Happy New Year

I am not a huge fan of New Years. I am usually still trying to let go of recover from Christmas. Then there is that pending birthday that arrives a mere week later. Not to mention that as a government employee I am kind of left pondering ‘haven’t we already started 2014, like 3 months ago?’ Oh and then AB and I have a long history of crappy New Year’s Eve celebrations too – at least back when those NYE celebrations seemed to actually matter. When we cared about going out and not staying in. A thing of the past now.

 

Now, we would rather stay in.

 

This year we hauled the trailer out for a winter camping trip and had a great time. Hanging with the kids in the trailer on New Year’s Eve – exactly what I wanted and needed. It won’t be long before they will be off running to hang with their friends for the holiday. I need to gobble up the ones now where they actually want to be with us. With Leif approaching 10 I see only a handful of family New Year’s Eves left.

 

I told the kids they could stay up until midnight. And so we all set about around the tiny trailer table with snacks and board games. Then we started Monopoly. And then AB and I started getting tired. We knew exactly what needed to be done – a movie. Then at 10:20 pm AB was transporting sleeping kids to their bunks. And we headed off to bed. There was some mumbling to the kids about “yes, it is midnight”.

 

It was perfect.

 

I don’t like resolutions – I am doomed to fail at resolutions. I like the idea of setting goals. I guess they seem less rigid and doomed to failure for some reason. I haven’t even introduced the kids to the idea of resolutions yet either. I kind of find myself hmm’ing and covering my ears when I hear about “resolution time”. Oh and I am also reminded of how dreadful it will be in getting three kids into the health club for swimming lessons…

 

My goals this year:

 

This year I would like to work on the Master Bedroom – get it painted and organized. Figure out some furniture that will solve problems in that room. Refocus on a place for us. Silas is moved out and into his bedroom (except for the changing station, which is still there as a matter of convenience). I also want to boot the older kids out of the Master bath. If I boot their toys that litter my shower, will they follow? They each have a bathroom with a bathtub and shower. (Yes, spoiled kids.) I think they should use them instead of the soaking tub / swimming pool and the falling apart standalone shower that I keep eyeing as a reno project.

 

I also need to lose the baby weight and get back to exercising. “They” say that there is always time for exercise, that you should make time. I would challenge someone to look at my schedule and current situation and help me figure out where that time is and what should suffer for that time slot. It is my goal for the year – it isn’t going to happen immediately. But maybe once Silas is sleeping through the night I can consistently get up 40 mins early to exercise like I used to and not feel totally sleep deprived. Those blanket statements that come from people that are something like “if you really wanted it, you would find time for it” really piss me off. As a working mom of three children ranging in age from 9 months to nearly 10 years old I will be the first to tell you that everyone has different needs and priorities. I do want to work out, and it is my goal to find time in 2014, but I also need to keep my head above water.

 

The other day at church one of the guest speakers was talking about goals and planning for the year – keeping organized in your life and finding passion. A lot of what he said struck me and I walked away with a lot of tidbits. One of my favorites though is that to add something new in your life that most of us need to say goodbye to something else. I don’t have spare time. I don’t get bored. I don’t do a lot of mundane tasks. The 3-4 hours of TV I watch a week are on Friday and Saturday evenings when AB and I can sit together on the couch. It doesn't happen any other time. I can’t just fill time with things I want to do. Something needs to give in order for me to add anything in.

 

Traditions:

 

One tradition I had with my mom was shopping after Christmas sales. I had intended to haul Skadi out with me after Christmas this year to shop. She likes to shop. But then I started looking at the store options here and figured I would hit Target for the stuff I actually needed and forego the actual going to the mall shopping mindlessly event. And she is a good shopper, but not THAT good yet. Not good enough for endurance shopping.

 

But then I started to miss shopping. And even moreso I started despising my clothes. And seeing big gaps in my uber tightly packed closet – go figure. I needed new clothes. The tradition that my mom and I had ate a hole into me that needs filled. I finally gave in and went online and shopped. New clothes!! Yay! I love winter clothes, but I really love winter clothes on sale…

 

So that is about it for my New Years celebration…

 

Spent it with my bickering kids, couldn’t have been better. A few goals for 2014, they aren’t resolutions. And some new clothes. Now back to the regularly scheduled 2014!

 

Oh - and Happy New Year!

Stuff that lasts a lifetime? Or a lifetime of stuff?

The other day while skiing with AB, we were sitting on the ski lift (because our children were in ski school – yay ski school!) and he commented that all his ski gear was getting old. We had purchased nearly it all in Reno, which was 9 years ago. I looked at my stuff and felt a fondness.

There have been lots of articles out there lately about how purchases are not satisfying, they don’t fill ones soul, basically. I think in the down economy it is an attempt to make people feel better about not having the cash-oh-la to go out and buy buy buy. There is a lot of talk out there about reusing and what a wasteful society we have become. Disposable is bad.

I like shopping. I like stuff. I admit it.

My family likes stuff. My grandmother REALLY liked stuff. This last summer we cleaned (I use the term “we” loosely here) out her house as she went into an Alzheimer’s care facility. As a kid I thought she had loads of treasures. Turns out? She bought the cheapest stuff she could find. I found a little crystal tea service set that I loved – I don’t remember seeing it as a kid – it was stashed away in a secret spot. Very retro and fun looking, but missing a cup. I went to replacements.com and was a bit disappointed to find out I could only order the entire set, not just the missing cup. But then again, the entire set was $14. (And yes, I do still love it.)

This is the type of stuff my grandmother had. Depression era mindset, never spend money on luxuries for yourself, save everything. My mom, a few years ago, went to my grandmother’s house to help her clean stuff out and found an entire cabinet full of all the lotions and soaps she had ever given her for Mother’s Days, Christmas, her birthday.

“Why haven’t you used these?” my mom asked picking up the dusty, cruddy old bottles.

“I am saving them,” was her reply.

“For what?” my mom asked.

“To use,” she replied.

And I expect my mom rolled her eyes and left the conversation there. No one ever won arguments with my grandmother.

Lately I have been looking through my stuff with a bit of a critical eye given the articles and general opinion out there about buying new stuff, as well as combined with my recent experiences “helping” clean out my grandmother’s and my mom’s belongings.

