of the spicy salsa i you don't make sure only the mild is in reach.
Black coffee - I should have seen this coming, since he is his daddy's child, but he is crazy about coffee and will ask for it - he calls it "hot". He's also learned to get it from the coffee pot if it's not pushed way back on the counter, which scars the crap out of me.
Sushi & sashimi - Including some of the rolls I won't eat. Then again, I craved sushi the whole tie I was pregnant and cheated a little by eating veggie and cooked rolls.
Sauerkraut - I found this out a few days ago. I wouldn't touch it as a child, and my husband still won't.
Hummus - He tears some hummus up, either with cut up pita or with carrots, celery, and bell pepper to dip with.
Veggies - He eats most veggies, although he has preferences (if they are "mixed" he eats all the carrots first), but he will go for carrots or celery over a cookie and was fussing last night because I was eating a salad and he didn't have anymore. Seriously, whose child is this?
Weird food - Some stuff most people think is odd, and several I won't even touch. He's liked calamari, frog legs, baby octopus, durian, kim chee, wasabi peas, miso, crawdads, oysters, lobster "butter", tofu, tempeh, morcilla, livermush, Vienna sausage, and my mother-in-law's cooking.

Then again, he's not even 2 yet, so maybe I should keep my fingers crossed and hope this continues. I'll probably keep introducing random foods to see what he does like. Who knows, between this and his penchant for helping out in the kitchen maybe I'm raising a little miniature Anthony Bourdain.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

A Favorite Retro Toy

2012-01-10T10:19:00.018-05:00

I've got the perfect toy for this, mainly because the darn thing has been haunting me for years.

This is called the Kermit the Frog Aqua Antics Water Game, and it was manufactured by Tomy in the early 1980s. The plastic case was filled with water and you pushed the big yellow button to move a plastic Kermit and his bike, which were floating around. The goal was to get Kermit on the bike. I don't think I could ever do it but, then again, I was younger than the recommended age when I was playing with it.

I remember having one as a kid and wondering where it went, but not being able to find it in my parents' attic when I got older. I had never seen one online anywhere until recently, so I had almost forgot about it and figured I was remembering something else and the toy didn't really exist. While it would be much cooler if I could find one of these for sale, it's nice seeing one again and knowing that I was really remembering it.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 9-15, 2012

2012-01-09T14:23:00.001-05:00

Monday: Cheeseburger soup w/ potatoes

Tuesday: Grilled salmon w/ balsamic blueberry sauce & mango cous cous

Wednesday: Chicken Alfredo w/ broccoli, peas, & red bell pepper

Thursday: Orange-glazed pork chops w/ sweet potatoes & butternut-barley pilaf

Friday: Carne Asada, mexican rice w/ black beans, pico de gallo & avocado on the side

Saturday: Soft tacos w/ leftovers from Friday

Sunday: Roast chicken w/ steamed veggies

If you're having trouble coming up with your own menu ideas, this list of 60 meal ideas from Tami @ A Godly Homemaker may help: http://www.agodlyhomemaker.com/2012/01/60-meals.html

Too Much Television

2012-01-08T13:04:00.031-05:00

I feel like the television has stolen my marriage, and I really wish I could just throw it out the window!

Maybe that's a little strong, but it's how I really feel. I guess this is what happens when a non-TV person (but admitted internet junkie) marries a TV addict.

I watched TV growing up, but not too much. In college, my roommate and I decided against having a TV, packed it back home during the first long weekend, and filled the space with a fishtank and a series of plants that kept dying. So, I should have known better when I started dating a man who had the TV on 24/7 at home and who has literally thousands of VHS tapes with recorded television shows.

I made it somewhat tolerable a few years ago, by convincing him to cancel or satellite package and rely on Netflix streaming instead. He spent a few months holed u in the bedroom watching reruns of 90s sitcoms on the VCR, but eventually recovered and joining me in the living room again (I wish I was only joking here). At least that cut out the commercials and gave us the option of choosing what to watch, when we wanted to watch it.

Then, we had a kid. Of course, I was gonna be the mom who had not TV on around my child until he was at least 2, and then limited it to an hour or less a day. During the day, I do keep it off but, the second my husband walks through the door, he turns it on and it stays on until we go to bed. It always was movies but, being that his tastes run toward movies with lots of violence and sexual undertones, he's finally agreeing that "Bob The Builder" is probably better to watch than "Hostel" while the toddler is playing in front of the TV.

