Monday, March 30, 2009

to OMG or not to OMG

If you haven't noticed Ava likes the expletive. "Crap!" "Oh sh*t" "For the love!" "Holy smokes!" "Oh my goodness!" She normally goes for "oh my goodness" but recently she has has been experimenting with OMG or "oh my gosh". Justin corrects her all the time and tells her to say "oh my goodness." We aren't sure where she gets the OMG because we don't say it all in our house. (I know you are probably like yeah right, but it is true. Not something that is in our regular vocabulary, unlike crap or sh*t.

Some people think it is really funny to teach little kids to swear. We haven't encountered that issue for the most part. There are few people who still swear freely in front of Ava, but most get the concept that she repeats everything. I have recently realized how many people we see regularly say OMG repeatedly. Regardless of the whole 10 commandments issue, I don't like to hear any little kid say it. It just sounds weird to me. Like little girls in full make up and big hair. It is obviously impossible to control the environment. How do you handle the constant OMG's? I think people can handle hey, watch the language when it is a "normal swear" word, but what do you say about OMG?

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Sarah: Women of Genesis

Ok so here is going to be my rating scale for books...
5- excellent, reserved for books that touched me emotionally, intellectually, kept me sucked in, thinking about it for days to come, etc.
4-Very good book, would recommend it, but it isn't going to be a book I will cherish forever.
3- Enjoyable, entertaining, not necessarily great literature.
2- Decent story, not great writing, not a waste of time, maybe couldn't get into it right away
1- Don't recommend it, couldn't make myself finish it.



Sarah- I would give it a 3.  I liked reading the story.  It is by Orson Scott Card.  He is a well known science fiction writer and a Mormon.  He has written a couple other books about the Women of Genesis.  I do plan to read them as well.  The book is fiction, but he did try to surround the story in accurate historical details. 

cupcakes

So every once in a while I get inspired to make things. My kitchen is still clean, a week later, so of course I have to come up with a plan to destroy it. I am going to make some fondant covered cupcakes. I have been inspired by Pioneer Woman and Bakerella. I have a week to gather my supplies and then I am making some easter egg themed cupcakes. I am not sure what I am going to do with them after I make them. They could turn out pretty ugly, but I still want to try. Nice thing about food, ugly does not always negate the taste. I will take some pictures and not edit them in photoshop, because honestly I cut corners like that all the time, and post them. (I think it is funny that other people's inattention to detail in the finished product annoys the poop out of me, but I am unwilling to attempt to edit my pictures.)

My crocheting project has come to a hault because my wrist is attempting to stop working and let my hand fall off. It isn't carpel tunnel. It is the opposite side of my hand, so whatever that is. It makes it impossible to do a push up (because I do those all the time) and hurts while I am sleeping. I might get my neice her baby blanket by her first birthday at this rate.

So a week ago I was tossing around the idea of working Friday and Saturday overnights (11:30pm - 7:30am) permanently and not working my two evenings a week anymore. I thought this was so wonderful and I would suddenly become the June Cleaver type housewife that I have always dreamed about. (I have never actually dreamed about being June Cleaver, I just didn't want to be Roseanne.) We would have real dinners all the time, we could go for walks in the evenings, all sorts of stuff. The walks would probably be the only thing that would really happen and a real meal every other week or something. I then realized that my dreams of not working during the week didn't really take into account the realities of working at night on the weekend, so that idea came to an end. Not working at night during the week would have made my summer easier since I am playing softball! I suppose I could try to switch my Tuesday night with someone. Our games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If I switched, then I would also have to switch daycare days and my whole routine and everything and I may not get those days back...I guess I will be a part time player.

Oh, Ava thinks Mike and Ike's, the candies, are called Portillos. Long story, but I told her we were getting Portillos on the way home, and I bought some Mike and Ike's at one of our stops on the way home, got Culver's instead of Portillos. Next day, she saw the box of Mike and Ike's and said, "Oooh! Can I have some of my portillos? I love portillos." I think I am running with it because portillos is cuter than candy.