My purchasing habits have changed over the last few years. I do still find joy in my older purchases though – the common consensus out there that purchases won’t fill your soul is a bit flawed I think.

My ski bibs and my ski gloves are two of these things. I truly believe that these two items will last my lifetime. High quality, good fitting and timeless items. Clarification, they will last my lifetime at my current level of commitment to skiing and cold weather activities, which is that I am a fair weather skier living in a warm-ish climate that is 2 hours 45 minutes drive to ski.

I bought my grandmother a good set of stacking stainless steel mixing bowls just like mine after she visited my house and commented a few times, “I wish I had a good set of bowls”. I love my stainless steel nesting bowls. They will be with me for life.

My kitchen items – I have a ton of kitchen stuff. But instead of replacing my $4.99 Woolworth special hand mixer that my grandmother bought for me with another of its type, I plan to get a Kitchen Aid hand mixer (in cocoa silver, in case you were wondering) and never ever have to replace it again.

This blog topic has been floating around in my head for a few weeks. And as I have walked around my house I have made mental note of the things I have purchased that will last a lifetime. What do I believe I have bought or been given that I will never have to replace?

And it isn’t always the most expensive things.

My ski bibs, for example. I think I bought them for $28 on clearance at Sierra Trading Post in Reno. But they ARE fabulous.

A few shirts/sweaters I have may go the distance. I have a few of those chunky wool sweaters that were so in style in Boulder in the 90’s. I love those still (shhh, don’t tell) and I expect they will go the distance if only because I don’t wear them currently – I would roast and well my colleagues might mistake me for a hippy. But a weekend in the mountains? Yes sir!

My hutch. Yes. My shelves that AB built me exactly 8 years ago. Yes. NOT the crappy dressers from Furniture Row. (I need to work on the furniture aspect of this mindset in my house.)

My All Clad griddle, my Le Creuset pieces (have I sung enough praises lately about my Dutch Oven and Skillet?), my Kitchen Aid Professional mixer has made it 10 years with no sign of decline.

My beautiful, lovely purse will last – especially if I continue to stop by the retailer I bought it from to swoon at other purses and random sales people continue to clean it and massage it with lotion for me.

Years ago as a shopper I sought quantity. I need to outfit a kitchen, what do I need? I want a new work wardrobe, what should I buy?

Now as a shopper, I seek quality. I don’t always want to pay the prices for quality, I am a danged good sale shopper. Retailmenot.com is my best friend in online shopping.

I wonder if it seems morbid to ponder if something will last my lifetime? But I plan on living a long, long time.

Age 108 here I come with my Le Creuset and Coach purse!

What I don't need...

I don’t need these shoes.

Nope, I don’t.

I just bought a chandelier for my dining room that is about the same price. My kids are going to need warm winter clothes here soon. I just bought two pairs of sandals on clearance. I do not, no not ever need this adorable pair of Danskos.

Normally I would be thoroughly intimidated by the heel. Except that I bought a pair of Dansko pumps… pumps that add a few inches to my height and therefore give me perceived legitimacy in begging for money in DC a few times a year. And a funny thing happened. I don’t just wear them on travel.

They are heels and they are comfy and I wear them nearly once a week. They have made me believe that heels can be done and have thus made these shoes appear to be within my grasp.

Nope, I don’t need these shoes.

I already have six or seven pairs of Danskos smiling at me in my closet. I don’t need another pair.

Plus, I really want a pair of boots…

But I don’t “need” those either.

Well maybe.

Oh, and while I am at it… my daughter definitely has no need for these:

Out of character

Yesterday AB and I went to Costco to pick up Skadi's Christmas present:





Of course we picked up some more stuff too. But we had a plan. I checked out the kitchen, agreed with AB that it was perfect - amazingly he was the one who had found it, after I had spent an hour or so one day on the internet finding every.single.little.kitchen out there.

So after seeing the kitchen and letting Skadi play a little with the sample kitchen, thus assuring us it was the right gift, I headed out to the car with the kids while my MIL and AB purchased it and got it loaded into his car, then we met up at our next destination.


AB informed me then that I should probably look at transferring money from savings into checking. I told him we had plenty of money in the checking account right now, the kitchen wouldn't be a big deal.

He said he spent a little more than the dollhouse.


"Well of course you did, we got diapers, a pizza, laundry detergent and a few other things," I said.


"No, I spent more than that," he said. I should have picked up on the vaguery, but when he cited the amount my jaw dropped.


Then he added, "so no snooping around the house either".


A little while later he mentioned that he had also picked up gifts for both my dad and stepdad there too.


I think my jaw may have dropped open further there. AB not only bought a gift for me more than the week before Christmas, but also for members of my own family? People I am normally stressing over buying for?


Who swooped in and stole my husband?


He did tell me not to snoop around our daughter's closet too much. My reply to him was of all the closets in the house, that is probably the worst one to pick to hide the gift.


"How about using the utility room closet with the vacuum cleaner in it," I said knowing he wouldn't miss my reference to the fact that I just don't vacuum, like ever.


"I already put something in there," he tells me, "so no snooping in there either."


So not just ONE gift but TWO!? Hmmm.... I am very curious.

Something for me

I bought something yesterday. Actually 39 somethings.

When AB and I got engaged people started asking about china patterns.

China? I would respond. Who needs china? All we need is a good set of quality dishes. And so we registered for a large set at Crate and Barrel and enjoyed seeing the components to our set roll in and donating our old mismatched sets to Goodwill. As daily dishes they are fine. The bowls have lead a hard life and out of the 12 place settings I think only three have survived. I have started augmenting with some heavy white IKEA bowls that match alright. But as the years have gone by, my blue and white dishes look less than stellar sitting next to a gorgeous holiday turkey and the fixings.

And the silver chargers I bought on clearance after Christmas a few years ago have only done so much to pick them up.

I still like those dishes for everyday use. They work great.

But a few years ago I did start longing for china. I somehow thought that I would be white haired before I got china though (not that *that* seems to be very far off, I have a few white hairs poking through at my temples), IF I ever got china. I just didn't see it ever becoming a priority on my horizon. As far as froo froo gifts I recently turned my eye towards other things, like Department 56 Christmas village components and quality stemware.