Still, it annoys the crap out of me because it constantly distract me and makes it hard to write (my only income right now is from blogging and freelance writing), and I know it's gotta be distracting the rugrat as well. It's also annoying because it gives him a reason to park his butt on the couch the whole evening while projects and household repairs go undone. The only thing that keeps me from pushing hard to get rid of it is the fear that he'd want to cancel the internet too, and nobody's gonna pry me away from my laptop.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

My Special Place

2012-01-06T14:52:00.001-05:00

Photo by scmikeburton

I need to find a "special place" now, but it would need to be somewhere quiet and close to nature. The closest place I can think of is not very far away, but it's somewhere I no longer get to go because of high gas prices and the futility of seeking peace and quiet with a toddler in tow.

The photo with this post is close to me special place from college. When I needed to think, right, or just de-stress, I would get in my car and drive about 30 minutes into Tennessee. There, I had found a pull-off on the side of a mountain road that let me sit on a rock hanging out over nothingness. There was the most breathtaking view of the Smoky Mountains and, sitting there, I felt like it was just me and the trees and the open air.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

Something Lost

2012-01-05T14:53:00.020-05:00

My husband and I get funny looks sometimes when we go out, or when we tell people we're married. This is because I only wear my wedding and engagement rings about half the time, and he never wears his. Mine are a little tight, and they are gold which is not really my style. His was lost several years ago.

We're talked about replacing them, but now that we know eachother better, we won't be going with the gold traditional style. He's letting me pick out designs, but they need to be affordable. Since the beginning, my tastes have been either engraved runic or celtic knotwork rings or something a little more industrial looking.

I'm loving some of the tungsten and titanium rings available now, and was looking at some of the options with carbon fiber inlays, but now I'm all about the ones that incorporate steel cables into the rings. It's definitely not a traditional band, but I love the look and I think the symbolism is perfect for a set of wedding rings. The rings in this post are two of my favorites right now, and we may end up ordering them if we get money back on taxes.

If so, the lost ring will be sort of a blessing. It's made a way for us to get a new set, one that is much more reflective of the both of us.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

My Bucket List

2012-01-03T11:59:00.001-05:00

If you haven't heard of it before, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die. It comes from the phrase "kick the bucket" and was popularized by the 2007 movie with Morgan Freeman & Jack Nicholson.

I have a longer, more detailed list over on 43 Things, which is a goal tracking site that is perfect for keeping up with your own bucket list, but these are my top ten lifetime goals right now:

Get my home organized. - I have a feeling this will be an ongoing goal, but it's constantly getting better. I made a huge amount of progress with the help of FlyLady, starting about 2 years ago, and now my husband is on board and helping out, too. I just started using the Motivated Moms planner and chore lists this year, but I'm loving them and noticing even more of an improvement already.
Become debt free. - This is another on of those things I started working on several years ago, mostly following advice from Dave Ramsey, but I got off track due to my husband going through 2 layoffs and me having 2 car accidents, 2 week-long hospital stays, and then losing my job and having a baby. Money is even tighter right now, but we're working on budgeting, saving, and cutting corners wherever we can, which should help us save even more when my husband's job situation improves.
Compete in an Ironman triathlon. - This is defiantly a long-term goal, but one I want really badly. At this point, I'm working my way back up to running a 5k. Then I'll start on sprint triathlons (the shortest distance) and increase the distance and training until I'm ready for an Ironman. For now, I'm back on the C25K program and will be building from there.
Stop biting my nails. - Yeah, I still do it. I've tried to quit, other people have tried to get me to quit. Still working on it, but maybe once I get into an exercise routine again and can better deal with stress, I won't be as tempted to bite them.
Learn a new language. - Here's another I've started and failed a bunch of times. I have resources available for learning American Sign Language, Russian, German, and Irish Gaelic - now I need to pick one and follow through with it.
Learn to play an instrument. - Same here. I can play guitar a little and pick out notes on a keyboard, but I really need to learn how to play both correctly and take the time to practice so I don't sound horrible.
Finish my college degree. - I'm looking at going back to do this in the fall, if I can get a Pell grant. It irritates the heck out of me that I spent so much time in school and don't have anything to show for it, other than student loan debt. Plus, I really enjoyed college. Internet classes will be easier for me with the baby, but I would love to take real classroom classes if I could.
Write a book and have it published. - I have a few ideas floating around, and one partial manuscript, but I spend so much time writing for pay with my freelance jobs that I haven't done much work on this. I'm probably just being too picky, because I feel like I have to be in the mood to write for it to be any good.
Make more friends. - I'm sort of shy, and I spent a lot of time over the past several years pretty isolated because of depression, working night shift, and having a house too cluttered for company. I'm trying to get out of the house more often and be friendly to people I meet, and getting the house straight means I can invite people over without being embarrassed about it.
Be on Jeopardy! - This sounds sort of lame, but I've wanted to do it since I was a kid. I tried of for the teen version of the show when I was younger and passed the tests, but was never called (only something like 10% of people get called to be on the show). I'm registered to take the online test for this year in a few days, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

This post is part of the 2012 Blog Dare from Bloggy Moms.

