yay for contests!

Kim the owner of thebabymarketplace.com - a great online spot for Baby Clothing, Shoes, Toys, Gifts and Cloth Diapers is hosting the December JuJuBe Diaper Bag Give-Away @ mommyknows.com go on over and comment and be entered to Win one of two great JuJuBe MiniBe Diaper Bags!

oh, yea!

and tyler had his first *gasp* happy meal!!!





ZOMG! world's worst mom!

forced to sit down

so, the boogerbear refuses to let me do anything. really, i cant get up from the sofa with out him throwing a full blown tantrum. the only weird thing is that he wants nothing to do with me. he wont play with me, sit with me, talk to me. instead he's off stacking blocks WITHOUT his mommy. *shakes head in minor confusion* i suppose that finally gives me a little time to blog and get myself organized or at least rub it in on how organized i already am. *wink, wink*

Christmas gifting is gong well. i have all gifts purchased. two gifts are still in the mail. four gifts require photos inserted into them, which leaves 6 gifts to wrap. one gift involves baking this friday. and, last but not least, 2 gifts require shipping, but are mostly boxed already. not too bad.

this year i decided to go even MORE over the top for christmas than usual. a big part of that decision is because my mom is flying up on christmas day and spending a little over a week with us. that woman has had a rough year and is being a trooper about us not coming down to houston to spend christmas with my "side" of the family. so, we're having and "after-christmas, christmas" (to be referred to as "ACC" from here on out.) i have big plans which are as follows:

*12/21*
-grocery shopping for the next 4/5 days stock up on festive yummies
-ben comes home
-bake cupcakes (dessert for saturday's meal)
-bake cookies (part of a gift basket for theFIL)
*12/22*
-theKing family christmas dinner (potroast w/ parsnips&carrots, parmesan potatoes and cupcakes as a dessert)
-thaw premade sauce for tomorrow's lasagna
*12/23*
-prep lasagna
-shuttle to grandma's for annual christmas cookie making with MIL, SIL, etc...
-bake lasagna while decorating cookies
*12/24*
-holiday fun with husband and the boogerbear
-start christmas day's snoup
-start dry-aging standing rib roast for the ACCdinner
*12/25*
-PRESENTS!!!
-brunch at MIL's
-continue simmering snoup
-start ACC off by picking mom up at airport @11pm
*12/26*
-start getting mom into the christmas spirit with ACCshopping
*12/27*
-grocery shopping for the ACCdinner and new year's eve gathering
-pick up honey baked ham for new year's eve gathering
*12/28*
-prep all day for the big ACCdinner (standing rib roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, candied carrots, dinner rolls, and a fruit tart)
*12/31*
-bake new year's cupcakes
-new year's eve gathering (yummies include: honey baked ham, sandwich goodies, chips, veggies, fruit and new year's cupcakes. also, cooked cabbage and black eyed peas for what ever superstition they apply to)

i believe thats as far as i have planned. once my mom shows up things become a little more by the seat of my pants and not as easy to write down/structure.

things have been really calm around here. no husband this week. he's back in minnesota since monday. not too horrible. sucks that husband has to be gone the week before christmas, but still minor.

if you cant tell, i'm totally getting that "night before christmas" feeling. i love the years that i get really excited about christmas. sometimes its hard to be festive, but this year i totally got it. i have a lot to reflect on and look forward to, i'm really glad that i get to spend the holidays with most of my family this year and in our own home.

i have a bunch of photos, but no time to poke through them and edit all the red eyes out (stupid camera) so you guys get christmas in san fransico on haight street:

christmas lights = excessive wine purchases

last night we went through the festival of lights near los gatos which was super fun. tyler sat in the front seat as we inched through a county park all dolled up with christmas lights and displays (for those of us from richmond, its kinda like the richmond state school's christmas display but with out the wooden cutouts and creepy maniquines.)so, that was a good time. then it was time to think about dinner. not really being in the cooking mood these days, i thought a trip to the nearby whole foods for their yum-yum prepared food section. so we cruised the large selection of yummy already made foods. all kinds of things are looking good. somehow we end up by the cheeses and figure we can pick a few up for snacking and munchie like meals later on. then we need sopprosetta or something. ok. then more crackers and some fruit. then i figure i should just pick up some groceries for the oncoming week since i'm already there. and, OH, i should make a lasagne for christmas cookie sunday! so, i'm roaming the store (stopping for a fresh box of crackers for the boogerbear so he'll be a happy camper for the remainder of our now extended market trip), husband finds a "good deal" on a bottle of wine from a very trusty winery. so, we decide to stock up on them since the holidays are upon us. he grabs 4 bottles and we carry on. finally we pick up some beef stew and a teriyaki bowl and head to the check out. while at the check out we were informed of a super dooper 10% off if we only grabbed 2more bottles of wine... ok, sure why not. makes a good gift, right? we walk out of the store with a $25 in cheese, $25 in lasanga makings, $15 in dinner, and a $250 receipt! oh i know its not the most we've spent on wine, BUT we went in there for DINNER! not all the festiveness of christmas...

cheers.

wow. its been a while and i have no real excuse other than i've been semi-sick and i'm the proud keeper of a semi-sick toddler. alas, we are making progress in the sick department. today i made a couple doctor rounds and topped the day off with a well deserved masage. good news from the ear doctor guy. the infection is mostly gone and he believes a round of antibiotics and a milder dose of drops and we could have a perfectly functioning ear again. *woot* then it was a dentist visit. he removed a half-@ssed semi-permenant "crown" that i got like 10 years ago and did an impression and put a handy-dandy temporary crown on the tooth for me to spend the holidays with. after being such a good girl all day, i earned myself a lovely 80minute massage at a local day spa. i really love me a good day spa.

so the world keeps spinning. husband has informed me recently that 1) i need a babysitter for TOMORROW for his company christmas dinner which is only for the big people and 2) he'll be in minnesota all next week, again. poop. first, i need to find me a 14 year old with tons of energy and likes kids. just to have on call. then i need a rent-a-husband for those days i need the trash taken out and husband is gone.

tonight we're going to get some hot chocolate and cruise around and check out some of the christmas lights. little does husband know, but i filled the car disc changer with nothing but christmas music and i have a glove box full of candy canes and santa hats. oh the photos will be grand. (maybe even for next year's christmas cards.)

ah! i want to put a knife in my ear!

so, i couldnt take it anymore. i went to one of those doctors on duty urgent care CLINICS. i HATE clinics. with a passion. they're gross. sick people everywhere. the nurses dont speak english clearly. the doctors are complete quacks. and you have to wait FOREVER to be seen! but i couldnt take the pain and irretability anymore. so, first thing this morning, i bundled up the boogerbear and headed of to face my fears. i found it. i walked in. it was clean. only two other patients there. they were clean and appropriately dressed for the weather. the nurse at the counter spoke fluent english. he was friendly. i filled out paperwork. 10minutes later i get called back. a very nice nurse practitioner comes in and compliments our new stroller (which i LOVE thus far) and takes a peak into my ear. she kinda giggles. i'm like "what?" she's like "i cant seen anything..." i'm like "huh?" she then tells me that she really cant see anything by which she means that my outer ear canal is so swollen that she cant see through to my eardrum/inner ear canal. apparently a normal ear canal is about the size of the end of a ball point pin and my ear canal is about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. no wonder i cant hear, AT ALL. so, she believes that my middle ear problems has caused the outer ear infection. i got some Ofloxacin drops and 800mg ibuprofen. i did my 1st dosage about and hour ago and no drastic changes yet. apparently i should notice a big difference by tomorrow. i cant wait.

hooray for going to the doctor and the news not being as bad as you think it will be!

