Trick or Treat!

We took JP out for his first adventure in Trick or Treating. He was so cute. It took no more then 3 houses to get the routine down pat. Knock on the door... smile and look cute.. and then get a piece of candy. He was so good that even when offered a couple of pieces, he still took one. The people in my IL's neighborhood were so good to JP that he still made off with quite the stash, lol. Near the end he took a Peanut Butter cup from one woman. I opened his bag to have him drop it in.. and he tossed it aside for a chance at the mother load in the bag, lol. Oh it was so cute. I just rescued the abandoned PB cup and put it in the bag and off we went to the final few homes. I'll get pics up in a few days. Our goal was to go as a ghost, but he wasn't thrilled, so it ended up being a fireman costume that my IL's had for him. Better choice anyway because it was fleece and nice and warm.

The GPS units are NOT always accurate, lol

This post will have 2 different stories about how sometimes people trust their GPS a little too much.

I have someone coming to my home today to pick up a cage for small animals. I just re-homed several chinchillas and now get to clean out that corner. Which means I get to get rid of this large cage.

I spoke with the woman picking it up and she said to just giver her the address and her GPS will get her here. Last time someone said that to me they were over an hour late.

The problem with my home is that there are 2 roads with the same name in the same town. Brilliant huh? they are also in different counties, but the other comes into the one I live in. What makes it better is that the roads come very close to each other near me.. but they never connect.

I emailed this woman directions so that she has an ide of which to look for. She used to work out here so it shouldn't be a big issue.

The GPS thing that cracks me up is my job. I've had 2 people call and say they couldn't find us. I ask what part of the directions were wrong (I've NEVER gotten anyone lost in 7 years and 2 locations). They each then admitted that they used their GPS. I had one person ARGUE with me! I actually said to him that I understood he had the GPS.. but I was standing in the office and knew where I was. The problem with work is that my work addressis on a road called 17K. This road changes to one called Broadway about 5 miles down. The GPS systems send people to the street number on the Broadway section. Let me tell you that is also not the nicest place to be.

I'll just scoot over here and she won't notice a thing

I took this pic of JP today and it made me laugh. Can't you just see what he's thinking?

"I'll just take a few steps this way and she'll never notice.... I'm not up to anything.. I look perfectly innocent and believable"

Suuuuuuuure you do honey, lol

This pic was a little grainy so I added a film grain enhancement and changed it to B&W. Came out pretty good I think.

Aromatherapy 101 and why to never trust a quiet toddler

After lunch I was sitting on the couch wrapped in a nice warm blankie, I'm not feeling great and can't tell if I'm just cold.. or it's chills from a higher temp. JP wasn't in the mood to share the spot with me and off he went. His bedroom is right off of the kitchen and you would think I'd know better by now, lol.

He was quietly wandering and I heard 2 soft thuds. Common sense got the better of me and I got up to see what my angel had been into.

He'd grabbed the powder and not only dropped it twice... but either squeezed it well or stepped on it. The doorway to his room and slightly into the kitchen are covered in powder.

on the bright side my kitchen has a lovely lavender fragrance now, lol.

The frail ego of my girl...

Poor Peanut.

Previously I've written about her embarrassing harness bulges. We'd started nightly walks until my heel pain got severe. Unfortunately Joe won't take her on his own.
One day last week I really looked at her nails. Peanut's nails would have been the envy of a drag queen! I wouldn't take her on an extended walk until they were trimmed and comfortable again.

Taking her to the groomer for regular trimmings was always Joe's job and he was good at remembering. It was one of those things I just didn't have to focus on. Joe now couldn't find the time so of course it fell to me. On Monday I got out at 4.. raced home.. picked her up and took her to the groomer.

He and his wife are wonderful. Too bad Peanut doesn't share that opinion. First off she was SO excited to be in the car with just me. It was like old times and we were out for a drive for no reason. Yep.. she sulked all the way home, lol.

When we walked into the groomers she was doing her best to get back out as usual, lol. Ken came out from the back and we talked for a few minutes. He then looked at Peanut. His first comment was:

"wow did she put on weight!"