ch-ch-ch-changes

I just finished changing out the clothes in Rhys' dresser to 3-6 month sizes. He has a few things that still fit him pretty perfectly right now I am hesitating actually packing them up, but I know from experience it is easier to just change out a whole size. I probably will put some of the 0-3's that still fit back in his drawers and just not officially put away the nb/3mo bin of clothes until they are all out of there. I have noticed in the last week some of his pants were pretty snug in the middle so I knew the time was coming. Plus pretty much all but a few of his 3-6 months are winter/springish, so if he wants to get any use out of them, he needs to start wearing them now. I decided that any summer stuff he gets will be 6-9 months (at least that I buy) because I am not buying multiple sizes for one season just so he can fit into them for the week or two before he grows again. I am sad putting the little clothes away. I am not sure why. With Ava I was excited to move on to the new cool stuff. She had better, cuter 3-6 month clothes in my opinion and she stayed in sizes for a lot longer than Rhys appears to. I feel like he barely wore half the things. Maybe because with Ava I was like oh the next baby will wear these, so it is fine. Then the next baby was a boy. Now I am like, I have a ton of baby clothes. Do I keep my favorites and get rid of the rest?

Ava's tiny tots dance class got canceled. I guess there were too many drop outs. Ava is now in the "big girl" class, otherwise known as ballet for 3-4 year olds. This means she will be in the recital. This should be interesting since this week she refused to dance and cried half the time. Note to self: don't wake her up and get her dressed for class in the parking lot. It doesn't go over well.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

quotes from the weekend.

1. Ava rolled off the couch in her sleep earlier in the week. Her shoulder seemed to bothering her, so I took her to Immediate Care for x-rays. In the little registration office-

Registration lady: So what brings you here today?

Ava: So I was chased, yeah chased. Then I was attacked, and I got a big scratch on my back from the dragon. Yeah, big scratch on my back from the dragon. Haha! It was so crazy.

2. Driving home Saturday night. No idea who or what she was talking about.

Ava: He was just yelling and screaming. He was screeeeaaaming like a big ham.

3. Ava giving Justin a kiss goodnight.

Ava: That stinks.

Justin: What does?

Ava: You.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

clean

We had the carpets cleaned on Friday, at least the stairs and livingroom. They are pretty much the high traffic areas. The carpet looks much better. Some very noticeable stains are now gone. I still think the carpet needs replaced but this has bought us some time at least. The bet part has been needing everything cleaned for the tastefully simple party I had and the carpet cleaning. Everything is completely clean and dusted. The kitchen HAD been clean. It still is, but we had moved everything into the kitchen to have the carpets cleaned. I am not just putting clutter back. I am going through it before I put it away, determine if we need it or not. I am then throwing stuff out. I liked how the furniture got put back, not exactly how we had it, but has definitely given us more useable space (mostly because we aren't covering up a stain anymore). It has been a very good thing.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ava sings the blues

Ava got a toy microphone for Christmas. She picks it up all the time, and gets this super serious face, and sings. This happens at least once a day. If you have seen "A League of Her Own" picture the shy girl singing in the bar. If you interupt her she says, "I'm singing!" pretty much just like that character in the movie.

Any way, she was singing a song the other day. The words pretty much went like this (I am not joking or exhagerating): I can't find my bobo. It is gone. I did not lose it. I did not hide it. It is in the garbage. I can't find my bobo!! I wish I had my bobo.

It is a step up from her "aww baby...." song.

We had a very good day today for the most part. Very few tantrums and she was being nice. She is very sensitive to how I talk to her. I have to be concious of my tone. If I seem upset, she just ignores me, which causes the whole situation to get out of control. We had a nap time confrontation today. She kept yelling down the stairs at me and Rhys was asleep upstairs, so this was not going over well. I tried to finally explain to her that it makes me sad when she doesn't listen to me. She responded by petting my face and saying, "Yeah, it makes me sad when Daddy reads me books and won't be the tiger."

3 months...and a day

So I missed posting on Rhys' actual 3 month birthday. I planned on it, I really did. It just didn't happen. Ok, on with the show.

Rhys is my little chubber man. He is rolly and solid and so unlike Ava in that respect. I never thought I would enjoy playing with fat rolls so much, but I do. The angry baby is pretty much gone. He has a temper, but when he is happy, he is really happy. He smiles all the time. He has started fussing and making noise just to get my attention. As soon as I look at him, he smiles. I am starting to wonder if he thinks it is a game. He thinks he is a big strong guy and if you have him reclining back, he tries to pull himself up to sitting. He has about a good of chance doing a sit up as I do. It doesn't work at all but he turns nice and red trying. He also doesn't like to really cuddle in when you hold him. He holds his head up and looks around.