**thanks for the love, Erin. my ear canals are so scarred and i've had so many ear infections growing up that everytime a doctor looks into my ears they're shocked i never had tubes. its time. (well, as soon as this infection is gone) i was scared by the prospect of them slicing my eardrums open, but i did some reading about tubes and now not so much. it seems pretty minor and has instant results. i just dont know how long they will have to stay in and i hope they dont pop out! stupid ears. i want new ones!!! kelly got boobs, i want ears... : )

on an up note

i ordered the boogerbear's christmas gift last night.


the kettler happy navigator tricycle .

i cant wait for it to show up! i'm fairly certain that he wont care about gifts again this year, but he'll have fun opening things at least. the trike will be a good addition to our trips to the park. i absolutely love buying him those things that every child "needs". in a way it shows his growth and development and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and mommy-like on the inside. yay!

my own stupidity has returned to haunt me.

look in to my memory. my memory of living in ketchum, idaho (sun valley) in the winter/spring/summer of 2005. what did i do there? i went through a rocking piercing apprenticeship, met robin williams, bruce willis, and even saw iceT and cocca at a gas station AND i got a bad cold. i went to the doctor regarding that cold in april2005. i took a round of antibiotics in april 2005. i had fluid retained in my left ear in april 2005. so come may 2005, my life became a non-stop whoorl wind and my ear was only a little clogged and wasnt bugging me, so i put it on a back burner. then i got knocked up, married, bought a house, had a kid, finally went back to a doctor about my ear due to the fact that the hubby is convienced i was going deaf. that doctor gave me more antibiotics which did nothing. (those antibiotics were also part of the downfall of the breastfeeding. poop.) i was referred to a ear, nose, and throat guy that i didnt want to go see because the original doctor said i would more than likely need tubes in my ear and i didnt want to do that. i had an infant at home. i wanted to take care of him, not myself. poop.

so, fast forward to december 2nd, 2007. i get an earache. its not too bad until i try to go to sleep. ARGH! so i do get some sleep, take a few decongestants and continuously attempt to pop the ear. i cant hear AT ALL out of my left ear. well, thats not true. i can hear my heart beat. loudly. non-stop. so i tried calling those ear, nose and throat guys. A WEEK FROM THURSDAY is the soonest appointment i can actually make thanks to an out-of-town husband and babysitter issues!!! AHHHH!!!! the pounding!!!! i'm going to call those doctors back tomorrow and just tell them i'm bringing the boogerbear will me. i dont think i can realy handle this for more than a week. but, man, i'm a idiot. i could have taken care of this LONG before it actually HURT, but i didnt because i'm a bum. a big, fat (not as fat, actually), lazy bum. I WANT EAR TUBES!!!!

the moral of the story is, take care of yourself no matter how lazy you are and chirstmas movies and flan can make you feel a little better even when you feel really crappy!

many moons ago, kelly tagged me...

so, the story goes that i'm responsible to list 7 things that are odd about myself. so, here goes:

1. i'll start with one of kelly's quirks that i stand by as well; i cant be in my (or my mother's) house with out the television on. i dont have to be watching it. it doesnt even have to be on something i want to listen to. the noise just needs to be there. all the time.
2. i dont like to be alone, but i always want alone time... because that makes sense.
3. i have an unrelenting fear of my child getting an ear infection thanks to my personal suffering as a child with countless ear infections.
4. i spend countless hours organizing and re-organizing everything i can possibly organize until i get it PERFECT! (and its never perfect)
5. i didnt want a child until i got pregnant witht my husband's child. now i dont understand why people dont want kids.
6. i have a "best friend" that i dont think is really my friend at all.
7. i only type with correct capitolization when sending emails to my step-mom and husband's friends.

this is all i got...

super busy day. i still have to pack the hubby up for his exciting trip to minnesota. hopefully that baby will go to sleep so the packing can get accomplished. i hope everyone's weekend went well. ours was very productive. more pictures of our productivity later. night, night for now...

winter layers and strollers

well, the hubs will be off again. not to dresden as expected, but to freakin minnesota! its actually not that bad though. he'll be leaving monday morning and get back friday. i think the boogerbear and i can handle that. minnesota is freakin cold! its like TEN degrees there!!! i need to buy ben some more winter layers when i'm out today!

so things are busy around here. i'm working hard to keep the hubby and i on a "weight watchers" friendly meal plan. as for an update on the weight loss, i havent lost any weight and i didnt gain any until i went to houston for a week and came back 3lbs heavier. (hey the 8lb poodle thats laying in bed with me gained a whole pound, so in ratio me gaining 3lbs isnt too shabby!) so, i stopped taking the diet pills for a little over a month due to confusion between my doctor, her nurses, and the pharmacy techs at the local drug store. with that cleared up, i'm back on the meth... i mean phentermine pills and loosing wieght again. down to 222 (a shocking number i know, but i'm being honest here!) so that makes a whole 23.5lbs down! (ah! i cant believe i posted that!!!)

with weight loss in mind, i've been trying to go on fairly serious walks/hikes with a graco jogging stroller that i got off our baby registry before i knew anything about strollers. the boogerbear, a buddy of mine and her baby are all going to right start today in palo alto to pick up a new stroller for the boogerbear and i. now that i've learned about and actually in need of a good outdoor stroller i've decided to go with the bob revolution in orange no less. this is my second stroller purchase in the past year, the 1st being a combi cosmo that i'm starting to have a few issues with (the boogerbear can put his feet on the front wheels! that sucks while i'm trying to push it. 1. it can hurt his little tootsies and 2. it p*sses me the heck off!) while the cosmo was great at the beginging, i wanted something compact when folded (check), something compact when unfolded (check), and something very light weight thats easy to carry (double check). but now the stroller seems a little flimsy and the handle bar while perfect height for me at 5'5" is very not perfect for anyone taller, i.e. anyone else in my family. oh well, i think with today's purchase i'm finally going to get babygear that will be long lasting. i'm sure in time i will decide to buy another lightweight stroller as well. i've been looking at the maclarens and a couple from peg perego. too many choices... too many features...

ok, time to get going. more posting later today. have a good day ladies!

back in black?

thinking of dying my hair back to black. any other imput/suggestions?

home for the holidays

well, we made it back and i've been unpacking/cleaning/laundering/comtemplating dectorating for the past couple days now. i'm in full tweeker overload mode currently. i can hardly sit still, so expect pictures of projects and not so much actual posts for the next couple days. i love the holidays. well, the holidays we get to spend at home. dont get me wrong, we had a nice thanksgiving. it was the most "normal" visit we've had in houston for a very long while. but, its just nice to be home and in the nest i've settled into. i've had a surge of enery since we've been back. hopefully it will last through the next week, so i can get the house in good shape again and everything decorated. i'm guessing we're going to get a christmas tree this weekend (kinda early for a live tree, imo) since it looks like the hubs will be leaving for dresden on the 8th. i dont see him helping me with that task on a weeknight. well, time to scoot. ITS napping and i have christmas cards to finish!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

thats all.

as my husband would say "...and make it snappy."

ok, thats a family joke. when DH was little he hung out at his paternal grandma's a lot. his half-brother (same mother) went to visit one time and claims DH told his grandma to make him some spaghetti-os and "to make it snappy." DH denies it all. i believe he would have said something like that because he still says things like that...

but, i digress. omg. my head is spinning. there is so much going on that i dont even have time to worry about the emotional ramifications of going to houston (i.e. the whole step-dad isssue.) today i started the mad panic towards getting us to houston for thanksgiving/babies-shower2007 (still no RSVPs!!!) and i always forget how much work packing all of us up is. PLUS, i'm trying to get all of my christmas stuff ready for my family back home done so i can put it under the tree at my grandma's house in person (and not pay shipping). so, on that front i'm good. i got everyone's gift bought/ordered (amazon, yaya!!!!). the only person in my family left is another gift for my mom when she comes up here on christmas day. no big deal. i have plenty of time for that. i've also been working on the anual christmas card. they're in assmbly line mode atm. hopefully i can finish the last 10/75 tomorrow so i only have to label/address them when i get home. fyi, next year we're doing the picture people post cards i believe. SPEAKING OF, we did the boogerbear's annual christmas portrait there today and IT WENT SO WELL! it was such a better deal than last year's nonsense. i spent like $400 last year and got a sitting fee, 4 sheets of wallets, 1 sheet of 4*6 and 1 8*10! this year i spent a little over $200 and got one of their 4-opening frame (with photos already mounted), 3 wallet sized frames to use as decoration with this year's and last year's photos inside, 2 sheets of wallets, 1-8*10, and 1 sheet of 4*6. the photos are totally cute and the photographgers worked so well with the boogerbear. i'll scan & take a photo of the framed stuff once i get them up (after houston i presume). so, now its finishing laundry and sorting everything for the suitcase. i swear i wouldnt stress so much if i didnt have to worry so much about the weight restrictions on suitcases. i mean, dont these people know babies are heavy and so is all their crap?!?!1?

this may be the last post before i return. if so, everyone please have a happy thanksgiving! i am very thankful for all my friends/readers out there and wish you a very happy holiday.