Growing up we weren't "china" type of people. And while my grandmother does have some nice crystal single pieces and fairly willingly gives me whatever out of her home that I show an interest in, obtaining hand me down china was not going to be a productive route for me. So instead I just coveted secretly since everytime I mentioned it to AB I was met with an eyeroll.

Then I happened across a set of china for sale locally online. I clicked on it and was surprised with what I saw. No excessive froo froo-ness. Just a really nice pattern with silver rims. Silver rims that would match my chargers.

The wheels started turning as I Googled the name, "Imperial China Whitney". When I saw that a 5-piece place setting was $36 I quickly dismissed the set out of my head chalking up to the fact that the owner was ridiculous to ask $60. Nevermind. I wanted to recall the e-mail I had sent inquiring about the set, but my Yahoo mail doesn't have a recall function. Oh well I thought.

A few days later I got an e-mail stating that there are two missing cups to the set, but a turkey platter is included. Was I still interested? I replied that $60/setting was out of my price range, but thanks.

I got an immediate e-mail back saying that she wasn't offering it for $60 a setting, it was $60 for the entire set.

I paused and called AB.

"China?" he replied. "Why? We won't ever use it. We can't use it with our kids."

"But I have a china cabinet," I said.

"So now it is something else to store," he said.

"Consider it an investment... the turkey platter alone is $60 online," I argued. "I want some pretties for my table!"

"Whatever," he resigned. "If you want it, get it."

I secretly wished that he was more enthusiastic. Something like, "oh it would be neat to have a set of china and of course I love the pattern, honey!". But I suppose that was asking a little much of my Alaskan husband.

Nevertheless I pushed his reluctance to the back of my head and e-mailed VargasGirl - the only person I thought might still be at work that late in the day.

Then I called my mom.

"You have to get it," she says. (I knew she would say this since she recently admitted to wanting some nicey nices too.) "The price is great and if you love the pattern than it is perfect. But don't tell AB I told you that you had to get it."

"No way," I told her. "Saying, 'my mom says I have to get it' is exactly what I need to say!"

So I told him.

"I said if you want it, get it," he replied (with no enthusiasm whatsoever).

I picked up the phone and called the woman letting her know that she had just sold her china and asked when I could pick it up - secretly hoping she wouldn't see her error in assessing its worth.

Last night I picked up my china and left three $20 bills sitting on her table. It is gorgeous. So pretty and delicate. Like nothing I ever expected I would have.

Now *I* have china. *I* have a pattern! And I can't wait till Christmas to pull it out (if not before then).

And phooey if my husband can't get excited with me.

"Let's go to the mall!"

Ok, so if you don't watch "How I Met Your Mother" that statement probably doesn't evoke as much imagery... see the gang finds out that their Canadian friend Robin was actually an 80's Canadian pop star...

Tonight we were contemplating dinner out. We ran through the very few options where we would willingly take our kids. Then AB tossed out the mall and added on "I know there have been a few things you have wanted to get there".

Yeah, for probably going on 6 weeks or so now. Just haven't made it there despite living right about a mile from the place.

I haven't been to our mall since reading Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland for book club. Shampoo Planet is based in the town we reside in. I really enjoyed the read as for me it was a testimony of reaching that "grown up" stage in the late 80's to early 90's. And what made it more fascinating to me was that the book was set here - in a time when I didn't live here. But was living a somewhat parallel life in a small city in Colorado. So not only could I relate to the characters of the book, but the scenery and that period of time. I have to admit though that reading the portions where they went to the mall evoked a sense of dread in me. A "so been there" dread that was too familiar thinking back to the Foothills Fashion Mall (now closed) as well as the mall I rely on locally.

Walking into the mall I immediately thought about where Tyler's girlfriend (yes, fictional character and all) may have worked and those kids hanging out in the food court.

Remember when it was cool to go to the mall? The security guards, who pretended to be much bigger shots than they actually were would try to exert some authority regarding loitering. I remember being dropped off and picked up at the mall by my parents with $10 (on a good day) in my hand. We might spend some time in the arcade, wander the toy store laughing at the toys we were much too old for now that we could go to the mall by ourselves, buy a big lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick (giggle about those poor people in those awful outfits), buy some earrings at Claires, browse the music and wind up back at the front of the mall waiting to be picked up while rehashing which boys we saw (but never talked to).

I have become a little of an online shopping fiend in the last decade. It started with books at Amazon and has recently grown to whatever I can find that doesn't cost me much more or charge me a fortune to ship. I know... my city could use the tax income. But my time is short and gas is expensive.

Today it was my Merrell Plaza Mocs that I finally succumbed to along with a pair of Mary Jane Pedipeds for Skadi. I am blaming Rockergirrl because I did not go into work this morning with the intention of buying shoes and I need very little encouragement in this arena. But I got to browsing after she posted some of her favorites, then I got to "needing".

So I buy stuff online. However. I still refuse to buy my makeup online. I know I could order from Clinique somewhere... but if I did that I wouldn't get my Bonus Gifts and I wouldn't find out about new products (like the new powder I bought today).

And there are occasional mistakes I make buying online - particularly with Old Navy. That is about the only place I ever have to return things to. Best to just shop in store. For example, I was glad I actually went in and examined their little girl coats before buying online. We walked out of the mall this evening without a winter coat for Skadi and I am fighting MY need for her to have a cute girly coat when Leif's old Columbia coat and snow pants will do just fine.

We did however score pajamas for both kids, a pair of boots for Skadi (impulse buy), two dresses on sale from Children's Place, a few pairs of sweat pants for Leif, my make-up and dinner from Ivars.

I had thoughts of trying to avoid the mall for the Christmas season, then Leif started mentioning Santa Claus as we walked out.

That may have been the last time HE was at the mall.

Catching Up

It seems as though a lot has been happening recently, then I go to blog about it and I might have a hill of beans, but only if I tried really hard. So here is a hodge podge post of all that stuff that hangs there, fleeting thoughts really, but aren't really malleable into blog posts of their own.