One prompt per day, for each day of the year.

<--- Click the button to join us!

Menu Plan Monday - Jan 2-8, 2012

2012-01-02T06:48:00.016-05:00

Monday: Sausage & Bean Soup with cornbread

Tuesday: Venison Roast with veggies

Wednesday: Cheeseburger Soup w/ hasselback potatoes

Thursday: Spaghetti w/ garlic bread & green salad

Friday: Roast pork & apples w/ wild rice

Saturday: Pepperoni pizza w/ side salads

2012 Chore Lists & Planners

2012-01-01T21:27:00.001-05:00

Many people, myself included, make goals and plans for the new yer that include getting more organized, de-cluttering, or otherwise making their home neater and easier to live in.

If you're a list person like me, then you've probably tried this and used several different lists, plans, and organizers over the years trying to find on that works for you. I'm going to try to make the process easier for you this year, by listing the 3 chore list systems that have worked the best for me.

The first place I turned to try to get organized was FlyLady. While she doesn't publish a whole year's worth of tasks at once - probably because she knows some of us would try to do them all at once or "play catch-up" and get overwhelmed and burned out - she does send out daily reminders by email. For those who find the emails to be too much "inbox clutter", you can visit the website at flylady.net instead. If you click on the "Launch Pad", you'll find lists of cleaning tasks for each day, detailed cleaning lists for the more advanced, and a "Sneak Peek" with the whole week's worth of tasks.

Another system that I've found helpful is the Declutter & Organize Calendar from MySimplerLife. This is a free, printable calendar that comes as a PDF file. It has one task listed for each day, with Sundays being given over to tasks that help you take care of yourself, similar to FlyLady's "Pamper Missions". I enjoyed using it as a sort of "Extra" or alternate "Zone Mission" combined with FlyLady, but it will also be good for those who have a handle on their everyday cleaning routines and would like to add just one more thing a day to contribute to their overall home organization.

The best of both worlds seem to be the printable chore lists & printable day planners from Motivated Moms. They combine the calendar format, and convenience of being able to print a month or year ahead in advance, of the Declutter & Organize Calendar with the routines and daily checklists of FlyLady's system. Each day has a daily checklist down one side and a few organizational tasks and chores listed for the day. The day planner checklists add hourly appointment slots to the schedule. Motivated Moms' planners and chore lists are available as a printable PDF file and come in full size (8.5 x11") or half size (5.5x9.5") options, with or without a checklist for Bible reading, and with the options of either a weekly chore list only checklist or a daily planner with the chores and hourly appointment slots for each day. The "half size" planners can be punched to fit inside of Franklin Covey or Day Timer planners. Samples of each type of planner and chore list are viewable on the Motivated Moms order page. These chore lists normally cost $8 for the whole year, but you can order them now for only $7 by entering the code 1OFF at checkout.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

2011-12-31T17:59:00.037-05:00

2011 has been a long strange year, with lots of good times, and some really hard times here at the end.

I haven't blogged as much as I'd planned to, because I've been busy at home with the baby, freelance work, and house projects, but I do plan to post more regularly next year. Bloggy Moms is doing a "Blog Dare" with a prompt each day of the year, so that should help on those days I don't know what to write about.

The best part of 2011 was getting to stay home with Robbie and watching him grow from a baby into a very active toddler. His personality has really come out, and he's an adorable little handful. He's learning new words every week, climbing, and copying so much of what he sees us do. He's very sweet and so helpful - he puts dishes in the sink, helps with laundry, wipes up spills, lets the dogs out, and lets us know when the dogs and cat need food. In short, he's more responsible at 20 months than a lot of people I know are at 20 years. ;)

The worst part of 2011 has been financial. I finally have some fairly steady freelance work, but not a lot of it, so I'm still only making a few hundred dollars a month right now. The hubby was doing pretty well at work, but they cut all overtime and then have been doing temporary layoffs over the last month, so things are much tighter. It's pretty scary, but I'm trying to really budget and save money where I can to make things a little easier. One advantage is that I am meal planning and we are eating at home much more often, and I've rediscovered how mice it can be to spend a couple hours playing around in the kitchen - at least until it's time to wash the dishes.

For the coming year, I'm going to try to do more freelance work and work on expanding my web design skills as well as writing. I've also been asked to help a friend with some organizing and decluttering for a family member of hers, but I feel sort of hypocritical doing that when I still have a way to go. We have got a lot done in the house this year though, and I want to finish all the decluttering and get the whole inside painted in the coming year. If money allows, we're going to re-do the floors as well; if not, I'll just be shampooing the carpets and trying to keep them in as good of shape as possible.