XOXO! holly

ITS COMING HOME! ITS COMING HOME!

ok, i'm a bit excited, but i get to pick DH up from the airport tomorrow (this) afternoon!!! YAY!!! must. go. make. brownies...

not a lot going on...

in fact, the past few days have been pretty boring. the boogerbear has chilled out from the self-destruct mode he was in last week and i've come to realize i'm a very clean and frugal person when DH isnt around. weird. he's such a laid back person that he makes me do lazy things too, for instance: sitting on the couch watching tv instead of doing laundry or dishes, sitting on the couch watching tv instead of going for a walk, sitting on the couch watching tv instead of making dinner. but since he's been gone i've quite naturally drifted into the non-lazy actions. hum. figures. even with out the diet pills, the "diet" has been going well with out the husband's influences. i've been eating: fruit for breakfast or sometimes oatmeal, because thats what tyler eats, a sammich for dinner, fruit leather for snacks, and kashi cereal for dinner. its just easier that way. i have made a can of tortilla soup with some spanish rice and i never neglect taco tuesday, but for the most i've been eating like a bachelor and it works (not to mention cheap!) i dont think i can get away eating like this much longer unless i make & freeze more food for the boogerbear. my stockpile of babysized meals is almost depleated. (fyi: when i make soups, pastas, chicken and rice, ect... i stash a couple little glad containers for days i dont cook for the baby. i like to know whats going in him no matter what i'm putting in me)oh, well. it looks like DH might come home as early as wednesday so i think i can hold out on the food front, but i'm so looking forward to him coming home. i seem to be able to handle the day to day of the boogerbear, but the uncharted waters of toddlerhood are pretty dang scary... but, DH has been gone long enough and it looks like the tool they're installing is ahead of schedule so there is very little foreseeable (?) reason for him to stick around those extra couple days. YAY!!! *does little victory dance* who knew that life could be so functional but so vacant with out him? i'de rather gain 5lbs than not have him back at home... tehehe.

anywho, sorry to be so dull, but thats life. anywho, i'm off to start organizing our packing for the upcoming houston trip (we depart this saturday and dont return for a bit over a week). sounds like fun.

oh yea, and keep an eye on my twitter because i plan to do updates via my cell phone while i'm away from the interweb!!?@!#@

yay! i made some stuff! (ooo... and watched ugly betty)

ok, so its not the most challenging thing i have made, but (yes, its more babies shower junk) i made the corsages for the mom-to-be and the grandmas-to-be.

the mom-to-be corsage is perfect in a very over-the-top way in my opinion. i used lots of big, pretty, fairytale-esque flowers with glitter and everything and put two of these abnoxious "fairy tale" rubber duckies (their really the party favors/decoration) right smack in the middle of the whole thing. i absolutely LOVE it!!! i only hope the mom-to-be apreciates me making this crap and maybe it will actually mean something to her. *big smiles* here's some pictures:


YAY! over the top and silly!!!


for the grandmas-to-be's i went really simple (i.e. left over flowers)

so, omg! suprise, suprise! willy didnt get married to bradford, but, NO WAYz!, bradford had a heartkaboom! well, at least betty moved on with her relationship with henry. i really hope he sticks around after his baby is born. or gets custody of the baby and screws that charlie whore. i hope henry didnt get the clap from that yucky. OH and Christina's husband coming back and about to DIE! i wonder if she's going to hop back into willy's pocket to get the cash to save him?!?! ooo! i wonder if the writers for ugly betty are on strike too? i would totally go write for them. cross the picket line and everything. yea, i'm a scab! i just need my weekly dose of the ugly....

the most eventful day of my parenting life....

yesterday was just insane for the boogerbear and his mommy. so, tyler got his "scrape" first thing in the morning and it should have been a sign. a really, really bad one.

ok, so, FIRST i KNOW its not as bad as i am or was feeling or making it seem for that matter, but tyler chipped his right front tooth last night. i didnt even know it happened. (thats the part that really make me feel bad about the whole tooth thing) the events went like this:

i was in bed andjust about to turn out the lights but first i was admiring him as i do nightly and i kiss the little scratch he got on his chin earlier when he was (SUPRISE) climbing on the exercise thing as mommy told him not to and couldnt get him off of it fast enough before he fell. (fyi, after he fell i moved the machine into the wall/corner so he couldnt get onto it as easily or dangerously. i was then and am even more so now sick of that machine and i want it OUT of this house. and it will be soon. i think i have a buyer coming tomorrow for it!!! yay!) it wasnt a big fall. just a little trip. one he's taking more than a million times already. as i was looking at the scratch, his little mouth was open and i could see his toofers EXCEPT the tiny corner of his right front toofer is MISSING!!!!! ah!!! panic!!! he must have done that when he fell on that gdamned machine!!! (HAAAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!) ok, so i immediately pull up the online resources and find this is the most common thing said about a chipped tooth with out any other syptoms (i.e. bleeding, swollen gums, etc..):

"If the tooth is chipped but it doesn't seem to be bothering your toddler, schedule an appointment for the dentist to evaluate whether there are underlying cracks or other damage you can't see. She can also repair the tooth by filing it or patching it with bonding material, if you decide it's important for cosmetic reasons"

well his gums looked fine and he ate with no problems all evening, but his tooth is chipped none the less. so, i first thing this morning i called the pediatrician who said this stuff happens, but he doesnt see kids for it and i should to call our dentist who said this stuff happens, but he doesnt see toddlers and recommended a pediatric dentist who said this stuff happens, but wasnt seeing new patients at this time and gave me the number of a pediatric dentist who says this stuff happends and tyler has an appointment with him tomorrow morning. yea.

something was up yesterday! first his leg and then this. i sat infront of our PC at 1:30am balling, having a total meltdown while i emailed the hubby (i cant get a hold of him directly thanks to samsung policy) and unknowing what to make of the whole thing. all i could think was that he's falling apart and its all my fault. asking myself why cant i even keep our kid's teeth intact for the short time he's had them? this was the first itme i've really doubted myself as a mom and it totally, completely SUCKED! i felt like i couldnt even keep him from hurting himself in our own house! no matter what efforts i've taken by babyproofing to the Xtreme! and watching him like a hawk constantly, none of it seemed good enough at this point to me. i didnt seem good enough.

ok, so all of tyler's "injuries" are minor, but its all still new to me. i've been told so many times that toddlers do this kind of stuff, but, again, its still new to me. i doubt the panic feeling will ever be removed from my core in a situation where my child is potentially hurt to any extent, BUT i dont feel quite so much like these injuries were ALL MY FAULT. he has to learn some how i suppose, but, dangit, cant he learn with less blood and keep all incisors in the condition they arrived in? please? i'll totally give you a dollar...

my husband can, no, cant read.

so, today my child scraped himself. there was blood. it made me sick to my tummy. i emailed my husband, because what else would i do???? (ok, so i emailed my husband AFTER i cleaned the owie and gave him a bandaid, but saying i just emailed the hubby makes things sound so much more dramatic for some reason...)

the emails/phone call went as follows:

ME (email to the hubby):
"so, our son was playing daredevil this moring in the bedroom. He
decided that turning his stepstool by the bed upside down was the best
way to use it. In the process of using it he got hung an fell over
backwards. Ad he did so he got a huge (like 2-1/2in long, 1/4in wide) gash
in his left thigh that totally makes me nausious. I got him in the
bath to clean it with water and saop (and to calm him down a bit) then
i swiped a giant knee and elbow bandaid from that super smart purchase
of a first aid kit(i like my 1st aid kits!). It doesnt seem to be bugging him. It stopped bleeding and its know deep enough for (eep!) stitches, but it freaked
me out none the less!!! I feel like a neglectful mommy... Poo :...( "

PHONE CALL FROM KOREA COMES 4 HOURS AFTER THE INCIDENT (the hubby was sleeping prior):
ME: hello?
HUBBY: did you take him to the hospital?
ME: huh?
HUBBY: i thought he needed stitches?
ME: why? who?
HUBBY: ARHG! that baby!
ME: um. read my email again.
HUBBY: oh. nvm.