He is just figuring out how to laugh. He has done it a few times, but definitely not everyday. His first laugh was at Ava. His biggest laugh was a couple days ago in the bathtub. I think the water dribbling on him tickled him and he just cracked up. He laughed for a good 5 minutes. We got a bit of it on video.

He does not have the bobo addiction like Ava did. He likes it, but I am pretty sure once he can master always getting his fingers in his mouth, he won't really care for it too much.

Most importantly, he is loved to death by his big sister. She has made him sing "hot potato, hot potato" moving his hands around for him. She will sit and talk to him and play with him, keeping him content for quite a while. Ava has made it possible for me to take many showers. I think as he gets older, they will have even more fun together. Ava says, "He is going to get bigger, and then we will play together, and we will be friends. Then we will get a NEW baby."

Monday, March 16, 2009

Issues

Dance class went well by the way. I think Ava is officially the only kid left in her tiny tots class, so today she got to go to class with the 3 year olds. OOOOOH. I think it is a more structured class so that is probably better for her attention span. I have decided that next year we will go to the dance place that is by our house. I will not be driving to a tiny town half an hour away, so then I am stuck doing nothing while she is in class.

Anyway, on to the issues. Ava is having issues. She is apparently 15 but really only 2. She is refusing to do anything that she is asked or told to do. She is very into doing the opposite. She won't eat anything that was suggested for her. At the same time, she refuses to do "big girl" things. She refuses to even sit on the potty. She is talking like a baby all the time. For the first time ever, she fights me on doing her hair. Last night she spilled her milk on the table on purpose! Generally she has only ever been bad at home and is good in public. Lately it is almost worse in public. Full out yelling at me in Walgreens last week. Not just yelling no, like chewing me out kind of yelling. It was actually pretty weird.

She has been bobo free for a week though, so that is good. I have tried to give her more one on one attention when Rhys is sleeping but she actually doesn't seem to want it. She tells me no, and goes off by herself. She is pretty excited about our garden so maybe that will be a good thing.

Monday, Monday

I am discovering quite a few things lately. I have been getting emails from www.flylady.com for the last week. Last week my efforts besides getting dressed daily, ended on day 2. I am starting over again this week. I am not doing everything that she says because a) I have other priorities in the cleaning area, and b) I just haven't gotten to it. Anyway, the Flylady's whole deal is how not to live your life in chaos. (Can't have anyone over syndrome) We permanently live our lives there. I have figured out that we do because I just don't have enough time time (aka desire) to do stuff around the house all day everyday. I am working on it though. The getting dressed in the morning is very helpful. This morning I got all of us up and dressed before breakfast. Ava said, "Where are we going?" about five times. I realized the only times we all get dressed right away are the times we are getting ready to leave.

Nap time is over for Ava. We are going to get changed to head out to dance class. I am hoping Rhys will fall asleep in the car and stay asleep during the getting in and out of the car to drop her off at dance class. I am hoping to use my hour int he car wisely and drink a coffee and read a book with the windows open. If he wakes up, I will be walking down the street to the dollar store. I know how to live it up.

Oh, PS, does anyone have any cuttings froma creaping flowering plant that they would like to donate to me? I am thinking of getting a latice for by the front door. When are you all starting to prep your gardens? I like it that I am writing as if everyone out there who reads this, all five of you, have vegetable gardens...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

whew.

My brain isn't functioning enough to really post a lot. Ava had a day today. That is really all you can say about it. It was a day.

Rhys and Ava both went to sleep at 9pm. Same time. Amazing. I expect to be up in approximately 2 more hours with Rhys again.

It is supposed to be beautiful outside this week. Hopefully I will want to get things done in the house in addition to spending time outside.

Rhys will be 3 months old on Tuesday. I will try to come up with a post about his great accomplishments up to this point. Baby book type post. I was at Target today and saw all these pre-made scrapbooking albums and it got me thinking about my babies' photo albums. I only have Ava's hospital pictures in an album. I have quite a bit of catching up to do.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

weekend away

I didn't really have a weekend away, but it kind of felt like it. Saturday I went to a baby shower. I just took Rhys with me. I dropped him off at home and left for my friend's bachelorette party. This was a very low-key party but still a good time. She isn't in town often so it was mostly just visiting. We went to a spa. All of us had our nails done and a few people got a massage. I really liked them and I got the best looking manicure that I have ever had. I normally don't get them because I end up not liking how my nails feel. I really kind of think it isn't that hard to make my nails look good. (sorry, but I am just being honest.) A lot of places buff up my nails so much that they end up brittle afterwards. Not a big fan of that at all. I haven't had my nails done in a LONG time. I think it has seriously been 4 years. I have painted them myself in that time obviously, but rarely have I shaped them and used a base and a top coat of paint at the same time. It is very strange, or maybe my standards for myself have dropped, but I really do feel prettier with my nails done. I don't think I need to pay to have someone else make my nails look like this, I just need to stay on top of it myself. Either way, what is that about? Seriously? Nails make me feel pretty?