Poor Peanut.. you could see her ears droop ever so slightly.. and she then made a bigger effort at leaving, lol. Peanut didn't even fit into her 'fat' sweater that used to float on her. Now we're back to either walks/jogs or just lots of active play. Hopefully by the New Year she'll be back to her usual slim self. She'd better be because I'm not buying her a new wardrobe for Christmas, lol.

Sunday's misc musings

I started off today's blog with some set ideas on what to write, lol..... Then my mind started to wander off a bit more and it's become an entry with a couple of tangents, lol.

First off I'd like to tell anyone that may be checking out my blog because of BakingGals.com, that I don't always have sad posts. This was just a really off week with a lot of frustrations.

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This morning I'm sitting next to my son at the kitchen table as he eats breakfast. My independent child is feeding himself oatmeal.

Luckily most of it is making it into his mouth.. but we're still working on being a really neat oatmeal eater.

Messy as kids can be I am thinking of some of those time stopping moments in life. Those oh so sweet moments that make you so glad to have children as a part of your life. Being that JP has entered the first of the terrible toddler phases, I need to treasure these moments, lol.

Tuesday was a sad day for me. However JP is always there to make me laugh. We'd had a good evening and I was getting him ready for bed. We were relaxing on the couch and he was lying down. I was stroking his hair to calm him down and stopped for a second. He grabbed my hand and started running my hand down one side of his face then the other. It was such a sweet moment. He did that for about 5 minutes. I then laid him in his crib and stroked his hair one last time. At which point he smiled and drifted off to sleep.

He's such a great kid. I am so thankful I have him.

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Ahh well, time to keep busy and productive:

My plans for this beautiful Sunday are so exciting, lol.

I started off with a rip-roaring session of dishes, and am moving on to laundry next. The last time I'd washed JP's cloth diapers I hadn't rinsed them enough. The few I've tried have caused slight redness and irritation so I need to rewash them.

grocery shopping

Clean the bathroom

start making space in our 1 walk in closet - to put things where they belong

Start sewing the cage liners for the chinchilla cages - great idea from a web site and less mess from shavings.

Play with JP and Peanut and get some of their energy burned off

De clutter a bit more - heck in some areas of my home you can see the progress I've made.

Now this sounds terrible, but I have a reason for having to do so much. I made the mistake of trying to get Joe to see how little he does. My house is such a mess that I won't show pics of it to friends, lol. After the last 2 weeks with my oh so helpful and supportive husband I've come to realize he will never do anything inside or outside. His only desired capabilities are eating, sleeping, showering and washing his own clothes. In his eyes thats all he needs to do because he's tired from work. Amazing how my job must give me energy to do everything else.

I know I'm happier in a clean, organized home so it's back to being all on me to create and maintain a safe, clean, welcoming, huggable home for JP and I. This will come back to Joe in ways he won't like if he doesn't grow up. A couple of years ago I'd gotten my home beautiful using the flylady.net system. It does work, but I'm having trouble getting started again. I'm going to keep working on that as well as using the daily lists from www.motivatedmoms.com it's an equally great system and so affordable at $8.00 for a year planner, just be prepared to have a lot of paper on hand to print it all. I'm printing them off now from the 2009 download and just changing dates till the end of the month. If you do the same, remember to change the dates and not the days. She has the days of the week set up in certain ways for a reason.. liek the pamper yourself Sunday, lol.

When my home was clean, orderly and welcoming before I came to a realization. Even doing it all on my own I was so much happier! This was during my pregnancy when I was battling massive depression. My clean home really helped and I realized that while we may view it as an outdated source of pride... it WORKS! Which probably explains why those housewives of years gone by were happy taking care of the home. It may seem demeaning to some but the sense of pride you have in keeping your home in such a wonderful state improves all areas of your life. I gave up due to some issues with Joe and let my pregnancy depression undo all my hard work. That depression was so much worse then the 'baby blues'. (Another friend and I are talking about starting a blog as she suffered equally from post partum depression. I'll put a link in my blog list should we ever get it up and running.) However once your home is de clutterred and clean it really does only take a little bit of time each day and maybe up to an hour once a week to keep it wonderful.

Yes he does talk...