THE HUBBY (email sent shortly before call was made):
"What did he hit?? Did you take him to the hospital if he needs stiches??"
[my thoughts: how can such a smart man be so absent sometimes?]

ME(in response to the last email):
"hehe. its only funny because i got an image of me getting out my
sewing machine instead of taking him to the hospital..."

what the heck kind of mom does this man think i am? i can only sigh here, there really is no other response. oh, and, to top it off, the boogerbear got blood on the WHITE duvet I JUST WASHED. oh, what the heck, its just a little more laundry...

yes, i labeled this under "sewing" for good humor.

thinking about other people

good friend of mine lost her father this morning. i believe she is ok, but her family is still going through a lot of pain through the loss. this obviously got me thinking about her and her family. just so we all know that this isnt a bum-me-out post, thinking about her made me think about so many other people i dont have daily contact with but i want them to know their in my thoughts no matter. so, i think at least once a week, if not more, i'm going to let as many of these people i know as possible that i'm thinking about them in a totally non-stalker way, of course.

i still believe that just showing people (strangers or not) you care about them in whatever small and insignificant way will make the world such a nice place.

omg. i'm such a freakin tree huggin hippy.

funny

the internet still confuses me.

stupid internet.

"If men liked shopping, they'd call it research."

today we went researching. nothing like 3 laps around the mall and a few hundred $$ out of the bank account to get your heart pumping. BUT, i did score a super cute monkey chair from baby style as well as the a shirt that the booger will be wearing for this year's holiday photo and some gifties for baby Maceo. last but not least, i found the EXACT xbox360 travel bag that the hubby wanted for my, i mean his, uh xbox360. (it looks like dh will be traveling a lot more this next year and he wants to kidnap the 360 to keep him company...) i know, it seems dumb, but this is the bag HE wanted (i liked the impractical white one) and i havent been able to find it ANYWHERE! there seems to be like two of them in the entire bay area, oh, but i have one now!!! thinking back on today's purchases, i didnt buy a dang thing for ME! hum. what time does the mall close?

so, the diaper rash still rages on, but the poopie mood baby that matched it has subsided for the time being. the boogerbear is pretty happy today. currently he's taking his nap. yea i know, most babies are about to go to bed at this time of day not taking their first nap of the day... what can i say? my booger sleeps in later than all those other earlybird babies. neener neener!

seriously, why is it that laundry can never be DONE? there is always laundry. if its not dirty clothes and towels, then its comforters and sheets. really, when will a day pass that i dont have to run the spin cycle?

oh, and before i scamper off, i wanted to thank the new readers/commenters on their compliments on my evil baby (he's cute, but looks are deceiving) and make sure everyone knows i appreciate when someone else takes the time to bitch with me about how lame other people are, i mean can be... *big smiles!*

***quote Cynthia Nelms

ok, one more rant. just a little one...

WHY DONT PEOPLE FREAKIN RSVP?!?!!?!? i mailed off those babies shower invitations like 2weeks ago and NOT A SINGLE PERSON HAS RSVP'd. talk about a pet peeve. i always RSVP no matter if i'm attending or not. isnt that the point? how am i supposed to plan/buy crap with out knowing how many bodies are there.

buttholes.

late evening babbling

it seems that the proper time for me to get sick is when the hubby is out of the country!!! argh! so now i have some kind of food poisoning/stomach bug. everytime i seem to be getting better and i eat a freaking saltine i puke it right back up!!!! RAGE!!!!

anywho, how are you? we're fine other than vomit overload and yet another firey diaper rash. things are just peachy. i mean, who wouldnt want a kid who screams bloody murder everytime he sees the container of wipes?!?!?

ok, really, no more rants. i just hope tomorrow is better. the boogerbear did go to sleep earlier than usual tonight, which means i should head to bed too ASAP, but i wont. i miss that husband of mine too. he's been gone 1week 1day 11hours 32minutes and 47seconds. (ok, i'm not sure about the seconds, but i'm positive about the rest of the time he's spent away) only 1week 6days 16hours and 15minutes until he comes home. maybe i should post a count down timer. wow. so pathetic....

good news, our friends seth and sonia (sorry no known blogs to link...) had their baby today. 9lb 8oz born via c-section. i dont have any pictures, but i hope to have some soon because i wanted to do their birth announcements for them.

all of that being said, i should hit the hay. i'm pooped. <3!

quickie costume glimpse.

so i took these shots and never uploaded them. the boogerbear is hopefullying going to be a spider tommorrow. and hopefully i will get some better photos!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

we made cupcakes for the halloween "party" we've having. oh, and since we did most of the dirty work for the party on "taco tuesday" (yea, thats right, tacos every tuesday!) even the "taco tuesday" flan was festive. we call it: "spanish fly on halloween"

my 1st earthquake

so we had an earthquake fairly close to us this evening. i thought someone was knocking on the door really loudly as my SIL, holding the boogerbear, ran to the nearest door frame. being the texan that i am i stare at her blankly wondering if she saw someone at the door with a gun or something.... nope. then i notice our surroundsound speakers that are on independant stands around the living room were rocking back and forth as if they were about to tip over. still standing there dumbfounded, my SIL informed me that we just had an earthquake. a short one, but an earthquake. then i semi-freaked out and asked all kinds of stupid questions like "will there be a bigger one?" duh. i even know about aftershocks and how that works. we turned on a local channel and got a breaking news tidbit that proved the earthquake was real and all was still right in the world. i breathed a sigh of releif. i'm a dork. a dork who has officially survived her 1st earthquake.


i think i should go scrapbook the memory...

my son FORKS his cheerios!

hum.



he thinks he's so cute and, dangit, he's right.



oh well, it sleeps now.

oh, and i'm feeling so alone...

i officially have an empty house. well, mostly empty. there is still a poodle and a boogerbear haunting the place, but no more grown-ups! meh. ben hopped on a plane for korea yesterday and arrived there in one piece. i passed my cold onto him just in the nik of time it seems. he got a runny nose on the plane just as my is clearing up. oops...

so, the next little bit should be filled with some mom favored activities. hopefully there will be photos of said activities. it all depends on what kind of pc action the boogerbear allows me. hopefully there are lots of naps and early bedtimes in my future...

doubt it.

killing time while a cold kills me.

so, my printer is slllloooooooww. i'm here, finishing the printing for those invitations and its taking FOREVER! ok, i'm just impatent right now. the boogerbear gave me his croup. ok, i dont have croup, but i do have a cold of sorts and its yucky yucky icky yucky poopie ew! the booger is better though. thank goodness!

so, my grandma is visiting. bad timing huh? so her visit has been kinda borning. i really hope we dont send her home sick! otherwise, TX, LOOK OUT! here comes some cali cooties! i think tomorrow the hubby is going to take the day off so i can take the grandma on a tour of san fran. hopefully.

speaking of the hubby, it looks like he's finally going to korea. LAME! he's scheduled to leave this saturday. we'll see how that ends up...

anywho, head swimming. must. go. lay. down.

oh, that boogerbear!

so, it got a cold. well, it had a fever and now its coughing and i feel so bad for him (and the husband and i too. we're going on nil sleep!!!) this morning i went out and bought every hippy remedy i could get my hands on. ok, not really. but i did get an ultra cute penguin coldmist humidifier.