I'm also trying to get back into an exercise routine. I couldn't afford to keep the gym membership for this year, but I still have a treadmill, several exercise DVDs, and my bike and rollerskates. I can push Robbie in his stroller and walk or run on days that are nice, walk on the treadmill or exercise at home if I can get him to take a nap, and ride my bike or skate when Billy's home to watch him. I don't know if I'll be able to do roller derby or triathlon this year, but I can at least get back into shape so I feel better and have a good base to build on when I am able to get back into sports.

Freelance Doesn't Mean Unemployed! ...Except When It Does

2011-11-15T19:54:00.026-05:00

Photo courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

The past two years, I've mostly been describing myself as a stay-at-home mom, which is halfway true because I do see that as my most important job right now.

I've also been reassuring some family and friends by telling them I was doing some "freelance" work on the side. That's also partially true, but I was still drawing unemployment which forced me to limit my income pretty drastically, and cut down on my client list (according to the person I talked to at the employment office, I could work through a website that filed a 1099, but could not work with clients directly, because that would be considered self-employment and would make me ineligible for unemployment benefits).

This is where a certain group of people will tell me I should have said screw the benefits, jumped into freelancing full-time, and went all sink-or-swim. Great plan there, except I left a job with an above-average salary for this area, so my weekly unemployment checks were higher than my husband's take home pay, and over $100 a week higher than any of the jobs I was offered while looking. I don't know what my freelance income would have been if I'd really pushed it, worked 16+ hour days, and all of those other things, but I do know it would have been somewhat limited by total lack of support from my husband and a toddler in my care 24/7.

Either way, I received my last unemployment check yesterday, so now I find myself in the freelance world for real. It scares the crap out of me. I'm excited to be able to work on my own terms, but I really, really, really want the safety net of a paycheck there to catch me if I screw up. With that gone, I am jumping into writing and trying to work from a set schedule, and am also branching out into some graphic work and webpage design. Right now, I'm doing some free work in those areas for a church some friends are starting (logo, facebook welcome screen for the fan page, & a website), and have a couple logos and fan pages in the works. I've gotten a lot of compliments, but it is sort of crazy now building a portfolio and trying to launch a new business all at once. I'm still doing the writing as well, and have kicked it up to where I am making more than I was, but it's hard to adjust from the income level I had to cap it off at before to what I need to be making now to pay the bills.

Awesome Brownies, By Mistake

2011-11-07T21:31:00.008-05:00

Lately, the rugrat's had this thing about opening boxes of food and either scattering pasta all over the kitchen or bringing me random packages without the box they came in. (Yeah, they make child-proof cabinet latches - it took him about 2 days to figure those out).

Usually, I can find the accompanying box before the dogs eat it and get everything put back together and taped shut. This time, it didn't work that way.

I ended up with one big clear cellophane bag or brown, chocolatey looking baking mix and bits of a red cardboard box scattered all over my living room. I could tell from the size and shape (and cause I bake a lot of cakes and brownies) that it was a Betty Crocker mix, so I assumed it was for fudge brownies, my husband's favorite.

I busted out a pan, greased it up, and followed the direction on another package of brownies to make them, adding a thin layer of Nutella in the middle because I love that stuff and because I can never just follow a recipe without messing around.

When they were done, they smelled and looked good, but it was clear they were not the brownies I thought they were. Instead, it had been a box of German chocolate cake mix. I tried one, thought it was pretty good, and gave the hubby one to sample. He declared they were freakin' awesome, ate 4, then told me from now on I should forget the brownie mix and make those instead.

Happy Halloween! ...Why Don't You Take A Seat Over There

2011-10-28T11:11:00.000-04:00

Kids clothes in general make me glad I have a son rather than a daughter right now, but some of the Halloween costumes really are maddening. There are still lots of "cute" choices for very young kids, but it seems like the "sexy" costumes keep coming in younger sizes every year.

I could go on a whole rant about that in general, but I'm not really bothered as much if an adult wants to dress up as a sexy/slutty whatever. What does skeeve me out is when I see the same costumes, complete with fake garterbelt stockings, miniskirts, and optional high heels, in sizes aimed at pre-teens and even sized to fit the average 10-12 year old.

Did I miss something, or is it now appropriate to dress a child up in something at 12 that you'd ground them for leaving the house in at 16? In a world where everyone is aware of the dangers of sexual predators, to the point of TV shows focusing on the problem, and where many cities have started taking extra precautions on Halloween because it brings children into contact with so many strangers, why would we think sending young girls out to walk around in skimpy clothing could possibly be a good idea.