After the phrase JP said on Saturday, he's becoming more understandably vocal.

Maybe not to the general public, but words are becoming clearer finally, lol.

This weekends noticeable words or phrases were:

I want mama - and various forms of that since he still doesn't feel great
dog
good
yumm or yummy
what's that? - uttered at a 3:30am ear infection wake up call when I had some Motrin for him
boo - we've been working on this as we're dressing him as a ghost for halloween
hi
nana - when he saw my mom yesterday

some he's been saying, but the rest are becoming more defined.

My mom has been pressuring me a little because he isn't really speaking. He's hit every milestone on schedule and I know he's smart, he just isn't in a hurry to speak. I'm glad she heard some of these. She told me yesterday that he doesn't have to speak because I hand him things like a drink or food when he grunts. I asked her what was I supposed to do - withhold them for a few hours until he does say the words? She said yes and I then asked what day she'd like to babysit so she can do it. Point made, lol.

Sleeping with the fishes.....

Sounds ominous doesn't it?

Joe let's JP eat in bed, I do to sometimes but I generally keep it neat.

I was changing the sheets last night and found out why my side was lumpy in one area the night before..... there was a goldfish cracker on my side of the bed.

So I joked around with Joe that he was making me 'sleep with the fishes' and I threw the cracker at him, lol

I love good yard sale finds!

Joe and I argue over this a lot. I have saved us so much money by getting things we'd like or need at yard sales. There is a once a year town wide yard sale near me. I've been planning to go with my mom and her friend all week.

They got good buys... I made out awesome. I actually had to stop shopping because I had no more room in my car due to bulky things.

I got:

1. new speakers for my computer
2. battery operated cookie press
3. King size sheet set - brand new - pale yellow tshirt material
4. vivitar camera tripod with a level
5. play rug for JP with the road on it and a rescue theme (fire dept/police station)
6. toaster oven
7. microwave - ours doesn't turn anymore and is small
8. fall wreath for the front door
9. soft silicone truck for JP - that was given to him free of charge by a very nice lady
10. galileo thermometer - I've wanted one for years and this is tall with a pretty hanging bracket
11. 3 double panel superyard things. I wanted more to go camping with and have a huge area for JP or Peanut. I now have 7 of these double panels.

I paid $41.00 total for ALL of that!

plus JP said his first recognizable phrase. I had 2 witnesses. To bad it wasn't a happy thing. He's feeling icky again and we think the ear infection is now both ears. I'm not exactly thrilled that Joe never gave him his meds yesterday. Needless to say he wasn't a completely happy camper while we shopped. As I was loading the last of the goods into my car my mom was holding him. Then he said thru tears :

"I want Mama"

poor baby. At least I know he can talk.. he just doesn't want to talk all the time.. or I'm not understanding him at all. He's sleeping now and now I have to find and put all this stuff in its place. I just had to share my finds.

Coyote Corgi

I live in a rural area. In the entire valley I live in there are coyotes. IN 38 years I've only seen 2 in the wild. Once I caught the sight of one as it ran away from a road in a more populized area. The second time was only a few months ago. I was driving home and on our road there is a lovely hill that turns and twists as it goes up. Which means you have to slow down. All of a sudden a coyote darts out to cross in front of me. The coyote had the most comical expression on its face as it realized we may not miss each other. We did by probably an inch.

Last night we had more evidence of them. 3:30am and we were all asleep. Even Peanut the wonder corgi. Her hearing however caught the faint sound of coyotes yapping and howling.. so off she went full force to the living room to listen at her window. Joe and I woke up of course and were lying there thinking she heard a deer walking... then we heard the faint howling. It gave me chills.

I got up to fix Peanut's window. It was open and although it has a screen, she had been known to push it open and escape. I was not in the mood to chase her or have her safety risked. I went out and closed and locked it. She gave me such a sad look. I just ruffled her fur and told her "not tonight coyote girl" and we went back to sleep.

Hrmphh.. my first real ear infection :/

JP here...