We then went out to dinner, finally being seated after a two hour wait. We were hurried on out of there and we went back to our hotel. We stayed up until 4 am talking (4am after the time change) and eating snacks that we brought. It was a day of eating. I had officially dropped down a pound of pre-baby weight the day before. I think that progress is all gone now.

On the weight loss track, I was thinking how much easier it would be if I just went to a gym (ahhh the gym delusion, once again). I had myself talked into it, and then tried to plot out my day with actually going to the gym and was like yeah that really isn't going to work out. I am not that motivated of a person. I would rather just take the kids for a walk. So hopefully the cold weather that is coming back for a couple days will move on out and I can go for walks again.

I do have a long term goal for weight loss. -20 pounds by June. I have now just added a short term goal. -10 pounds by April 20th. We are going on vacation! To a place with warm weather!!!!!! I am going to need to wear a bathing suit...... Honestly, I am a person who doesn't really care about looking chubbily in a bathing suit. I just would like to not have to tell myself, oh well, jump on in. Tomorrow is Monday and it can be another back on the wagon day. I will shine my sink, track my food, fold some laundry and drive on out to dance class, once again, for a lovely Monday. Woohoo.

In Rhys news, Friday and Saturday night he technically slept through the night. Friday he went down for the last time at midnight, and slept until 7:30. Saturday night Justin put him down at 9 and he slept until 5am, ate and went back to sleep. Now you can see why I feel ready to take on change in the house. Sleep is going to happen! I hope. I don't expect much now that I just posted this.

so true

So I was browsing bathing suits online (future posts will explain more) and on JCPenny's website, you can search by body type. I looked through the "flatters everyone" suits. I came across this: http://www5.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6E.aspx?DeptID=50434&CatID=50446&GrpTyp=ENS&ItemID=15cd56f&attrtype=SWI&attrvalue=flatters+everyone&CMID=50434%7c50446%7cshopbybodyshape&Fltr=SWI%3aEquals%3aflatters+everyone&Srt=&QL=T&IND=18&CmCatId=50434|50446|shopbybodyshape

(Sorry I know it isn't an embedded link. So kill me.)
Why yes. This flatters EVERYONE. Why didn't I think of that.

Friday, March 6, 2009

poll

Alright here is a question for all of you stay at home moms, or former stay at home moms.



What did you wear during the day when you didn't plan on seeing anybody? Hair and make up?  Please don't tell me that it just feels better to get dressed.  It does, if  you don't mind then being antsy because you are all dressed up with no where to go.



I had this whole thing in my head about make up, but now I have forgotten it and how I was going to lead into it.  Oh well, something for another time I guess. 

make up

Ok, so I don't remember what I wanted to say about make up but I thought I would just put down my thoughts....nothing original, so feel free to move on now.



I enjoy make up and nail polish and jeweled adornments.  I enjoy make up for the art of it.  I like that you can look completely different with just a different style of make up.  I do not see make up as a daily requirement.  I didn't like it that at my old job, I had to dress up for work and then felt somewhat unfinished if I didn't have at least a little bit of make up on.  I like make up because the colors are pretty.  Make up is pretty.  I don't think it is needed to make me pretty.  I don't feel naked without it.  I often forget whether or not I have even have it on unless I look in the mirror.  Most of the time I can only tell by my eyes if I have it on.  I have more frustrations and troubles trying to get foundation to match my real skin color, that I question why I even wear it at all.  If I just want it to look like regular skin, then shouldn't I just show my regular skin????  Lets face it.  Make up isn't good for your skin.  You are adding stuff
to your face to even out your skin tone, but for me, it is often
causing the problems that cause my skin tone to look uneven in the
first place.  I don't need to "put my face on".  I already have a face.  I will never be late going somewhere, just to do my make up.  I had friends that would do that in high school and it drove me insane.  I have gone to weddings, putting make up on in the car.  For me getting ready to run out the door usually involves just getting clothes on.  Prior to Ava, for work I would shower at night, and get up ten minutes before I had to be out the door.  How long does it take to brush your teeth and hair and put some clothes on?