Several other people have addressed this, but costume makers most not be getting the idea, so maybe we could try reaching the parents who buy these costumes directly. While a Pedo Bear costume would probably be in bad taste, how about a couple guys dressed as Chris Hansen? - "Hello, I'm Chris Hansen - WTF were you thinking with that outfit?"

*OK, that last part was tongue-in-cheek ... mostly*

My Little PIG Bull

2011-10-13T18:51:00.009-04:00

The picture on the left is our newest addition, Rebel. He's a pit bull & Cane Corso mix, and the picture is from last month, when he was about 8 weeks old. He's now 12 weeks and already 34 pounds.

He is the sweetest little dog, but I think there was a mix up and I got a "pig" bull instead of a pitbull.This little pup already eats more than my full-grown (90+ pound) German Shepard/Rottweiler mix. He eats about his own weight in dog food each day - more today because I fed them a bunch of chicken that had been left out overnight by mistake, along with some boiled rice.

In addition to eating like a pig, he sounds like one. When he is happy, excited, or finds food, he grunts, snuffles, snorts, and roots around making sounds just like a pig.

Crying Over Broken Lipstick

2011-10-10T14:47:00.000-04:00

I've recently started putting more care into how I look. I figured with all of this going to the gym and trying not to look like the stereotypical frazzled housewife, I should start dressing a little better, doing my hair, and putting on makeup.

Since I didn't wear it often, I had a lot of cheap makeup, but very little "good" makeup. One of the things I have and love though is what has become on of my two signature lipsticks - a tube of Estee Lauder Autumn that my mom gave me. She didn't like the color on her, but it looks awesome on me. It's become my everyday color for when I don't want to go all-out with the cherry red lips and vintage/rockabilly look.

I wore it to a family reunion this weekend, reveled in a few compliments about how good I looked (most of these people were used to seeing me with no makeup, horrible hair, and in faded out jeans and t-shirts), and of course had my favorite lipstick in my handbag. That was all good. I even put it up out of reach when we got home.

Well, I thought it was out of reach, but I forgot I am mother to an aspiring mountain climber. Later that evening, my husband was supposed to be watching our son so I could catch up on some freelance writing assignments. Unbeknownst to me, hubby had decided to kick the toddler out of the bedroom and shut the door, so he was in the front living room unsupervised. I walked past on my way to the kitchen and noticed he had climbed up on top of a table and had my purse. He'd gotten my lipstick out, eaten about 2/3 of it, and had some of it smeared all over himself, my white couch, and my purse.

I tried to clean up what I could, but the stains aren't coming out of anything. I was so upset, especially when I found out that the lipstick costs $24 to replace. I did manage to salvage the bit that was left by melting it back down in the tube with a hair dryer and sticking it in the freezer for a few hours to "set", but the whole thing just makes me mad because it could have been avoided if my husband would have kept his word and watched our son for an hour or two, or at least let me know he had shut him out there.

Still Alive

2011-10-07T01:08:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I hadn't realized it was 2 whole months!

Anyway, I'm going well. I've just been really busy but not getting much done. One again, this whole motherhood-marriage-life thing is getting kind of overwhelming again.

I still haven't found a "real" job and am getting ready to run out of unemployment, so that sort of scares the crap out of me. With our local job market, most of the options are part-time and minimum wage, and daycare is expensive even if I thought I could leave Rugrat in one without totally freaking out. The one and only job offer I've had would have left me with $28 a week (gross pay, before taxes) after paying for childcare, so we didn't go that route.

I am doing some writing online, mostly through Textbroker. I'm actually making OK money at that, but only have a couple hours per day to write. The hubby doesn't understand that I can't write very well with the TV blaring, dogs running around, and toddler in my lap. I ask him to watch Rugrat so I can write and he lets him climb up on my or comes to me every 15 minutes asking where something is. I feel like I could make enough to pay some bills doing this if I could have some quiet and concentration, but right now my choices are either to stay up late and write or wake up very early. This means 5 or less hours of sleep, and I can only function like that for a few days before I start getting sick and then start having bad depression and anxiety issues again. Still, it seems like my only real shot at work at the moment.

I'm still going to the gym some but have had to back way off due to calf strain and then fibro flares that have left me with pain and joint soreness. I seem to do OK cycling still, as long as it's on a recumbent, but am having trouble walking up inclines, running, or even walking fast for long. I'm doing water aerobics to try to stretch and do low-impact cardio, but the whole thing is really frustrating because I am so far behind the goals I had set for myself. If I push it, then I am sore all over the next day and I had one day where I hadn't even exercised but spent several hours unable to put any weight on my right leg and hip. I am signed up for a 5k on the 15, but am not sure if I'll be able to do it or not. If I can walk 2.5 miles or so on Tuesday or Wednesday, then I figure I can do 3.2 on Saturday, but I'll most likely walk it all instead of running most of it like I had originally planned.