....remember that pic mom took and posted of me a few days ago? the one where I had a fever and didn't feel so good? Well my fever has come and gone since Saturday. Every time we thought it was gone it would spike back up. Last night I started sweating and we thought we were finally over this. Mom left for work this morning and I was sitting up happy as a clam watching Blue's Clues. By the time mom came home I wasn't feeling good again :( . Dad left for work and Mom took my temp...AGAIN.. and it was 101.5. So mom packed me up and said it was time to see the Dr. He was really nice .. well aside from sticking those things in my ears and that wooden thing on my tongue. He was quite lucky I didn't deposit my freshly eaten PB sandwich on him. He told mom I had an ear infection on the left, a red swollen throat and one swollen tonsil. He also stuck a long stick with a cotton thing on it on my tonsil...( didn't he JUST say it was sore!?) Anyway.. he said that came back negative and then he gave me TWO stickers! Still didn't make up for everything, but I'm letting it slide. I'm on some yummy tasting pink stuff and some yummy tasting purple stuff per the dr. I'm still not willing to eat much and have it irritate my throat, but I am eating more. Once my throat stops hurting I'm going back on my weight gaining binge...see if mommy tells me no junk food then. (she probably wont) Oh and I did make mommy laugh really good tonight. I was wandering and getting into trouble and I saw my diaper bag. Well there was a bag of goldfishies right on top. I was nice as I could have opened it up and dumped them all on the floor. Its what I like to do. However Mommy was sad that I was so sick so I took them over to her and gave her my 'look'. I was so cute she gave me goldfishies to eat up. I'm beat... and I need my rest so I'm going to bed now. I'm hoping this ear and throat thing are all better in the morning, or at least not hurting.

The Home Shopping Phenomenon

Last night was a rough night for JP. While getting him comfy and settled into a somewhat sleep we were all watching TV. it was Saturday night and there was nothing on. I eventually turned on QVC, a home shopping channel.

They were doing a show on misc items for problem solving. I turned it initially on because it had a GPS thing for the car on. My mom had told me earlier in the day that she had ordered that for a Christmas gift for us and my SIL with no sense of direction.

I left it on as just something to listen to and all of a sudden Joe says from his side of the bed:

"You're not becoming one of THOSE people are you?"

Meaning a home shopping channel junkie, lol. The joke was on him a few minutes later.

A new product had come on for gently whitening teeth at home in a simple manner. Neither of us like the color of our teeth and want to whiten them. But we don't want to bleach them either. This product came with 2 tubes of paste and 2 toothbrushes. The price was reasonable and they even offered an auto ship. All of a sudden from Joe's side of the bed I quietly hear:

"I wouldn't mind getting that"

I started laughing and told him he was becoming one of THEM, lol. We're going to order it though as the system looks decent and is a decent price.

"Seriously Mom.. ....

........ do i look like I feel like being even the tiniest bit cute right now"



Poor JP has come down with quite the cold. It's his first time with a temp over 101. Right after this pic was taken it was 103.4. He was not amused with anything today. He's feeling a bit better now and is up and running around a little. He's got a strong immune system so hopefully this will be out of his system by tomorrow.

Oh and the sneaker he's holding isn't Security Sneaker... it's his new Thomas the Tank light up sneakers I bought for him in the next size up.

The more I look at this photo the more it hits me that he just doesn't look like his age. He's only 19months old, but looks older. Then again he never did have that look of a baby. I have one pic of him at 6 months that people often ask if he's 2. oh well.

Security Sneaker - 2 / Mom -0

Yesterday I wrote about JP's 'security sneaker' and how I ended up putting sandals and socks on him, instead of the sneakers and socks.

Today I went to put JP down for his morning nap. He and I have developed a nice routine where he goes down to sleep at about11am and will sleep for 1.5 -5 hours.

Not today. Today was NAP WAR!

Put in his crib at 11.. played and bounced until 12:15. Was assisted in lying down a few times by me..but he was just not having any of it.

Out of crib for lunch break and 30 min of quiet time to unwind.

One lunch, one diaper change, one cup of milk, one cup of water and 1.5 hours later we were STILL battling nap time. He was visably tired but refused to go to sleep. Blankets were thrown out of the crib.. his sleep time elephant was flung across the room (small room, but still), jumping was the main event of the day. He only started getting mad when I was in his room to put things away and wouldn't acknowledge his jumping.