The question in magazines: what is the one piece of make up  you would have to have if you were stranded on a desert island?  The answer is none.  I am either going to be beautifully tanned or burnt to a crisp, neither of which will work well with make up.  Also, I am stranded.  Who am I going to impress?



My hair, it is pointless.  It pretty much usually looks the same whether I do it or not, unless I spend a lot of time on it, which usually bores me, so I don't bother.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

update

Rhys has relieved himself. He didn't blow up though, it was close, but his fresh size 1 contained it. It did; however, stink like no other. I heard him toot and thought he might have actually taken care of business, but then I smelled a horrible smell. I assumed that the cat had just dropped one in the litter box, so I shut the door to block out the smell. The smell didn't go away. It was in Rhys' pants! He is a stinky boy. The sinky boy is in his bouncy yelling at the bug rattle hanging in front of him right now. I think he is offended by the lack of response.

It is warm today!!!!!!!!!!! Warm... a wopping 56 degrees, but for us with winter blubber intact, it is toasty. Time to put on the shorts.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The S-Bomb

It finally happened. Ava swore. She dropped a piece of her cereal this morning and completely casually said, "Oh shit." I asked her what she had said. She looked right at me and said it again.

I told her it isn't a nice word and if someone says it, she should tell them that it isn't a nice word, even Mommy or Daddy.

recharged

I have made the decision to cut the other blog out. It was dragging me down, plus it is insane to pay for it when I don't need to. It was getting really annoying to copy paste things too. I realized that in 3 years I had 30 posts with pictures of the kiddies, so that was really no reason to keep paying, especially when I figured out how to transfer them over to this blog. So the archives will still be there. I am backed up for the last year. I will do more later. I am probably the only one who cares about the archives, but oh well. I feel like this will recharge me. I will be motivated to post. Poor Rhys gets ripped off with the lack of pictures. Granted, I am not sure what I will do with all of the pictures of Ava in a bouncy or boppy, but at least I had a pretty regular record of her growing. I don't want him to get ripped off in the blog posting too.

So now Rhys. He hasn't pooped since Saturday. He is going to explode and it won't be pretty. I think he is ready too. He is a little cranky and I would be too if I hadn't pooped in 5 days. He keeps trying to laugh and it just comes out as a little huh, huh.

I hit my overwhelmed wall this week. I think it was a combination of stress at work and in life, a lack of sleep, the household stuff building to the out of hand point (I can only take so much clutter), and multiple things I am trying to do in my "free" time. I mostly blame the lack of sleep. I had my day of frustration and now I seem to be ok with it. I just have to have a release of rage and I am good. Relatively, it was a pretty calm release, for me.

I have been debating starting school when Justin is done with his master's. I think I miss learning. I know I miss feeling good at something, and school was generally something I could do well. I am not sure why I would want to do this, since I don't see myself wanting to change "careers". I am more than ok with staying home and have no real desire to go back to work full time at all.

I am ready for warmer weather. It is supposed to be int eh 50's tomorrow and if it isn't pouring down rain, I will bust out the double stroller and go for a walk. I figure pushing the 50 pound stroller with 40 pounds of kids in it, is considered a pretty decent work out. I am solidly in between pant sizes, or at least the pants that I own, so since getting bigger isn't an option for me, I need to work my butt off, literally.

While archiving my older posts, it is so clear that my blog is just for me. It really is the super baby book for my kids. The day to day stuff that they do. And then we will apparently have an external hard drive full of pictures.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Is it possible to have guitar hero/rockband tunnel?  I think i have it.  My left fore arm is insanely sore and it is no longer obeying all of my commands. 



Our den smells like dog pee. :(

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Proposition 4-17, Date #1

A few weeks ago, I sent Justin the following email:

"Proposition 4-17

Date day/night.

Once a month, on a designated day, we take turns planning a date for us. This is a date with the focus of having a good time, spending time together, and getting to do fun things. Movies are out as options due to the cop out quality and lack of communication.

Each date will have a $xx budget. The planner can use all of the money or save it for their next date.

