My baby boy isn't a baby anymore. He'll be three next Wednesday!
Do you remember this post where I so excited because I bought this really cool car for Jet for his birthday? Well... we're rethinking the brilliance of that purchase. You see, we don't have a paved driveway at our house (it's just dirt and rocks) or sidewalks in our neighborhood. Our house is definitely too small to ride it inside. I just don't really think he would enjoy it all that much because there's not a good place for him to ride it. Getting him something he would enjoy is really the point, right, because it is his birthday and all...?
I posted the car on Craigslist yesterday to see if we could sell it. We've already thought of something else he would enjoy more. Several months ago, we picked up a basketball goal similar to this one at a garage sale for two dollars. Jet loved it! He definitely got his two dollars' worth out of it, but it broke about a month ago. I'm thinking he would love to get a new one.
We'll be having his birthday party next Saturday. It will be small and simple - just family, I think. I really don't understand all of the drama and extravagance of having these huge birthday parties for toddlers. Plus, I figure I'll keep it easy while he's too young to know better. :) To be honest, I don't know that I'll ever "go all out" when compared to some other parents.
Deanna and her family will come up, and my parents, sister, and brother will come over. We'll grill burgers, I'll make some of Mom's yummy baked beans (I'll be happy to provide the recipe if you're interested -- so easy and delicious), and cut up a watermelon. We'll let him open presents, and blow out the candles on the cake. That's about it.
Now, if there's one area that I kind of go all out on, it's the cake. I love to make his birthday cakes. For his first birthday, I made this inchworm cake. It was super easy and really cute. I'm having trouble remembering what I did for his cake last year. I'll update if I do remember. :P
This year, I think I'm going to do either a car or a fire truck. While I was digging, I found a whole page of yummy-looking cake recipes. I bookmarked it to try some of them later.
Now I need to make my list of all the stuff I have to get done between now and then... grocery shopping, housecleaning, etc. I have to admit that it helps to have a deadline. Otherwise, I just let this stuff linger until.... well, until I don't know when. This is the downside of Summer Vacation -- too much time! :) It will feel good to get the house thoroughly clean.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Planning for Birthday No. 3
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Money, money, money
I was so excited about this, I just had to share... I've discovered the world of bloggers who blog about saving money/frugality/financial peace, etc.
I know I've linked to Mir at WantNot several times. She is fabulous, and scouts out great deals on stuff. As she usually says, those deals are great, if you were already planning to buy those items or need to stock up for your gift closet. Thanks, Mir!
The new blogs I've found are a bit different; they offer tips and tricks to manage money. This is a topic near and dear to my heart since Knight and I did Financial Peace University a few years ago. To be honest, once I started clicking around, I became a bit overwhelmed by all of the good advice I saw. Here are a couple that I thought were great and that are in my Reader now:
NCN at No Credit Needed offers great tips, and has a neat post up right now where readers link to their favorite money-saving tips. He has several blogs, including a Network system which I will be checking out soon. It sounds neat!
Trent at The Simple Dollar is an excellent writer. I enjoy following his thoughts on various decisions he makes. It helps that we are about the same age and in the same stage of life, so much of what he has to say is relevant to me.
If you're a nerd like I am, go click around on their sites and get excited about saving money!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Swim lessons
We're officially enrolled in swim lessons. I went for the lessons for the younger kiddos. He barely squeaks in, since the lessons start on the 18th and he'll be three on the 21st.
As I browsed the options for swim lessons online, I was all excited to see that the parks and rec department had an online registration for the lessons! I also discovered that they had ONE spot left in the class I wanted.
I've come to appreciate the beauty of signing up for things without having to wade through the tedium of recorded phone menus ("For the first circle of hell, press 1. For the idiocy that is the customer service representative, press 2. To scoop out your eyeballs using dull spoons, press 3.", etc.). Plus, I can do it in my pajamas. I figure that organizations put in online registration systems so that they don't have to pay people to man the phones or the front desk registration areas so much. Ultimately it saves money, right?
Wrong. I discovered that, in order to register for programs online, I had to be assigned a user id and password. Fine. I figured I'd enter all my pertinent information and then their auto-emailer would send me a user id and password.
Wrong again. I received an email stating that "someone would contact [me] in 24-48 hours with [my] user id and password". Whaaaat? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose? At least, it does in my mind.