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AB has just hired a company to come in and tackle our back patio. We started with a narrow wave of concrete back there, then enlisted the help of some really awesome friends to come out and poor a huge patio area for us. It has been nice (particularly with the pergola), but the concrete isn't in great shape. So during the Parade of Homes this year we kept an eye open for concrete treatments.

On Friday AB had a guy specializing in epoxy treatments come and look at the patio. It isn't cheap, but they start on October 22nd and our patio will be out of commission for 3-4 days while they repair the concrete and epoxy coat it. Looking something like this when finished (photo pirated from their webpage):

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I am working towards finishing off my Master bedroom organization goal. I seem to just make it a touch further each weekend either because we are busy, or in the case of this past weekend, because I wasn't feeling great. At this point I need to plow through AB's dresser, clean off the top of it and apply the (likely) faux leather organizers I bought at Target to corral some of his odds and ends. Then I need to tackle the corner where things go to be stacked and ignored. VCR tapes... toss? Garage sale? I hate to just toss them, but they seem pretty worthless. Let me know if you are interested in the titles we have.

Then I need to think about painting. I would love to get it done, but have to admit I am a touch hesitant. I need some thoughts on finishes. I did our bathroom in semi-gloss because I like the sheen in bathrooms. It really lightens it up a lot and I like the way it looks. However, I am not so sure I like the idea of semi-gloss for the Master bedroom. Can I mix the finishes in adjacent rooms connected by a larger archway if I keep the same colors?

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Today I spent money. I am really good at doing this. Up until four years ago I would say my technical savvy level was about 8 out of 10. I wasn't a pro, but I could do most anything from whip up a webpage to program in a few languages (now likely obsolete) and had a lot of the new gadgets. Then well... children put a cramp in my techno ways.

This weekend though AB and I realized that 18 hours on the Tivo hard drive just isn't enough. We were in that first wave of Tivo users. I had thought previously about just getting a hard drive to help the storage issues. But there were other issues... like the phone cord (tripping hazard) running down a hall and across a room. And hating the fact we couldn't record two shows at once. (The only two shows we were really interested in the premiers for were the 2 hour openers of Survivor and Grey's Anatomy and they overlapped by an hour.) Issues like this are just silly in the technology era!

I got with the program and upgraded our DVR to an 80 hour one capable of recording 2 shows and then I bought the wireless adaptor AND a router. I would say we have caught up with the rest of the general public though I noticed when I bought this one it was the lesser of three options and since we don't have HD in our immediate future I will just have to accept being a step or three behind.

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Skadi has become Miss Chatty. She now has a number of words though her favorite is still "no". She says it so quickly and with such determination you KNOW she knows exactly what she wants. And that look in her eyes also says that if you don't comply, a meltdown will ensue. Among her new words are "nana" (banana), "juice", "coat", "socks", "brother" (isn't it easier to say Leif??), "hair", "bug", "bird", "fruit" and "meat" among others I am likely forgetting.

Leif has learned that Skadi can repeat what you say and is taking it upon himself to teach her to talk.

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I have always bought Leif's clothes ahead of time. In the spring I buy clearance for the following winter. Fall I buy summer clearance for next spring. Leif has (knock on wood) so far never deviated from his growth curve and has always been dead on for size.

Skadi... nothing can be easy with her! Last spring I was sure she was on her growth curve and bought a number of 2T outfits for this fall. Appears she will be wearing most of those next fall. I was happy last week when I finally got to use my Gymbucks to buy her a few cute new outfits for this year. Otherwise she is solidly back in 12-18 month clothes again and should get two years out of most of her outfits from last year. I did buy her Gymborree clothes in 18-24 months being optimistic that it is only October and that by December they will fit her. Except for the red tulle skirt... that I bought in a 2T knowing that I can cinch it in this year and she can (and will) wear it next year as well.

My biggest issue there is going to be keeping it off my son. His best girlfriends are projecting the love of princesses onto him and his little sponge of a brain appears to have soaked it all up.

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Work is good for both AB and I. I had an "informal" lunch meeting last week where I was offered another major project to manage. With the addition of this project my umbrella over this client will be complete. This one wasn't a big surprise or a coup, it was offered up by the current PM to me and it was truly just a matter of time before it scootched over as she moves on.

At my informal lunch meeting last week I was also asked if I would consider taking over management of a project that is pissing off most of the upper management due to its lack of management.

This one will be the major coup. I know enough about it that I qualified my yes answer pretty heavily. I know the project well enough to know that one person in particular may walk off the project if I jump rank. A few others will just be hostile. The program manager didn't seem to have a problem with this and said that he may walk, but he will likely only do the talk since he has nothing else to fall upon. And if he does find something than more power to him and they will have underestimated his resourcefulness.

My saving grace in this regard is that if this comes down, it will come down from up way high and outside of the program. Which should provide me a little bubble to cushion myself when they start storming the gates.

Scared? Me? Damn right I am. But more terrified of being a wuss and not even trying to bring the project back onto the straight and narrow.

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Then the last topic is moving. It is still looming out there. We want a new house. We need a new house. We think.

There are the days we remind ourselves that MANY families live in houses much smaller than ours with no problem. We look around and see all the things we love about our house and our yard (our soon to be gorgeous patio) and wonder what our hurry is. Particularly if I get new floors in the kitchen this winter. And wow we need new carpet. With just a little injection of cash into the house, it would be a really pretty house.

Then we see other homes out there that would give us so much more of what we want and need in a home. And we remember how little storage we have and that we have no real guest room right now. And we complain about the depths of our closet pantry. And needing a three car garage. Then we start looking again.

Basically the update is that we are going forward with preparing our house to either go on the market or possible rent next spring depending on the market. It may happen, or we may decide to build at that point. But hopefully this spring we will have a clearly defined path forward.

Shopping bug

I have had a little shopping thing going on the past few weeks. It all started with my girls trip to Colorado. I successfully reigned myself in there knowing that whatever I bought had to be carried back in my one bag or in a carry on.



I suppose I have recently felt the need to make up for my lack of clothes shopping there. Or maybe it is just the fall bug that hits me screaming "buy new clothes!" Is it a leftover issue I carry with my from childhood? It's time to start school again, so we buy new clothes! Or is it just my lack of desire to wear the clothes I wore last year?