Rugrat is going great. He's talking some, mostly really random words like ball, bird, banner, dog, no, and his favorite word "shit". He's also waving, high 5-ing, and running up to people going "boo" and laughing. He is climbing, running, and into everything, and laughs a lot. He also gives hugs and kisses, which is so sweet, but really annoys the dogs.

Speaking of dogs, we got a new puppy. He's a pit bull / Cane Corso mix, so he'll probably be big, but he is really sweet. He's actually a lot calmer and better behaved than Thor was at that age, but I'm still working on housebreaking and teaching him not to chew on toys and other random things. Having 2 dogs bouncing around, along with a toddler, makes for some interesting days. I am also really thankful for my carpet cleaner right now.

I've still got a ton of stuff to de-clutter, but I'm cleaning around what I can. The house is pretty decent right now, other than all the bedroom stuff being in my front living room because we still haven't gotten the flooring down in the bedrooms. Once that's done, and I can move things, I'm going to do another big purge of things. I've got a bunch of nicer clothes to sell on eBay, but want to be able to organize them and keep them clean, so I need the space. Hopefully, Billy will also let go of some of the random extra furniture we have, which will free up a lot of room. Either way, I'm moving a big wide desk into the spare bedroom to use as a sewing table, so I'll finally have a place for sewing and crafty stuff. I've got a few vintage patterns I want to try for a dress and a couple of skirts, then I'll probably work on some curtains and pillows, and maybe a slipcover for the couch if I get really ambitious.

That's pretty much life as it stands now, and I'll try to update this poor little neglected blog more in the future.

A Plauge of Frogs - In the Bathroom?

2011-08-06T14:37:00.003-04:00

This morning started out pretty normal. Got up, took a shower, went to go pee, etc. Then I made the mistake of looking down at the toilet.

I saw a big brown thing, and thought someone had missed the bowl, so I reached for the toilet brush. Then the lump moved. It was a big frog!

Because I have my priorities straight, I screamed like a little girl, then went to the living room to get my camera, so I could take a pic for the blog. When I got back, it was gone, so I had to snag a pic of someone else's toilet frog off the internet (see, you can find anything on Google).

My husband went and looked and he was telling me I must be imagining it. I would have thought so myself, if I had thought it was a frog when I first saw it.

The disturbing thing is this is the second frog I've found in the bathroom this summer. The first one "disappeared" too, and I looked up and found it sitting in the miniblinds over the tub about a week later. Hubby tried to tell me I imagined that one, too, until it showed up and I made him go snatch it out of the blinds. I pointed that out to him when he started telling me there was no frog this time, but then he accused me of catching a frog and "planting" it in the bathroom, just to prove I was right. Not that I don't like being right, but I wouldn't stoop to touching icky, squishy, jumping things just to prove it.

So now I'm wondering what is going on. I blamed the first one on the dog, because he loves to catch frogs and has the thing of bringing nasty crap into the house after he's let out. Now I'm not so sure. In the process of googling "toilet frogs", I found out this is apparently a common thing in some area and can be caused by an "open" line that allows frogs (and snakes) to climb up the water line into your house. Being that our house was formerly owned by a guy with all sort of "creative" ideas about home repairs, plumbing, and wiring, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

So now, in addition to a possible coming plague of frogs in my toilet, I'm also gonna have to start peeking in the bowl and making sure there are no snakes lurking there waiting to bite me in the ass for peeing on their heads. I thought people gave all that crap up when we finally got indoor plumbing instead of outhouses.

Here are a few more pics to prove that toilet frogs are a real problem:

Trail of Destruction

2011-08-02T11:35:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days - the ones every warned me were coming as rugrat got more mobile.

I had got about 2 hours of sleep the night before, had a headache most of the day, and was sick to my stomach off and on all morning. Since moms don't get sick days, I still had an over-active toddler to keep an eye on.

It was like he knew I was dragging and took advantage of the situation to get into something every time I turned my back or went to the bathroom.

The morning started with me leaving him in the living room, eating a waffle, while I went to go throw up. A few minute later, he brought me half of one of those decorative plates. He had gotten into my husband's "curio cabinet" (meant to house stereos, but filled with random figures and plates of wolves, confederate flags, model cars and other things that should be relegated to the mid-90s rural south) and somehow broke it clean in two.

A little later, we were settled down in the floor playing with his toy trucks and I thought was pretty engrossed in it when I had to step out again. I should have known something was up, because he was really quiet. I got back to the living room, and he'd taken a bag of flour from the kitchen cabinet and dumped about half of it on the living room carpet, with a trail of flour leading back to the kitchen. (Yes, we have child latches on the cabinets - he gets them open faster than I do, so maybe they should be called mommy latches.