Anyway, I had done all of this on Saturday afternoon. I received an email with the user id and password from an actual person about noon on Monday. So, excitedly, I went to register for the swim lessons. They still had that one spot open!!
Somewhere in all of the small print, I remembered seeing that I would have to add individual members of my family to the account in order to sign them up for different programs. I tried to figure out how to do that, but couldn't seem to get it done. So, somehow, I thought it wouldn't matter that it was my name signing up for the swim lessons instead of Jet's.
Wrong again. They had a drop-down menu to select the person who would be participating in the activity. Since mine was the only name available on our account, I selected it. It wouldn't let me register because the class is for children 0-36 months old, and the participant (that would be me) would be -- get this -- 358 months old at the start of the class. If that doesn't make a body feel old, I don't know what would.
I started poking around some more, trying to figure out how to add Jet to the account. I finally found the FAQ's page. In order to add someone to the account you have to... no, really, guess... call them at the office. They even gave two phone numbers. However, the first one they listed didn't work -- I got the "boop-boop-BOOP this phone has been disconnected or is no longer in service..."
After calling the second number and sifting through the phone menu, I connected with someone who, surprisingly, knew what she was doing. She added Jet and Knight to the account with ease and dexterity. As we were ending the conversation, I mentioned that I would be signing up online for the swim lessons. She mentioned that they would charge me a convenience fee to sign up online.
Let's think about this for juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a second, here, while remembering that I thought I could do this the easy way -- without having to call anybody!
I kindly pointed this out to the nice lady on the phone, and she was super-nice and signed us up for the lessons without charging the over-the-phone convenience fee.
Thus ends the story of How Not to Sign Up for Swim Lessons the Easy Way.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Saturday
The ending to the refrigerator saga (or, at least, what I hope is the ending) is rather anticlimactic. Also, brace yourselves for the stunning revelation of my intimate knowledge of the inner workings of refrigerators.
The guy said that when they replace the thingy he replaced last week, they ususally replace another doo-hickey, too. However, when he tested our doo-hickey, it tested fine, so he didn't see the need to replace it and charge us for it. (Thank you!) Howsomever, that doo-hickey was the one that went out on Thursday.
Fortunately, he had the new doo-hickey in his truck and was able to replace it right then for a mere $35 (who knew doo-hickeys were so cheap?!?). He didn't even charge labor. Thank you, Lord!!
Funny how when you don't have to go to work on Monday, Friday just kind of bleeds into Saturday. Yesterday, I realized that tomorrow was Saturday, and the habitual gut-instinct of oh-crap-I-have-to-clean-the-whole-house-before-Sunday-night hit me.
And then... (savor this with me now, folks)... I remembered. Ahhhhh, yesssssssss.... Summer Vacation. :) Pure, relaxing, unadulterated joy. Hallelujah.
I think we're taking the kids to see Surf's Up today, because I'm not chained to my house to do laundry!! Yay!
Friday, June 8, 2007
Fiderajer
... we interrupt this broadcast to update you on the continuing saga of the refrigerator, which is "continuing", despite the fact that you may have known nothing about it.
Last Monday, Memorial Day, our refrigerator went out. Not like on a date or anything (there's a joke here somewhere about where those little refrigerators come from... "When a mommy refrigerator and a daddy refrigerator really love each other..."). No, it "went out" as in "quit working". This is on the day after I'd been up all night with the dreaded Stomach Flu, which chose to manifest itself in a revisitation of anything and everything I'd eaten since about the eighth grade.
This is also on a holiday when everyone, including the appliance repair people, took a day off. (Good for them. I'm sure they needed a break from all those people hounding them about broken appliances... except, of course, how dare they choose a national holiday that would fall on the same day my refrigerator quit?!?) I called and left an appropriately desparate message for them to please call me back ASAP on Tuesday morning.
So, what with me being sick and completely unable to even think of venturing into the kitchen, my dad came over to help Knight take all the food out of the fridge. Dad took it all back to their house and stuffed it in their refrigerator and freezer. Yay for Dads!
I had to go to work the next morning to finish a few things and check out for the summer. Knight started his new job that day, too. I finished up about 11:30 that morning, and met the refrigerator repairman back at our house at 1:00.
After about half an hour, he determined that the circuit-board-something-or-other needed to be replaced. Did they have the part? No, ma'am. They'd have to order it and it would be in by Friday. Fantastic. Four days without a fridge.