And for the first time in my life I am having closet storage issues. I suppose I should purge my clothes before buying new.



My favorite online store ever, Sundance, is having a clearance sale. The clothes arrived Saturday, so now I can officially rave, now that I know I don't need to go back and buy more. Pants that were made for me. Seriously. Or at least they feel that way.



Then my partner in shopping enabling sent me a link to some cute shirts at Sierra.



And I finally got the swimsuit from Athleta that I ordered at the end of July, enabling courtesy of V there. Not Athleta's fault the original suit never arrived, apparently the suit just had grander plans of wandering around West Richland instead of actually landing at my house.



I am trying to resist a pair of Merrell Plaza Bandeau's that I swear are phoning me as I type.



The temperature here has dropped recently and so all those cute strappy sundresses and sleeveless tops I bought for my daughter have a finite lifetime. My shopping bug did not stop with me. Gymboree's Circle of Friends sale saved me from having to pay full price for fall clothes for her and also filled my Gymbucks bank up again.



And apprently she is also going to need new shoes soon. We will have to see if I can pry the Keen's from her feet. There might be tears involved.



Leif is fully stocked on fall clothes since his growth is ridiculously predictable and I stocked up on clearance stuff for him last spring. He did however, score new shoes a week or so ago as well as browsed the PBKids catalog last night and put in requests for Star Wars sheets and the butterfly Halloween costume. (Over the shark... seriously.)



My husband? Shopping for him? He looks at me a little blankly when I asked him if he needed anything while I just so happened to be placing an order at Sierra. His response? I need new insoles for my shoes. I suppose it's good he balances me out a little.

The cherry on top

In between the annoying things, there are moments that top it all off.

We were getting in the car yesterday and Leif said to me, "mommy your hair is beautiful like that".

Awww.

The other exchange came today:

Leif: "Mommy what is that?"

NM: "It's my sewing machine."

Leif: "What's it do?"

NM: "I can make things. Like your favorite blanket. I made that with my sewing machine."

Leif: "Why are you putting it away mommy?"

NM: "I don't have time to sew lately anymore, so I am putting it up out of the way."

Leif: "But I love my blanket."

NM: "I know and I am so glad honey, but I am only putting the machine up."

Leif: "But I want another favorite blanket mommy, will you make me another blanket?"

NM: (I am SUCH a puchover.) "Of course sweety, we can go to the fabric store and you can pick out the fabric you want for a new blanket if you would like."

Leif: "Yay! Don't put away your machine mommy, I love my blankets."

Aww!

Skadi has a few new words. She signs a fair amount. (Must look on the board at school tomorrow and figure out the sign for "all done".) But she has three favorite words she uses all the time.

First one... "DADDY!" or "DADA!" Preferably screamed at the top of her little lungs. Last night she was in the backyard trying to hit the baseball off the tee and needed his help. He was inside and so she sat out there screaming, "DADDY! DADDY!"

She IS a daddy's girl.

Second one is "outside". Or as she says it "soutside". Skadi, like the rest of the family, loves to spend time soutside. She is getting the reputation at daycare as being an outside girl. She sees the bigger kids out and immediately will go to the window and start yelling "soutside!" Going outside will change her mood immediately from grumpy, to ecstatic. And she is so the second child, we don't follow her around the yard like we did Leif at this age. She goes out on her own, wanders around and usually brings in presents for me.

I hold out my hand when she requests and 90% of the time she deposits a bug in my hand.

Ick.

Third favorite word is "shoes". She pronounces it more like "shoos". She will fetch her shoes and sit herself down to put them on. She has her favorite shoes too. Out of all 14 or so pairs she has she will only wear one pair. Her blue Keens. The Primigi white sandals will suffice in a pinch, but forget her blue Crocs, or the birdy Robeez Treadz, or any of the other four pairs of soft soled Robeez.

So while she has her mommy's love for shoes, she doesn't covet the variety. She seems to be more like her daddy in the whole "give me one good, very comfortable pair of shoes that goes with everything and I am fine" philosophy.

Leif, otoh, likes choices and after finding no acceptable shoes at Famous Footwear. (I know, who am I kidding... it was convenient, I thought there might be something... I was wrong.) Leif came home and picked four pairs out online and they were narrowed down by daddy when mommy messed up and left the prices visible.

Siggs

I decided today I did not need a Sigg.

No way, no how, define "need", not going to get one.

Resist all the pretty colors.

Do NOT need a Sigg.

Then Leif's came in the mail.

Love it.

And he loves it too.

I just got through outfitting Skadi with the cutest ever Sigg complete with bottle strap and sippy cup handles. Ok, so the sippy cup handles are red because that is what Amazon prime had and I was not paying $5.95 for shipping on blue handles. So hers won't be quite as coordinating... but she will never notice.

Me?

Violet sunray thank you very much.

Waiting for AB to insist on one now...

Oh and we got ours from Get'n Green. Shipped out of Montana not far from here. Quick service and by far the best prices. For the kid soccer fans - they have the World Cup Official Souvenier on clearance.

Next stop will be a Sigg Thermos... but I am waiting for my three I rotate between to crap out completely. It is a wish list item for now.

Curse you internet!

I am the queen of finding both useless and useful crap on the internet.

I can comparison shop, I can find the best deals, I can read reviews on products, I can order shoes while I work, I can buy Father's Day presents without hauling the kids to the mall... very easy to set my son in front of the computer and let him choose between two gifts - he picked out daddy's watch for Christmas, and then went and told daddy he just bought him a watch. AB thought he was making it all up. Surprise when on Christmas morning he did actually have a watch that Leif knew ALL about from the computer.

And then I can also find things like a dog.

For the last year or so AB and I have toyed with getting a Belgian Shepherd puppy. We have our Win-dog who is fabulouso. But she is getting old. Nine years old last month. That's 63 in dog years.

She loves to play with the neighborhood dogs, especially Lucy (a Great Pyrenees/Retreiver mix) down the street. Winny has her posse of doggy playmates on our evening walks. But she could really use a young dog to exercise her legs and keep her from getting too old and sedentary.