I pop him in the playpen while I vacuum and wonder why on earth I don't drink anymore, and he falls asleep. Since I'm still tired from lack of sleep, and still generally feeling like crud, I decide I'll take a nap too. I settle down for about 2 hours of rest finally, and am feeling better when I wake up, until I see the dog. Evidently, the toddler has woken up before I did and actually stayed quiet enough to let me sleep. Also the hubby has left the peanut butter within reach once again. You guessed it - the dog, floor, couch, toddler, and kitchen are all covered with sticky peanut butter.

I get it cleaned up, wash the dog, give the baby another bath, take a second shower myself because I have peanut butter all over my arms and clothes, and wonder again if I should take up drinking. Then I realize I couldn't afford it anyway, because I have to keep buying things like baby clothes and toys and more peanut butter, Which is why I opt for internet time and green tea instead. I get dressed, go into the living room, and start winding back the toilet paper he has unrolled and picking up pieces of the back pages of an old book he has torn up while I was in the shower.

About this time, the hubby gets home from work. He looks at me, the baby in the floor playing, and the path of toys and destruction that I haven't gotten around to picking up yet and asks what happened to the house. I told him our little hellion happened and I was too busy being sick and cleaning up larger messes to deal with the clutter today.

Since I felt almost human by that point, and really needed to get out of the house, I asked him to watch the rugrat so I could go to the gym (they have childcare, but the carseat was still in hubby's Ramcharger, and I just did not feel like dealing with it). I went, hit the exercise bike for 30 minutes, walked 2 miles, skipped swimming because I had errands to run and the pool was sort of crowded, and felt pretty damn good. I went ahead and ran some errands since I was easier to do on one of my rare solo trips to the store, and came home.

Rugrat and the hubby were both snuggled up asleep on the couch. Once he woke up, hubby was like "yeah, he fell asleep about 5 minutes after you left, I guess he was tired out".

Rugrat is being great today - he's been playing in the living room mostly within my site, cuddled up in my nap for a story, and is just being sweet and non-messy for the most part.
I don't know what yesterday was all about.

He Gets Into Everything AND The Kitchen Sink

2011-07-28T23:38:00.003-04:00

Nope, I didn't put him there. He got in there himself.

I made the mistake of letting him stand in a chair by the sink and "help" my wash dishes.
That taught him 2 very bad things:

Chairs are great for reaching and climbing.
The sink sprayer is great fun to play with.

In the course of a few minutes, he got the chair out from under the sink, pushed it up to the counter, and climbed up into the sink. He didn't have the water on, but had the sprayer and was trying to use it.

(Yes, I have wallpaper and chickens on my curtains. We're redneck like that 'round here.)
(No, Bloggess fans, the chickens are not named Beyonce)

Seriously, IRS?

2011-07-24T01:07:00.000-04:00

OK, I am seriously sick of taxes right now. I'm also wondering how many people got audited for their 2009 taxes, just in time to help the government offest some of this crazy-ass debt they're racking up.

(Yeah, I'm one of those paranoid conspiracy theorists, but I find it odd that I know 3 other people who got past due tax bills. One's already been proven to be a mistake.)

We got a bill for very close to $3,000 from the IRS a few months ago, where supposedly something had been entered on the wrong line of a form. (My husband's IRA withdrawal wasn't taxed like it should have been),. The taxes were done using TurboTax, so I thought that was odd, but we couldn't find the original return, so we had to take the IRS' word for it. Stuff is already really tight on us, but they agreed to take payments of $50 a month and then take the rest out of any refund that we might get at the end of the year.

That really sucked, but I thought it was settled. Then yesterday we get a bill for $750 from the state. Turns out the feds had notified them, and their "correction" of the return jacked up our taxable income, leaving us owing the state a buttload of money, too. Of course, the state of North Carolina is run by a bunch of arseholes, so they won't do the same type of payments as the feds. They're asking for it all at once or in payments of $85 a month, and I have no clue how that's gonna work out.

I'm Not Anti-Social, I Just Have A Toddler

2011-07-21T22:17:00.002-04:00

I love my rugrat, but I have to admit that sometimes I miss being able to just go out and do some of the things I used to be able to before having a child. It was so much easier to just pick up and take off or make a spur-of-the-moment change in plans. for that matter, it was nice not having to carry around a diaper bag or plan out for food, drinks, and extra clothes each time I leave the house. I know I sort of signed up for this when I had a baby, but some people haven't quite caught on to that.
If you remember the old cartoon "Buttons & Mindy", my son is quickly becoming a Mindy. He is very adventurous and liked to climb, explore, and do things that are really fun for him and scare the crap out of me and most other adults around. He is not one of those children you can just stick in front of a television set and expect to be entranced. Maybe that's where I messed up by not having the TV on much at home, but he would much rather be trying to climb the bookcases, taking all my silverware out of the drawer, emptying the fax machine of paper, putting the dog's food in his water dish, or throwing flour all over the kitchen than watching cartoons.