While all of this was going on I was cleaning the living room. I found one of his sneakers.. the other is still MIA. On a whim I decided to see what happened when I gave him Security Sneaker.

He took it with a smile and lied down to play with 'sneakie'.

10 minutes later he was asleep....



Then came bedtime... in the crib at 8pm as usual. Snuggly baby yawning and rubbing eyes and ready for bed.... 8:30.. a sippy cup of milk .. 8:45 still awake. Time for Security Sneaker!!!

sigh :(

it's now a little after 9pm. I went into to check on JP. same pose as the picture above.. but the time Security Sneaker is next to his head. If I can get a pic without waking him up I will. I've told Joe that I am taking JP shopping this weekend for a more appropriate security item. I'm eyeing 2 Thomas the Tank cuddle pillows at Target... wish me luck.

One word challenge

I’m challenging all of my blogging friends to play along. This is not as easy as it looks!

Your hair? dry

Your mother? awesome

Your father? distant

Your favorite thing (not including people)? sleep

Your dream last night? terrifying

Your dream/goal? skinny

Your favorite drink? water

The room you're in? kitchen

Your ex? boytoy

Your hobby? computers

Your fear? failure

Where do you want to be in 6 year? in a house of our own

Where were you last night? home

What you're not? confident

Muffins? yummmm

One of your wish list items? security

Time? fleeting

Where you grew up? plattekill

The last thing you did? cooked

Favorite weather? stormy

What are you wearing? shorts and tshirt

Favorite book? Watchers (Dean Koontz)

Your TV? big

Your pet? bratty

Your computer? custom

Your mood? tired

Missing someone? Melanie (wonderful friend)

Your car? green

Something you're not wearing? bra

Favorite store? craft store

Love someone? Yes

Favorite color/shade? blue

Last thing you ate? chicken and dumplings

Your life? stressful

Your friends? too far

What are you thinking right now? friends

What are you doing at this moment? Duh!

Your summer? HOT

Your relationship status? married

What do you do when you can't sleep? email

When is the last time you laughed? today

Last time you cried? Sunday

Security Sneakers?

Security items for children are a very common thing. I always thought that all children fixated on something, I've since found out that that is not necessarily true. I remember my security items as I apparently had 2. One was a typical pink blanket with satin trim. The other I have one memory of, but knowing it's condition of and knowing what the memory is, well it was definitely a security item. My uncle had given me a green Gund poodle. I don't remember it in it's hey day. I remember it as the poodle with the huge bald spots worn by loving hands. My 1 memory is of my mom carrying me thru the living room, while I held the poodle. My mom was telling me to shush because my uncle was sleeping. This, sadly, is the only memory I have of my uncle as well. He was hit by a drunk driver when I was very young. For this reason I keep that memory close to my heart, and will soon go thru my mom's attic to find this green poodle again. Yes I kept it all these years.

I've been wondering if JP would ever find a security item. We have lovies, soft small pillows, blankets.. but nothing that he's developed a long term interest in. There was the musical elephant which while cute... I did hope he didn't want to drag everywhere, lol. The song gets a bit mind numbing at times. Then we have Ellie.. his soft, plush bedtime elephant. He may not have much of an attachement, but I make sure Ellie is around when he naps or goes to sleep.

Today I got a glimpse of a possible, strong attachment item....

one of his blankies? - no
one of his elephants? - no
a lovie? - nope

sigh...

it's one of his Thomas the Tank ...SNEAKERS! yes you read that right. My child has developed a fascination with a sneaker. He'll occasionally walk around the house with one in his hands.. and it's become the best distraction while changing his diaper. This morning I had to send him to day care looking like a retired man from Florida... with socks and sandals on. He had an absolute death grip on the sneaker and wouldn't let go. Being that I could NOT find the other and I was already late I let him hold onto it. He carried it out to the car and still wouldn't let go. I had visions of having to explain to Dani (childcare) that I needed her to watch out so that we didn't lose the sneaker, lol. Thankfully he was ok to leave it in my car.. where it now sits, alone, on his car seat.