Then "we" (read *I*) went and got a cat last fall instead of a puppy. Winny and Lucky are to the point that they play, they sleep together, they race around the house, then they sleep together again.

But Winny really wants a dog.

We all would like another dog really. But mommy and daddy don't "really" want a puppy. Especially now that my kitten isn't so much of a kitten anymore and my baby is now a toddler. We are ready for a little break with live baby things

I made my way to a Belgian Shepherd Rescue pages like I do every couple of months. Just to see what is there...

Lo and behold there were a few dogs there. (There never are, people who get Belgian's don't give them up easily since they are rare and usually expensive as hell.)

There was Tinga.

"Tinga is a lovely 1 ½ - 2 year old from Central California. She’s house- and crate-trained, enjoys grooming, and travels well. Her foster family says she’s calm, oh-so-sweet and eager to please. She gets along well with other dogs and cats. Tinga especially loves to be invited onto the couch for some snuggly TV time! This sweetheart will be spayed later this month and available for adoption mid month."

And the fact that she looks *just* like Winny doesn't help either.

I phoned AB expecting him to reign me in with a quick "no".

But he didn't.

I have an inquiry out.

Sigh... time to close my browser before I get myself into anymore trouble.

My travel solutions

We will see how they all work!


From the Traveling with Kids website, I have ordered:


Totally Tape - Leif will so love this, I just have to resist pulling it out before we leave. (Thank you V.)


Marvel's magnetic tin, includes scenes and 24 magnets to play with.



Color Wonder with Nemo and Toy Story. These may save the day or they may fall flat. I wish my son liked art. But so far he doesn't care for it much. I rarely get art projects home. And even though I encourage it (I was a former art major) he just isn't interested. Though I was thrilled the other night when he wanted to paint a rock. Oh and additionally... you may be tempted to order these on Amazon like I was to take advantage of Prime shipping and save a trip. But I balked at Amazon's prices ($16-20). I went to Target and found the sets for $6.99.


Auto Bingo - as discussed below.


A carabiner flashlight. He can hook it to his luggage and can have it in Alaska. $1 in the bins at Target. I probably should have picked up two or three. But since it *never* will get dark in Alaska while we are there... the likelihood of him using it for a real purpose is not good.


A magnifying glass for investigating... well anything.


Second to last for Leif... AB fell in love with this Buggy Board for airports (attaches to the backside of our new wasabi and chocolate colored umbrella stroller) but not surprisingly balked at the $85.99 price tag. So we have a bid on eBay for one.

Last I have finally sold my husband 97% of the way on a Leapster. I picked the Leapster over the VSmile because it has a "pencil" connected and Leif really needs work on his fine motor skills and holding a pencil. (Which is part of the reason his teachers believe he doesn't like art is he can't hold a pencil properly.)


I AM still coveting a couple Sigg water bottles for each of my kids to take along. But there I am really balking at the price. I know, no BPA and all, but at $17.99 each, I may have to pass.


For Skadi...


Goldfish crackers

Gerber Yogurt Bites


Gerber Fruit Snacks

Little People in a cosmetics bag (thanks Jo Ann!)


A few cups and the tiny tea pot from her new tin tea set (so wishing I was home last night to have seen my husband having a tea party in the kitchen with both kids)

And if she is still showing interest in her brand new baby doll by then, we will take that as well.

And not for the reason you would think!

Yesterday AB told me we needed to get Skadi some more summertime pajamas. We have put her in fleece most of her life to this point. And can I say that while I love the fleece, I really, really love the summertime Carter's little girls lines.

I told him it was good he mentioned this as I just got a coupon for Kohls in the mail today.

"You will have to go there yourself then!" he tells me.

But not for the reason you would think...

See I had $4o in Kohl's cash a few weeks ago. AB went with me and spent it all, plus more...

on himself.

Being that this IS Kohls (i.e., inexpensive) he walked out of there with 6 shirts.

And now he is afraid to go back. Afraid he will find something else he likes and lose his reputation of being a "non-shopper".

In the meantime... I get a trip to Kohls by myself! With the intent of buying itty bitty cute pajamas... but I am sure I will come across something else to spend my money on.

Economic Stimulus Plan

I know... I shouldn't be spending money. But for some reason this is a great time for sales. It is after the "After Christmas" sales. So stores are really looking to move stuff while they bring in the summer stock.

And I fall prey to good deals.

Here are my recent finds:

Check out Skadi's Christmas dress for next year. PBKids in chocolate. And for $16.99 and free shipping.



And then this is a funny story behind this skirt.



I ordered it ages ago when I found it for $14.99, regularly $79 from JJill. Then promptly forgot about it. It was backordered and all. Completely forgot about it. Apparently I figured when I it arrived at some distant time I would love it whatever time of year at that price. I was right.

It arrived the other day and at first I was completely perplexed. My size... my style... love the skirt... but where did it come from? Slowly memories of ordering a skirt on backorder for possibly months came to me. Sure enough the price was right. I was sold.

And I love the skirt. LOVE it.

Then I needed new hand soap. Checked Drugstore and they didn't have the scent I wanted. So I went to Amazon and they had it, but from eBubbles and I would have actually had to pay for shipping. Which I don't like to do at Amazon. Checked eBubbles and was thrilled I did since they had free shipping and free lotion and two free samples of your choice.

Hmmm... what else? Oh yes, I bought makeup. V pointed me to E.L.F. a few weekends ago. It has truly been ages since I have bought make-up. I just have a hard time justifying the price since I like good stuff, but I don't wear it daily (other than mascara, moisturizer, sunblock and powder). I badly needed new. I finally checked it out and dropped a whopping $16 on 16 items. I hope the quality is there because the price is.

Then there was the Old Navy pre-summer sale that I bought loads of knock around clothes for Skadi, and a few things for Leif.

Then there was Gymboree... three pairs of clearance pants in the cupcake style for Skadi. Well I did order her a cupcake hair clip from AK and all. (This is sounding worse than buying the shoes and then buying clothes to match the shoes... something I have never been guilty of.) But I loved the cupcake line and since it was on clearance... let's just hope by next fall she can wear jeans and a 2T is her size. It's a gamble with the Beaner.