This makes me more than a little nervous when visiting other people's houses. Some of my friends with children tell me that he'll be fine and that their 6 or 7 year old will keep an eye on him while they play in the kid's room, but I've seen him get into all sorts of stuff in a room full of adults, so I'm not going to count on it. My childless friends also don't get it. He's a social little fellow and will force himself to stay awake just to be around people, so there's no guarantee he'll settle down for a nap at 9 or 10 or 2am so we can have quiet time to talk or watch a movie. It also limits the places I can go. We don't have a sitter, and I'm nervous about leaving him with just anyone. Being that most of my social life before centered around live music, mosh pits, and beer, that cuts out all of that.

It feels so lame being all "sorry, I have a kid now" when an out of town friend calls to tell me his band is playing in the next town over, but the little dude is pretty much with me wherever I go now for the next few years. Until some really cool person decided to open a bar/club with an on-site daycare and book some good bands, it looks like I'll have to decline a lot of invitations. I'm working on meeting other moms around here that "get" this and don't mind hanging out out home where it's not a huge issue if one of the kiddos wants to run around naked or has a meltdown because they are tired or unhappy, but I'm also trying to figure out a way to let my old friend know I'm really not avoiding them, I just have a toddler.

Because You Can't Strap a Carseat on a Harley

2011-07-13T12:09:00.004-04:00

Yep, that's a real bike. More specifically, my 2004 Sportster. I totally fell in love with that bike in the show room, then found out it was on hold for someone else. When that fell through, and the dealer called to tell me it was still available, I jumped on it like a monkey on a banana.

Because of my work schedule and other craziness, I didn't really get to ride as much as I wanted, and I haven't ridden at all in the past 2 years due to the combo of a car wreck and broken arm, being pregnant, and then having a toddler and nobody willing to babysit while I ride. Still, I love that freakin' bike.

However, I've also realized I can't ride around with the baby and the hubby is not going to watch out son so I can go out and ride. Rather than let it sit there and rust, and because we are broke and getting broker, I'm gonna have to sell it. One of the husband's co-workers was interested and had a check that would have bought it, but he ended up blowing the money partying, so that fell through. Right now, I'm waiting on one other person that may be interested and I'll probably put it on ebay or craigslist if that doesn't work out.

Part of me really, really wants to keep it, but I realize there's no point if I won't be able to ride it in the foreseeable future, and we really could use the money from the sale.

Ground Control to Major Mom

2011-07-07T16:40:00.002-04:00

OK, excuse the David Bowie reference. I grew up in the 80s and I couldn't get it out of my head after seeing the photo. It does kind of look like one of the old school space capsules, doesn't it?

Yep, that's the inside of my washing machine. Robbie has not only figured out how to turn it on when he wants to (use a kitchen chair to reach the knobs), but he's now figured out how to get in it. The hubby was watching him while I was out weeding the garden and caught him because he got stuck. He said he was trying to get out and couldn't because it would spin when he moved, so he started fussing. Of course, he had to get a picture first to show me.

This is really not cool, but at least he can't turn it on while he's inside it, and know I know to add the washing and dryer to the every-growing list of stuff to keep an eye on because he's going to try to climb on or in it.

I Joined a Gym ...so I Can Shower In Peace

2011-07-01T05:13:00.004-04:00

So I did it. After putting it off for years (well, I did have a major car accident, surgery, and a baby in that time, so I had some excuses), I actually joined the local gym.

Yeah, I weigh over 300 lbs, and here lately my endurance totally sucks. And it would be nice to be able to start running again and finally do that damn triathlon.

But that's not my main motivation. Nope, not at all.

See, the reason I picked this particular gym is that it has childcare. That means I can go during the daytime, drop the rugrat off for up to 2 hours, and not have to deal with poop or a small person climbing up my leg every 15 minutes. I'm also close enough by that I don't have to freak out that something may be wrong - it's a small gym, so I could be there in less than a minute from almost anywhere if needed.

The most awesome thing, as I suspected in my last post, is that I can shower in peace. That is awesome. Even though the showers kinda remind me of high school gym class, and I have to wear shoes in them, I'm not really caring. It's quiet and I can take as long as I want to without having to worry about anybody waking up or trashing my house in the meantime.

While I'm hoping all this means I'll tone up some and get in better shape, I still think the membership fee would still be worth it just for the chance to get a break every now and then and to be able to shower in peace.