The planner will be in charge of arranging childcare for the date. If childcare needs to be paid for, it will come out of the date's budget.

Day dates are preferred to increase variety of available activities. Calendar dates can be changed to allow for specific activities to be done, if necessary.

The writer of this proposition will plan the first date, unless requested otherwise."

Justin accepted the proposition and yesterday was our first date. I was in charge of the planning. In the fall I had won a gift certificate for studio time at a pottery studio. I intended for us to use it as a date, so I figured this would be a good time to start. At the auction (so I didn't "win" so much as was the highest bidder) the gift certificate was advertised with a pottery wheel and clay and said we could make our creations. I took pottery in high school and really liked it and have been wanting to get back to it, so this was a perfect date for us. There aren't many art mediums that Justin and I can actually do together since I can barely draw a stick figure. Friday I went online to make sure I didn't need to book studio time or have a reservation or anything like that. I had actually meant to do this a couple weeks ago, but I am apparently running behind at life right now. I see that this "pottery" place is more like The Painted Penguin in the mall. Here is a pre-made mold thingy, and you can paint it. As previously mentioned, I can't draw a stick figure so this would turn out to be a completely frustrating date for me and it would have just moved over to the lame category for Justin. It really would be like giving the artist a paint by number.

So we had to brainstorm. Turns out there were a few things we needed to shop for so we actually decided to go shopping for our date. We first went to lunch. We ate at Kona Grill in Oak Brook (I think) and it was excellent. I had never been there before. Justin often gets to go to restaurants for work and always talks about taking me, so when suddenly we were left with no plans I told him to just pick a place. It is Hawaiian style dining. Here is a bonus for the lunch date. Monday through Saturday if you eat in the lounge, they have half price appetizers, pizzas, and some sushi rolls. There are also pretty decently priced drink specials ($4 martinis and wine). We had avocado egg rolls for our appetizer. So, so, so, so good. It was good fat fried in bad fat. What could be better? Justin was enticed by the 1/2 price sushi rolls and ordered way too much. A picture of his plate will be posted if it ever shows up in my inbox. I had the Thai peanut chicken noodles. Loved it. We took our time eating and brainstormed for future date ideas. This was an excellent use of our time because it has made us both excited for future dates. We have a list of ideas that will pretty much last us for the next year. I am personally a little sad that we only get to do stuff like this once a month. Obviously we could go out more often, it just really isn't in the either the time or financial budgets. **The picture showed up at 1:30am.



The shopping purchases weren't included in our date budget. They were things that we planned to buy no matter what. We went shoe shopping for Justin. It is much easier to do this without Ava wanting to play with all the shoes she sees. We then went make up shopping for me. I needed new mascara after the whole pink eye situation. I love Justin because he doesn't mind looking at 50 different lipsticks to find the right color. We went to Ulta, MAC, and Sephora. It was an excellent time and I love just looking at pretty things.

Total cost: $50

So that was our date. I have mentioned this new plan to a few people. I am thinking about posting the dates on a different blog and having others post their "date reviews" to help share ideas on what worked and what didn't. I think it is important to not be stuck in a rut. It is fun to just get out there and do things that you can't or don't do with your kids. Have hobbies and interests. Get out there and do things. Let me know if you would be interested in sharing your date reviews and taking part in Proposition 4/17.

randomness

1. Why is Revlon acting like their pedicure tool is something new? It is currently sold at Walgreens as the Pediegg. It isn't "timeless" anything either.

2. I am getting a pedicure next weekend at a spa as part of a bachelorette party. My feet (I originally typed teeth right there...whoa Nelly!) are pretty gross right now and I am constantly tempted to do something about it but I resist. I am going to let them get as ugly step-sister-ish as possible to get my money's worth...but do I do a little maintainance first so I am not embarressed?

3. It is about time to renew my typepad subscription for the password protected blog. I don't think I post pictures there that often, now that there is facebook. Lame, but true. I don't really want to pay for it anymore. I haven't figured out what I am going to do. I want to copy paste all the past entries and have them in one spot, but there was a lot of pictures. I wonder if I can downgrade without losing my info. What to do??? Advice is welcome.

4. I am hopefully going to be doing a post about our date this weekend shortly. Not sure when I will get to it, but don't let me forget.

5. I am feeling behind in tasks. LOTS of tasks. Does that mean I am over committed, unorganized, lazy, or all of the above?