I managed to keep busy for the next few days, and Friday rolled around. The nice lady at the repair shop called to say that they had the part and would I be around on Saturday? Yes, we're having a yard sale, but he can come fix the fridge. Please come fix the fridge.
Now, have you ever had a yard sale? If you have, then you probably know that your whole house looks like a tornado ripped through it because you've been digging around, gathering things to sell. Combine that with a few breakfast taco wrappers and a plate of unfinished pancakes from Whataburger, a yard sale in full swing, and two toddlers running around... and you have a fairly clear picture of our house at 10:00 that Saturday when he came back to install the thingamajig.
About two hours later, we had a hallelujah moment because the ice maker dumped the first batch of ice. I'll never take ice water for granted again.
My sister in law Deanna had come up to hang out and help with the yard sale. After the yard sale finished and I made a trip to Goodwill with the leftovers, she went with me to gather up my food from Mom's house and hit the grocery store. We grilled burgers for dinner, and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning - the first full day with a working fridge.
Fast forward five days to last night. I was feeling sick with this head cold, and a bit stressed, so what's the cure? Why, ice cream, of course!! As I scooped, I noticed that it was a bit soft. Posessing scientific observation and reasoning skills, I deduced that the freezer was going out again. Sure enough, when I opened it and looked, the back was covered in frost. Again.
Called and left another message. She called back. Is your freezer freezing over again? Yes. I can send him back out at noon. Will you be there? Yes, thanks.
He should be here in about an hour. Wish us luck!
... we now return you to your original broadcast...
Thursday, June 7, 2007
More on the ring, and it's not pretty
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on the last post about time-outs. Fortunately, I haven't had to deal with the situation since I wrote it (figures!), but I'm sure it will come up again.
We are now the house of the head-cold. Jet brought something home last week; I took him to the doctor last Tuesday. It was "just" a virus, but it threw him for a loop. Knight and I both woke up miserable this morning. To top it off, my sister-in-law is having surgery today, so we have our nieces here. I absolutely don't mind having them and taking care of them, but I'm concerned they'll take it home with them this weekend. Deanna definitely doesn't need to deal with that.
Anyway, Knight and I both went to the doctor this morning. While I was there, I asked him about my ring and the reaction that I've had to it. He just confirmed what the jeweler said -- I now have a nickel allergy, and I just simply can't wear the ring. I semi-jokingly said that I could have Knight buy me a new platinum one, but the he said that almost all rings are made with a nickel alloy to strengthen the metal. He told me I could wear a plastic one. Great!
"Honey, go win me one o' them there nice plastic ones that costs a whole quarter outta that there bubblegum machine!"
"Why shore, darlin' -- yew know yer worth it!"
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Time-Out Dilemma
Last Friday was a rough day. I called our place The House of the Time-Outs and Spankings. I had expected it to be difficult -- just getting Jet used to a new routine, etc.
However, we've run into a couple of issues, and I'm seeking opinions.
First, you should know that I'm more prone to use a time-out (one minute for each year of age) for discipline than a spanking. For starters, it doesn't hurt me as much. I hate spanking Jet. Sometimes I feel like it seems to him that I'm taking my frustration out on him instead of the spanking being logical consequences for his actions (a.k.a. discipline). Time-outs also seems to be more effective with him.
So, here are the problems. When I put Jet into time-out, he takes a swipe at me. He also yells while he's in time-out. He doesn't yell any words. It's more like a cross between a scream and a growl, and it's definitely directed at me. He does that about three or four times during his three-minute time-out.
I know that hitting is wrong, and he should be disciplined for it. I usually just consider the time-out to be punishment for the previous incident as well as the hitting. I do make it a point to tell him a stern "No hitting!" when he hits me, and I address it in our post-time-out pow-wow. I make him apologize for both things. He says he's "Sorry for [fill in transgression-of-the-day here] and hitting and yelling". I tell him that I forgive him and I love him.
My question is this: Should the hit and/or yell escalate the punishment? If so, to what? Spanking? It bothers me to say, "We don't hit - here's your spanking"...Here's Your Sign. I don't think a longer time-out is effective or appropriate, so... ?
Monday, June 4, 2007
Excuse me?
Today has been a good day with Jet. He's a pretty funny kid...
I put him in a T-shirt with a pocket today. To understand the humor, you should know that I've dumped out a ton of dirt from pockets and found countless clean rocks in the bottom of my washing machine. He's definitely ALL BOY.