its been on all day and into the night. he certainly doesnt sound as froggy as he did before i turned on the power to the penguin. tomorrow morning we have a very early pediatrician appointment for a 15month check up. i think thats what's keeping me sane. the simple fact that i can just take him to the doc and dont have to worry about calling and talking and hemming and hawing... i did call last friday about the fever, but it was just a fever so warm baths and tylenol was the prescription. now, i dont think the doc can do anything more, EXCEPT check for an ear infection, which the boogerbear shows no pain in or near his ears so i doubt thats the problem. anywho, back to cleaning up the ungodly mess that child creates in a day.

zooooom!

a shiney new interutarine contraceptive.

so today was the big day. i went to my OB/GYN this morning and had the mirena IUC "installed" (i like using that word. i dont know really how else to explain it, but there is something i like about subjectifying myself like a car stereo.)

so, the installation was flat out uncomfortable not unbearable though and went really quick. i've been cramping pretty bad since, but that is supposidly temporary and i'm now baby free for 5 years! or 2 years! or whatever the hubby and i decide that our baby free time should be! YAY!

i do have a check up in 6 weeks so my OB/GYN can take another peak and make sure everything stayed in its place. no big deal though.

oh! and even better news from the dr.'s office, i've officially dropped 20 lbs! 21.2 to be exact! and the blood pressure is looking pretty dang good these days. 122/80 (i think.) fyi: for almost as long as i can remember, my blood pressure has always been on the "high side of normal." nothing to worry about according to my docs, but i'm glad its decided to just be normal. yay!!!

under the influence of parenting magazines

so, in a recent issue of Parents Magazine there was a blurb about BPA and its inclusion in most of our children's bottles and sippies. so on that note i looked a little deeper and threw out all of our avent bottles that we had poisoning (ok, thats a little dramatic since nothing is a hard fact at this point. just a possibility and precausion.) our son with since he was born! today i replaced those bottles with born free bottles and bought some sippy cups as well just for good measure. i'm not 100% sure we're going to toss all of our gerber and platex sippies because we never heat them and that is one of the big factors of releasing BPA into the liquid. BUT dishwashing also deteriorates the plastic causing it to breakdown and release BPA. regardless, i tend to handwash both bottles and sippies so i'm not sure if thats an issue. well, thanks to parents magazine i spent over $100 on my 14month old son's NEW (the little gnome in my head says: new! wtf, he should be getting OFF bottles!) set of bottles and a piece of mind.

also, in this month's Parenting Magazine (the little gnome in my head says: well, arent they creative with their names these days...) i found a site that has some unquestionably cute and sassy baby/toddler clothing GabbyBaby.com has some great printed t's with even better sayings on them. the have sayings like:

"please be nice to my parents. they dont get much sleep."

"please resist the urge to give advice, my parents are doing a great job"

"i'de love a sandwich"

"i'm not staring at you. i'm pooping"

"please dont touch my hands. i put them in my mouth"

"please dont ask my mom rude questions"

etc...

i ordered those 6 for the boogerbear... because he needed them... well, thats what i'll tell DH. well, thanks to parenting magazine, i spent rough;y $150 on t-shirts that my son "needed" (the little gnome in my head says: and you didnt pick up anything for me?!? cow!) and i liked.

so, the lesson learned today, dont allow holly to have her credit card and/or laptop near by when reading parenting magazines, unless you want something too. in which case, just point her to the right page...

blapk!

well, all is well... well, its as good as it can be. i may as well go ahead and tell the story as i heard it to clear up any questions and for sick enjoyment of those who like trainwrecks... (fyi: i'm using the lanuage as i heard it and there are some pretty gross me out moments)

so, they got a divorce this past august and he (we'll call him bill) was not happy of the end of their marriage dispite his unhappiness in the marriage. so he bugged her constantly, saying really hateful things and trying to get her back into his life. (what a smooth operator) my mom was trying to be nice and she had, had enough. well, fast forward to the events of friday night, bill called my mom and he begged my mom not to hang up on him. he apologized for being rude and asked my mom if he could borrow a couple ambien. my mom reluctantly agrees and tells him that he can come get them but then he needs to leave. he comes over and gets the pills. my mom goes into another room hoping he gets the hint and leaves. instead he joins her in the room she's in and tells her that he is going to go into her hamper and get out a pair of her dirty undies to take with him. (EW!) my mom tells him thats disgusting and NO! he does it anyway and my mom is just like "whatever. take them and GO!" he doesnt. instead he goes to where my mom is sitting, pulls her out of the chair by her arm and hair (OUCH!) and tells her "I'm going to fuck the shit out of you tonight if its the last thing i do" (OMGWTFBBQ!?!?!) so there is a struggle between bill trying to forcfully pull my mother into her bedroom so he can rape her and her getting loose trying to get to the door. after many attempts to escape by my mom and lots of pushing and hitting by bill, my mom makes it out of the door and hauls as much ass as she can to her sister's house (my mom lives on a farm and shares a driveway with her sister and BIL. the distance between their houses is about an acre). my uncle is standing outside seeing my mom being chased by a deranged bill and trys to block bill from getting to my mom. bill knocks down my uncle, knocks off his glasses (which he's practically blind with out) and grabs my mom by the hair by the maybe billionth time for the night and tries to pull her back to her house. my uncle regains his footing and somehow pries bill out of my mom's hair. while my uncle somehow deals with bill he yells at my mom to run into his house and call 911! about this time bill leaves then the police show up and my mom files a complaint against bill. so my aunt and my mom are walking back to my mom's house and they see bill trying to pull back into my mom's driveway, but when he notices them he backs out and pulls into a neighboring driveway that isnt 1000feet away. they call the cops again (there was an immediate restraining order against bill and his proximity to her house). the cops do whatever they do and my mom, aunt, and uncle get into my aunt's car and decide to find a hotel for the night. but no hotels avliable thanks to some convention in houston. so they go back to my aunt's house and hang out there. my mom gets a call on her cell from bill telling my mom that he's at her house and going to kill himself in the next ten minutes. (AHHHH!) so they call 911 again and tell them whats going on. the next thing my mom told me was that he used one of his shotguns and killed himself. (dammit!)

so, that was what i heard on friday night sometime after the incident. my mom has no concept of the time frame this all happened. i can only imagine. its NUTS to the infinty factor! so here's a few puzzle pieces that i found out the following day when bill's daughter was informed of his death and my mom talked to bill's 1st ex-wife (we'll call her no.1).

my mom's bedroom windows were shot out. (WTF?) so, my mom is talking to no.1 and she is relaying a conversation that bill had with his daughter and her the night before, before bill sealed his fate. apparently bill was telling his daughter where all his important "stuff" could be found and what he wanted after he was gone and just general freaked his kid out (who's 29, but its still WAY FREAKY!!!). she kept asking him where he was and that they would come get him and work whatever was wrong out, but he wouldnt tell her anything like that. so she hands the phone to her mother (aka. no.1). bill tells no.1 that he "roughed up" my mom pretty bad earlier that night and that he wasnt telling anyone where he was because he wasnt going to jail. period. and that he was going to kill himself that night, but he was going to kill my mom 1st! (OH NOES!!!) so, apparently, bill thought my mom was in her bedroom because that was the only light she left on in the house, but she was at my aunt's, and bill shot into the windows of her bedroom and then shot himself.

ok, how messed up is that? i was talking to Erin last night (btw, THANKS! its always nice knowing there is someone out there that you can babble with for 2hours+ about who's husband is geekier) and we decided that this would be a great movie. seriously, its too far off the deep end it shouldnt be reality. all jokes aside. it is reality. and a very sad reality. sometimes the pains of life outweigh a person's coping ability. while i'm certainly not an advocate of suicide (infact i'm 100% the opposite, i firmly believe that suicide is NEVER the answer no matter the situation!) but it was his decision and thats that.