Oh and did I tell you about the Lands End diaper bag I won? Courtesy of Self Made Mom's Product Review blog. I love bags.

Hmmm... what else? Oh and I registered some domains today. Registered Skadi's name. I registered Leif's on his first birthday and decided to do the same for Skaders... a few weeks early. But I was in the domain registering mood as I secured thenuclearlife.com and will be switching things over to there over the next week. Don't worry, your bookmarks will still work, but I made the semi-conscious decision to push the blogging a little further. I blog regularly, why not see what comes of it?

And well, that is the story of my economic stimulus plan! (I am tackling Penzeys tomorrow... AB's complaint about not having cumin prompted an inventory of the spice rack and a determination that a Penzeys order is required... anyone who lives near me and wants anything let me know.)

My husband doesn't read my blog... does he?

February goal started

As the first weekend in February, it is also the first weekend to address the current goal at hand... Leif's room. As I said before, his is not a hard room. Here are pictures of the starting point... a little organization is all the room-portion (excluding the closet) really needs.

I went to Target on Saturday and found nicely coordinating bins and containers for the shelves. I cleaned off the shelves, the Ikea organizer and the book shelf top and dresser top and started sorting. Keep (keepsake), keep (put back on the shelves in some organized fashion), garage sale or toss.

The garage sale pile is pitifully small. The toss pile was good sized, but a lot of the stuff was set for keep.

After a few hours (maybe at most) of sorting and putting things back AB came in. I was surprised by his comment - "I like the organizers".

Well so do I. So back to Target I will go (after AB gets paid next week) to buy another set of green plastic organizers: a new garbage can, a medium sized flex tote for cleaning day pick up, a small flex tote for holding essentials on the dresser top, some little bins for marbles and other "pieces", and some more medium sized bins for the shelves.

I cleaned out his dresser while AB put him to bed one night and purged most of the size 2T clothes since he is just now out of that size. And then I retrieved some hangers and started hanging his nicer shirts and sweaters in the crazy closet.

AB still needs to hang the stuffed animal holder. I mentioned this on Sunday and he reminded me he has all of February to do it. ;-) As far as I am concerned he has until I get the new storage bins from Target. Because once that is done, the room part is done and the closet shall remain.

The closet. The closet that looms. (And houses monsters if you believe Leif.)

Anyways, I haven't told AB this, but as of today our time schedule is being slid up. My MIL just wrote that she will be here March 13-18th. Which means that Skadi's room, though it won't be ready for her to occupy, will need to be cleaned out and prepped as a guest room for one last hurrah before our guest room goes away for good - or at least until we buy a new house.

And that little bathroom that doesn't really serve to have a whole month devoted to it? Also needs to be handled before then. (More little bins from Target.)

(Can you tell I have a thing for little plastic storage bins?)

Now THAT'S customer service!

AB told me when he ordered my earrings online from Sundance catalog (one of my favorite online sites... though I can never justify buying the stuff for myself) that something weird happened when he checked out. AB never orders online and I figured he was just being a goof. He told me he got two order confirmations and two different shipping tracking numbers.

A few days later he evidently got a note that one order was return shipped by UPS to Sundance as it was sent out in error. AB never had to do anything.

Yesterday in the mail he got a letter of apology from the company for the confusion as well as a $50 gift card! Robert Redford is a very generous man.

I asked AB immediately exactly how expensive my earrings were?

$27 he told me.

Guess who's going shopping! (And if anyone is looking for a great company to buy gifts from, check out Sundance.)

Swimming, not just for summer anymore!

News flash to clothing stores!

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I couldn't find Skadi a bathing suit the past two weeks given Leslie's difficulties back on August 1. I truly just do not get it. I mean, August 1 was still the height of summer here. I realize it is early November, but is this attitude the reason there is no full scale, open year round, public pool facility here?

I went to the mall after swimming on Saturday and ran to each of the kid's clothing stores in search of a 12-18 month swim suit for Skadi. No, she doesn't *need* a swimming suit, *I* am the one that needs her to have a swimming suit. She grew out of her cute little green bikini... the top at least, I am still putting her in the bottom and she is enjoying the water a la Brazilian style with no top.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when Gymboree, unlike the other stores who gave a polite apology, "nope, I am sorry, no swim suits", gave me a full on laugh with an "oh God no, it's cold outside!" response.

I haven't been impressed with the store even though I am a Gymboree fan. They carry only select items routinely, things are hard to sort through and they say and ask stupid things. Example, I am carrying my new baby girl at about 2-3 weeks old. The sales woman (who is the manager) oogles at her and asks HER name etc. Then asks me why I am returning a little blue boy's sweater. My response was, "well like you said, she is a girl".

I was annoyed. I responded, "it may be cold outside, but there are swimming lessons, swimming pools in health clubs and people do vacation in warm places with their kids". She suggested I try online. Yes, I know the online store far too well.

And you know, I think I will keep my Gymboree purchases to online only and will start entering the store only to return my online purchases that don't work.

PB got the best of me

No. I didn't succumb to the $68 Christmas gingham dress.

But Skadi needed a Christmas stocking for this year. Which meant that in the name of matching, Leif probably needed one as well. And I am a sucker for Christmas stuff. And personalized Christmas merchendise? Well resistance was futile.

I am telling myself that there is no way Target would have had these adorable stockings and that $19 and free shipping each wasn't bad. (Ok, $25 each once you include the personalization.) Note to self to check back after Christmas to get a couple on sale for AB and I. We can live for another year with stockings that only match each others (and Winny's).

Oh and since I was there... and I am a sucker for buying early... way early. Leif and Skadi also got Easter baskets. For $5.99 they were practically paying me to take them.

And then the real reason I went back to the site? Standing in the shower this morning it dawned on me that I COULD buy that cute spring time PB Baby dress on clearance for $12.99 and Skadi can wear it for Easter this year. I couldn't even get an Easter dress for from Target for $12.99... and it is so freakin' cute. I did skip the monogramming though.

Step away from the PB Baby website

What has this girl child done to me?