J: Hey! I have a pock-et!
D: You sure do. What do you put in that pocket?
J, very seriously: Not dirt.
D, stifling a giggle: No, not dirt.
J, still seriously: And not rocks. And not friends. And not peanut budder and jelly samliches.
~~~~~~~~~~
Later, we were looking at pictures on my computer.
J: I wanna be a farmer!
D: Mmhmmm...
J: I'll be a farmer, and you can be.... a COW!!! Yeah, A COW! You be the COW, MOMMY!!
D: ???..... Gee, thanks.
J: You're welcome, Mommy.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Meme from Heather
I was tagged by Heather to do this meme, so here goes!!
The rules:
-Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
-People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
-At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
-Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
1. I can tune the world out if I have a good book. Sometimes people have to physically touch me to get my attention. This worries me a bit about staying home with Jet this summer. :)
2. I luuuuurve the Food Network, and it's the one reason I'm even considering getting cable. Otherwise, I hate paying for TV.
3. I never have a problem falling asleep. Knight swears I fall asleep before my head actually hits the pillow.
4. I've scrubbed our shower exactly twice since we've moved in last October. I hate scrubbing the shower. I assuage my guilt by wiping it down every now and then while I'm in it.
5. I actually have stories that start out, "One time, at band camp...".
6. When I was a sophomore in college, I worked in the administration office of a hospital. One of the VPs invited me to eat lunch with Tiger Woods, and I didn't go because I didn't have a clue who he was. *smack to forehead*
7. My sister Beezneez and I shared a room for a long time when we were growing up. This created some hardships at times. After one particularly difficult day, I had a nightmare that something really bad happened to her, and I woke up crying. I woke her up and made her come to bed with me so I could cuddle her. I don't think I've ever told anyone about that.
8. When I was a toddler, I had houseshoes that were Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street. One shoe was Bert, the other was Ernie. Ernie's nose disappeared at one point. When asked what had happened to it, I replied, "I bited it off."
I tag Ann... and I would have tagged Heather, but... as she said, "so sue me!"
Thursday, May 31, 2007
It's official
My status as temporary stay-at-home-mom began this afternoon when I picked up Jet from his last day at playschool.
I'll admit that I'm a little scared. I know I don't have to keep him entertained 24/7 -- he's really pretty good at playing on his own. I just don't think I can compete with his playschool in regards to having his friends there and constantly switching tasks. I even had his teacher copy their schedule for me. I'm hoping I can get some fun ideas from the internet so we have some activities.
We will be taking swim lessons. I have two choices through our local Parks and Recreation department. One is the "Starfish - Parent and Tot" (up to 3 years old) and the other is "Frog I - Preschool" (3-4 years old). My issue is that Jet will turn three on June 21st, so I don't know which one to take. The Starfish course description says, "This class is for parents and tots to learn general safety and swimming techniques while enjoying the water environment"; the other one describes a lot more activities, such as submerging the face for 3 seconds, blowing bubbles, move through water comfortably, etc.
Jet has never been much of a water kid. He likes his bath, as long as it's in his bathtub, with his toys and we keep the routine. He's never liked "Splash Days" at his playschool because he doesn't like to be splashed. Knight can't believe this is his kid -- he grew up on a shrimp boat. I, on the other hand, have never been a strong swimmer. I'm thinking the first one will be more beneficial to both of us. :) They're both 30-minute classes, four days a week, for two weeks. They only cost $30. At least it will be something to get us out of the house!
I went to the jeweler this afternoon. He took one look at my finger and claimed that my ring was too tight. I told him that it wasn't, and he decided to measure my ring and finger "to be sure". It's not too small. He said he couldn't do anything about it, but cleaned it well for me. I never realize how dirty the poor thing gets until someone does a good scrub on it! He did send home some cleaning fluid and advised me to clean it every evening to clean off the body oils. Maybe I should get a second opinion?
I also got this new phone today. I was eligible for a $150 credit for my old one, and I picked this one for two reasons. First, it is red. And red is fun. Second, it's bluetooth enabled. I could get them to waive the activation fee if I bought an accessory, so I got the headset to go with it. I've really gotten nervous about driving while holding my phone, and I think Texas is going to pass a law that says you can't anyway (if they haven't already done so...?). Hopefully I can adjust to using the headset pretty easily.
Off to play with my new toy!