i am doing fine. every now and again the shock kicks back in, but i'm not angry at bill as i was friday night and when i found out the phone call he had with no.1. in fact, i'm really reluctant on publishing this. bill was a good man. i do want everyone to know that. life got to him. despite the actions of his final day, his legacy should not be remembered as those actions. he was a hard worker who loved his family and was a friendly person. being that no one is perfect and that sometimes people change while others do not, the marriage between bill and my mother didnt work. my mom didnt want to be married to him, but she wanted to be his friend. she didnt want this. but he couldnt deal with her not being his. (and, as far as i know, there could be so many more things that lead him to this) my mom is coping. not blaming herself which is often a reaction that happens in this situation and likely to be what bill wanted her to do. she's having her ups and downs. i'm not sure if its that he's dead, or the shock of the whole evening combined, or the fact that all this crap happened at her home. she told me today that she was thinking about having her house "blessed" (ok mom.) which is a little weird because she's not the most religious person, but whatever starts her on the road to recovery. bill's daughter is dealing as well. she's planning a memorial service and has shown no anger towards my mother as of yet (which is how it should be, but not so much her style in the past).

this is big. and this is permanent. but this is how it is. it definately reminds me how senseless suicide is in my eyes. and reminds me how people can be altered and warped by their emotions. sometimes a good thing and sometimes, like in this case, not. bill is missed for the good man he used to be and he did the best thing he could do, i guess. quite frankly (and cold-heartedly. i know, but its honestly how i feel), i am not glad he is dead, but i'm glad that this chapter is finally closed in my mother's life and she can attempt to carry on and live her life the way she wanted to. it will take time to heal, but there is plenty of time.

so, now that our hearts are all beating a little faster and we feel like we need some popcorn and milk duds, i believe i will go finish project: baby gate. **

oh noes! not another "are you flippin kidding me?!?" post!

yes its that time again. my poor blog has been ultra dramatic lately. i think i should change it to pink and glittery and add the word "diva" somewhere within its title.

so, this time, its my good buddy Erican. (you guys remember her, right? the one who didnt congratulate me when i got married. didnt attend the baby shower hosted for me in houston much less volunteer to host her "best" friend's baby shower for her. the one who didnt even think of congratulating us when the boogerbear was born much less actually do something to show that she was happy for our new family. the one who i turned the other cheek and bent over backwards for her wedding/bachelorette party/bridal shower and spent a ton of $$$ on to make sure she was happy and didnt even get a thank you. the one who i declared "fogiven and forgotten" in my book because i thought at this point in her life she might be a differnt person. yea, that one...)

well, she's knocked up, we've spoken of this before, and i decided to go ahead and host a shower for her. i asked around to some of her "close" friends and got little to no response from them. ok. so i have one friend helping me out. i've kinda taken the reigns (because thats what i do) and i'm comfortable with that right now. so for the past couple days i've been getting emails from erican. i asked her to get me a guest list from her mother, her hubby's mother, and herself and also that she might want to get started researching those registries (we all know how lame baby stuff can be. especially when you buy one thing. hate it. and buy another.0 i get an email back from her TELLING ME "you know there are going to be boys at this thing, right?" um. no. but ok. if you really want them there at your baby shower, but, most guys, arent into and dont get the whole baby shower thing. ok. no big deal. boys. i'm hip. i can deal. i can force them to submit to my will or they DIEEEEE! yea. anywho so i get another email today TELLING ME "so you know this is going to be held at the hall where i got married, right?" um. no. how in the hell am i supposed to know that?!?!?! i'm planning (and paying for) this whole thing and where does my input come in? i dont know.

so, basically she wants a big party. not a baby shower. fine. she can do that. i volunteered to host a baby shower for her. i did reply to her email (why dont people call one another for these kinds of things, i'll never really understand) and i did reply with a lot less pussyfooting than i usually do with her. her email basically said that i didnt have to do everything for the shower, she was planning on having one big shower rather than several little ones, and that they are planning on inviting a "lot" of people. my email was this:

"right. i was expecting to send out a lot of invites and have a good
number of people show up, but, with us hosting the party, we make
those decisions (with the mother's wishes in mind) and things have
already been started.

if you want to do a large party, you're more than welcome to. doing a
baby shower for a friend, in my eyes, is a tradition that is there to
celebrate the mother and her soon-to-be babies and help them prepare
for the transition in a fun way and thats what we're trying to plan.
as for multiple showers, if someone else wants to throw a shower for
you, then either have them contact me or amanda and we will get them
involved in the shower we're planning for nov24th or let them host
another shower for you. a work shower, for instance, is perfectly
normal...

i'm ok with some males being there. i had ben go to mine and i did
invite 3 or 4 other males that were important to me. things like that
are great if there are men who want to be so involved in baby things.
but, in most cases, males just dont get the whole baby shower thing.
they dont want to play shower games. they dont want to eat girl food
and drink punch. they dont want to oooo and ahh of the cute little
stuffed animals and outfits give to you. i do understand that some
guys (like Chris, your brothers, and your dad, etc..) have a special
interest in you and whats about to happen, so i comepletely get
wanting and having them there. if chris wants a party/"shower" for
himself, then maybe one of his guy buddies should throw a man shower
than can be more geared to that crowd.

what kind of plans have you made? i feel like i told you that i was
trying to get a shower together for you and you're telling me that its
going to be different that what i can accomplish. first of all, i want
to make this special. i want to get the food and the decorations and
the gifts just right. i cant do that in a hall. i cant do that if our
guest list bloats to 60+ people because we've decided that we need all
the boys in your life and every other female guest's there too.
second, this is a present to you. a shower is a time that your and
chris's immediate family and your close friends get to spend time with
you, have a good time with you, and celebrate you. with so many
people, that just doesnt seem possible.

if there is something that's driving your decisions on this matter,
please tell me. i dont know that i'm missing something or if our
expectations of a baby shower are just that different."

the one thing i left out was in response to me not having to do everything for the shower. i just didnt think it was polite to tell her that i didnt see anyone else bending over backwards making her "special day" everything it should be.

anywho, thats what's currently preventing me from thinking of anything else. for which, i am kind of grateful. i'll post more about that later tonight... poop.

if nothing else, this has keep my blog lively this weekend. i think i will force the husband to take a walk down to the park with me and the boogerbear before it gets dark!!!!

things that make me happy

i'm tired of yucky posts! (OMG!?!?#@#21 there are all of two of them!!! AHHH!!! RUN AWAY!!1 crap, i need to go to sleep.) so (i say so a lot), i would like to make a list of 5 things that always make me happy. and i ask you to post a comment or make your own post on your blog doing & asking the same to your readers. there isnt enough time spent on happy thoughts its always the sad things that grab our attention. granted there are times to be sad. but, when you cant change what's making you sad, then you should work on not being sad about it anymore.

here's my happy list:
1. my son's smile.
2. my husband's hugs.
3. walks along the beach.
4. a snickers bar when i'm craving a snickers bar.
5. making another person's day .

***just an FYI, typically when i post in these dodads "(babble)" its my inner monologue. when i get a little tired, it gets a little kookie.***

part2 of a very bad night

i really hate to leave my blog with that as its last post for the day. i really hate that i had to post it at all. seriously. thats lame.

well, everyone has decisions to make in life. i can wish until i'm blue in the face that his death didnt happen, but i will never be able to change his decision. even though he was never really in my life, i'm sad that there is no chance for him to ever be. i'm very sad for what this is going to do to my mother. i couldnt even imagine. she didnt actually see him do it or see the results of what he did. but there was a whole ordeal through the evening and somewhat prior to the kaboom (no pun intended, really) and this event isnt something someone just "gets over." for her sake, i hope she can truely come to terms with the situation and not blame herself. she didnt pull the trigger.

she asked me if i would come down. i dont think i'm going to. ben could be leaving at a day's notice for korea. granted, this would be grounds to take some time off and he could go with me, but what happens to my mom when i leave? then she has to morn us leaving too? i think the support system my mom has locally is what she needs right now. i'm totally avaliable to her at any time of day or night, but i dont think i should actually be there. maybe i should go. i'm going to be there in a few weeks for thanksgiving. oh, i dont know. we'll see what happens tomorrow.

speaking of tomorrow, i'm really worried about what his daughter is going to do. she's never reacted well to bad situations and she's really never had a good relationship with my mom. actually the two of them pretty well hated one another. so, i dont want his daughter to try to express her pain by attempting to take it out on my mother one way or another.

well, i feel better after putting some of my emotions & thoughts down into words that i can understand. i certainly dont understand why. i can understand that life moves on and thats a fact, jack!

totally a rant. dont mind me.

so. my mom's ex-husband shot and killed himself tonight. in my mom's front yard. wow. that looks bad.

so. its complicated. of course it is.

so. i've never been angrier at a single person in my entire life, but i'm sad. or maybe i think i should be and the anger is blocking my feeling factory. i want to cry, but i think its more for my mom and what she's been and is gonig through. but i cant cry. i cant do anything.

so. i'm tired.