While I would like to say how easy I *know* it would be to make this dress over Thanksgiving... I also remember the cute lemon fabric and sundress and bonnet patterns sitting on my sewing machine from this past summer. Untouched.

So I will repeat until it sinks in:

I could not would not make the dress.
I will not will not buy the dress.
Not in my shopping cart
Not on my machine
Pottery Barn, you let me be!
I do not like cute gingham dresses.
I do not like them PB Kids.

(Of course there is the taunting voice I hear...

You do not like them so you say,
Try them try them and you may,
You may I say.)

Long weekend wrap up

I walked into work this morning on time. This is a noteworthy achievement. One that may be repeated tomorrow morning and maybe even Wednesday morning. However, by week's end, I fully expect the kids to be settled into the time change and we will resume the 5-30 minutes late "normal" schedule. Time change? Loathe it. My kids are happily ingrained in a schedule and I have yet to see why we must go about fiddling with the time. Pick a time and stick with it already.

Ok, now that I have that off my chest.

We had a lot going on this weekend. A long weekend for us all. My FIL and his girlfriend arrived Thursday night. Leif, despite our insistence that "grandpa from Alaska" was coming to visit us and not Bompa from Colorado, was hugely disappointed when our expected visitors weren't who he was expecting. He took me into the kitchen and asked that I tell them to leave. Now.

That didn't happen obviously. Instead Leif grew to appreciate their presence after realizing that grandpa came with pool access. And Friday morning at the Holiday Inn Express afforded us the luxury of an entire pool and hot tub just for us. We had lunch at a local winery/bistro where Leif was able to eat cracker straws and salami and run around scuffling in the leaves while we enjoyed the fall air and a nice Gewurztraminer.

Dinner also took Leif by surprise. We had talked for days of Miss K coming over on Friday night. Well, then the strep struck her. (Or flakiness struck her, I never know which.) I had to scramble at the last minute. I made a quick call to Skadi's teacher and we had a new sitter. One who Leif didn't know (despite our insistence that she knows him VERY well) and certainly wasn't going to roll around on the floor with him. I have seen Miss K... I know exactly why Leif wants to roll around the floor with her...

He was apparently quite subdued the whole night. But upon Miss R's arrival to the house, Skadi was thrilled. She bounced and giggled when Miss R walked in the door. Bonded. I know this made Miss R's day.

Dinner that night at the other winery was fantastic. There had been discussions of slow service, but everything that night was on cue if not too fast. I was a little worried we would go home and Leif would still be awake. Believe me, if I am paying a sitter, I want a sleeping child when I get home!

I handed Miss R a wad of cash. I did my calculation. According to my coworkers, if your babysitter is a professional, you never pay less than minimum wage. And what is minimum wage? $9/hour or so. Truth be told, I have no idea. I rounded up given that I have two kids. We were gone 2.5 hours. Wa-la... a reasonable payment for a night out and about what I pay Miss K or A. Miss R took the $5, handed me the $20 back. Insisted. Ok, I KNOW babysitters make more than $2 an hour. I protested. Then she insisted I put my $20 away. Just wait until Christmas.

Saturday morning Leif had swimming lessons, which he excelled at. Then AB and I got our suits on. AB went into the pool and played around with Leif while I went and did parent tot lessons with Skadi. I had been worried about timing with nap - though not the stress level that I did at that age with Leif. Skadi loved it.

After swim lessons it dawned on us that we had already had a full weekend it seemed, yet it was only Saturday morning. We headed to Target for a few things and well, also because I like new stores. Nevermind that the "old" Target is very close to the health club. Leif and Skadi each had $20 gift cards from grandma for Halloween. Leif can count to 20 and so I hoped to use this time as a learning experience for him as well. We need to find out how much something costs and if it is lower than 20, then you can get it.

How naive I am.

It turned into a lesson of, "you can't just have everything you can grab". I truly think to this point he was fairly oblivious to the toy aisles. Though we did have a shot at working on one of the more important lessons, "you can have X or Y but not both" where X was a Spiderman and Y was a Buzz Lightyear. That slowed him down.

Buzz was the verdict after much deliberation.

Saturday afternoon AB wanted a trip back to the apple orchard to pick more apples. Because when you don't have massive quantities of fruit to process, cook or preserve, you just apparently become almost bored. (Eye rolling? Naw, not here.) You know you live in a small town when you get to the orchard. They are closed. But you call them and they come right down to help you with all the supplies. We hurried in our apple picking since we didn't want to completely inconvenience the owners. Though I expect it was probably the easiest $20 they made in a long time. 20 lbs of apples later...

Sunday was grocery morning where we spent loads on food. We spent a fair portion on foods aimed at establishing a more "Meditteranean Diet". I am actually doing pretty good at losing the pregnancy weight (thank you breastfeeding). All of my pre-Skadi pants are fitting me. (Pre-Leif pants will take a little more work.) But AB and I are foodies enough to know that we will never be able to go with a Nutrisystem or prepackaged foods diet without approaching depression. We also know that as we approach our late 30's (only approaching here... I have another 2 months at 35) that we need to change our daily diet even more so that we don't continue to gain weight. Incorporating excercise would be ideal, but aside from our evening walks and weekend madness, we just aren't there yet. Though we will get there. But until then, Meditteranean dieting we will do.

Sunday afternoon Leif, Skadi and I were playing in the backyard. I happened to note that the double wagon had seatbelts. Hmmm. Sure enough I could secure Skadi in the wagon and entice Leif to join her. Since AB was plastered to the TV screen watching either the Seahawks and Browns or the Colts and the Pats, we headed out onto the walking path. A half hour later Leif was crying, "I don't want to go back home", but Skadi was looking a touch chilly, and I was huffing and puffing from hauling them down the path and back. AB? Never even noticed we were all absent from the backyard for that 30 minutes. And the double wagon? Amazing! Skadi loved being a big kid, and Leif loved entertaining her. Winny just loved getting out. I did not think I would be out on a walk with both kids and the dog by myself.

Dinner was easy last night as I had put hamhocks and beans on earlier in the day. Comfort food at its best. My grandfather made this and I chowed it from the time I was Leif's age. Leif wasn't so interested though. That's ok. More for me.