FOR JO!

for my son's first birthday we did the cowboy/western theme. i, of course, made the invitations and wanted to share them with you!

EXTERIOR:


INTERIOR:



FYI: orientaltrading.com has a ton of western party decoration for minimal expense! i loved the western rubber duckies and the "wanted" cowboy cardboards that you build a moustache on (kinda like those bald men things we had as kids where you move the i'm positive toxic material around their head to make them have hair). anywho, yea.

tonight was a good night.

so, i'm sitting up in bed, catching up on some blogs and the husband (who was dead asleep 3seconds before. snoring and all.) rolls over, looks at me and says "i love you" in probally the sweetest tone i've ever heard out of him. its not that we rarely tell one another that we love each other, infact i make it a point to tell him and the boogerbear that i love them as often as possible. it is uncommon for him to A) wake up in the middle of the night unless the boogerbear cries B) to be coherent if he speaks immediately after waking C) to wake up to tell me that he loves me.

it went back to sleep very shortly after this incident, but it was none the less sweet.

tonight was a good night.

i should do this for a living.

i finally created something again! its been forever. i dont think i've touched a thing of glue since i "finished" the boogerbear's scrapbook in JULY!!!!

so here are the invitations i have made for Erican's baby shower.

EXTERIOR:


INTERIOR:


i really had a great time making them. i'm even suprised at just how inexpensive these things are going to be. i got the cards&envelopes from michael's. they're by martha, so i typically would have said that they were too expensive for my purpose, but they were on clearance so i got 4packs of 8sets for $3/each!!! thats cheaper than plain cards and the envelopes are LINED! how freakin nice is that? the ribbon is that cheap-o mini ribbon you can get for like 50cents for a few yards. the ink is out of my printer and will proablly prove to be the most expensive part (i'm still not sure how many invites i have to make... grrr...) and the white interior cardstock is something i just had a ton of laying around with no purpose. win!

i think knowing that i did something fruitful other than cleaning the floors or doing laundry (i did those things too today mind you!) will help me sleep tonight. that or it will keep me up so i can make more things!

3 weeks later and down 14lbs.

so yea, still tracking my eating with weight watchers, which is turning out to be the smartest thing i could have done. its way too easy to just not eat with the pills. they certianly do what they advertise. regardless, i'm happy with those lbs. off. i already feel lighter and more active.

speaking of, i've been trying to beef up my workouts too. daily stroller walks, a 30min yoga dvd 3 times a week, oh, and running after my insane child nonstop! that kid never sits still i swear. i have to force him to keep even a flexible schedule. heck, i have to force him to sleep. his bucket-o-energy is bottomless! anywho, back on topic, i'm also thinking of joining a gym. yea, i know. what was the point in buying that eliptical machine 8months ago? heck if i know. but i would have joined a gym back then too, but i didnt think a gym existed where they would watch your child while you worked out unless the child in question was potty trained. wrong! the gym my SIL attends will look after children 6mo plus. they just come and find you for any serious diaper or feeding situations. my SIL really likes the classes at this place and if i can go during the day with out interupting ben's fleeting evenings at home, then i win!

so i got lucky for one more week. dh will not be leaving for korea for at least another week if at all. then there is another tool for him to work on in taiwan, but we arent sure which of the motley crew he works with will be heading there if the korea thing falls through. then all i have to really worry about is him being shipped to germany around christmas. hum.

so, the other night we had a date night. we went out to dinner sans boogerbear and his work was the hot topic of the evening, mostly because he had a stressful day. so i humored him and asked questions. 2 cosmos and half a bottle of wine later he finished telling me a shortened version of what he did. my god. vaccums, and guns, but laser guns, and lights, but heavy duty xray type lights, and nitrogen, and turdburglers, and semiconductors, and fabs, and samsung, and 11x-qe, and samples, and particles, and yea.... so, thats why my husband has to leave the country for work...

ahhh! its on the loose!!!

oh, and i absolutely love this photo of my cousin's daughter. may i introduce the lillybug. she was an amazingly adorable baby, but, now, she is just too cute for words! i also got a cute shot of her biting the boogerbear's fingers... (yea, we play bite the baby in our family. whatcha gonna do about it?! huh? i dare you. thehe)

ok, just thought i would share some before bed cutiepatootieness!
nitie night!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

we took the boogerbear to THE GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH this weekend. he, um, enjoyed himself.... actually he took quite the liking to these creepy fake chickens (wtf???) they had sitting around. i was very scared that we would have to purchase one of the pointless chickens, but i was saved by some fake fruit (uhhh.. wtf?!?!) so, in short, this was an eccentric pumpkin patch. it was a good way to kill a hour or so. plus we got 3 cute little pumpkins to sit on our outside railing/banister/what the heck do you call that??? they're even small, medium, and large. way too cute... *crickets*

baby leash, anyone?

so i've been toying with the idea of buying a "child harness" for the boogerbear. everytime i touch one though i get a creepy feeling that i'm hindering his development and independence. on the other hand that kid is everywhere and at some point i'm done chasing him and i put him in his stroller to save my sanity, but also feeling guilty that i'm not letting him be a free spirit... i know. freakin hippies.

so, i formed a possibly wrong opinion about these harnesses a long time ago when i would see kids in and think how it looked like the kid was on a leash and how cruel that was. now, i want to let the boogerbear walk where ever and whenever he wants to, but i simply cant keep up after my lightening quick toddler sometimes.

so, what do you guys think? anyone ever owned one or witnessed the use of these things? do we think it would actually give a kid more freedom in the long run or would in inhabit his growth?

unbreakable boredom

so for the past three days i have been in a thick fog of bored! i have things on my to do list. i have the energy to do them. but i dont want to do them because the list items are boring in themselves and, therefore, would not cure my state of bored.
any interesting suggestions?

zipping and zooming!

babies! my cousin found out she's having a little boy in feb. she already has an absolutely adorable little girl (lilybug) and i'm so happy for them. i know her hubby's family was hoping for a boy and now they have their legacy baby. ooo! and Erican is FINALLY going to the doc on oct.1st. she's like 20ish+ weeks already. i cant imagine not seeing a doc before then! but with insurance being lame and $$$ being an issue at a lot of the offices the contacted, oct. 1st it is. i'm not sure but i hope she gets a sonogram that day as well! i'm tore about hosting a baby nshower for her. to be honest, i should be the one to do it. i've been her best friend since she was like 10! but i want to stick to my "no bending over backwards" policy. if i host it, i know i will bend over backwards. there really isnt anyone she's "friends" with that i can count on. i do have contact info for her other good girlfriends (the bridesmaids), but, as nice of people as they are, they were pretty useless for the wedding and i have a gut feeling that it would be the same for a shower. not to mention it means traveling for the boogerbear and i. oh and both babies need things made for them, so my sewing machine needs to make its way back out of the cabinet! i have a lot of craftiness in my system atm, i need to work that stuff out.

phentermine. so i started doing two things. 1) taking phentermine. 2) tracking my diet and exercise on weight watchers. i'm not a big fan of pills as a general rule, but being 80lbs over my ideal weight is no longer acceptable. actually, make that 72lbs. i started both the pills and weight watchers a week ago. i have a ton more energy, feel good about the lifestyle changes i have made (ones i can actually keep up with when the pills go away), and can already see that i'm a bit less bloated around my midsection. so the pills are only around for 3 months. they severly reduce my appitite, thats why i started weight watchers. in order to loose weight in a healthy manner, i know i need to eat, so tracking it via weight watchers is keeping me from starving myself. we've been doing stroller walks everyday (except today, its raining and i dont feel like driving to a mall) and lots of yoga. not to mention i've cleaned the house top to bottom (minus the boogerbear's room, i'm still organizing. its actually clean...) i did 8 loads of laundry sunday!!! no we dont have that many dirty clothes, but i did all the towels (clean, but stale thanks to my prior absence) and winter bed linens. its getting cold here. seriously, those pills make me zip and zoom. it definately pleases my detail oriented side, everything gets done in just the right way! hooray!

another step in my weightloss plan is to get off the depo shot. i decided on the mirena iud. it seems the most responsible. no more babies for a while. i like having just tyler. i know that he wont be my only child, but he can be older when we decide to have our next. the 1st iud lasts 5 years (it can be removed before then if we change our minds) and is has a very low dosage of hormone. it claims not to add weight or hinder weghtloss. come oct.19th we'll see...

i've decided that i like ugly betty. i wasnt so sure about it, but i dvr'd the season premere last night asn watched while the boogerbear napped and i did dishes. it was a bit confusing at first, but interesting enough for me to netflix the 1st season. now i just have to get the hubby to watch the movies (Romper Stomper, 300, & the Hulk) he's had for, oh, i dont know, THREE WEEKS!!! i think i'll just send them back and add them to the bottome of the queue. i always threaten to do that, but never do. i'm a sucker.

so, in a couple weeks ben leaves for korea and then taiwan for 4weeks. poop. my grandma is going to visit for one of those weeks and i was thinking of going back to houston with her, but i'm not too sure how possible that is. i not only have the baby, but the poodle too. getting there with the two of them and moomoo's help isnt impossible, but getting home seems a little out or reach. oh well i have a little time to think about it. anyone want to fly back with me from houston? maybe have a little visit? i know of a really good san franscico tour...

so, thats been my week in a nutshell. the boogerbear is waking so no time to add links or photos. maybe later. maybe not. xoxo! zooooooooooom!

we're back!

super busy getting life back to normal. i'll post more later tonight. for now i want to share a story (i wrote it in an email last night, so its mostly copy and paste) about a local chocolater, Richard Donnelly.


So, while i was out running errands [yesterday], the hubby suggested I do a package for his friend Sage that is off in basic training in OK. That's right up my alley and I know Sage is homesick. So I think about what I know about Sage. He likes good food. Too hard to ship Moreno's burritos. [a local taqueria we all love] He likes good wine. I'm guessing that's not allowed. CHOCOLATE! Definitely a care package necessity. So I head over to Donnelly's of course. [its the best in santa cruz for sure!] Anywho, so I go in and Richard Donnelly is there himself doing what it is he does [makes chocolaets, duh!] and asks what he can do for me.I tell him what I'm looking for. He asks if I want the pretty packaged chocolate or the bark one. I tell him whatever is easier to ship. He askswhere it's going and I tell him to sage who's doing time in basic. He nods. So he packs up this box with out asking me how much I want. Ties a bow on it and gets some ice packs out of his freezer. He then puts all of the above in a bag and tells me put my wallet away, to ship it Monday and to thank sage for what he's doing for our country. OMG! Hownice is that! I about cried as I left the building. Such a random actof kindness. That man has earned some major points in my book today. [yesterday]

xxoo!

up, up and away

well, another excuse not to blog. the boogerbear and i are off to houston for the week. we have mimi's (aka. grandma; she thought it would be fun to give herself a nickname. i just think she didnt want people calling her granny) birthday, cousin mesha's wedding and a whole mess of fun.

the boogerbear is currently napping so i should cut this short to finish up packing. see you kids later! xoxo.

see, i'm not a liar.

photos of my new hair cut and color... only a week late...

more grown up furniture...

I FOUND A TV STAND!!! not an entertainment center (there's a difference?!?!? yes. >>> that was the answer that the hubby gave. ok dear.) i actually found it at (surprise, surprise) the place we got the rest of our furniture. (dot.dot.dot.) they hubby wouldnt let me buy it with out him, but we're going tomorrow morning before my yearly girlie check-up and i'm pretty sure it will be coming home with us then. do you know how hard it is to find an entertainment center that will fit equipment that measures 17"x17"x8"?!?!? no? hard. very hard. stupid tv.



well, here's photo of the dohicky. i'm off to clense myself. take care.

a lovely weekend

i would put this past weekend in the good time bin. we we're busy, which, being the tweeker that i am, i enjoyed. saturday i went to the SUPER-DUPER O'NIEL MEGA! MEGA SALE!!! in Santa Cruz... with about a billion other people. it wasnt that bad really. it took me about 10minutes to park, then 20minutes to find two armfuls of misc clothing for the hubby, and about 2seconds to realize that i didnt have the 2hours to wait in line for the register since my haircut appointment was in 30munites and it would take 20minutes to get there. so i left my pile in the mostly appoipriate areas and headed back to get my haircut. my hair is very normal and very borning currently, but my scalp needs some heal time before i dye it again, which we all know i will. i didnt take any photos of the new do yet, but i'll wash and style it later for you kid-Os. after my cut it was time for our friend's annual yard party. so i packed up the guacamole, chips, baby, and beer and we headed over to their house. it was an awesome way to spend the afternoon/early evening despite that it was a little on the hot side (as usual). they made some awesome grilled shrimp and beefy bits to be held with in tortillas. the boogerbear loved it! dad got a little tipsy so by the time it was time to head out, i had to drive. well, at least he had a good time.

sunday, i went back to the SUPER-DUPER O'NIEL MEGA! MEGA SALE!!! in Santa Cruz, but this time with no time limit. i got a bunch of great shirts for the hubby and a few sweaters for me (lets not forget that i'm from TX and have a hard time with winter...) after that i called my MIL and we made plans for a little "just us" (meaning her, my FIL, the hubby, boogerbear, the auntie KT, and me... possibly the BIL and a collection of his children. thats it. period.) gathering. so i went to the store, bought some tri-tip to BBQ, fresh sweet corn and smashing potators. POTATORS!!!! prep'd what i could and headed over to the MIL's house in the early evening. all was well until the BIL went on an hour (or more) long "beer run". the joke was that he made the "beer run" to his GF's (yea, nicole, the one we dont particularly care for). haha. HEY! we think its funny!!!! anywho, he gets back. we get beer. (yay!) then he tells us that she's going to stop by (who invited her?!?! it wasnt his place to do that!!!!). my MIL and i both stare blankly into nothingness. dead silence covers the house. one of the children makes a noise. we bother jump to its whim and pretend the BIL said nothing. he leaves the room. we look at each other. i got get us a couple more beers. 4 or 5 or 6 beers later, she shows up. the auntie KT (who is about the only one sober) goes for a beer run. this was mandatory for the night to go on. i'm sober enough to ignore and not look anyone in the eye, but drunk enough not to care. i had my fingers crossed that she would leave within 15minutes. WRONG! she stayed for dinner. um. excuse me?!?!?! WTFFFFF!!!! she wasnt invited. MORE BEER! ok, it wasnt that dramatic, but the little rage gnome in my head was boucing off the walls never the less. the boogerbear was convienently tired after dinner so the hubby motored us home. despite the unwanted/uninvited company, it was a good evening.

i made the hubby labor on labor day! i drug him around to ikea and a handful of other furniture stores looking for a new entertainment center. his AV equipment is oversized and its proving quite difficult to find anything that will accomodate it so we're still using his very nice, existing unit that tyler deems a ladder. but i got some shelves and some brocolli cheese soup out of the day. yay!

i'm tired today. i had big things to do in my head, but no energy to do them. poop. maybe tomorrow.